Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives So a new project begins...

92 Dodge D250 LE 5.9 Cummins, 5 spd manual. South Texas farm truck with relatively few miles, 112k. Body needs work but all the running gear seems good.

What's that wick in the filler neck for?

Not wick, exactly. More like a hoist

The bed is not original, it came with a utility body. When the bed was put on the large rubber hose that connects the fuel filler to the tank is now too short, and the filler neck is down in an inconvenient position. So the rope is jury rigged to allow you to fuel it. That will be one of the first things that gets fixed.

I'm pretty sure it's a fuse/wick.



JK, sweet rig.

If it's parked near a crowd, be wary of a guy named Ahmad nearby with a lighter.

That's how you "fix" a Dodge. Lol.

I can't believe you bought that! Roger is rubbing off on you!

I've already learned that in about 10 minutes you can raise the horsepower by 30% or so. Now I see why people like them.

I've heard it suggested more than once that Dodge offer new pickups without engines just for rigs like this. The diesels are barely broken in when the body falls apart. We need new pickups that we can put those good engines in.

To be fair - no matter what vehicle you put that K&N sticker on - you get more HP.

I saw a dodge of that era in town yesterday. Had been rebuilt, new paint. New wheels. Looked very good

Do a little research on the getrag 5-speed. It is a good trans, but the application in the Dodge has caused problems. You just need to know how to properly overfill it with oil.

I have owned a 93 4wd since new. I was going to tell you how well they will go in snow, but I noticed you live in Texas.

Good tips for getting some HP out of your engine

The OP has a a different fuel systen than the video. He has a rotary Bosch pump. Good news, it can make be tuned to significantly higher performance levels for FREE. Bad news, top performance levels are harder to attain.

Remember though, the reason Dodge had these engines tuned to those levels. Every part of the drivetrain behind the flywheel will be overtaxed by big power increases. Rear universal joints seem the first to go. Everytime I have had someone else drive my truck much I have had to replace that u-joint. Hint-drive it like a real truck, just ease the clutch out, no throttle until you are off clutch, the engine has the torque to do this and it saves a lot of stress off drive train.

I mostly wanted a full size truck with 8 foot bed, for the times when I need the room. Unlikely I'll ever haul more than a 1000 lbs or so with it. The fact it has a regular cab means it still fits in the garage

As far as power goes, years ago I had a 92 F150 with the 300 Six, which made 145 hp and 265 ft-lbs torque. It did okay on the highway, unless you tried to run 75 or more. If the Dodge is tolerable on the Interstate then I probably won't crank up the power.

One concession I did make, since it needs a muffler, was to order a 4" turbo-back exhaust for it. Probably worth a few horsepower.

Sure...that's how it begins for all diesel owners.

You do not need a muffler. Mine as been running straight pipe for years. Muffler does not help a whole lot on these things, they are just noisy. You can hear a truck and pick out the Cummins. Make darn sure your exhaust people do not use too small od pipe. They like to try to use the crap on hand, instead of the right size. It matters, Dodge did not use that big sewerpipe for looks.

Sorry just noticed you said pipe size

Several folks have told me it doesn't have to have a muffler, but the state inspection regulations explicitly say it must have a muffler. On the positive side, no emission test required for diesels.

Yeah, the Cummins has a pretty distinctive sound. The Ford/International diesels have the injectors inside the V of the engine, so they tend to be somewhat quieter. At some point I'd like to acquire one of the 2001-2003 Super Dutys with the 7.3 and a manual trans. From the factory they made 275hp and 525 ft-lbs, the highest of any of the 7.3's.

One of the new 6.7's would be a hell of the rig, but I have a good F150 and I really can't justify the cost and size of a new Powerstroke - even though 440hp would be fun.

Have always been told the turbo is considered as a noise control device. Thats for us here. We used to have an inspection place that took your info, then your money, then gave you the sticker with a scraper. He never even saw the trucks.