The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Hemmi06]

[Ranchero50]

With the 47RH using a wider torque converter and engine spacer I needed to gain some clearance so the bellhousing doesn't hit the cab weld seam. Seemed the easiest thing to do was lower the engine a bit more so I had to modify the oil pan so I could drop the engine without hitting the steering. First step was figuring out how large a T sump I would need to still hold the same amount of oil as the stocker which is 10"x10"x6" or 600 cubic inches. My T was 14" wide and 3" deep so some math showed that if I divided 600/42 I came up with around 14.2' long. So I made the T 15" long and fitted it to the pan, went from a 7.5" deep pan to 5.25" deep. I'll redrill the engine mounts and see if I can gain at least 1" of clearance.













More to come.
Jamie

[1972hiboy]

saweet........

[Ranchero50]

Ah crap, almost got it in but forgot to verify one important thing, that the oil pan would fit in the frame. Pics tell the story...















So tomorrow after work I'll be pulling the pan back off to notch it on the passenger side under the motor mount. I'm a bit dissapointed but I'm making some progress. I need to get the engine in and the cab moved so I can get the other cab off my Ranchero out front. Figure sooner or later I'll get a nasty-gram from the city about it.

Jamie

[Hemmi06]

I would have given up.....

[averagef250]

When I put the same setup in my dad's 77 SCS F350 after all the measuring I couldn't see how I could keep it rear sump and keep 3 gallons in the pan so I went to front sump. Hopefully your bodylift gives you the extra room you need to make it viable for you.

How'd you hold you the pan for welding? I was a little surprised how much they move around the first time I modified one.

[Ranchero50]

I would have given up.....

Failure is NOT an option

Surprisingly the T sump held up really well, it's 14ga and the pan is at least 16ga so no real distortion. I used the big welder with .035" wire and a good bit of heat to keep porosity at bay and it welded nice. 3 gallons sounds about right, I had a lot on the floor when it overfilled my oil change thingy... I think I'll be down a quart or two with the modified sump and I think I'll be able to drop the engine an inch as well. Before the sump was right over the steering linkage and the drain bolt rubbed.

More to come,
Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Oil pan round two, notched out the section that needed removed and fitted in some more 16ga sheet metal.









Still had to dimple the drivers side front corner for some clearance but it's in there and will clear everything nicely once the drivers side frame mount is finished.


Notice the engine mount bolt is in the lower frame holes, yippee.


Finally with the cab trial fit. If I squint real hard I can almost see this on the road by 2012.


I'm still going to have to run with the cab lifted but everything seems to fit pretty good (so far). I do need to swap out the tranny fill tube to the old one that routes lower and I still need to finish the drivers side frame mount, and make a tranny mount.

More to come.
Jamie

[gregamorton]

how much did you have to lift your body? I had to do 3/4" on mine to clear the turbo downpipe on my 7.3.

[gregamorton]

when I had the 4bt in the truck it was real close to the steering linkage. I had only about 1" from the pan to steering linkage but my engine was a lot shorter than the 6bt.

[Ranchero50]

I'm running 1.5" spacers. I made them for the old IDI 6.9 swap that fell out of favor for the 6BT. This evening I popped the old yellow cab off the back of the ranchero and set it behind the blue cab. Hoping to hit the river sometime this week if the weather holds off and the water levels drop some more.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

This morning I finished up the drivers side frame mount, made a trip to Autozone and bought a new tensioner and a '94 Dodge 2500 tranny mount. Ended up just lowering the crossmember to the bottom of the frame under the tranny and drilled the mounting holes for the Dodge mount.

Then after some lunch (turkey sandwich and chips) I cleaned up a bit, and pulled the Synchrowave 351 out of the corner to Tig the stainless 3" exhaust downpipe together. Bandsawed the pipe, then used the belt sander to get the joints flush, fitted and welded together. A note on the 3" pipe, with the 2wd I don't think I would have been able to fit 4" between the frame and tranny. I will run 4" from the downpipe to the stacks and they'll probably be 4" stainless too.





I do have the downpipe wrap from a powerstroke and may end up wrapping the pipe to keep the underhood heat down.


Finally some really good news (other than I bought a new vise), the driveshaft looks like it'll fit without being modified. I do need to modify the carrier bearing mount to support the narrower Dodge part but that shouldn't be a big deal.


Needless to day, the cab has been hanging off the back of the tow truck all day and I need to finish the tranny lines before dropping it back in place. More to come.
Jamie

[Ranchero50]

A few hours later...

Matt helped me get the cab back on the truck, then we sat the radiator support on with the old fenders to check the fit. Overall it looks almost like Ford could have put it there. The exhaust tucks in nice and if I trim an assembly boss off the tranny housing the dipstick will stay away from the cab floor.


On the drivers side the corner of the floor needs massaged a bit for tranny clearance otherwise no drama.


The intercooler seems happy, the tubing shouldn't be a big deal to fab up.


Mounted the grill with just two bolts so I could see how it'll work around the intercooler.


Fit is decent, I'll need to tweak the bottom of the grill out a bit but I think the big holdup will be the hood latch assy.


Overall I feel it was a good day,
Jamie

PS, You guys can comment too.

[fomocoguy]

Looks real good! Probably the kind of day where you stand back and say "man I got a lot done and it's coming right along..." instead of "why do I do this to myself..." It will be really cool to see this one on the road.

ps I'm jealous of the TIG welder

[LOWERED 69]

Nice job!