There's no catalytic converter as far as I can tell, just a muffler. It's not badly rusted, but it is cut off right after the rear axle. The previous owner said he did that to keep from getting soot on a trailer he was pulling, but I'd prefer to have an actual tail pipe.

Good tip on Autozone, although there seems to be nothing wrong with the torque converter I have now. I suppose that could change with power upgrades, though.

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How do I make one? Is it basically just a piece of metal in front of the dowel pin and a screw to attach it to the block (which I guess I'd have to drill a hole for)?

More to the point, I'm a little nervous about digging that far into the engine (not very experienced working on vehicles). Any gotchas or things I need to look out for if I try to tackle this myself? Should I just take it to a shop?

 

I'll take some pictures of mine tomorrow but all it is is a 1/16 thick metal tab ,there is already a bolt right next to it use that bolt for the fasener .the tab is about the size of a pop tab

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Ram Diesel KDP retainer .... try pulling this up awesome article that will show you everything you need

 

Take the silencer ring out of the turbo it seemed to help my truck alot

 

Valve body and TC will be a good choice for upgrade, but another thing to do is every 50-70K is change the fluid and adjust the bands in the transmission, it will keep it alive. I have 244K on mine no issues what so ever.

 

Changing fluid is easy enough. I have no idea how to adjust the bands. I saw another article on here about that, gotta find it again.

I also discovered the undercarriage is a bit rustier than I thought, gotta find a way to keep that from spreading. The receiver hitch is rusted through and will need to be replaced before I can tow anything.