Dodge Power Wagon build (x2)

[TurboMinivan]

Hmmm... @TurboMinivan might like to see that.

Indeed.

This car will be an '86 at the newest, as that was the final year for the Chrysler Laser. Engine-wise, there were significant year-to-year changes, so it would be good to know exactly what you're starting with.

and from my research 300 hp is not out of the question with them.

No, it is not... provided you're using the right bottom end hardware. 1986 introduced the light-weight connecting rods, and they will pretzel at only 19-20 pounds of boost. No good. Also, the 1986 (and earlier) cars used the early block (ie, with the weaker bottom end that can allow the crank to move around at high power).

Overall, you could classify the turbo Mopar engines into these three categories:

• 1984-1988 2.2L TurboI -- cast crank, iffy block/rods, weakest bottom end available by far
• 1987-1988 2.2L TurboII -- forged rods and crankshaft, some block improvements
• 1989+ 2.2L TurboII/TurboIV and 2.5L TurboI -- still forged crank (on 2.2L) and forged rods, but substantially stronger block

Trying to coax 300 HP out of the first category is begging for trouble, but the second category can handle it just fine and the third category would give you a very healthy margin of safety. At that point, tuning becomes critical--the weakest link is almost always the pistons, as they will melt/destruct from going lean and/or too much timing.

After that, we've got to start talking about transmission strength.

 

[xjtony]

I'm going tomorrow morning to pick it up so I'll have some more info on it. @TurboMinivan I will have some questions for you! Lol

 

[xjtony]

So we officially have a 86 Chrysler Laser. 2.2 turbo 1. It's dirty but everything appears to be there. It's really amazing the condition after 22 years.

 

[TRD270]

Interested to see this, always liked these cars when I was younger. Not sure why my first car was a Chrysler and it gave me nothing but trouble. Then I bought a Jeep…. didn’t learn my lesson

 

[TurboMinivan]

So we officially have a 86 Chrysler Laser. 2.2 turbo 1. It's dirty but everything appears to be there. It's really amazing the condition after 22 years.

How about a photo of the dash? I'm curious how it is optioned.

Let's begin at the beginning: getting it cleaned up and seeing if it will fire. First step: does the engine turn via a socket on the crank?

 

[Mouse]

I hope you get this back on the road in short time!

 

[xjtony]

I haven't got a chance to turn it by hand but I did put a scope down a couple of the spark plug holes and everything looks fine. No observable damage to cylinder walls or anything. I'll get a better shot of the dash when I get it off the trailer ( or make my kid climb in). The way it sits on the trailer I can't fit through the door!

 

[xjtony]

Sons truck is coming along.

Turns out there are different kickdown brackets for 2 and 4 barrel intakes. They look the same but are positioned different. Had to make a longer linkage but the carb is installed minus the throttle cable which showed up tonight.

 

[xjtony]

I haven't updated this thread in a while. The green truck has been running good and was my daily driver out to Dugway until last week. It started missing, but only in 2nd and 3rd gear, and only when I'm gettin' on it. Found a torn motor mount. I'm running a distributor that uses a big Chevy HEI cap, and when I'm getting on it the engine rocks and pushes the distributor into the firewall. The J hook on the cap is bent so the whole back of the cap is lifted off the rotor. New motor mount and cap and she should be good.

My kids truck is about to roll out of the garage. This weekend we planned on firing it... put in break in oil, primed it and found 2 major leaks. One was a missing seal behind the oil filter adapter, easy fix. The other one is from the oil pan. We had a universal small block gasket set and I might have accidentally grabbed the wrong end pieces ( 4 piece gasket). New gasket on the way and we'll try again next weekend. Lesson for everyone... pre-prime your oil on a new build!

 

[xjtony]

So I haven't updated this thread it a bit. We haven't been able to get the engine to prime, it spews oil from the bell housing every time I go to prime it. Last week I reinstalled a new rear main seal to make sure it was right and everything was good. Primed it this morning and still had a huge oil leak from the rear of the engine. Decided to pull the transmission so we could clearly see what was going on and found this...

Missing plug. I did the plugs while it was on the stand, this one was blocked by the plate. I didn't notice it, and my son installed the transmission and didn't notice either. A $2 plug, but cost a bunch of time.

Just goes to show that when you are building an engine make sure to prime it before you fire it!

 

[xjtony]

So we are getting ready to get the 75 fires and break in the cam (hopefully lol) engine builds 50psi oil pressure with the drill, and we are going to jam this weekend to button the engine up the rest of the way and get it running.

The 73 is running good, but it's resigned to around town duty until it gets disk breaks up front. I've got a donor 44 with the disk stuff on it, just have to find the time.

I will say the long tube headers and 2.5 exhaust is amazing! Sounds just like an old truck should.

 

[xjtony]

So I am eventually putting an AX 15 in my Power Wagon. I want a better shifting transmission with OD for the truck. I have a 4wd AX 15 from a Cherokee, but the truck is set up with a divorced 205 which I would like to keep. Does anyone know of a 2wd AX15 laying around that may want to trade for a 4 wd?

 

[xjtony]

Highs and lows today. Got everything buttoned up on the son's truck. Fought some little stuff like failed electric fuel pump and some leaks here and there, a few wiring fixes, dead battery, normal stuff. Eyeballed the timing cranked it and it fired right up with no hesitation. Started the cam break in process and everything was fine for about 15 minutes. At that point we lost fuel pressure. Got it shut down, nothing sounded off so I thought it might me the electronic pressure gauge. Installed a manual and confirmed no oil pressure, but oil movement a bit into the capillary tube. I took a little sample of oil and didn't see anything out of order. Some material but nothing out of the ordinary from a break in.




The next step is to pull the filter and see what is in there. I may have gone excessive with the break in lube which could cause a problem. If there's nothing there we will pull the pan.the new oil pump seemed a bit harder to spin than what I've seen in the past so that's something to check before we start pulling main caps and checking galley plugs. It sounds good and I think it's fine if we can find the cluprit.

 

[xjtony]

Braved the cold to drop the oil and inspect.

No metallic material to speak of, the grey is moly from the assembly lube. We're still going to drop the pan and open the filter to make sure nothing is amiss, but I think the passage to the gauge fitting probably got some assembly lube in it. I don't see any signs of distress.

 

[xjtony]

Soooooo........


The fresh 318 had to come apart. Lost almost all the bearings, but no damage to the block. Best we can tell is that a galley plug didn't seal all the way and began bypassing pressure when the oil warmed up.

We found a second issue as well.

Major galling on the oil pump drive. The first pump I installed seemed to be really tight, and I don't think it was machined properly. The crank and cam go in to the shop tomorrow to be looked at and cleaned up, and then we'll try again.

 

[DAA]

Ahhh crap...

- DAA

 

[xjtony]

Easiest rust repair ever. Cancer free fender to replace my roached one.


Also took the crank and cam for the boys truck in to the shop to be looked at. The crank will be polished, the cam is bad. The machinist pointed out this manifacturing defect that I hadn't noticed.