Ramcharger Help

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fastcorgigarage

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Ok I have tried to sign u with ramchargercentral.com for a month now and have no luck with them.

I will be asking a few questions here and there about random issues.

First issue is I have found a large connector under my dash and it is just rotted to hell. The problem is that there are not enough of the connector left to find a part number on it and my book doesn't even acknowledge it in the diagrams.

Can someone please help with either identifying it or possibly have one for sale.

Second question is that the 318 in it is absolute crap and I have a rebuilt 318 with less than 40k miles on it. The donor engine is in a 76 van. I'm wanting to do the transplant from to the other. I know there are less wires needed for the older motor, and the current harness on the truck is ate up from field rats. I'm going to use a universal wire harness. Would all of the vacuum control stuff still work and can anyone direct me to a website that sells the appropriate wire connectors to hook up the harness to the factory mopar sensors, lights, etc.
 
Hate to promote another site but Moparts has some good truck guys...
 
I would do away with all the emissions garbage on the 87 and wire it up like the older donor..
 
SleeperScamp said:
I would do away with all the emissions garbage on the 87 and wire it up like the older donor..
Click to expand...

Oh hell yes we are getting rid of all that emissions bs. I was planning on getting a 20 plus wiring harness incase I decide to add things to the truck like manual to power windows, auto door locks, extra cigarette lighters for chargers, etc.
 
If it were me, I would find another wiring harness for the ramcharger, possibly even use the one out of the van.
Ditch all the vacuum crap off the 87 motor, just keep enough to operate the heater/ac.
The only thing you need to get the ram running is what is under the hood of the 76 van, ECM box, ballast resistor etc or do a simple hei conversion on the distributor.

If it makes you feel any better I could not log on ramchargercentral a year ago.

Are you sure the 318 in the ram is that bad, most of them from that era died from electronic issues or vacuum leaks.
 
sireland67 said:
Are you sure the 318 in the ram is that bad, most of them from that era died from electronic issues or vacuum leaks.
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The motor is in horrible shape!

I replaced the head gaskets and valve cover gaskets but it still squirts oil out like a super soaker. After I let the motor run for a few minutes I can go scrape enough oil off of the yard to lube another engine.

I figure I can either rebuild the one that's in it or just swap it with a strong rebuilt one out of my daughters rat rod van that is getting a Cummins 4bt dropped in it.
 
Is it making funny noises?
Oil leak may just be a front or rear main seal.

I had an old 85 360 jeep cherokee that the rear main leaked a qt of oil every 50 miles, but the engine still ran great.
 
The oil is literally squirting from heads at an alarming rate. There are no concerning sounds coming from the motor right now. I know the rings are shot, there are a lot of vacuum line ports that have been plugged and pinched on the intake manifold, and it only took a few days for the oil to burn after doing an oil change.


I feel it is more cost efficient to do the swap and less time consuming than rebuilding the current motor.
 
I had to take a pic of this plug from the stereo din. All of the hoses connected to the connector are black and all of the other are colored. Don't ask me what color they are though (I'm color blind).
 

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I had an 86 a few years ago. Ended up having to replace the whole under hood harness. The p/o hacked the crap out of it only to put points in it. Why, is my question???
I ended up finding an 87 harness from a truck at the yard that was untouched and cut/soldered etc to make it the way I wanted it with all the factory connections. Wired in only one connection for electronic ignition and removed all the A/C wires. Pulled the underdash harness and removed all the A/C stuff and put in a non A/C box and switch to make everything look factory. Only took about a weekend.
 
Does anyone have any info for me about the 2nd question?

I need to find some original wire connectors. I'm going to be using a universal wiring harness due to doing some custom work.
 
I really don't see you needing anything different... Just get sending units for whatever your instrument cluster has ( gauges/lights)... Put the same sensors on old engine and you should be fine... As far as connectors just take your old ones to parts store to match up with new ones...
 
SleeperScamp said:
I really don't see you needing anything different... Just get sending units for whatever your instrument cluster has ( gauges/lights)... Put the same sensors on old engine and you should be fine... As far as connectors just take your old ones to parts store to match up with new ones...
Click to expand...

just drop it in, you may need to use your dist. if it has that duel pick up, other than that not much has changed.
 
no poseur said:
just drop it in, you may need to use your dist. if it has that duel pick up, other than that not much has changed.
Click to expand...

My current wiring harness is screwed. The previous owners of this truck treated it like a bastard child. The wiring harness has been chewed to hell by field mice, opossums, raccoons, etc that it would be faster to just replace the old one with a new harness.

I know that not to much has changed over the years but with me being color blind, I have a tuff time following the wires and matching up the right colors for patches.

I will label the ends and go to a older parts store like mentioned above. I know stores like autozone, o reilly, and etc suck for older parts.
 
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