I’ll start this off on a positive note with a video! It has an oil leak and I need to adjust the throttle linkeage, but it runs!



Life happened and I wasn’t able to mess with the car for a couple months. Don’t care to elaborate.

Prior to the pause in progress; I had recently started the new engine. After a couple warm up runs, it kept throwing the alternator belt. I noticed a loose mounting bolt and suspected that was the culprit. Quick repair and an attempt to restart resulted in an engine that wouldn’t crank. I immediately suspected the 10 year old battery (batteries don’t live more than 2 years in Arizona). Attempts to charge were unsuccessful so I went to the local parts store. To my dismay the new battery was unable to turn over the engine either. I attempted to jump it with my Cumins (dual batteries). Click…hummmmm….. no crank. Crap! I ordered one of the bad ass Power Master starters, and pulled all of the plugs to see if the engine would crank. With no plugs it spun freely! Big relief!!!!! The new starter arrived and I swapped it out. This isn’t quick because it’s not like the local parts store stocks Hemi exhaust header gaskets. Fast forward a couple weeks and I’m ready to try the new starter. Everything connected, new battery charged, sitting in the driver seat and I hit the button……..click HUmmmmmmm. Damnit! At this point I knew it was something stupid that I did. I ran jumper cables from the starter mounting bolt to the frame. Hit the button…..click….HUmmmmmmmm. Grrrrr! I pinged a couple buddies, one is a member here, and they talked me off the cliff. Tony noticed a puff of smoke between my nitrous purge line and my fuel regulator (woaaaah!)…, amp meter, second set of eyes, etc… later and the engine cranked with a couple plugs in one head. Long story long: I ran a #2 gauge wire from the negative terminal to the mounting bolt of the starter and everything is happy.

What did I learn from this? Check the simplest things first. Just because you suspect the uber expensive piece between the frame rails doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Also, there doesn’t appear to be much of a difference between the NAPA brand starter for a 98 ram and the PowerMaster… except for the billet adjustable mounting bracket. If you have header clearance problems, buy the PowerMaster. I have 2.25 in primary and 4in collector TTi headers that didn’t need the PowerMaster. Guess What! I now have a spare starter.

Untitled by Greg Ault, on Flickr

Untitled by Greg Ault, on Flickr

Untitled by Greg Ault, on Flickr