1982 Dodge Rampage w/ Shelby front end & '89 2.5L Turbo-I engine

Woohoo!  That sounds great!  Even the lifters were pumped up.

Make sure you use a good synthetic oil and avoid FRAM filters if you want to ensure proper oil volume to the head.

The hex plugs never come out, even in the rust-free PNW.  I've never pulled them, just made sure the thermostat had a slight bleed hole positioned at the top and checked the cooling system several times while idling and warming up.

Its a little annoying to wait and burp the cooling system several times, but it also allows one to evaluate the drivetrain for leaks or issues before driving it around, etc.

You are damned close buddy.  Congrats!

Sorry, are you planning to drive this to the challenge? I've never given one single rat's ass if my challenge car was legal in any sense other than not stolen. I don't currently have any title whatsoever to the Rampage i want to bring. lol.

In reply to Vigo :

Yup- the plan is to drive the Rampage to the Challenge (and ideally back as well! ). I don't really have a good way to tow it there- it's possible I'd be able to use wae's tow rig, but that would only be if eastsidemav doesn't need it for his S-10 (or the Miata, if they burn the S-10 to the ground ).

Congratulations.   It's running, and that's a good thing!   It appears dealing with DMV in any State can be an exercise in futility.  The more agencies you deal with to get the end result, just muddies the water.

In reply to Stefan :

Yeah, I thought it sounded pretty good too- if not rather loud and rumbly, but with only a few feet of exhaust after the turbo and no muffler that's not wholly surprising. I doubt I'll get anything done on that tonight- I may try and do something about it tomorrow so I'm not deaf if I'm able to take it to Louisville for parts (there's a guy with a set of steel wheels & good tires for cheap I plan to get as well as wanting to hit a yard there for (hopefully) some S-body front brakes.

I'm not sure the t-stat has a bleed hole and if it does if it's on the top... and I'm not too inclined to take it apart again to see- will just have to keep checking and topping off the system. I was really hoping the hex-plug would come out since that looked like a perfect place to put the temp sender for the actual temp gauge (since the Rampage I think just has a light by default...).

The engine right now has a high-mileage synthetic-blend oil in it, hopefully that will work. Don't THINK it has a fram filter, but don't remember exactly what I got from the parts store...

So... despite my best efforts yesterday, I came to work today on my bicycle and not in the Rampage- meaning I'll need to trek down to the County Clerk's office and get a one-day pass to drive it in tomorrow since the one I have is (unsurprisingly...) just good for today.

The reason I couldn't finish and bring it in? The brake light switch on the brake pedal is broken, so the brake lights don't work- and honestly the only thing that they actually pay attention to in the 'inspection' for an out-of-state vehicle is that all the lights work. The good news? At least two parts stores in town (though- of course- none of the ones right down the street from me) have the switch in stock, so I'll be able to get it this evening/tomorrow morning.

Brake switch notwithstanding, things mostly went pretty good otherwise. The harness is now soldered and shrink-tubing sealed- and I only screwed up and had to re-do one connection (accidentally spliced the wire from the fuel pump relay to the pump into another line initially but thankfully noticed it when checking things over before powering things on). The wiring to the passenger side now looks quite good and is nicely wrapped up in a wire loom. The wiring from the bulkhead to the computer & other driver's side things is still a bit of a mess- but at least solidly connected and contained.

I was able to hook up and start the truck up using the lawn tractor battery- it fired up without any hesitation and looks like it will work quite well. I should really trim down the (or better yet, build a custom) battery tray so it's not twice the size it needs to be (this will make routing the pipes for the intercooler easier when I get to that...) and figure out a bit more.... reliable? way to connect the battery (right now I'm just using the stock battery terminal clamps, the ID of which happens to be juuuuust about the same side as the rectangular terminals on the battery- so I can wedge them on fairly tightly).

So- complete list of what I need to do this evening/tomorrow morning:

• Replace the brake light switch & confirm the lights work
• Adjust gas pedal (need to secure the throttle cable tightly- right now have only about 25% of throw it should have)
• Check trans fluid with engine running
• Air up tires and put wheels back on
• Wire up and secure boost gauge, tach, and water temp gauge (though the water temp isn't currently usable)
• Empty everything out of the bed

Soooooo close.

A few questions on things:

What should I be seeing on the boost/vac gauge when idling or revivng the engine in park? I've tried it hooked up to two different sources on the engine. First, I had it hooked up to one of the nipples on the top of the throttle body- with it hooked up there, it sat at zero on the gauge but started showing a bit of vacuum when I revved the engine up a bit. When I hooked it up to the vacuum source off the manifold above the fuel rail, with the engine idling the gauge was showing a good bit of vacuum (largely pegged the needle on the vacuum side) and didn't see a whole lot of movement on it when revving the engine. I'm guessing that it doesn't go much into boost when just revving it?

Also- since I can't get either the hex plug on the top of the t-stat housing out and also can't get the water level sensor on the back of the radiator out (both are solidly frozen in place- I was worried I'd break the radiator trying to get the sensor out...), where/how is a good way to connect up the water temp sensor so I've got a way to monitor the engine temps? At a guess the simplest way would be something like this (though ideally of the size that would fit in the heater hose lines, since I already have splices in them...)?

In reply to Ashyukun :

20-25 inches of mercury is pretty much normal for idle vacuum and you won't see any boost just flooring it in neutral, vacuum should go to zero though.

You could always use the existing sensor/sender combo or remove the small freeze plug at the driver's side of the head and add a sensor there, you may need an adapter to do that, but its where the coolant bypass mod goes that some people run to help with cooling issues on highly boosted cars.

I was planning on using similar splices for my 924 Turbo project, but I don't know how well they work yet.

In reply to Stefan :

OK, good to know. I'm guessing that the nipple on the TB is the one that was mentioned earlier as possibly being before the throttle plates and thus not really seeing vacuum- I'll leave the boost gauge (and the vacuum source for the HVAC, since they're hooked into the same tee) where it is hooked up to the source on the manifold.

I couldn't find anywhere good to hook in a sensor, so I'll probably try and get ahold of one of the adapters. Unfortunately there aren't many even on Amazon that I can get here quickly enough- it looks like the only ones that will for certain are the larger ones which I'd put on the lower rad hose. I may try putting together something with fittings from Lowe's... I think that I should be able to come up with something that would fit into the heater hose lines (thinking tee-fitting, two hose barbs to connect to the hose and an adapter to the right size for the sensor on the 'upright' of the tee).

Oh... and another thing that should be on my list to do:

Secure the ignition coil. I can't for the life of me figure out where/how it was originally mounted, but I'm going to have to come up with my own solution for it. I'd mount it against the inner fender on the pass side, but the plug wire doesn't reach that far. May have to fab something up to mount it where the AC compressor previously went.

I want to see this so bad. Good luck at the DMV. 

Typically it mounts on the passenger fender rail just forward of the motor mount.

Some have mounted it to the engine and the factory later did I believe.  The only drawback is the coils can die a little early due to vibration, but for the challenge it shouldn’t be a problem.

Add a coil and a distributor pickup to your spares collection and bring it with you just in case.

In reply to Stefan :

I have a new coil (think I need to track down a ballast resistor for it though, I've heard many aftermarket ones aren't the right resistance) and remanned distributor that aren't currently on the car or in the budget (since the original ones seem to be behaving) that I'll be bringing along with me.

Just got off the phone with the Clerk's office, and their answer to whether I needed to get another 1-day pass was about in line with my experiences with them. It boiled down to, "Yeah, you're supposed to- but most people don't even bother getting one and it's only a problem if you get stopped and if so, how anal whoever stops you feels like being." So, I'm saving myself a trip down to their office and will just risk getting pulled over (or not- I still have a valid plate I could throw on it so it would look legal and then hide under the bed mat once I get there ) tomorrow.

I used the stock bolt on the battery cable terminals to connect to the lawn tractor battery in the Neon for two seasons of rallycross.  For securing it to the battery tray, I used some 1" nylon webbing wrapped in a bicycle innertube, and and some adjustable plastic buckles.  I have no idea if the NHRA/SCCA inspection would allow it, but it worked.

In reply to eastsidemav :

I was just planning on using some hefty zip-ties...

Just did some checking, and I think I can make an adapter for the water temp sender from parts from Lowe's for about the same price as ordering one from Amazon.

In reply to Ashyukun :

It is way way worse to have the wrong plate on the car than none at all.

My clerk and sheriff always told me that the one and only time it was legal to drive without a plate was when you were driving directly to the courthouse for inspection.  They've also always been very willing to give me a 30 day temp tag if I've presented then with sketchy paperwork to give me time to sort it out.

CRAAAAP

Earlier this week I did a quick check of the u-pull-it lots in the nearby cities (we don't, to my knowledge, really have one here local...) and had found that one in Louisville had an '89 Voyager, which is one of the vans that I can pull the larger front brakes & hardware from to upgrade the Rampage's stopping power.

I went to check something else today and pulled up the list- and they don't have it listed any longer.

There is a '90 Caravan up at one of the Cinci yards- but there's a really cheap set of wheels with good tires that I had planned to swing by near Louisville to pick up on my way to/from the yard there.

So, going through and working on the budget spreadsheet, assuming I use the new struts & shocks and am able to install the intercooler, I still have over $400 left in my budget (a bit over $300 if I do end up needing to use the new axles).

Assuming I'm able to hunt down an S-body and grab the front brakes and get a larger master cylinder, that will still only eat up about $50 more. I don't think there's a lot more I can really get/do on short notice though- I will be looking for an S-10 rear sway bar while I'm in the junkyards, though I'm not sure I'll be able to make that work. Exhaust (likely grabbed from the junkyard as well) added and all of that should add up to no more than another $100- meaning worst-case (meaning I spend all of that), I've got $200 left.

That would be plenty of money to take care of making the Rampage actually look good- but I seriously doubt I'm going to have the time to make that happen.

EDIT: One thing I will be trying to do this weekend as well is to fabricate up a front strut bar- I have a number of ones from other cars I pulled from the junkyards (and will be looking when I'm in one this weekend as well) that I'm sure I can piece together to make one to work for the Rampage. Not sure if the rear really needs one or not...

Don't spend on the brakes.  Historically, the autox course is pretty wide open which tends to favor the bigger and fatter V8 cars or nose-heavy engine swaps.  If I has spare cash, I would spend it on used drag tires.  The dream scenario would be to have wide drag tires on the front and some 13" 80 series, narrow tires on the back during the drags and 4 different rims with sticky meats for the autox.  

Stock brakes will work. The Rampage isn't heavy enough to cook them during an AX. You do need functional pads, good lines, and fresh fluid. At this point I'd focus on making sure it runs, drives, and has decent rubber on it. Anything else will be incremental at best.

I'm cheering for you by the way. Reading along daily cursing the fact that my turbo dodge stuff went away a couple of years ago.

In reply to John Welsh :

I can find drag tires in my price range... especially if I use them as my free tires and the r-comps I should be getting go in my budget, I just don’t know about finding wheels for them. Could I run spare tires/wheels on the rear? How does drag tire sizing work anyway?

if all goes well tomorrow I’ll be able to take the Rampage to the junkyard in search of exhaust parts, a S-10 rear bar, and to pick up wheels & tires to actually drive down on...

I do keep forgetting that I’ll have most of two full days since I’m taking tomorrow off. If everything works well initially, I may make a go at doing some prep and trying to get it at least one consistent color...

If you're tight on budget then run two of your autocross tires on the rear. 

So, didn't get anything done last night besides picking up a new brake light switch and a muffler tip I hoped would fit over the end of the downpipe.

Got into things this morning- and found that the brake light switch wasn't the problem after all- it was that something else on the same fuse as the brakes (which was a LOOOOT of stuff- almost none of which I actually care about...) was shorting out and blowing the fuses as quickly as I could replace them. Easy fix- fork everything else and just directly hook up the brakes. The only thing on the circuit that I could use are the cigarette lighters/power outlets- and I can wire those up directly.

So, at the moment the truck is back on the ground and it's moved a few feet each direction under its own power. I'm just waiting for SWMBO to head out in about 10 minutes so I don't have to worry about moving her car (and so I can eat something) and I'll take the Rampage out for a quick run around the neighborhood to see how everything is working. If it does well around the block, I'll take it to the parts store- I need another bottle of trans fluid, and once that's taken care of if it behaves I'll be heading down to the Clerk's office to try and get it registered and licensed....

Are you back yet?

Did it work?

ermagawd.  Suspense!

It's been 3 hours. And I thought Florida DMVs were bad.