The maiden voyage was overall a success.
My timeline for this swap was originally based on selling off some of my old "stuff" and buying what I needed to continue the project. The need for using the vehicle to move my mom back from AZ took precedence, and I spent a little more out of pocket then I intended (I'll have to reimburse myself later
). It also meant not having a few things completely finished before the trip, and a compromise on somethings just so it can be used at the time.
Here's what it looked like for our departure:
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It made the 4078 mile round trip, I'm very thankful for that! That also means, I am basically done with the swap, it's all just fine tuning a few things.
The A/C is just hot wired to a toggle switch on the dash, as is the cooling fan I picked up from a junk yard. It isn't a great fit, but it seems to do the job pretty well, just looked cobbled...
I need to address my accessory belt routing, I either have a slight misalignment, not enough belt wrap around the A/C compressor, or I need to just make the tensionor have more tension. I could tell within the first few hundred miles I had a considerable amount of black dust appearing all around the front of the engine and on the accessories. By the time we returned home, the grooves are worn very deep.
The performance was exactly what you would expect from a 1992 tuned engine. I think the speed limit on the expressways was 55/65 mph... But I pushed it right to the modern speed limits of 70 and 75 mph.
The only thing that failed on the trip, was the two carry over Dodge components. Both the TPS and Crank Sensor quit after about the first 500 miles. This meant that I no longer had Torque Converter Lock-up, and my US Shift Quick 4 went into a "limp mode."
Under these conditions, the best fuel economy I found was 19 mpg, which is 5 greater then the best I ever achieved with my 1996 454 Suburban.
We towed the Uhaul trailer back, and went on a beautiful scenic route through the Rockies climbing to 10,000 feet... and we still got 13 mpg! We were moving very slow up those inclines, sometimes 13% inclines, but it pulled right along.
While at my moms in AZ, I went looking for both the Dodge parts that had failed. The only TPS I found they wanted $280-300 for. I wasn't ready to spend that on it... figured I'd limp it home and try retrofitting some other TPS on it. The only Crank Sensor in the area was at an O'rielly's, it clearly had been bolted onto something once before, I mentioned it before walking out of the store, and even had them make note of it on my receipt. Just as I suspected... the part was not good.
I have thought about just getting the crank signal from another source, haven't tried a good sensor since we've been home...
Amazingly thought! Last night I did a google search from the TPS and found one from carparts.com for $25!
We're going to see how that works.
I have the 366 gov. spring to install, and tune up the pump, but I'd like to get the TPS and Tach working again before I tear open the pump.
Thanks for taking a look at my post, I'll update as the refinements come!
Smitty
