Second mistake I made was assuming that all Hydroboost units are the same. After I damaged the dodge unit I went to the wreckers and grabbed a complete unit from a 95 Astro Van, thinking I could just combine the two to make one good unit. Well I was wrong.
Turns out there are several differences that I was not aware of. So if you are piecing together a hydroboost unit, or have damaged/lost a part within the system, then the following info might save you some time and headaches.
Seems there are two different types of pistons, one steel, and one aluminum. My 2000 Cummins HB had an aluminum piston, and the 1995 Astro Van HB unit had a steel piston. So I went back to the wrecker to find another aluminum unit, and pulled one from a mid 90's Chevy 3500 truck...and it had an aluminum piston as well.
Top...Chevy, Middle...Dodge, Bottom...Astro Van.
Another thing about pistons, and perhaps this is specific to aluminum vs steel, or maybe not? The depth within the piston itself where the pushrod to the MC rides, is shorter on the Astro Van steel piston compared with both the aluminum pistons. So you can not mix and match pistons and push rods at a whim like I thought I could.
Here is the weight differences in the pistons....
Astro Van (Steel)
Dodge (Aluminum)
Chevy (Aluminum)
1984/93 Dodge Crewcab, W350, 1 Ton SRW, long box, 330K Km's, M&H spacer, 366 spring, fuel pin to deep side, 14cm housing, Piston LP, PS IC, Isspro Boost, Pyro and tach, NV4500, 29 spline NP205, 3.54's.
Check out the build....
http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/ ... 05923.html