What I've been wasting my time with lately (Ramcharger rebuild) Pt.1

[The_War_Wagon]

Woot - woot! Things are finally moving again!!! Crappy cell phone pics to follow!


Stopped by the shop today, to check on progress. Dave was outside with a customer, so I parked in my usual spot. My RC's been outside for 6 mos. now, but THIS was parked in its spot today!





I said, "HEY! You SHRANK my Ramcharger!!!" (Neat little project, this '71 Cornbinder - has an automatic transmission and FACTORY A/C!)


Sure enough, there in the garage, is THE War Wagon!





The axles are now done, and Dave says it DEFINITELY has more giddy-yap, with 4.56 gears!





Transmission hangs in low sometimes, which we already knew. The B&M Transpak goes in next, with the new armored transmission pan, filter, and all new fluid. We think, with the forthcoming flush & new filter, the transmission will be good as new when done. Borgeson steering still to go in, too, but it's STARTING to get there!

[The_War_Wagon]

Nothing REALLY new to report - truck is STILL at Gibbs.

Here's a great article, on the guy who did the paint & bodywork on my Ramcharger, though. Big rigs is his SPECIALTY.

Old School Is “Cool”

Everyone at Reinsfelder, Inc. of Pittsburgh is into trucks. In fact, they practically eat, sleep and breathe trucks. They also love the old school look of trucks from days gone by, especially since the company has been hauling freight for 95 years. Luckily for them, Reinsfelder owner Ed Haser is a friend of Jimmy Davis, owner of Ol Skool Stainless Customs of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. For Jimmy it is a passion and a labor of love. What is most impressive is that Jimmy does all of his fabrication by hand, cutting and bending each piece without the help of automation or computers.

That's how he fabbed up that crusher bumper for my Ramcharger!

[Matt]

This things coming along great man!

[The_War_Wagon]

Ramcharger comes HOME tomorrow, bayyyyyyyyyyyy-beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

It's got a few issues to be resolved, but Dave needs the space in the shop, and it's roadworthy, so here goes!

A couple items of interest:

- The B&M Transpak is NOT installed yet. Even though Dave adjusted the bands, flushed out the transmission, & installed the new armored pan & filter, the tranny still doesn't seem to be responding 'quite right' yet. COULD be, because it sat for 6 years. COULD be, a torque converter going bad. Dave say the Transpak will "kill it" at this point, so he wants me to tool around in it a bit - see if that loosens it up, and we can revisit the Transpak in the fall.

- My SPANKIN' NEW fuel lines (custom ordered from MI!!!) had a couple minor leaks. I asked Dave if that was the lines, or my fuel pump, which I can't REMEMBER off the top of my head, whether I replaced or not (I'm PRETTY sure I did, but I don't have my records/receipts in front of me here at the office!). He caught it, so whatever it was, I know it's fixed.

- He hasn't done the plenum fix, but as that's an issue with COLD engines, and the sun has actually made an appearance this month, hopefully it will hold together through spring, summer, and fall, and we can revisit THAT this fall, along with;

- Rock rails/sliders. Dave is still bending tube, but again, he needs the space, so we shall eschew those for the time being. Moreover, I have a NEW idea on what those should look like anyways, so we'll tackle THAT subject later this year as well. As I told him, I'll TRY and resist the urge, to wedge it between a couple of boulders... :tongue3:

Nonetheless, it's re-geared and the Borgeson steering is in place, so no more death wobble from hell, and it SHOULD be able to get out of its own way. There are a couple of other items I want to check on as well, and will report back accordingly. Lots of pictures will follow as well - maybe even a stack of the mad money I'm taking over there for this tomorrow as well.

I'm about to poop myself delirious!

[The_War_Wagon]

I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head.
I think it's the excitement only a Ramcharger man can feel;
a Ramcharger man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.
I hope I can make it to the shop today.
I hope to see my truck, and drive it away.
I hope the Borgeson steers as straight as it has in my dreams.

I hope.

[The_War_Wagon]

Well, if Obama has taught us ANYTHING, it's that, "HOPE"... is NOT a plan...

Guess what happens when you RE-gear, and your driveline angle is bad? Torque and driveshaft yokes are NOT your friends.


I LITERALLY got it home, when it dropped the driveshaft in the parking lot.

It drove GREAT getting home - had a blast tooling around in it - looks GREAT with the spare tire finally mounted.

I'm just too disappointed to say any more.

I called Dave & told him what happened - we knew it was binding, but didn't realize it was THAT bad. I'm sending it back to him on Monday - we're gonna drop the rear springs, rotate and shim the axle, and get that straightened out. Stay tuned for more details...

[The_War_Wagon]

Ok... Dave came by Saturday night and put some heavier duty straps on the yoke. It'll hold... for now... I have a custom built slip yoke eliminator coming from AZ this week, and my local driveshaft man is gonna build me a double cardon driveshaft, utilizing a Ford 1350 yoke to connect the double cardon to the new flange. It'll buy us MORE time, until we can plasma off the rear shock towers, & rotate & shim the rear axle like it needs to be.

Played with the RC yesterday, as Monday's are my day off. ATTEMPTED to mate an old WJ 318 dual K&N filter intake to it... and Advance Auto ain't GOT enough Spectre elbows to make it fit JUST yet! Trust me... I bought several...

After giving up on that for the day, I grabbed a fistful of $20's, and decided to fill up! Added 12oz. of Lucas Oil fuel treatment, since it was in the shop for 11mos.! My barely functioning tank float refuses to read anything above a half-a-tank; to be safe, I figured it was getting 5mpg. The needle had drifted down to 1/4 tank, and it had 116 miles on the trip odometer since the previous fillup, so I thought it a good time to fill up, treat what gas was left, clean the injectors, and see if another fillup would bust the float loose.

$72.50 later @ $3.79/gal., I calculate that it's actually getting a smidgeon over 6mpg - almost all city driving - so my guesswork on that was just about spot on!

After THAT, I went over to see a friend of mine from church. John had a stroke when he was 47 (my age now) and is paralyzed on his left side. He fights the good fight, and gets about pretty well now some 20+ years later. Back in the day though, he was the crew chief for his best friend, who drove the NASCAR dirt circuit in western PA in the 1960's (Heidelberg, Pittsburgh Speedway, Lernerville, et.al.). John went on to become a mechanical engineer; Dave (the driver) went on to become a bigwig in Chrysler/MOPAR's parts division in the northeast. The three of us have gotten together a couple of times over the years, to go catch some Friday night races at Lernerville (late model modifieds - dirt track racing), whenever Dave is passing through between his summer home in ME, and winter home in FL. They're both OLD-SCHOOL MOPAR guys.

At any rate, I stopped in to see John today, and with some modicum of effort, we got him INTO the RC, went out for a spin, and terrorized his neighbors! As the truck has no stereo currently, we put the windows down, and just listened to the roar and crack of the glasspacks! After that bit of fun, we managed to get him BACK out of the RC, without killing he, I, or the truck!

Nothing special today really. Would like to have washed the truck, but they called for rain, so I fought that urge. Just had a good time playing with it, like I've been WANTING to do for almost 8 years now; even got to take a good friend out to enjoy it too (he's really the only gearhead at our church, and the RC belonged to our church secretary's late husband, so he's been following with keen interest how the progress is coming). After waiting almost 8 years just to GET it to this point, being able to enjoy the little things, is finally some great fun for ME!