Ram Jet 350 to H55 install-73 FJ40

[DomSmith]

Once all the primary wires were hooked up the ground wires were next. There are 3 ground wires all pretty close together on the harness. The instructions are pretty adamant about placing each of the 3 grounds in seperate locations. With the limited range of the wiring I was glad to find that I could place two on the rear of the head on the passengers side and the other on the drivers side. It was at this time that I realized how important it was for me to have left room to get to the rear of the heads. I used short bolts and threaded them into the heads attaching the ground wires.

Now that the wiring harness was installed all that needed to be done for the electrical was to re-attach the battery cables but since they were still removed from the engine compartment that would have to wait. I still had to plumb all the cooling system hoses, add coolant, oil, and tranny/transfer oil, plumb the fuel lines, attach the vacuum lines, remove the distributor and prime the motor with oil, install the plug wires, and wire up the batteries and starter. Then I could fire it up and see if it would run.

 

[DomSmith]

Next I started on the rest of the fuel system. I ordered a fuel gauge and adapter from my local speed shop, found some high pressure fuel hose (5/16 and 3/8) and some fuel injection hose clamps along with a -6 AN 90 degree elbow for the fuel pressure regulator. I decided this would give me some flexibility in placing the gauge where I liked, plus I decided to use the 5/16 line so it would match the OEM hardlines that ran through the frame up to the engine compartment. This was also the size (5/16) of the built in fitting on the output side of the MSD fuel pump.

I also removed the fuel pressure regulator from the rear of the drivers side fuel rail so I could easily fit the 90 degree fitting. The picture shows the vacuum fitting near the top (that goes to the Plenum) and the flow of the fuel to the return line.

 

[DomSmith]

A few things became quite aparent once I got started on plumbing this up. The 5/16 hose was not going to fit the -6 AN (3/8) fitting, the gauge adapter was also 3/8 and was not going to fit the 5/16 hose. In my infinite wisdom I decided I HAD to use the OEM hard lines therefore I had to make this stuff work. I decided to "take a little off" each of the fittings at their high points. A little grinding here, a little smoothing there and I was in business. I pushed and pushed and pushed and twisted until everything was in place. I tightened down the FI clamps and everything looked great. (STAY TUNED FOR WHY THIS DIDN'T WORK).

 

[DomSmith]

After having my fuel lines all figured out (so I thought) I decided to prime the motor with oil. First I installed a Lokar stainless braided oil dipstick (Lokar#ED-5009) with a small amount of grey RTV. Then added oil and removed the spark plugs. I then removed the distributor cap, lined up the timing mark at the TDC mark on the crank and marked on the firewall where the rotor was pointing before pulling the distributor...

 

[DomSmith]

The Ram Jet installation instructions call for an engine priming tool, but I decided to pull an old HEI distributor apart and use that shaft attached to a drill to get the job done. Once the distributor was out I convinced my brother to stop by and give me a hand to prime the motor. He ran the drill on slow speed with the shaft in the oil pump slot while I turned the motor at the crank. We did this for about 4 minutes until I was certain that the motor was well primed...

 

[UNO_RACING]

Any updates?

 

[DomSmith]

Sorry guys been busy with the holidays, a kitchen remodel, and prepping for a few trips. I'll try to get back on track this weekend.

 

[SPRDAV]

I put the same motor in my rock buggy, but have yet to hook it up. I'm going to refer to this thread later. Thanks for the good info.

 

[DomSmith]

Ok, so I promised I would get back to this and finish it up...

 

[Cirbo]

I'm catching up old guy! Hurry and finish so I know how to wrap my project up.

jC

 

[DomSmith]

Once I had the motor primed I re-installed the distributor, and spark plugs. I figured this was a good time to install the plug wires so I labeled each one at both ends and plugged 'em in. The Ram Jet came with an instruction sheet with measurements for each cylinder's plug wire. This made it very easy to match them up and took all the guesswork out of which wire goes where...

 

[DomSmith]

I noticed that there were a few holes by the oil filter and determined that they needed to be plugged to prevent oil from leaking out. After trying a few bolts I used a shorty to fill the top hole (1) and added a mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge fitting with the attached teflon tube that runs to the Autometer gauge in the cab in the lower hole (2). I had this gauge installed with the last motor but finally added the fitting and tube to get readings.

I also assured that the block had all the rest of it's holes plugged and found this one too which i filled with a brass fitting.

Here's a pic of the mechanical oil gauge fitting attached:

 

[DomSmith]

While working on the oil fittings I decided I should figure out where to place the stock electric oil pressure gauge sending unit. After looking around I figured I would use the same location as the motor I had replaced.

You can see here the location (Pic 1).

and the fittings I removed from the previous motor installed here...

The stock oil pressure sending unit threads into the brass fitting.

 

[DomSmith]

The cooling system was a bit of a pain in the ass. First I had to decide on the upper and lower radiator hoses, and I didn't have any part #'s as my old motor had custom cut and fit hoses. After making a mock-up of the upper hose with a clothes hanger with appropriate bends in it I was off to the auto parts store and a long look at the wall of radiator hoses.

I made several trips but eventually picked a few hoses and cut the upper and lower radiator hoses to fit. The upper seemed to rub a bit on the alternator so I made a small piece to zip tie between the hose and the alternator. (I replaced this hose after stumbling on a part # online-see the next post). The lower radiator hose had a metal connector in it with a valve that connected to the heater on my last motor and I decided to use this again here...

The bottom of the water pump (1) curves to and attaches to heater shut off (2) and another piece to lower radiator (3) The heater connection has a shutoff and heads into the heater (4) ...

 

[DomSmith]

After using the upper radiator hose for awhile I stumbled on this picture on a web page with an upper hose # plainly in view on a Ram Jet motor that Don at Wolf Creek Rod Works completed. Don has also responded on the topic here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/221206-hoses-ram-jet-ron-davis-aluminum-radiator.html

It fits perfectly and needed no trimming or adjustment. Here are two pictures of the hose added later on.

 

[DomSmith]

After the two main hoses were installed I worked on the heater hoses. The lower radiator hose connected one (as seen above) and the other heater hose connected to the water pump. I eventually disconnected the heater hose at the lower radiator hose and moved it up after adding a 90 degree elbow at the front of the intake manifold. This required taking off the water pump (as mentioned in post #15) and would have been much easier to have installed right from the start. The heater works better now than it did before.

 

[Cirbo]

I also assured that the block had all the rest of it's holes plugged and found this one too which i filled with a brass fitting.

That last picture was kind of scary, as that hole was plugged on my engine. It's the coolant drain port for the block. So what else did they forget to put on (or in) these engines?

jC

 

[DomSmith]

That last picture was kind of scary, as that hole was plugged on my engine. It's the coolant drain port for the block. So what else did they forget to put on (or in) these engines?

jC

Jim-

I wouldn't sweat that hole not being plugged I think that's my mistake. Now that I'm home and looking at my rig I'm pretty certain I removed that plug to see if I could run a temp sender off of it before I realized it was just a drain.

After trying a few different spots for temp senders and having fluctuating gauges that were a little unnerving I decided on these locations:

1. Ram Jet Temp sender in it's pre-installed location on intake manifold- drivers side (no change).

2. Stock Electric Temp sender in the top of intake manifold opposite of Ram Jet sensor (passenger side).

3. Mechanical Temp sender at the drivers side of the block to the stock gauge. I initially had the in the front of the intake manifold where my 90 degree elbow runs to the heater but got huge fluctuations and spikes in temps.

4. Temp sender switch (from Summit) to Taurus fan install on passenger side of block (not wired yet).

5. And the drain plug in question:

 

[corbinwelter]

very nice write up... thats my next project, to convert to ram jet. Im sick of dealing with all these diffrent carbs

 

[centerlineseal]

Hey Dominic!

Placed my Ramjet and serpentine order today! Whoahoaski! Now I'll really have some Questions.