Big Red Pile 91 W350 Build Thread

[CumminsPower59]

I've narrowed the pulsing lights down to the resistance in the VR trigger circuit. I am going to replace all the grounds in the engine bay, and add a ALT case to block ground. I'm also going to put the VR trigger on a relay, so it sees true battery voltage, just gets its trigger from the original ignition circuit. I'm looking at replacing the u-joints with standard Spicer greaseable units, but the growling is in the front drive line somewhere, just haven't narrowed it down. No worries now, won't need 4x4 til fall...

[1STGENFARMBOY]

I finally got the B&M pan on I got from you Ike, the first time it leaked like a sieve, then I reused
the old metal reinforced rubber coated gasket and no leaks.


thanks man.

[CumminsPower59]

I'm glad it went to a good home, and it's working out for you

[bgilbert]

I finally got the B&M pan on I got from you Ike, the first time it leaked like a sieve, then I reused
the old metal reinforced rubber coated gasket and no leaks.


thanks man.

Probly a Mopar gasket! I refuse to use anything other than the dealer metal reinforced gasket. Don't have to worry about it splitting or leaking as much as the aftermarket rubber or cork gaskets.

[ellis93]

I finally got the B&M pan on I got from you Ike, the first time it leaked like a sieve, then I reused
the old metal reinforced rubber coated gasket and no leaks.


thanks man.

Probly a Mopar gasket! I refuse to use anything other than the dealer metal reinforced gasket. Don't have to worry about it splitting or leaking as much as the aftermarket rubber or cork gaskets.

I have good luck out of the rubber.....but I glue it to the pan and belly the bolt holes in the pan,from the inside of the flange outward.

No doubt the factory gaskets are good.

[1STGENFARMBOY]

This pan has 1/2 inch thick aluminum rim, I couldn't believe the thin rubber one leaked,
but it did, yeh Ellis has the ticket, when using thin metal covers or pans, you (MUST) use a
pall peen and flatten the holes and I like to use the yellow 3M snotty lookin glue to stick the
gaskets to the pan or cover, there is a very good chance it won't leak if you do this, it is worth
the extra time to do it right.

[cmann250]

I'm missing likely 1/4 of the bolts holding my pan on and I have no leaks there.

I'm sold

[CumminsPower59]

Well, been working on The Pile some more, the VW is going to be down for a spell so the old girl needs to be in decent order. I finally finished deleting all the auto heat exchanger parts and installed some newer, cleaner heater hard lines. Pulled the thermostat and clipped out the two jigglers, takes a bit to get up to operating temperature (expected) but no more swings of the temp gauge, nice and steady. Also installed the cruise hard parts and hooked it up....it actually works! It surges on flat ground, expected with a turned up pump, so I am going to restrict the servo feed line so it steadies the variations in the adjustments it's making. Ran a ground wire from the alternator case to block, cleaned up the alternator and block grounds, and checked the others in the engine bay, all clean and corrosion free. I got some welding cable and am going to make new positive cables, one to the starter and other to the alternator, with a 125 amp fuse in the alternator line somewhere. More plans include running a relay with diode for the voltage regulator, with the sense wire feed straight from the battery instead of though the harness. I'm also going to relocate the voltage regulator away from the exhaust manifold. I will get to the bottom of the voltage pulsing issue eventually. I did lose the power window circuit the other day, and with the power lock circuit down, I am going to dig into what's going on. I suspect a short to ground on the power lock circuit and either lost or short to ground on the window circuit. Worst comes to worst, I have another door harness that is in great shape, so I can replace it if need be. I really want EVERYTHING in my pile to work properly, eventually I would like to get the air conditioning done too. I am going to do a write up on the voltage regulator stuff, and I have some new information on wiring changes involving auto to manual swaps I am going to add also.

[cmann250]

I am going to do a write up on the voltage regulator stuff...

Intently watching. Mine is functioning fine and has done so for a long time, but my day is coming.

[PToombs]

Ike, I've heard that if you add a vacuum reservoir it calms down the surges. I haven't done it because mine works decent.

[CumminsPower59]

I did some digging last night on DTR, some of the surging issues other people were having was because the cruise needs to learn how to work...in other words, it needed to be reset so it wouldn't surge. I know that works on 92-93 models, but I am going to try it on mine and see if it works. Its quite simple actually, get to a desired speed like on a long stretch of highway, while holding your foot on the go pedal, turn the cruise on, push set while still keeping steady with the go pedal, then turning it off a few seconds later. Do that repeatedly 10-20 times, and the cruise "learns" to be steady and not all surging. I'll see if the pre 92 stuff can do this, since mines a 91. I would love to have decent cruise control, it doesn't need to be perfect, but smoother operation would be nice.

[CumminsPower59]

Found this little gem today at the U-Pull...





This was the only one I found out of 75-100 vehicles I looked at, it was in a newer Volvo station wagon. I did find a couple four blade relays with diodes, but I don't know if they'll work. I'm hoping it'll work for the re wiring of the voltage regulator. I did find a whole bunch of fuse type diodes, so in the case that this won't work, I'll use a standard relay with a diode in line...

[PToombs]

WOW! A relay! You know the diode is to keep voltage from surging back up the power when you shut it off, right? And the diode is on the activator side, not the load side of it. All the relays are like that now, and have been for a while. Unless I'm missing something?

[CumminsPower59]

Geeze, way to kill my excitement! Almost every relay I've found doesn't show a diode on the side, just a little rectangle. I wanted to be sure to get one that showed the diode, as that is going to protect the trigger circuit since the new feed line is coming from the battery instead of through the harness.

[PToombs]

Ok, but the feed should be on 30, and 87 should go to the alternator. 85 and 86 are the activator side (key and ground) so the diode won't be in the alternator circuit. I didn't know if you realized that because I can't remember who is electrically challenged and who's not.