The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Popcorn indeed.

Today's progress:

Torched the bolts holding the cab to the frame and the bumper bolts too. It's easier to buy new vs. fight those rusty mothers... Used a 2x4x24" under the door floor to lift each side after making some spacers out of aluminum and other than having to unhook the steering column from the dash everything worked out well. I'll use the manual steering firewall adaptor to bolt it back together and drill some new column mounting bolt holes in the dash pedal support to hold the column. There is now a good bit more room for the engine and tranny, although the tranny is fighting with the aux tank. I did end up just removing the tank guard hanger to get the driveshaft out of the way.

The intercooler is borderline too big and I may end up changing to a late model hood latch mounted to the core support to save my aching head.

I need to hang the tranny crossmember, then I'll take some pics once it's back outside for the evening.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Aluminum spacers










I like the more balanced tire / fender gap between the front and rear.


Jamie

[Hemmi06]

[fomocoguy]

Looks good! If you didn't tell a person they wouldn't even know the cab was lifted. Nice progress. It'll be cool to see her on the road.

[Ranchero50]

Good morning viewers (another 60 yesterday), todays plan is;

1. Get the aux tank out.
2. Buy some strut rod bushings and replace them since it'll probably be easier to remove the suspension arms to drill the motor mounts vs. pull the engine back out.
3. Make the engine stands.
4. Make an adaptor plate to use the Ford tranny mount and crossmember with the Dodge tranny.
5. While at NAPA I need to get some flare fittings for the tranny cooler line so I can finsh that up.
6. Order the longer bolts for the cab mounts and start thinking about how to 'fix' the front cab mounts.
7. See if I can get the plastic bushing for the shifter lever on the column.

Other stuff I'm thinking about;
1. I still need a driveshaft yoke.
2. I need to figure out the throttle setup since the current rod is right behind the head. May end up with some kind of short cable setup.
3. I need to go to the farm and pull the fuel lines off my '71 so I can modify the 350's fuel tank for a return line.
4. I have a feeling that my steering box is shot, it's leaking out the column seal so I may grab that too.
5. I need a few odds and ends for the engine that were damaged during the removal.

Going to be a busy day.
Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Ok, I ran out of motivation today, made the trip to NAPA and got the body bolts and radius rod bushings, then ended up piddling with the hydraulics on the trailer and tore apart a '84 Dana 70 for the 3.54 gearset.

Jamie

[FordTruck]

Lookin good!!

[Ranchero50]

Oh man, nothing smells quite like ancient gas, the cologne of the junkyard rat...

Aux tank is out. Front end is coming apart...

[Ranchero50]

Oh man, suffering through the front end. Had to make a farm trip to get the steering box off my '71 to put on this truck since this one is puking out the shaft end. I also had to order a set of pivot bushings, both of them were gone. Currently trying to get it back together so I can get it out of the garage for the night.

[Ranchero50]

Didn't do anything today, work tomorrow so I needed some rest...

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Back to it, finally. Went to NAPA and got the I beam pivot bushings and orderred the tranny cooler flare fittings again since compression fittings showed up instead... I also torched a hole for the passenger side motor mount and got it installed while the suspension was out. I need to get the drivers side fabbed up to move forward.

Some pics of the bushing swappage.

Ugly


Used a 1/4" drill bit and chewed the old bushing out, then used a sawzall to cut the bushing.


Followed by the impact to push it out. Took about ten minutes to remove per side.


Tried these,


Here, failed...


Used this.


Perfection.


Jamie

[FormerMarine1981]

Way to adapt and overcome I can see myself doing something like that too.

[Ranchero50]

Quick update, picked up a brand new '94 F-series radiator at a swap meet yesterday and it's going to work well with the Cummins lines. It's a 3 core and about the same size as the original. I did have to trade out for a different Dodge intercooler since the powerstroke was too narrow to fit around the new radiator. I'm leaning towards just pulling the radiator support off and swapping on a standard cooling one I have vs. cutting the heavy duty radiator stands off (it's rusted bad on the bottom too). Currently cleaning up the mess in the shop.

I also got the rest of the lights for the bed.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Ok, change three (or is it four)... The other Dodge intercooler is too high so I'm going to slice open the powertroke one and weld a spacer around one tank to it'll fit around the radiator. I also brought my spare core support into the garage since it's cold outside. I'm going to fit the radiator and intercooler today and maybe work on the other mount later if it warms up. I'm half tempted to run down to the farm and get the '94 mounts off the other Cummins we pulled yesterday. I think they will fit and wear better vs. these puck style mounts...

It's a 47rh truck too so I need to measure the total length of the tranny and adaptor plate before getting my driveshaft cut and fit.
Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Ok, finally some progress. The weather guessers promised warmer weather but 28` at 7am sucks so I worked on my spare radiator support. Notched the bottom so the intercooler would fit in the body better and removed the vertical supports on the radiator side so the wider '94 radiator would fit.


Bored the two tubing holes with a 5" hole saw and it's roughed in. I still need to make the mounts though.


Pulled out my gas wrench to take the front clip off. If the bolt head didn't break, the quick clip broke and everything just spun... It took almost two hours to get this far. Note the two big second gen motor mounts on the fenders.


Carnage.


Here's a pic of the first gen motor mount that I installed. It's not much and prone to breaking. My buddy parted out a '94 over the weekend so I was grabbing what he didn't want to keep (The '94 is going into a '88 Ramcharger with a turbo 400 4wd).


Mocked up the new core support. Yippee


Finally two pics of all the new room I have from using the '94 radiator. Of course the skid loader didn't want to start so I fought it for an hour or two to get the truck in the garage.




Now, what I didn't take pics of. I pulled the passenger side fenders off to facilitate making a new motor mount. Of course the oil cooler had to come of because the second gen motor mount is in the way of the old bracket. Once that mess was cleaned up I played with the engine placement, ending up 2" closer to the radiator and an inch higher to clear the steering and cab better. I even mocked up the tranny mount.

More to come next week,
Jamie

PS, I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the cab swap vs. redo the rusted cab mounts so I may end up combining my build threads...