82 stepside. Thoughts and crazy ideas

[KirsL]

Ah, time for an update. The last 8 months have been crazy. Work has been slammed since early spring and hasn’t let up. Which is good as it lets me buy parts as needed.

A whole list of things have happened and been done.

So first the oil pressure issue is not an issue. I made a “T” off of the oil pressure port from the stock position. So stock gauge and the same cheapy mechanical gauge. Results, 60lbs at cold idle. 10lbs hot idle. That’s with the oil at 170~180 degrees. Pressure goes up to 30~40 range when cruising. So pressure is good.

Turbo issue. The hx40 ended up having a 19cm2 housing not the 16 that I thought it had. Since finding a 14 for a hx40 was looking like it would be an expensive avenue. I took another route. Andy (@AugustDiesel) happened to pick up a lot of 4 hx35s. A few texts and calls and a gently used hx35 with a 14 housing was on its way to me. It required making some adjustments to the down pipe. But the cost was still way under parts for the hx40. The verdict, it works great and the truck runs very good with it. The 40 will probably find a home on the low compression motor when I get to building that one. For now it sits in a box waiting for that day.

The fuel system. So I pretty much ended replacing all of it. New tank, new lift pump, new lines and a new pressure gauge. The gauge I had was being affected by the heat in the engine compartment, causing a host of false readings. New gauge has a little port to adjust the internal pressure so you get a good reading.

I made up a quick little bracket out of stainless to hold the gauge in place. Bolts on the firewall where the stock water separater used to mount. The old stock lines were rusting so a replacement was in order. Well the lift pump I bought came with all new lines.


A fass unit that’s actually for a first generation duramax. Price, not cheap. Peace of mind, priceless. This will feed a dead constant 10psi and be stupid quiet will doing it. I also replaced the plastic tank I had as it constantly leaked around the sending unit. So a new metal one from Summit filled the void.

More to come.

 

[KirsL]

The fuel system is all good for now. I went with a new saddle tank simply because it was the fastest way to get the truck back on the road. The idea/plan for a k5 tank install is around, just on the back burner for right now.

So trans lockup working, check. Fuel system good, check. Oil pressure issue solved, check. Turbo issue solved, check.
Start driving it again. I drove from early June to mid July with no a/c. Which is really sad since I know how to fix it since my dad is an hvac tech.

I’ll start by saying r4 compressors suck. The one on the truck was barely two years old and the shaft seal failed. A new compressor, drier, condenser(old one was found to be oil logged) , replaced a hard line or two. A fresh charge and boom, cold air.


So nice being able to not sweat like crazy in the middle of summer in my truck once again. And now that cooler weather is coming, having defrost is gonna be oh so nice too. I will say having bare painted steel floors allow for a ton of heat transfer into the cab. But it’s way better then nothing.

From this point spent the next two months just driving back and forth to work. On 12 year old Procomp extreme AT tires . That was something that had to be addressed sooner then later and of course they don’t make the same tire anymore. So a couple weeks ago I bought some Cooper discoverer sst in 315-70r17 fashion. I haven’t gone in the dirt with them yet but street manners have been very good so far. They’ve been good in th rain too.


And showing off my quick and dirty spare tire mount. A simple bracket bolted to the rail over the bedside. It’ll do for now.

 

[AugustDiesel]

That’s a lot of good work done over the summer. Glad to see you driving it around regularly finally.

 

[folkenheath]

Nice update, nice new tires too!

 

[Truckman4life]

I was wondering what was going on with this after seeing your posts using it. I love the STT Pro. Made in the USA too.

 

[KirsL]

I was wondering what was going on with this after seeing your posts using it. I love the STT Pro. Made in the USA too.

Work has been non-stop. Which is great. Plus my Dodge is still down but I have the damaged harness pulled so I can get that fixed.
Yep, USA made and they’ve been great so far. They probably hum a little bit but between the diesel and wind noise. You don’t hear them at all . We did a 120 mile round trip the other weekend with the truck. A/c on and cruised at 75. Went dead straight down the road. I can’t complain one bit.

 

[KirsL]

Outside of maintenance I’m not planning to do to much else to the truck this. Except the fuel tank. Having just the one saddle tank, a 16, kinda sucks. Yeah the truck will go a week to work on 11 gallons average. I drive around 200-225 miles a week. So mpgs are good. But obviously capacity is lacking.
Now of course a k5 has been discussed and I’ve strongly considered it. But with the truck currently being my daily. I can’t have it down for fab work. Oh and the currently used saddle tank will stay and will stay the one the engine draws from. The k5 would get setup almost how the newer cab and chassis truck do. Where fuel is transferred from one tank to another. Cutting out the need for those expensive valves I found last year. A basic little lift pump would suffice to move fuel to the main tank.

Here’s were I’m questioning doing this now. It would require a new receiver hitch. I made the one on the truck years ago. And I’m not quite sure how easy the filler neck will route since I have a stepside. The edge of the rear fender is like right in line with where the filler would come out. The exhaust tailpipe would need to be adjusted/changed for clearance too.

Is it doable, absolutely. Do I have time and energy with needing to fix my Dodge, eh not really.

The other option going through my head. Just throw another saddle tank up in the empty side and run a duel tank draw setup. Basically pull from both tanks at the same time. That’s definitely the quickest and cheapest way to go.

Pondering which route to go.

 

[KirsL]

Oh and this is mostly to go on some longer weekend drives with out worrying how much fuel I have. Cause while the fuel gauge works. It’s not the most accurate

 

[Truckman4life]

Any way to just add a small transfer tank in the bed? Possibly a removable one if needed. I want to add a transfer tank to my powerstroke when I build a flatbed some day and was just thinking this weekend I could set mine up with a stock 7.3L lift pump to transfer to my main tank that way if my fuel pump ever failed I could steal that one.
I would totally do the saddle tank t'd to the main tank if possible though. I always wondered if a bottom mount T would hang to low though. Like what the older semis had. You could even T the filler so both tanks fill off one side.

 

[KirsL]

The bed is kinda crowded with a toolbox and now the spare tire.

If I go with the saddle tank the fuel supply and return would be “T”ed so no extra pump needed. It’s definitely a simpler setup.

As for fueling both saddle tanks. Well I have a plan for that too.

 

[campfire]

The bed is kinda crowded with a toolbox and now the spare tire.

If I go with the saddle tank the fuel supply and return would be “T”ed so no extra pump needed. It’s definitely a simpler setup.

As for fueling both saddle tanks. Well I have a plan for that too.

I'd go with the second saddle tank. You already have the void there. Why not use it? Rear gas tanks aren't great offroad, and it shouldn't matter onroad. So why mess with it?

 

[KirsL]

Pretty much the direction I’m leaning towards for right now.

A new tank, old was leaking, some hose and done.

I can always do the k5 setup when I finally do the restoration on the truck. But I need to buy a house before that happens.

 

[campfire]

Pretty much the direction I’m leaning towards for right now.

A new tank, old was leaking, some hose and done.

I can always do the k5 setup when I finally do the restoration on the truck. But I need to buy a house before that happens.

What is the benefit of the K5 tank?

 

[6872xtc]

What is the benefit of the K5 tank?

Depending on the terrain, the saddle tanks are vulnerable to damage. So far, (knock on my hard head) I haven't hit my tank in my '90 Jimmy. I do try to be mindful of it however. Wheelbase could possibly also make a difference with the saddle tanks.
One advantage of the K5 tank is the capacity with only one filler.

 

[campfire]

Depending on the terrain, the saddle tanks are vulnerable to damage. So far, (knock on my hard head) I haven't hit my tank in my '90 Jimmy. I do try to be mindful of it however. Wheelbase could possibly also make a difference with the saddle tanks.
One advantage of the K5 tank is the capacity with only one filler.

Comparing my LWB pickup to my Suburban (same body length, and similar wheelbases), I would much prefer the saddle tanks offroad. That rear tank comes closer to scraping than my saddle tanks ever did. But both of those are significantly longer wheelbase than what he's running.

I suppose you could put the tank behind the seat, if you want the truly unhittable tank option.

 

[6872xtc]

Comparing my LWB pickup to my Suburban (same body length, and similar wheelbases), I would much prefer the saddle tanks offroad. That rear tank comes closer to scraping than my saddle tanks ever did. But both of those are significantly longer wheelbase than what he's running.

Like I said, it makes a difference on terrain. I have a dent in the front of the rear wheel opening of my '90, drug the front, rear spring hanger. Haven't touched the tank skid.. yet..
It's on 37s, been playing in Colorado and Moab, Utah.

 

[KirsL]

One big tank Vs 2 smaller tanks. Range would be the same but the system would be simpler overall. Time will tell if I make the swap or not.

As for clearance while off-road, I’m sure either setup will suit me just fine. I’m not building a rock-crawler. Just a rig that can do some mild to moderate trails on weekend trips. I’ll build a purpose built rig if I ever plan to get really crazy.



I’ll get the parts ordered in the next few days and be done with this portion of the project.

 

[KirsL]

Ordered a new saddle tank for the other side. Plus a couple fittings to “Y” the tanks together. Few hundred bucks and it’ll be good to go on longer trips.

Plus maybe my fuel gauge isn’t that far off. Ran the truck kinda low. Gauge was reading the dash mark just above E, took 13.5 gallons out of 16 .

 

[KirsL]

Parts came in for the second fuel tank. So that’ll be this weekends project.

Side track to my dodge.

The section of wire next to the screwdriver is the area that hugs the front of the cylinder head. The wires are stupid stiff and basically glued together from the heat.
That’s the worse spot of the area in question. The rest of the wiring seems ok as it’s still flexible like it should be. So the plan now is to take it to my buddy who has an employee who loves fixing electrical issues. I’m very hopeful that he can fix this issue.

 

[KirsL]

The other weekend finally had a chance to go back out with the truck. The new tires did just fine in the sand we have around here. That was at street pressure too, around 35psi.


He took his 4 year old daughter in the rig for the drive back to the trailer. Obviously he went slow but she actually dosed off.


Yesterday I got the driver side fuel tank installed and plumbed.

I used a pair of Y blocks so it’ll pull from both tanks at the same time. I still have the switch in the dash to switch between tanks which will let me verify both are dropping at the same rate.

I do have a plan to be able to fuel both tanks from one side. But for now I’ll deal with having the fillers hose in the stock positions.