Thor

Thor - Back in the system

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:34:43 +0000

With how the wintertime is going for us up here. I pulled Thor back online to see if I can get more done. @Tweety Bird and I ran Thor to Lewiston, Idaho, for our shopping trip for chow and supplies. Thor is actually running quite well when fully warmed up. Even with a weak set of rings yet, Thor fires up every cold morning with white smoke and offbeat idle till those rings warm up some. Thor has been a comfortable truck to run, but there is add ons I'm looking at doing. First, I'm going to look into gauges, which will include rail pressure and lift pump pressure. I already have boost and pyrometer installed. I know there is no more power or tuner being added till I can get the engine rebuilt. I know the added power could break the rings, possibly. I'm going to look into replacing the driver's seat cushion and seat skin. Much as I'd love to just jump out and work on Thor, I'm held up for the weather, which is currently snowing here today. I've got no shop, so working in the snow is not happening. Another thing is the banner decal I have for the rear window too.

Without a doubt, Thor has the potential to be a great truck in time. Just between my cancer, body limitations, and the weather being my shop is gon, it's impossible right now to get very much done. I'm working on things on the server, little at a time, trying to add things and make pages load faster than ever, since I'm opting for breaking up the website into divisions, and now pages are not super long like before.

Thor is getting battery terminals, and more info!

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:29:24 +0000

Today I'm going to get myself together and get out and do the battery terminals on Thor. Yeah, it's a cold start here this morning. It's going to be a warmer day heading into the mid 50's at least. I want to get the new battery terminal and copper lugs installed today. I figured I would check over the website. @yohon and his rebuild, and helping out where I can. Every day can be a battle for me. I love what I can do, but my body tells me all about it when I try too hard. This is the depressing part for me, doing simple things, but still have to keep my hands clean, so if I have to touch my ostomy bag. (infection risk)

This is part of the risk that the other categories will be added to the site. Remember, I'm working in the mud at this point, and certain jobs I just CANNOT do, such as the ostomy bag and infection risk. Those days I cannot work outside on vehicles. I got to have something else to do, so I brought the Computer knowledge to the table and then the fun side of my makeup artistry, which has blown up to +780 followers on TikTok. I'm trying to move more back to my website. Again, I lose ownership of my video and photos when posted on other websites. I own my own webspace, use it!

I'm still the same guy who knows tons about the Cummins trucks, but I cannot do the wrench work at a commercial level any longer. I still want to help people, just with the whole loss of my shop and nowhere to even work on my own stuff makes it super rough. This is why posting slowed down for me was depressing to want to build an article, but have no shop and cold weather, and mud to work in. Those days I tend to just stay in and practice my makeup artistry, which today I'm going to do red for another purpose, but I need some photos. Then, since my wife told me to build us a business-class network, I did, and I've learned so much about the Linux operating system and the networking equipment. Amazing to have internet quality tha blow most away!

I want to share what I have left. The Titanium and Cloud 10 Computers are open to messages for registered users (unpaid). Please don't post diesel questions in these areas, we will delete those posts.

Fuel pressure!

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 16:45:16 +0000

I've been playing with Thor to see if I could fix the AirDog 150 to get closer to 15 PSI. I found a spring at my local hardware store, and it was way thicker, but after a bit of trimming work, I got the fuel pressure to settle at 22 to 25 PSI. Yeah, I know it's high, but I wanted to be sure the CP3 is loading fully and getting good, solid rail pressure. I'm struggling to understand the grid heater light, and it typically trips on deceleration. I'm doing more testing to figure out my issues. Today I've got to run back to McCall to return core calipers for my core money. Thor is going to do the task.

Thor might be fixed?

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 18:03:20 +0000

With Beast leaking oil out front and rear main seals, needing tires, and closing in on 500k miles. Beast needs work to keep him going. Mark suggested to try looking into Thor. Luckily my fuel pressure test gauge made it and was intact and undamaged. I checked the fuel pressure key on, engine off, barely 7 to 8 PSI of fuel pressure. Now start the engine, the fuel pressure drops to 2-3 PSI with WOT stab of the throttle. Ugh! Now I pulled the check ball and spring and did my typical spring mod bending the last coil to block the ball from getting in the coil. Now shimmed it with two washers. Barely made 10 PSI. The grid heater light is off. I'm going to replace all the fuel filters see if it improves the pressure and stability.

A simple job like this should be much more than a few minutes to fix. When your tools are all scattered and the box is in ruins. We are still missing sockets and tools in the dirt of the yard. Highly frustrating to spend nearly an hour to find 1 socket, 1 ratchet, and just take the fitting out and modify a spring. Absolutely frustrating!

Let's see if Thor holds up now. Time and mileage will tell!

Seats, trailer taillights and even electric brakes!

Thu, 22 May 2025 21:54:39 +0000

Got up today and hopped out after Thor to finish up the front seats. The driver's side repaired seat looks patched and actually appears correct in the roll of the foam. Being I've got 3 days plus of clear warm weather coming we need to get @Tweety Bird moved out of Nampa ID, promptly. The Big Tex trailer is all hitched up and tested, all tail light functions are present and even for short trip down the driveway and back up the side yard I had good brakes on the trailer and you can feel it tug back some.

Found the factory truck side of the taillight loom behind the fender had a broken ground wire. Now the parking lights work correctly. Then seen the other wire from the brake controller had to be butchered to make it work again. Sucks, but gotta make Thor work right now we need this truck now for the job at hand.

The seat repair turned out great. I'm enjoying the driver seat again, being my left hip is not sitting on the steel seat frame any longer. As I said in my previous blog, right now funds or thin for this project, so I've gotta hold tight for funds.

Thor dumped its fuel tank in a mere 2 miles

Thu, 22 May 2025 17:16:24 +0000

I was coming back from Lewiston, ID, a few days ago. I looked down at my fuel gauge in Riggins, ID and just above 3/4 of a tank. Within about 2 miles, it popped the elbow quick connect off the return line and started pumping fuel on the highway. I notice the fuel gauge rapidly dropping shut the key down. The AirDog pump stopped and pulled over, found the quick connect fitting blew off, and dumped $100 of fuel on the highway in under 2 miles. I'm in the process of hunting down the old steel JIC connectors for the AirDog 150. I'm not a fan of these junk plastic fittings, so here really soon I'll post up the fitting part numbers and where to buy them.

I'm no longer going to use these cheap plastic connectors and hope and pray the fuel system doesn't blow apart in the back country hauling my trailers.

@dieselautopower - Mitchell I'm working on it!

Clean Up Day and some Seat Repair

Thu, 22 May 2025 01:58:30 +0000

Today I bounced outside, and it was warm and sunny. I wanted to get busy trying to make Thor cleaner and comfortable. Yeah, grab the power washer and nearly a gallon of degreaser and give Thor a good washing down on the engine so I can hunt oil leaks and other things. Don't need a greasy engine. I sprayed down the door jams and hinges so I can lube them back up and get the creaky door hinges to stop. The driver seat was pretty bad I peeled the seat bases out of both sides. Not really hard, just need to be sure to unhook each hook on the frame of the seat. You'll see in my photos I took an old 2nd Gen Seat and chopped up a chunk of foam from the 2nd Gen passenger seat (salvaged truck). Now I slowly pieced the seat foam back together with Gorilla Spray Contact Cement. This worked out great for binding foam together. I also cut a chunk of fabric out of that old 2nd Gen seat and used it to fill it.

When funds are available I'm planning on purchasing the new seat skin and the foam pad both...

SEAT CUSHION - DRIVER SIDE - CLOTH, VINYL & LEATHER ('06-'09, 2500/3500 ALL CABS & '06-'08, 1500 MEGA CAB ONLY)

https://www.genosgarage.com/product/seat-cushion-gg-sc0609cl/seat-cushions

FACTORY-MATCH BOTTOM SEAT COVER (MEDIUM SLATE) - CLOTH - DRIVER SIDE 40/20/40 & BUCKETS ('06-'09, 2500/3500 SLT, ALL CABS & 1500, MEGA-CAB)

https://www.genosgarage.com/product/ram-cummins-seat-covers-dr-slt-08-ms-p1-dc/seat-covers-oem-material

Nampa, ID here we come!

Wed, 07 May 2025 02:22:45 +0000

@Tweety Bird and I loaded up into Thor. I've got a medical visit here in Nampa to see about saving my right kidney. Thor is going be helping us relocate tweety bird to my nest. Yup, she is moving out and in with me. As for the trip down Thor ran great. Very smooth ride and good power till you build a little bit too much boost... P0234 code. Funny. Pull over erase the error code and continued down the road. Now comparing the previous MPG to now. 4 MPG gain. Still remember I've got blow by issues. Another long run.

Thor becoming part of the family

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:07:25 +0000

Yeah, Thor is in rough shape. The interior is well-worn and dirty from two years of my using it as a service truck. Now, Thor is becoming the next article truck for the website. I've got a Mopar1973Man banner already pulled out for the truck's rear window. Then, Thor's first task is going to be hauling a full load of scrap metal to Lewiston, Idaho. Thor is going to provide all the 3rd Generation articles we need. I'm currently writing an article for the AirDog 150 fuel system I'm installing. I'm going to go back and build an article on the Boost and Pyrometer I installed for the previous owner. Thor is going to be my next bad boy truck that Mopar1973Man.Com knows how to build. After the lewiston trip is done then I've got a few trips down to @Tweety Bird place to finish moving her out of her place in Nampa, Idaho. Thor is going to be used quite a bit and doing a lot of heavy hauling.

In my chat with @Tweety Bird I remembered I had the phone number of the second previous owner of Thor and sent him a text message. He's sad to see the winch bumper and the flat bed go away. By the time I'm done, Bradon might want that truck back after cleaning it up and getting all the problems ironed out and turning this into another Beast with all the power and high MPG's. Who would turn their nose up at that, eh?

Thor is on the road!

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:35:18 +0000

Thor is on the road. OMG! What a change to dropping that flatbed and going to a normal truck bed. I've got scale weights from back when Thor was a service truck and now with the normal truck bed.

Flatbed with tools and all equipment - 9,600 pounds

Normal truck bed -------------------------- 7,300 pounds

Weight Savings ---------------------------- 2,300 pounds

This truck is quick now. I can row the gears and accelerate pretty darn quickly. Thor still has a few issues, like the exhaust brake quit. I got a new radiator for Thor, but I just tucked it in the shop for now. I need to get a trailer load of scrap metal hauled to Lewiston soon, so we have some extra funds. I will say Thor runs much cooler in EGTs now, MPG is up how much is uncertain as of yet. Thor is now going to be my daily driver truck, allowing me to repair Beast properly. The flatbed and front winch bumper might be sold to a local gent. We will see. All in all, I'm super impressed with the weight reduction and the fact that I can now use Thor to tow my RV for camping. Previously, I couldn't use my RV hitch because the rear hitch point was too low to the ground.

Little bugs need to be shaken out and get Thor shaped up now.

The Stealth AirDog on a 3rd Gen

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 20:38:30 +0000

Here you go, gang, I've gone and done it now. I found the next great hiding place on a 3rd Gen Truck and gave the AirDog a protected spot. I mocked up the bracket in the bed and then mounted the pump bracket upside down against the inner bed wall. This makes it a bit tricky to get the 4 Allen bolts in and tight. Then I managed to get the suction line hooked up to the modified sender straw. Then I removed and cut the filler neck hose and inserted the return tee into the filler neck hose. Clamped the tee in place in the filler neck hose. Now hooked up the return line for the AirDog. I'm going to have to redo my electrical, since I need a bit more wire to reach the pump, but I'll get it.

I crawled under Thor and using a 1/2 breaker bar and loosen the fan belt tension. I was able to hop up on the bumper and get the new idler pulley installed and tighten up. Now I'll admit the fan belt was a bit higher with the new pulley. Got it all back together.

Then I was looking at my leaking radiator. The driver side radiator header tank is cracked in the front face. I've got to look into replacing the radiator in Thor since the plastic tank is cracked. Maerk and I are looking into the idea of plastic welding the crack shut for a band-aid fix.

Bumpin' The Bumpers

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 01:38:35 +0000

I got a little bit done today with Thor. I've now got bumpers on Thor. The rear bumper is off a 2005 Dodge Hemi and fits perfect. I got it bolted up and license plate on the rear bumper. Looks good. Now the front bumper is off a 4th Gen truck doesn't quite fit right. Its a bumper and will have to do for the time being. Now the other problem is the electrical is strange but 2006 was a single year where the taillights was totally different. It's like the 2007 for all the plugs and everything works but the brake lights. Now the 2005 wiring the main plug at the fender in the front is way different. I got a another butchered tail light loom and got it for free because it was a trainwreck cut wires everywhere. I got the plugs I needed for the tail lights now start testing for signals for brakes, turn, running lights, and backup lights. Yup it all works just got to modify my loom to have the new plugs on the ends. Mark is going to chase some solder and shrink tubing so I can get this wired up.

Side note also... I went out this morning thinking I just fire up and move the truck near the shop. The batteries were near dead. Enough to light the dash but not enough to even kick the starter. Thor is sitting out front of the shop with a battery charger for the night.

Thor - Project back and running again!

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 15:21:58 +0000

I had to make a return trip and try to find the right wiring for a 2006 Dodge Ram. The weird part is that a 2005 tail light loom has different plugs than the 2006 main plug. The 2007 loom is totally different and is missing the white/tan lead for brake light, assuming that there is a turn signal stalk that cancels and supplies the brake signal down the turn signal lead like typical. Nope, Thor is different, where he has a separate tail light bulb for a brake light. Being I cannot get a 2006 loom for the tail lights at this time, I'm going to hack this up and make it work being right now the 2007 loom actually works perfectly for everything but brake lights. Since the white/tan lead is there, I can adapt the new plug that fits a sealed beam tail light. This is going to be fun too. 🤨

Hit the wall...

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:17:51 +0000

I spent some time this morning tracing out the brake light function from the cab to the taillights. Then I found out the taillight loom I got from a 2007 will NOT work. It's a single taillight setup. Problem I figured out that there are two taillights in the wiring diagram and then started looking for the white/tan lead nope. Not there. Now I'm on hold, waiting to see if the salvage yard has a 2005 wiring loom so I can get the right wiring. The project is on hold for a bit to sort out the electrical for the taillights.

Are you stopping?

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:54:09 +0000

I had other running around to do today. By the time I came back home, I only had a few hours of daylight left before the shadows of the mountain start casting on the valley floor. I managed to get the filler neck installed and managed to cut the unleaded neck out to fit the diesel fuel nozzle at a fuel station. I was getting sore from lying on the ground to deal with that, so I shifted over to dealing with the brake light issue. Now I got power past the brake light switch still not making it to the taillights, so I've got more testing with a test light to find the issue. I'm so close to having this truck running so I can deal with repairing Beast that is nearly 500k miles and having serious oil leaks around the crankshaft seals, both front and rear.

Thor - Looking more like a normal truck once again!

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 21:12:21 +0000

I managed to get alot done today on Thor. Everyone was pitching in between Mark and Suzanna. We temporarily rigged up the AirDog fuel system so I could move the entire truck outside. I've got a trick I'm going to show on Thor that I'm doing for a AirDog soon. Already got the straw done in the sender basket. Then pulled Beast up with the trailer and used the a-frame to unload the new bed for Thor. Then, Thor was fired up, rolled out the door, lifted the bed up, and carefully lowered the bed back on Thor. I've got a problem with the brake lights not working, so I've gotta chase that problem quickly. I'm very pleased with the bed and the tailgate. The tailgate has a few minor dents, and then the bed has a few extra holes but is in good condition small dents. I've got more projects to do to this truck like sealing the radiator (another trick I wanna try). I've got an idler pulley for the fan belt to install. Then a full oil change. Then I'll have a working truck to use when I'm busy fixing Beast.

What I figured out tonight just looking over wiring diagrams and quick test of power at the 26 Fuse in the TIPM and found both terminals of the fuse to be dead without power. I've got a post over on the forum...

Closer to being whole again

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 12:53:29 +0000

Yesterday, I got the electrical for the bed strung down frame. I have all new electrical running to the bedand taillights. Now I've got to get Mark to give me a hand and unload the new bed from the trailer to the frame of Thor. I'm planning on installing the AirDog 150 too. Today I've got to grab my old fuel pump I saved on the shelf and drill the straw through it and install. I've got a awesome idea of installing the AirDog in the bed side but I gotta look ar how much room I have after the filler neck is hooked up. Yeah I've got a gasser filler neck but its a 2nd Gen neck. Little work with a dremel tool I can open up that narrow unleaded to diesel sized nozzle hole.

Flash Update

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:35:45 +0000

A lot of things happened today. Actually, back up to last night, and I was making calls on getting a hold of a trailer to haul back Thor's new bed. Found a local friend I could borrow his trailer to bring the bed home. Yeah I have to use Beast one last time. Beast is leaking at both ends of the crank front and rear seals. I managed to get oil and an oil filter for Thor. Then, fresh coolant. I'm hoping to do a recrimp of the radiator here very soon. Back on track, I've got to haul down to Horseshoe Bend, ID to get the new bed. The gent that is selling the bed is a fan of the website too. Maybe I'll bring another new member to the website.

As for the Website software, a lot is going on. I'm watching over many systems and trying to adjust for the best performance of the server and get the search engine walking the site again. I've seen some serious traffic changes in the amount of bots walking the site en masse trying to catch up to the new code and reindex several pages I had changed the URL structure in. There is much more coming. Like there is a solved marker now for the forums so you can be directed to the solution of the problem without having to read an entire long forum post. Gallery area: I'm going to ask for everyone to post photos of their trucks so we can have a Truck of the Month vote and then start replacing truck photos for the different generations on the website.

Thor - The project continues

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:22:22 +0000

Yup. Thor is a running and driving truck now. I've been fighting to find a 3rd Generation bed, taillights and tailgate for Thor. Surprise, Surprise! The 3rd Generation trucks in the Boise Valley are all short bed. OMG! This is nuts. I spent over 5 miles of hiking just walking around the wrecking yards attempting to find a truck bed for Thor. Long Bed boxes are rare, and if you find one, typically the bed is completely hammered like I've got a few photos of trucks with long boxes but the truck looked as if it was put through a drier. I now realize I need to call today and find a wiring loom for Thor yet. Just made the phone call to North Verde Auto Salvage in Ontario OR. I just found my taillight loom and it will be picked up while I'm down getting the truck bed. I found another bed in way better shape and it is white in color and excellent shape. All this will be gathered on Wednesday.

With all this happening, I was wanting to bring back the classified section for the website so people can sell and look for parts they need for their trucks and vehicles. Give me some time I'll see if I can build a classified ad area most likely be built on the article database idea. Ok. I managed to toss together a database and some extra fields for other information. We now have a classified ad once again. The only thing I ask that people set a expire time no longer than 1 year. Now you can see I have a flatbed for sale and winch bumper.

One of the staff @Doubletrouble made a request for the return of the Classified Ads area. Sadly, there isn't much for 3rd party apps right now for this software. I created a database for listing your oddball parts and then even list vehicles you want to sell. This is all home brew design, so if there is something else you want me to add to this Classified ads area, I'll be glad to add the info slot.