Hey guys,

Been reading you fellows awhile before buying, and a little after buying. I was originally gonna buy a clean southern 1st gen CTD 4x4 and drive it back to Maine full of free tools from the ship I'm on that is being scraped!!

Anyway, found a super clean 2wd locally for a great price so I had to nab it up. It's an old DOT truck that was used for school bus maintenance, and hardly used. It's the cleanest old truck I've seen, but then again I live in Maine so I'm not used to seeing vehicles without rust. Well, it's very clean, 3.07 rear end, auto, 164k miles. Shifts great, stops.... ok, shakes a little more than it's supposed to I think.

Questions:

1. What kind of MPG's should I expect? I'm getting free fuel from the ship now, so I don't know how much is going in.

2. I see non intercooled CTD's had larger injectors, is there no reason to upgrade?

3. Suggestions on pillar mounts for boost, egt, and tranny temp. and Tach

4. Oil pressure gauge not working, idiot light does (Its not on when truck is running, but is when key is on and engine is not). This a common problem?

Any other tips you guys may have? I think I may keep it as my carpentry truck when I'm home from sea, but I really want a 4x4 1st gen. So perhaps she will remain stock, but a little more performance and some MPG's would be sweet. Thanks guys!

-Luke

 

Welcome!

I got a consistent 16-20 mpg with the pump turned all the way up. I had a 93 with a Getrag, 4x4, 4.10s and a heavy right foot. The best I saw was a trip to MN, all highway @ 70mph and I netted 21.3 mpg.

Do not upgrade to the 7mm injectors. Your flow much more than the ones in the IC. Turn up the pump, add some water/meth, stage III turbo upgrade, a shift kit and 300 HP is not too far away. Now add some sticks, hx-35 or equivalent, IC, and some others and the truck should be close to 400 hp.

Look at Geno's garage for a 2 gauge pillar. You can graft a single and 2 pillar together for a 3 pillar.

Look in the sticky for how to clean the terminals on the oil pressure sender. Seems to have cleaned up a lot of problems.

Jon

 

Thanks, just saw that sticky! It's got LOTS of great info!!

Anyone with a 3spd auto and 3.07s? What MPG's are you guys getting?

 

You're gonna be in the high teens for MPG running on the governor. If you upgrade to the 3200 RPM spring and run the engine at higher speeds, you'll see less MPG accordingly.

Leave the sticks in there untill you get gauges to monitor things--in stock form, engine meltdown is a very real and close possibility given the larger injectors and lack of intercooler. Hopefully, Santa will bring you a pyrometer on the 25th

Dodge gauges suck. The sending unit is the usual culprit and is below the injection pump. If the gauge/light bothers you, the parts store is sure to have one. The inherently high oil pressure of the CTD is what takes them out, IMO. Mine lasted 1 year after I bought it. Now it's reading low when a mechanical gauge reads 80psi

Good luck with the new rig---sounds like fun!

 

I got about 20-21 stock 3.07/auto. PLayed with the pump with injectors and got about 19 (couldnt keep my foot out of it).

 

Nice sounding numbers, thanks guys. I was thinking 14-16 or so due to the 3 spd. auto. The other day I was looking for a tag on the rear end and sure enough I found the 3.07. I figured it was a 3.54 and when I did the math, 70mph was gonna have that engine above the governor.

For now I don't know if I'll keep the truck or not. I bought it primarily to get all the free tools 1500miles back to Maine. It's so clean and I paid low enough that I know I could make $1500-$2000 profit back home, clean vehicles that age (especially a nice Cummins) is hard to come by up there.

I am pretty hooked on the CTD already, I knew I would be for years. I just graduated school and now I'm working so I can finally afford it! So even if I get rid of it, I'll definately be getting another 1st gen. I really want a W350!

And as for gauges on the 25th, that will have to wait. I'm 1500 miles from home for at least another month . I'll probably just order some.

As for tachs, I read somewhere there is no tach sensor on an 89, is it hard to install one?

 

Put on an alternator tach like the AutoMeter 2888.

 

I understand that frequency from an altenator is directly proportianal to alternator speed.... So does this tach use it's own altenator mounted to something or does it measure it from my own altenator before it's rectified?

On most large diesel engine, they use a small DC generator and the voltage is what tells the RPM. Basically the RPM gauge is just a voltmeter with a different scale and units.

 

where in Maine do you live?

 

The AutoMeter 2888 uses an inductive pickup that just straps to the alternator with a big hose clamp. Real easy to install.

 

Sweet, that tach will have to be ordered here soon, especially if it's that easy to hook up.

Taterfarmer: I'm down on Mount Desert Island, south of Bangor. But, right now I'm on a ship in Charleston. You wouldn't happen to wanna sell that 93 W350 DRW to me would ya? It's exactly what I was looking for, but the 89 was a steal, and I could look at it in person before buying off E-bay.

 

cool

I am in Orono for school. If you want some help sometime let know and I'll drive down especially when it warms up, I like that area but never make it down there.

No I wont sell the W350 yet, although the floor is rotten and its looking like a bigger project all the time. It says it has 65,000 miles but most of them were taking boats in and out of lake Champlain so the bottom of the truck is in bad shape.

You should find me a clean 4-door cab and bring it home with you

 

I did find a very clean 4 door cab down here with a cummins parts truck for the swap! However, I'll be driving my recently aquired truck laden with tools back to Maine. Sorry! What are you studying at UMO? I used to frequent there often considering the lack of the female gender down in Castine!

 

I'm going for mechanical engineering technology with a minor in buisness. but I have no idea what I am going to do when I get out.

 

Small world, I graduated Marine Engineering Technology, essentially the same thing except I get my USCG unlimited horsepower license and you get more business I believe. I had a few buddies in that program at UMO, we took almost the exact same classes.

Get into power plants or mills... preferably a Combined Cycle GT and ST plant (very clean unlike trash burning plants). The plant in Veazie is very nice, efficient, and eco-friendly. You should visit it and see how easy and good of a job it is. Lots of MMA and UMO engineers there I've been told.