Unchewable, the D170

[kingcrunch]

Understand electronics i never will.
I need a microscope... or at least a magnifying glass. I hate SMD components when it comes to indentifying them. And i hate black solder mask, that stuff really sucks big time!

[kingcrunch]

Forgeline doesn't answer my questions any more... just great.
Looking into making the 22" OEM wheels fit, because i am SO FED UP with all of these aftermarket people not willing to communicate. Really sad.

EDIT:
I have been damn angry when i wrote this, should have calmed down before writing.
I am now in contact with Forgeline. The delay was probably caused by them attending the SEMA.

And BTW. the 22" wheels with 305/35 R22 are around 800mm or 31.6" in diameter which is a larger tire than i have on my W250 offroad truck!
Doesn't fit that way.

[vwmopar]

Forgeline doesn't answer my questions any more... just great.
Looking into making the 22" OEM wheels fit, because i am SO FED UP with all of these aftermarket people not willing to communicate. Really sad.

I here that. Companies sure like our business but don't want to do the leg work to get it anymore.

[kingcrunch]

A set of four custom made, three piece, road legal wheels is like 16.5k USD by a German manufacturer. The major cost of that is the testing procedure for making them road legal.
A set of custom made, probably road legal, Forgelines is 7500 USD, which i would pay immediately.
And a set of OEM 10x22" SRT-10 wheels is round about 5000 USD (over here), maybe cheaper than that. But 22s look absolutely silly on this truck, tires are really expensive (800 a piece) and it would raise the truck by another inch compared to the 20s.

Right now i'd rather spend the 16.5k to get something real. Is there a Forgeline representative on this board who i could talk to?

[kingcrunch]

**** this.
I am not sending another "Maybe you did not receive my last email about my last email you didn't answer.".

It'll look dumb with 22s but to be it. Trying to find a set of OEM Ram SRT10 22x10s.

EDIT:
Was really angry when i wrote this, should have calmed down before writing.
Managed to get into contact with Forgeline again, we are working on it.
The 22s are not an option because they are so large, it'll have as much belly clearance as my W250 offroad truck.



Lets continue with something productive here.

I tore apart the headlight and the tail lamp i bought and after round one of massive headaches around midweek, here comes round two of monstrous headaches. It's circuit board is much more complicated and more compact which makes it harder to see the traces.
It turns out that all green solder mask (headlight circuit board) is about as bad to trace out as black solder mask (tail lamp circuit board).

Bits and pieces of the headlight:






I now understand how the fault signal is created in the tail lamp, what message it transports and i will proceed to understand how the headlight does its thing.
What i already know is, that i can not use the wiring configuration i already figured out.
Instead i will put a set of relays in the fuse boxes locations where the HID (which my donor Challenger did not have) relays would go.
Then i will have the BCM drive the relays and figure out the wiring to the headlights from there on.

The fault signal will be done in a single little stub box, no real fault control here.
I'll try to design and spin my own circuit boards for this task, maybe i can just put the headlight and tail lamp fault signal generator in a little box inside the truck.
Should be much safer from collision damage than in the engine compartment...

[kingcrunch]

Did something completely different in the last few days. I stayed in bed to get rid of the flu so i could head back into the shop this week.


Yesterday was the first day in the shop for about two weeks and i am glad i went, because i learned that i might not have to cut the C10 trailing arms to get 3.7" u-bolts in there.
I just hope the repop arms from Dynacorn have the same amount of wiggle-room between the bolt holes.

[kingcrunch]

On wednesday i met with my shop buddy - fitter by trade - and talked about all of the modifications i want to make to the front suspension and rear trailing arm suspension.
Basically, with a few modifications (like re-designing the trailing arm crossmember) he gave me a thumbs up from the perspective of a person that has built serious stuff, has experience and the papers to prove it.
He is basically fit to work as a welder in a nuclear power plant. So much for his credibility.

We talked about the cage as well and there was no thumbs up for my ideas. Will have to think about that stuff again and talk to a manufacturer.

Tomorrow i will try to accomplish building a welding jig for the LCA pockets in the crossmember.

[kingcrunch]

305/35 R22 are way too large. Back to the drawing board. Thinking about going 9" wide rims, because available... not liking the idea.

[kingcrunch]

Thinking about making a cutout in the firewall and moving the engine back further... Any thoughts on that?

[kingcrunch]

Got into contact with Forgeline over Twitter.
Hoping to get somewhere, they are at SEMA right now, might have to do with the no-reply-situation.
Wish me luck.

[andrewb70]

Got into contact with Forgeline over Twitter.
Hoping to get somewhere, they are at SEMA right now, might have to do with the no-reply-situation.
Wish me luck.

This time of year is extremely busy for most aftermarket companies. SEMA is this week and PRI is in the first part of December. It's not an excuse for not getting back to you, but it certainly explains some of the delay.

Andrew

[kingcrunch]

I am now in contact with Forgeline and sent an email to Mark Schetter, who is also a representative of Forgeline on this board.
Will keep you up to date!

[kingcrunch]

Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the mess you made and ask yourself: "Does that really take me anywhere and is it worth the effort?".

I was in that part of the thought process for quite a while now regarding the electronics of the truck and today i have been pushed in the right direction.
Mother Mopar loves me:

https://www.allpar.com/mopar/crate.html

They released a complete engine management kit using the stock PCM. Emissions legal stuff, can use it over here! YAY!
For a complete, standalone engine management kit the price is hot!
I have paid 1400 bucks for systems consisting of a hacked GM ecm, a small wiring harness and a modded LA distributor...
And i once paid 1600 USD for that ultra crappy EZ-EFI V1 system...

Even though it was fun to wrestle through the wiring harness of the Challenger and understanding how everything works, finding solutions for the massive wall of problems, etc. it makes the vehicle way too complex.
Please understand that i am ceasing any work on the conversion of the Challenger wiring right now and start saving up for this standalone kit.

I will refurbish and improve the factory wiring harness of the truck and call it done... Good thing i still have parts to revert the hacked up steering column back to OEM.

[kingcrunch]

Been in contact with Mark Schetter from Forgeline and so far it looks like they can make the CF1 monobloc wheel fit my truck!
Now all i need to measure is if the LCA will allow enough clearance to the wheel: The 20x10 wheel is about 11" wide overall... which also makes the whole chassis a bit wide for the front and rear wheel arches.

[Tincup]

Pretty sure that the new ECU from Ma Mopar only works on 2014 and up engines. Not sure what year your engine is.....

[kingcrunch]

Mine is a 2015, so yes, that will work. I have to ask them a few things about the emissions stuff ... but then again, there is not much other than a solenoid for the engine to pull the fuel vapor from the fuel tank.

[kingcrunch]

News from the clusterf... of a Dodge truck from Germany.


I have been dating the calculator (fancy scientific thingy, not the four banger kind) heavily lately and here is what it whispered into my ears:

I can have my 20x10s with the stock 19.05mm ET (dunno how to calculate backspacing, i just don't understand it yet).
I would also like to retain the stock Ram 1500s 68" track width for reasons of beeing able to use the stock steering rack, not having to shorten the rear axle and such amenities.

The hitch is, that i will definitely have to widen the rear fenders by at least 30mm (1.18") per side.
I will also have to get rid of the inner wheel arch lip to clear the 305s on full stuff. Or widen it more than 30mm.

Since it's a truck bed with lots of metal around, it should work without too much cutting.


The sheet metal around the front is actually wider than the rear by 60mm (2.36") overall, with the LCAs sitting level it will fit after i get rid of the lip of the wheel arch.
This will eventually happen when the fender skins are replaced with carbon fiber equivalents.


Kind of "Yay" and kind of "Meh"... can't decide yet. Maybe i should just try and drill out the spot welds on a rear bed sidewall and try pulling on it gently?

[brawls43]

I really like this calculator, for showing both backspacing and offset.
http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

[kingcrunch]

Thank you!
That just helped me figuring out i need even more room. Bwahahahaha.

11mm (0.43") per side on the front and 41mm in total on the rear per side plus some clearance.

[kingcrunch]

I am close to giving up for a while: