1993 W350 - The Ultimate 1st Gen - Page 5 of 32

Now the head is returned ported and O ringed:

Nice porting!!!

First the head gasket goes on with rings:

Then the head is placed:

Then the ARP studs go in as do the rocker blocks and arms:

Then they get the nuts and torquing:

Then valve covers and intake:

And finished!

Looks like it did at the start!

Front doors were also reassembled. Rears would wait a bit yet as there was never a power window offered on the crew cab rear doors. I will take care of that.

Random shot I love. Think the brake lines were being worked on!

Next on the list was the 5th wheel hitch. This ended up taking many months of fabrication to get to my standards. Once of my biggest complains about 5th wheels are the rails that are in the bed regardless of if the hitch is in the bed or not. My second issue is I wanted a heavy duty hitch rated at 24K lbs. So I sourced out a hidden rail system that places the rails below the bed floor and all that is visible when the hitch is not in is four caps. Issue was, this system was not available for anything older than a 1994. So I purchased a kit for the newer truck, but would have extensive modifications to be able to get this hitch mounting system to work and retain its strength. The following pics are a condensed walk through of the modifications that were done. These pics are not all from the same time and actually cover close to two years from start to finish of the fabrication. The test fitting for this system did require the box to come on and off the truck close to 15 times. It’s fair to say friends, neighbors, and family hate me and the 400 lbs box. 😀

This is the frame rails and side plates as they came with the kit. The masking tape is the beginning of marking where the modifications have to be for it to fit the older frames. You can also see the scratch mark on the long rail as to how nigh I must cut out of the rail thanks to a frame cross member being in the way. I will therefore need to add strength back in so it is not a weak point.

Test fit before welding the braces in….looks good!

Weld it in!

Second test after welding:

Box on and off….

Now at the paint had been burn off, shaved off, etc; it went for another powder coating.

And finally all bolts in.

While working with the 5th wheel hitch, I found it interfered with my air lines. So I added 90 deg elbows to clean the hitch frame.

And with all this new power, what good is it if the rear end overheats….so a Mag Hytec diff cover was ordered and installed.

Now, with having recently found out that the truck is high mileages, it came to thought that I have one last item that is original and untouched.: The NP205 transfer case. If I am going to do it, I should do it right. So instead of dropping it out the bottom while on my back, I thought I would see how this beast would do on the hoist!

Custom made limiting straps so the airbags don’t rip apart!

And the bugger is out!

Horns were repainted:

Wiper motor in:

Next up on the list was fuel pump. I had installed the FASS just in front and inboard of the passenger rear tire. Issue is, I did not feel it was a safe spot for it in the long run. So I would relocate it to the drivers side up under the cab.

Aug 2011: As the rear windows are not perfect, I had been keeping an eye open for a clean, unscratched set. I found this set in a junk yard in way north Ontario:

Nov 2011: Well, you know what would be a fun subject to discuss? The engine! I don’t believe we have discussed that in a while. So I had this small incident with the 1990 that I ironically still had. See, with the pump adjustments I had done, plus all of the other goodies I put on it, I may have lost an unofficial uphill race with a newer 2008 6.7 Ram. We were both about 20K lbs and I had to let off as the old H1C was not providing enough air to keep the pyro below 1400. So I may have accidently umm, “borrowed” the HX35 off the crew to prevent this from happening again! I am sure you have noticed in the last few complete under hood pics that the upper is now missing. Yeah, I pirated that off the motor in the summer of 2010. Well, I finally came to the conclusion I liked the extra spunk in the daily and the crew was not going to get that back! To further this, it was still a stock HX so it really was not right anyways. So being that I liked the HX35 to HT3B ratio, I picked up another HX35 but this one was a ported PDR turbo. It arrived in a nice box.

Jan 2012: Well, remember this shot from 5 years ago? This is the fuel tank connector for the Ramcharger fuel tank. This is electrical putty squashed into the connector so that moisture stays out. Yup, nice cruddy workmanship Robert!
Time to revisit this and get a real connector. Where will I get that? Glad you asked. I will get it out of the Ramcharger. Say what? What Ramcharger? Yeah, summer of 2011 I found this for $400. No longer road worthy but very parts worthy! Pay attention for a demo on Canadian rust. 😉 This is January 2012; picking up pics are from August 2011.