My Cummins conversion project truck

[duckbill59]

I ended up dissassembling both the 4X4 steering column and the 2WD auto column to create a 4X4 column with a automatic transmission shifter on the column. I finished inside the cab by getting the transfer case linkage installed, the new floormat put down, and the new transfer case shifter boot screwed down. I also was able to buy a 3 gauge set from Summit racing that consists of a boost, a trans temp, and an exhaust pyrometer. Since the green Ford had an underdash gauge set installed, I took the gauges out and installed it in the burgandy Ford and installed the new gauges under the dash. I welded the exhaust bung into the turbo exhaust pipe, installed the trans temp gauge in place of the stock Dodge temp sending unit, and mounted the boost gauge fitting into the air intake runner. I took the throttle pedal and cable out of the Dodge truck and after removing the stock Ford pedal, I mounted the Dodge pedal and drilled and filed square a hole to "clip" in the throttle cable. I also finished plugging some wiring harness's back in as well as deciphering the stock Dodge alternator wiring and hooking it up to the stock Ford alternator wiring harness that allows the Ford voltage regulator to still control the battery charging voltage. I just picked up a 1979 F250 front axle that needs rebuilt so I will get that started on that for a future swap plus I purchased (5) 16.5X9.75 Kelsey Hayes steel wheels to mount the Goodyear Wrangler M/T's on after I beadblast and powder coat them. Thats it for now.

[averagef250]

Most melted pistons are due in a big part to post-turbo pyrometers. On a good note with stock injectors there isn't enough fuel there to get over 800 or so. Nice to see it come together though.

I'm also curious to understand how you interfaced the dodge alternator with Ford regulator. I am not an auto electric guru, but the least reliable component in the few hundred thousand bump miles I've driven has been the voltage regulator. I believe this to be wholy related to the downturn in manufactured quality of these parts over the past decade, but the same is also true for the externally regulated older style dodge alternators. I was also under the impression the ECM-controlled dodge alternators were controlled via a PWM signal from the ECM?

[duckbill59]

The Stewart Warner gauges I bought came with instructions that state they recommend installing the pyrometer after the turbo in the exhaust. And like other topics I searched for, I would say it was 50/50 as where to mount the pyrometer. So I just followed the gauge manufacturers guidance on this one and hopefully they are right as well as the therory Dustin speaks of that stock injectors would prevent burning holes in the pistons. I don't plan on bigger injectors but do plan someday of playing with the injection pump adjustments for a little more power. As far as the alternator wiring goes, from my research, I found drawings that shows the green wire being continously powered, while the blue wire being controlled by the PCM to ground. It appeared to me that the PCM was controlling the charging system by triggering the blue wire to ground when needed to charge the battery. The big black wire goes to the battery while the small black wire goes to ground. So I hooked up the blue wire to ground, the green wire to the small wire from the original ford wiring, and the large black wire to the battery, and the small black wire to ground. We jumped a wire to the fuel solenoid and fired the engine up two days ago and the it was charging at 13.98 volts with a fully charged battery. We only fired the engine for a minute and shut it right down so time will tell how it works long term but I saw the dash gauge jump way up and drop quickly to just above the centerline of the gauge. And this year of Dodge had quite a reputation for charging problems and I know the previous owner had replaced the alternator recently and still had problems with charging. I assume it was the PCM causing the problems now that I have researched it a bit.

[averagef250]

You can't really blow holes through the pistons in these engines unless an injector fails or injector timing is grossly off. The piston temperature itself, not just the top, but most of the piston gets above melting temperature and the piston skirts and lands begin sticking to the cylinder walls. The duration and timing of the injection event in these engines makes it really difficult to blow holes through pistons like many other diesels can. With your pyrometer mounted post turbo you will have a gauge that can be used to determine the tune and efficiency and diagnose issues, it will be a comparative measuring device only as it is in no way an accurate depiction of true cylinder EGT. Turbochargers work on heat, the turbo is a nozzle or a restriction and post turbo gasses are rapidly expanding as soon as they hit the turbine wheel. An EGT probe must be mounted between #6 exhaust port and the turbo inlet to function as a warning device or to get an accurate cylinder EGT depiction.

The VE motors are pretty sluggish with stock fueling and timing. If I may make one more recommendation it's to advance your timing to 14-16 degrees static, install a 366 governor spring and max the fuel at the pump sooner rather than waiting a long time. The engine will rip start with a key tap at that timing and will have the best overall power and mileage.

It will be interesting to see how your charging system fares. I've never seen anyone do it that way, but that's in no way saying it won't work. I like the simplicity of the old charging systems, but the reality I've found is parts support for them consists of whatever junk China can dump over here and it just doesn't hold up like it used to. The new generation of alternators are more complex, but they are entirely self contained, very good at regulating voltage, have exceptional idle output and seam to have reliability down well.

[duckbill59]

The VE motors are pretty sluggish with stock fueling and timing. If I may make one more recommendation it's to advance your timing to 14-16 degrees static, install a 366 governor spring and max the fuel at the pump sooner rather than waiting a long time. The engine will rip start with a key tap at that timing and will have the best overall power and mileage.

I will need to have you further explain these modifications to me. I am pretty new to diesels and do not have the knowledge yet on how to advance the timing as you suggest, or where to aquire the spring you refer to. I was able to research the govenor spring replacement in a discussion forum however. I did have a lot of hits about the timing how to search but haven't found one yet that details it enough for me to understand. However, thanks for them suggestions. That is exactley what I want to do rather than injectors and "smoke". The few times I have started this engine so far makes me happy as far as no smoke goes. That may change after I drive it though! Since it has been raining here in the PNW, I have dedicated most of my time working the Dana 44. As the pictures show, it's pretty much done and ready for installation. I ended up replacing all the seals, all new bearings, new "posi" unit, and a new 3:73 ring and pinion. I pulled the calipers apart and they looked good and the disks were cleaned up and scuffed a little. I purchased new rubber flex hoses for a 1979 F250 which appear to be plenty long enough for the new installation.

By [url=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/duckbill59]duckbill59 at 2010-05-17[/url]
Another view

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And lastly

By [url=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/duckbill59]duckbill59 at 2010-05-17[/url]
I got the bed laid back on the frame now and the wiring reconnected plus the trailer wiring for towing my trailer around. I also got the hood put back on so I could push the truck outside in the rain freeing up my shop for inside work. Thats's it for now. I am hoping for a maiden voyage soon!

[69FLATBED]

Man, that looks great I can't wait to see more pics!

[duckbill59]

I ended up figuring out that the original radiator will not fit with the new 78/79 4X4 steering box mounted where I installed it. I was hoping to use the original and have the inlet and outlets swapped but I had to scrap that idea. I ordered the largest Be Cool aluminum radiator from Summit that will fit between the intercooler piping. I used the the original Dodge mounting cushions and brackets to mount the radiator and other than missing the "radiator top" of the orignal radiator, it was ordered with the correct inlet and outlet locations and appears it will work fine. I will manufacture a sheetmetal upper cooling fan schroud and include a piece that will look like the radiator top to complete appearance under the hood later down the road. Had to modify the front lower valance (lower grill sheetmetal) to use the original Dodge intercooler mounting cushions as well as grill inserts a little to get the intercooler and grill mounted. I think to the average observer, it would go un-noticed for the modifications I had to make to get that intercooler in there. I am using the 1993 Dodge intercooler only because I had it, and the inlet and outlet piping locations was almost a perfect fit for the Ford core support. And a little massaging to the intercooler piping yesterday on the turbo outlet piping resulted in the intercooler being done now. I have one rubber coupler that is worn but for now until I find another replacement, it will work. So it's getting closer each day I get a chance to work on it. I pushed the truck back into the shop last night to let it dry off so I can start the front axle swap maybe tonight when I get off swings!

[averagef250]

The 94-97 Ford powerstroke radiator is a great fit for this swap. The size is just right and the connections are right on the money. It's also really easy to make brackets to hold it the way it mounts.

[no_treble]

Great thread. Subscribed!

[duckbill59]

I am finally getting around to posting some more details of my project that I have done over the past week. It's really amazing how much extra stuff I can get done being on swingshift and having both the late night and daylight hours to get things done. When I last posted my progress, I was preparing to install the front axle I just recently rebuilt. So after figuring out a way to hold the truck up while I removed and installed the new axle, the old axle came out without any problems at all. I actually planned ahead for once and had new u-bolts made at the local spring building place in Tacoma for the front and rear axles and I had already purchased the new rubber brake lines for the 1979 F250 truck. So the new front axle bolted right up as it was supposed to and I was feeling good. I was able to utilize the shock adapters I needed for the old axle to convert the lower mount to a through bolt to match the shocks I purchased. And I had already built a link for the 1978/1979 steering box drag link to the 1972 steering knuckle arm which I hadn't paid much attention to until I tried to adjust the new axle to go stop to stop. That old link I had used before was not long enough to allow for the stop to stop adjustment! So off to swingshift to build a longer link! I put new u-joints in the front driveshaft and with the high pinion and the 4 inch lift springs, the driveshaft length is sitting very good now. I couldn't locate the left hand tap I needed to build the longer link that night but I found it last night and finished building it last night. So here is a picture of the new front axle sitting under the truck.

By [url=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/duckbill59]duckbill59 at 2010-05-17[/url]
And since I have planned all along to use the 3:73 rear end out of the "burgandy" Ford, I went ahead and swapped the rear axle as well. But what I didn't know is that there are some differences between the 4X4 dana 60 rear axle and the 4X2 rearend. I had to remove the shock mounts from the 4X2 axle and what I did was swap them side to side to get them pointed in the right direction to match the upper shock mount locations. Once I was satisfied with their positions, I welded the shock brackets back to the axle tubes. Next I found out that the driveshaft yoke on the 4X2 axle is smaller than the 4X4 so I had to pull that and exchange it with the original axle. It was a good reason to replace the seal while I was at it though! And the last thing that was different was emergency brake cable lengths. So I had to swap them as well to finish the swap. And like I said earlier, I had already purchased the new u-bolts to finish up the rearend installation. I am hoping for the maiden voyage tomorrow if I get the shift linkage installed, throttle cable/pedal installation finished, and a little more wiring completed. I have my fingers crossed to have this thing finally road worthy tomorrow!

[averagef250]

Looks good! You didn't mention the biggest difference between the 2wd and 4x4 dana 60 housings- The spring perches are at different angles for the 2wd/4x4 specific angles. I think 2wd is around 3.5 from chassis zero while ford 4x4's vary from 5-5.5 degrees.

[duckbill59]

It took me a little longer than expected to get all the "last" minute or "put off until later" items needed to make the maiden voyage in the truck. I forgot to mention a few days ago that I got the powder coated wheels installed with the Goodyear Wrangler M/T's which I hope will give a better ride than the R/T's I have on the aluminum rims. I used the original Dodge shift linkage and other than having to adjust/modify and few items, it hooked right up to the ford steering column. It's not quite perfect yet (the indicator on the column doesn't quite match the transmissions detents) but good enough to drive the truck. The wiring I still had to do was I installed a generic lighting relay to de-activate the overdrive with a pushbutton switch I installed and at the same time light up a light I installed so I know when it is de-activated. And although I was reluctant to cut the fiber material on the firewall, I had to to remove the old gas pedal and install the Dodge gas pedal. So again, to the hardcore bumpside guy, it is easily identifiable the change in gas pedals but I think to most everyone else, it would go unticed except for my cutting of the firewall material. The first drive went really well but it is always nerve racking test driving something like this. A couple rattles (tailpipe on the bottom side of the bed, fuel return line to the tank) and other sounds had thinking there for a bit but the truck seemed to be plenty powerful enough. No vibrations that were noticed at speed but under hard acceleration I think I am feeling the transfer case flex under torque or something because I could feel/hear something until it leveled out. I think I read about a strut/support I could build to help that out. Also during the build I wanted to replace the mounting rubber pads for the transfer case and couldn't locate them anywhere. Maybe that statement will spark someone out there for where to get them! So here is the truck as it sits now.

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And a couple of the engine compartment as it is right now. I still have some sheetmetal work to do as well as the intake heater system to wire up but it sure starts easy without it right now. I guess the middle of winter may tell another story though!

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So I have few bugs to work out in that I didn't feel the truck shift into overdrive. I know it's got power because my pressure switch which activates the OD is wired to ground and a light inside the cab is coming on. I also have recently purchased a hydroboost master cylinder to install. But that's it for today! Time to relax!!!!

[fireguywtc]

That looks fantastic! I hope to duplicate what you have done some time in the distant future with my highboy. That thing looks almost stock. Where did you put the intercooler? It looks like its between the radiator support and grille. If so, did you have to cut through the support for the cac tubes?

[duckbill59]

Thanks Bill for the comment. Yes I had to do some trimming to get the intercooler in between the radiator and the grill. If you look at page 2 of this post, you will see a grill shot showing the intercooler installed. A bit of trimming on the grill shell, a little trimming on the inserts, and a little trimming for the the lower valance for the intercooler mounting which I used the stock Dodge mounts. The only other thing I had to do is relocate the latch support strap that goes to the lower valance. And thanks for the comment about looking almost stock.....that was my goal!

[duckbill59]

I am posting a few pictures of inside of the cab. I have wanted to do this for a few days now and never got around to it. Excuse the mess on the floor. I bought new window gaskets and door seal kits plus I have to see if I can get a tach someone gave me to work on this engine.

By [url=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/duckbill59]duckbill59 at 2010-05---17[/url]

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By [url=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/duckbill59]duckbill59 at 2010-05-17[/url]
Tomorrow I will see if I can fix the OD, align the steering wheel and fix the gas gauge (only registers 1/2 tank when full).