Requesting input on my '91 3/4 ton Dodge

[BLUE68RT4ME]

I bought a 3/4 ton Dodge early this spring for about $1200.  Its a 4wd and the price was right, I needed something for hunting back in South Dakota and working around my mom's place out there when she needs stuff done.  Plus, I needed something - looking towards the future - to pull the Charger around after my resto is done.

It's got about 190K miles on it (pretty sure it's the second 360 it's had), but the front end was just refitted with new bushings and such, the axels are nearly bullet proof, and the body had no rust on it.  It came from a mine in WY my friend figured.

Anyway, it's sporting 410 gears and its a 4speed.  1st gear in these tranny's could move more weight than Al Gore's private jet.  It's a granny for sure.  I was wondering if there's another tranny that has a 1st gear that isn't quite so deep that I could swap out and still hook up with the x-fer case?  Any ideas?  My syncronizer between 2nd and 3rd must be shot because I can't downshift without grinding between the two so I need to address the tranny anyway.

Also, I know these 360's are worthless to try and get more power out of unless you replace the restrictive heads and such.  It seems old school 360 heads won't fit these if I've read correctly.  What do I need to look for to find a head that would be considered an upgrade for these types of 360's?  (aftermarket or from other engines)

Also, my brother-in-law told me his late 80's Dodge had the same problem but I have the flickering oil light at idle.  He said he put a pressure gauge on rather than the stock guage and his ran good pressure.  Mine, though, seems to drop off at idle after it warms up.  It's got 5w-30 in it right now but I'm changing the oil this weekend when I'm back.  I'm going to use AMSOil engine flush to clean everything out of it and then go with Rotella-T 15W-whatever instead.  I figured that would clean out any gunk and with the thicker oil, raise my pressure a lot.  Any thoughts in regards to this?

Thanks in advance to any and all for your feedback!

Mark

[Lowprofile]

Try this site bro.  Lots of good stuff going on!

  http://ramchargercentral.com/

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

A) The 360 in 91 was the BEST of the bunch, without the emission stuff on it.  It had highest flow, swirl port heads and was the best of any mopar small block minus aftermarket and basically T/A heads.  They are a great upgrade to any Small Block mopar.  They are almost as good as the T/A 340 heads, and just a step below magnum heads.  The 360 is easy to upgrade and can produce good power, as long as you get rid of the TBI.  Or keep the TBI, get it working right and that would be good, just won't have the same power.

A friend of mine has a 360 in his 92 Ram out here and is kicking out almost 450 HP, but ditched the TBI, went with a nice 4-bbl, headers, etc....

B) You probably just need a new oil pressure switch.  Mine on my 93 RamCharger (same instrument cluster) had the same issue, cleaned the ground and put on a new sender and no problems.

C) Why put thicker oil in, especially before winter?  If you clean out too much junk, it could clog up the oil pickup screen and cause you REAL headaches.  Do a standard oil change with a good filter and good oil.  Like Napa Gold or Wix filter, with Amsoil 10w-30 or such.

My 93 RamCharger, rotted to hell, beat up, been in accidents, run through everything, pulled my Challenger and others cars.  205,000 miles and still runs great and drives ok.

Ryan

[BLUE68RT4ME]

A) The 360 in 91 was the BEST of the bunch, without the emission stuff on it.  It had highest flow, swirl port heads and was the best of any mopar small block minus aftermarket and basically T/A heads.  They are a great upgrade to any Small Block mopar.  They are almost as good as the T/A 340 heads, and just a step below magnum heads.  The 360 is easy to upgrade and can produce good power, as long as you get rid of the TBI.  Or keep the TBI, get it working right and that would be good, just won't have the same power.

A friend of mine has a 360 in his 92 Ram out here and is kicking out almost 450 HP, but ditched the TBI, went with a nice 4-bbl, headers, etc....

Did I read correctly, are there two types of intake systems on the '91's?  I'm ashamed to say I've not looked closely at it yet.  It stays at my mom's right now, 200 miles away.  If it is the TBI, are 360 intakes pretty standard across the board in regards to fitment?  That would be great, I know intakes aren't that difficult to find generally, I just feared the newer ones may have changed port positioning and mounting locations.

B) You probably just need a new oil pressure switch.  Mine on my 93 RamCharger (same instrument cluster) had the same issue, cleaned the ground and put on a new sender and no problems.

So, the issue is a connectivity issue made worse by added resistance with the block warming up?  I guess I will replace that then.  Wouldn't hurt anyway, seeing the actual pressure rather than something with no numbers at all.

C) Why put thicker oil in, especially before winter?  If you clean out too much junk, it could clog up the oil pickup screen and cause you REAL headaches.  Do a standard oil change with a good filter and good oil.  Like Napa Gold or Wix filter, with Amsoil 10w-30 or such.

My 93 RamCharger, rotted to hell, beat up, been in accidents, run through everything, pulled my Challenger and others cars.  205,000 miles and still runs great and drives ok.

I was going to put AMSOil in it, but noticed an oil leak.  I believe the rear main has a slow drip.  I don't drive it often, and once hunting is over it will sit unless mom has an emergency or my car breaks down for some odd reason.  Anyway, I didn't think I wanted to invest that much in oil because I'll lose a quart by the next time I get back to drive it again. 

Ryan, you've been a lot of help.  If it is as you say, I may just have to rebuild this engine down the road.  It's straight, build like a brick ****house, and I can get a little more power out of it then it all looks good.  I just need to investigate my transmition options a little more.

Hope you're having a great day Ryan!  Thanks so much for your input!    Hope you don't mind if I call on you again! 

[GPULLER]

I would suggest leaving the trans alone and not replacing it with one with a higher first gear.  I have a '90 W150 with a 318 and 4 spd with the granny low (which is for sale by the way).  I if your gonna be using the truck for hunting and odd jobs its nice to have the low gear, I used it all the time.  Driving around town you never use 1st just start in 2nd, mine has 3:91 gears.  Downshifting from 3rd to 2nd was somewhat a problem with mine also, and I bought it in '94 when it had 40,000, it has 230,000 on it now.  Its been a good truck.
'91 is the last year of the LA 318-360, in '92 is when the Magnums came out.  Your 360 would use the same intake as the older 360's.

Anybody looking for a cheap 4WD pickup let me know, need to get rid of the '90.  I have WAY too many pickups!  '02 Dakota Quad Cab, '98 2500 QC/SB Cummins, '90 W150, and '74 W300 Dually w/383 4spd (project).

Reed

[TheAutoArchaeologist]

As was said before up until 92 on the 360, all 360 intakes will work.  ANY 360 intake will work up to 92.  After 92 it was the 360 Magnum, which has a unique intake.

When swapping over to a Non-TBI intake, you'll have to rewire a few things, change a few things, etc... but if you don't have someplace that watches emissions.  Go for it, lots of good information on www.ramchargercentral.com

It could be the sender, that's what it was for me, and the ground had gone bad.  It could be the gauge is going bad as well.  It happens.  But I would rather trying fixing the gauge before throwing a new gauge in there.  But that's me.

When that rear main seal goes, that's when the real trouble begins.  If it is going, then yeah, use the cheap stuff.  A little thicker is ok.

I think your transmission should be a A518.  Put in a transgo shift kit and you are set.  If it is a A518, there should be a button on the dash, to the right of the gauges that has "Overdrive On/Off" and is orange.

I know a little bit about our trucks being bricks.



Ryan