by Fred S » Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:39 pm
I've had this project hanging around for the better part of a year now, and finally got a chance to start making a dent in it.
I started with a 91.5 IC Reg Cab, 4x4 Auto W250 for my donor and shortly afterwards picked up a very clean 93 RamCharger off of Craigslist, locally.
I didn't document every single step, but I do have a few pictures of progression through the build.
From the beginning, I knew I really didn't want to use the 91 VE 12V donor motor(busted cam), and I happened to have a very nice low mileage 97 12V p-pump motor sitting in my shop, it made the choice easier.
Because the RamCharger is a 93, and to make the project even easier, I didn't want to use the 91.5 engine harness and PCM, so thanks to Mike T, I was able to get a 93 engine harness and PCM. I also had the 97 engine harness, so I could adapt everything over to the newer connections.
That literally allowed me to plug the engine harness into the 50 pin firewall plug, and almost everything worked. I still need to wire in the diesel infomation center, but that doesn't appear to be too difficult, having service manuals and schematics.
I also decided I didn't want the stock 518 transmision, and didn't want to build one either, I decided the 47RH was the route I wanted to go. It kind of helped I had one available, and the DTT parts around to build one right.
The only mods I needed to do to make this all fit was to move the transmission crossmember support back one bolt, and redrill 4 holes, plus the hole in the floor for the tcase shifter, had to be reamed out a little to give room to get into 4HI when needed. And of course the rear driveshaft I had cut down to 30 inches to fit. The front one is fine for now.
Where I am at today. Just got the Rip 4 inch exhaust pieces to put in yesterday, and will hopefully get that done before the weekend. Need the lift for some other work. Still need to pull all the wheels, hubs and replace brakes and drill out and install longer, 9/16ths studs so I can run the 3rd gen wheels I have, or go to something else. Still, having the bigger wheel studs was something I wanted to do regardless of which wheels I run.
The wheels and tires currently on it, are just a set I have around from another donor truck from another project, and are just too skinny for my tastes.
Here's some pics to go along with the writeup.
92 W250 LB Crewcab 3" Alcans, NV5600 4x4, 35inch Toyo ATs, some tweaks
2001 Golf TDI TDTuning-Stg4, R520s, SBC, 17/22
94 Toyota Ex-Cab 4x4 (01 ALH(TDI)) TDTuning-Stg4, PP764s, SBC, 17/22