1986 Dodge D150 will not run
 

I have a 1986 Dodge D150. It has a Dodge 360 out of a 77-78 motorhome that was supposedly running before it was pulled. I have an MSD distributor, coil and coil wires on it with headers.

The issue I am having is that my starter cranks, my carb is allowing the proper amount of fuel through and I am getting signs of combustion such as one cylinder going off at a time, but never anything even remotely close to starting. It will occasionally backfire through the carb.

Now here is what I have done to try to fix the situation:

- Rebuilt the carb because it was leaking massive amounts of fuel prior and the jets were so clogged that wouldn't spray.
- Small block mopar distributors only have a flat end oil pump drive so you can only be correct or 180* out. I have tried both ways without any success, one way fires the cylinders a lot better, and less backfiring through the carb. That is where I have it set to now.
- Verified that the starter is cranking and the crankshaft is rotating.
- The transmission and engine have never been separately, so that should be fine.
- I have tested spark and it seems to be fine, it is a strong blue colour when arcing against the block from a screwdriver. The only thing is that it doesn't seem to be very fast hitting each cylinder.
- No blockage in the exhaust, when it does fire a cylinder you hear through the exhaust tailpipes.

The only thing left that I can think of is the timing chain may have skipped a tooth or something timing related.

Any thoughts?

Verify top dead center on cylinder # 1 by timing mark and piston stroke, If everything is good set distributor to # 1, if it's been the the distributor it should run at this point. If the chain is off the roter will not be at number one at this point.

After all that...… Do a compression test.

Lol
 

Alright men, turns out I am an idiot.

I had the wires all off by one on the cap. Fixed that along with a few other minor things and she fires!

Now that I have it running I can get it tuned up and driving properly, but I have two last issues to deal with.

1. If anyone has a truck close to the same year, I would love to have a picture of the wiring on alternator.
2. The engine did not come with a a dipstick, nor dipstick tube. I managed to have a couple lying around, but I do not know which combination works. I put 5L of oil in and it is not registering on the dipstick so I believe this is the issue.

Would anyone be able to take measurements of both items on a similar vehicle? Has to be a truck oilpan.

For fun here is a picture of my "ingenious" throttle/kick down linkage setup.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...564be12f8b.jpg

Hey, If a Zip Tie is not involved, its not a Dodge!

I thought it was mechanics wire and twine to be a Dodge? Add duct tape if your going to race it.

Sound like it has the truck pan (Rear Sump) on it. 7Qts if i remember correctly. You just need the dip stick for the truck rear sump oil pan.
Glad you found the issue.. :)
I dont use that large of a stud. I use a 1/4-20 long screw with a few more flat washers and nut (To Jam Nut them) and and assemble the unit.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...4ca0ea5b8.jpeg
Picture of the dip stick... runs from the firewall to the radiator. I didn’t have a tape measure with no. But that should give you an idea.

This is how I do it with a 1/4-20 screw
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...c64db255a.jpeg
This is how I do it with a 1/4-20 screw

Yeah the trucks do have a rear sump and this one does as well.

I'll have to check into that. Just from the quick start ups I can hear that the valve train is a little noisy

What oil and filter did you use?

5L of 10W30.

And a framed filter, cant remember the exact number atm - but it's the larger of the two options.

I will be changing this oil/filter after I have it driving.

My suggestion would be to move over the the Wix oil filter and a 15W40 and see if that takes care of the cold start rattle. Truck pan uses 6 or 7 qts of oil, with the long filter you loose 1/2 qt out of the pan and it's added to the filter, so you need to add an extra 1/2 qt back into the pan. :)
I am also a firm believer in the additive of Liqui Moly additive to the engine. Mite be a good idea if you dont think the engine has any overly excessive wear?
https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/produc...additives.html
Just my 2 cents

Well i added another qt in and it is perfectly on the full marker now. The rattle is gone as well.

She is running with about 45lbs of oil pressure at idle after warming up.

Next task is getting to move. Shifting into reverse nor drive did not do anything. I figured the transmission fluid is low.

It also could be that the neutral safety switch is not hooked up currently, my plug broke. I am going to look into those two things today and see what happens.

Well after looking into the tranny issue it was 5L on fluid and will engage drive and reverse now. I am not sure of any more that because I havent driven it on the street yet.

Got a new plug/pigtail for the neutral safety switch from the junkyard and got it hooked up.

Next up is getting the engine to run nicely, it would not idle with the choke plate closed at all and was smoking slightly from being rich.

The timing is at roughly 14-16 degrees BTDC now and running quite well

We worked on the carb quite a bit, it is a Holley 4011 with a manual choke. We tuned it via vacuum gauge and would not do better than approximately 12hg at idle. The reason for this is because the idle mixture screws would be totally bottomed out and we couldn't go any further with them.

I am not sure if I am doing something incorrectly or if the carb has an issue. I will be looking into this tonight.

I figured out why the deal with the transmission is, it's got a leak coming from somewhere that was enough to put a 12 inch wide spot on my driveway. Might have to re-gasket it (probably end up putting a shift kit in it when this happens).

Went to start up the truck today and it really didn't start very well, the idle was much too low. Turned up 200 RPMs and it started running better, but I think this carb really might be a dog. I have a Edelbrock 1406 that I am going to get a rebuild kit for and see if we can get that one working a bit better. Worst comes to worst it doesn't work out and I sell those carbs at a swap meet and buy a new Quick Fuel.

Posting some pictures, because we know it isn't a thread without them.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...c5967ba373.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...fc1580a0a8.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/moparfo...8257645de3.jpg

I would like to get this thread moved to the build section if possible. Anyone know how to do this?

I believe that I got it done for you.
Looks like a nice place to start!

Thank you!!