1st Diesel - 1st Post

[67Mopar]

Howdy,
Just wanted to post up and introduce myself here.
I'm not a stranger to Mopars by any stretch, but this is my first Diesel pickup, so it's all sort'a new to me in that respect.... so without further ado, lets just get to it eh.

My trucks name is Montana, and he's a 1990 W250 with just over 129K on the Odometer. 100% Rust Free original with (1) previous owner.
5.9L 12 Valve Cummins Diesel
Stock 3.07 Gears (open Diff) - 727 and a Gear Vendors Overdrive.
Exhaust system recently replaced with a 4" straight pipe (4" Muffler still sitting New in the box, I may install it later).

Near as I can tell, the power plant has not been tampered with in any fashion... it looks to be bone stock (no updates or upgrades of any kind), but I haven't dug into it to deeply just yet.

I need to check the Valve Lash since I have no idea if it has ever been done. Then there is the KDP issue... again, I have no idea what the previous owner may or may not have done, so that's right at the top of my list of things to check. Near as I can tell, the previous owner took a good deal of pride in his truck and took very good care of it, so I'm hoping for the best.

Well, I guess thats enough for now.
Good to be here! Really looking forward to talking with folks here, getting advice, maybe picking up a few pointers.

Mike

 

[7mopar]

Look almost like new. Welcome

 

[99Ram]

Welcome nice looking truck

 

[LocuMob]

Hello from Minnesota. Very clean truck!

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Welcome from PA! Love the truck!

 

[67Mopar]

Hi Folks,

Thank You very much for the Warm Welcome, much appreciated!

Mike

 

[kiwigtx]

Welcome to FTO

 

[65 sporty]

Welcome from the Mitten, that is a clean truck for a 1990, previous owner must have keep it inside, warn and dry during the winter.

 

[67Mopar]

Wow... I've been so busy I forgot I started this thread.
Well, I can tell you that I have made a lot of changes and improvements to Montana since I last posted up here. I guess it's time to start playing catch up!

 

[67Mopar]

May as well start at the beginning...
The first thing I did was swap out the original turbine housing for BD 16mm Non-Wastegated Turbine Housing. I also installed an EGT gage probe in the exhaust manifold.
By itself, this made for a modest improvement in performance, but nothing to get all excited about.

 

[67Mopar]

Next I installed a headlight relay system in the truck... that made a big difference there. The original lights were plenty bright before, but now they were brighter still.

That same morning I laid out some timing marks on the damper, in preparation for another job...replacing the original valve springs with slightly stronger ones, and replacing the stem seals while I'm there of course. Once that's done I'll do the valve lash adjustments.
I made (1) Bright Orange dot for TDC on cylinders 1 & 6, and (2) Bright Yellow dots spaced 120 degrees apart for the remaining cylinders.

I also noted that the wire for the KSB valve was just dangling there. It was on the post, but it was literally just sitting on there doing nothing... The terminal was corroded and gone, just an empty plastic housing with a wire stuck in it. I cut it off, put a new end on it, and attached it proper... now I know it has power.

 

[67Mopar]

After that I added a set of side steps to the truck. My Wife has trouble getting in on the passenger side so... happy wife, happy life... At least that's what they keep telling you.

 

[67Mopar]

Then I installed a simple machine Tach in the dash. The kind you might find on a lathe or a milling machine. Accurate and very inexpensive.
I removed the Cargo Light Switch from it's location on the right hand side of the steering column, and put the Tach there in it's place. Then I relocated the Cargo Light Switch over to the left hand side of the steering column next to the Headlight Switch.

 

[67Mopar]

Next it was time for some new rubber.
The tires that were on the truck still had some miles left on them, but one of tires had a defective sidewall. Needless to say, it wasn't a great deal of fun on the highway, so I had a set of 4 new tires mounted and balanced. Glides down the highway on owls wings now.

Falken Wildpeak A/T 3W

 

[67Mopar]

Not soon after that, I noticed some moisture coming from underneath the rubber floor mat on the drivers side of the truck. I popped the 4 screws for the sill plate, and lifted the mat. Sure enough, the Jute Padding under the mat was soaking wet, and beneath that was a good deal of rust. I still had to locate the source of the leak, but I assumed it was coming in somewhere at the cowling, since it's only on the drivers side.
Either way... I pulled the bench seat, and all of the matting out that morning, so I could get to the flooring underneath. The passenger side looked like it just rolled off the assembly line, but the drivers side was pretty rough. I knocked off all the loose stuff with a coarse wire wheel on a 4.5" angle grinder. After that I cleaned it up and hit it with a good heavy coat of Rust Bullet. The next day I added a couple of more coats of Rust Bullet just to lock it in good and strong. I'll never have to worry about it again now... but I did still have to locate and repair the source of the leak however, before putting it all back together.

Floor pan after first coat of Rust Bullet

Floor pan after the third coat of Rust Bullet

 

[67Mopar]

I did the flood test to find the source of the leak, and the only sign of leakage was the vent opening behind the Kick Panel... it poured right in..., so that was it!
So I put a temp fix on that kick panel vent leak. I cut a piece of thin Plexiglas that I had laying around and stuck it over the hole. I mounted it there with 100% Silicone RTV, so it's good to go until such time, if any, that I decide to go back in and reengineer the vent so I can use it again.

 

[67Mopar]

I also did a little sound dampening while I had everything in the cab out and the floor exposed. I picked up a cheap kit of 80 Mil pads that said it was large enough to cover the floor of the truck, and they were right. I still had half a box of material left over when I got done with the floor... so I did the back wall too. I still have enough material to do the roof, so maybe I'll tackle that at a later date.... but for now it was time to just put everything back together again so I could drive it again.
Big difference though, I can tell ya that! The floor pan and the back wall no longer sound like big kettle drums when you hit them. It more of a thud now, which is a good thing.

 

[67Mopar]

Next I gave Montana two black eyes...

I was working on another project that involved some Satin Black paint, so I figured why not. A quick masking with some painters tape, and voila!
I dropped in a set of cheap LED headlights as well.

 

[67Mopar]

Next I installed some Power Windows! I also cleaned up the gutters at the bottom inside of the doors while I had them open, and put down a good heavy coat of Rust Bullet as preventive medicine. I also added a little sound dampening material to the doors.

It was just a cheap $55 kit from Amazon, but it was well rated, so I figured why not give it a try. It works great now, but we'll have to wait and see how well it holds up over the long haul. Still working like new at the moment.

 

[67Mopar]

Next I changed out the old tired lamps in the dash with some new Green LED style lamps. The old ones made it really hard to see... they worked, but that's about all you could say for them. I like the new green lights because they work better with the rest of the instrument lighting. It actually looks more stock now, like they should have always been there.