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Mopar1973Man Custom Vehicles

Beast

Nearly 10 years of service! Passenger side failed - Morimoto D2S HIDs

During my trip to Lewiston, Idaho, the passenger side headlight failed. I assume the bulb was blown. I attempted to get a replacement bulb in town. Not possible. We stayed to daylight travel to get home. I returned home and ordered a set of 55w ballast and 55w D2H bulbs as a set. As I was disconnecting wires, the passenger side power plug from the MotoControl had burned one of the power pins. I had to contact RetroShop to order the new MotoControl. I've just needed a good weather day to get th
Beast

On the road.

Wife and I took the RV and headed to Lewiston Idaho for shopping and a bit of down time. Ive had my first problem on my trip my passenger headlight finally blew the bulb. Come to find out Lewiston doesnt even have and D2H bulbs for HID headlights. Im going to order new ballast and bulbs for Beast from Amazon. https://a.co/d/0hjxRZNE Upgrading from 35w ballast to 55w ballast and changing from 5000k to 6000k bulbs. Finding a bulb with the right connector is tough.
Beast

Lewiston Idaho

After many little mistakes like me forgetting my ostomy supplies. Trip home. Then back to camp. The last blog was easy 48 miles. We left Whitebird Idaho and got into Lewiston Idaho. Climbing grades like Whitebird Grade 7%. Oil temperature barely touched 180°F even though EGTs 1,100 to 1,350°F as my set limit but touched 1,400°F once. Enging coolant stay 205 to 215°F most of the climb. As we can down grade the oil temp cooled of back to 172°F. Beast is doing good but tripped a P0341 but the light
Beast

Beast is falling apart!

Beast is falling apart completely. The plastics are failing left and right. I've got to pull the dash apart to fix a speaker problem. @Tweety Bird telling me just order the plastics and get them coming. I placed an order through LMC truck for the new plastics for the dash, and then found a smaller part supplier that has the rear quad door cables for a pair at $30. Cheap! Yesterday I was out and had enough dry weather to install the rear speakers and then move the rear camera to the rear bumper

Thor - Back in the system

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

Thor is getting battery terminals, and more info!

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 p
Beast

Beast gets a new radiator!

Finally, I'm getting back to doing things with the trucks. Beast has been rolling on a blown radiator for 2 years with a 200℉ with zero pressure. Yeah, I bought time (too much) and just clipped off the vacuum breaker part of the radiator cap. Now I'm getting the radiator installed in Beast and have a 16 PSI pressure once again. First off I gotta show off my mini shop for now so I can keep our vehicles in working order. It's tiny but its dry space somewhat. We are still sorting out stuff and get
Thor

Fuel pressure!

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. Toda
Beast

Whoa! Rear brakes are rusted.

Yeah, I just got done doing brakes on Beast. Both rear brake calipers had rusted pistons that were so jammed that I couldn't seat them. @Tweety Bird was telling me just get it repaired, we need the trucks to function properly. I most likely got a little tear in the rubber boots, and the road salt finally ate the calipers up before the pads were even worn out on the passenger side. The driver's side rear pads were nearly gone due to the rusted pistons. In my position, without a shop, it makes it
Thor

Thor might be fixed?

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 bend
Beast

Shade tree mechanic back at it

Both @Tweety Bird and I gotta have a break from all this. I had to deal with rusted slide pins on the calipers front and rear axle. We managed to find enough of my tools to at least do a simple repair. Suzanna has been busy packing the RV so we can go take a break camping locally. I'm kind of amazed. Got the front brakes done with slide pins. Both side you had to beat the pins out of the boots. The last time I did brakes at 350k miles till now with 497k miles and rolling. Finished this project
Thor

Seats, trailer taillights and even electric brakes!

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 ba
Thor

Thor dumped its fuel tank in a mere 2 miles

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 c
Thor

Clean Up Day and some Seat Repair

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
Thor

Nampa, ID here we come!

@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
Thor

Thor becoming part of the family

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
Thor

Thor is on the road!

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
Beast

Long Nap for Beast

Beast, is nearing 500k miles on the odometer. I'm doing the smart thing at this time and parking Beast back in the garage for a long nap. I need to do both a front and rear crank seal on Beast. Beast needs to be parked and left in storage for the time being. I want to be out and building new tunes for Beast. Thor is going to take the lead at this time. This will allow me the time to fix Beast properly. Beast final project was the chasing the truck bed and tailgate.
Thor

The Stealth AirDog on a 3rd Gen

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
Thor

Bumpin' The Bumpers

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
Thor

Thor - Project back and running again!

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
Thor

Hit the wall...

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 elect

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