The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Cool, when it works out you'll be my hero. I didn't know the vans used a Sag pump and thinking about it I used a 18mm wrench to undo the Cummins hose fitting. Had to take a break from the truck today, was getting burned out and hope the above posts don't reflect it too much.

Jamie

PS, seems I forgot to hit 'submit' in my excitement to go get parts. The hose fit, had to tweak it a good bit but no drama and a speedo cable from a C6 worked fine.

[averagef250]

Glad to hear it worked!

There are a lot of hydraulic outfits near me, but most are pretty lost about automotive stuff and tuck tail when they hear "brakes". I was using a tubes and hoses franchise shop about an hour away for my hose work because they could do the work at the quality needed, but the prices were rediculous. $75/hr is totally understandable, but the time they'd bill me for was always ludicrous.

I researched crimpers, bought an old aeroquip that crimps to diameter by .001" increments and found a really good wholesale hydraulics place for supplies. The old crimper has really come in handy. I have plans to make some new dies for it for crimping control cables and a bubble die for AC crimps.

I wish there was a great shop to do this work near me. It's pretty basic stuff, but you need a lot of inventory on hand if you want to handle walk ins all the time.

[elgemcdlf]

Well I am in IN (farmers) so there may be more of a market for automotive type hydraulics than non-farming states. Interestingly enough automotive stores around here only do hydraulic lines for tractors

[Ranchero50]

We have two or three hydraulic shops locally where I can get hoses made up, auto parts stores don't touch the stuff anymore. The goal for this project is to use off the shelf parts so when it does break down I can get the stuff at any big box auto parts store.

Today I didn't accomplish much, made some parts runs and had the pass door glass fall out on the Ranchero and I replaced the o2 sensors in my neighbors '99 Ranger with a 3.0 V6. He paid a shop to do the work and all they did was round off the sensors so I welded a new pair of bungs on the Y pipe and screwed the new ones in there vs. fight the mess of the originals...

I did get the fuel lines bent, thinking up some clever way to hold them to the cab floor.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Spent the day working on the trucks, put the pass side window back in my ranchero and reassembled about half of the interior on the truck. Looks nice with fresh paint and shiny chrome. I put the carpet down again and it almost fits. I installed the new sill plates to hold it. Heater is in, trying to find some non AC controls that are in good shape now.

Wires all over the place and I doubt half of them will work when powered up but that's another days problems. I cut apart the Dodge harnesses I have and realized I'm missing the OD and converter control plug so anopther junk yard trip is in order. No pics, the wife stole here camera back.

[averagef250]

That 47RH plug is a pain. RH's weren't around for long and they're the only ones with 3 terminals.

[Ranchero50]

I should rename this money pit because I can leave any store without spending at least $30 on this thing... Ok, power steering hoses are ran, brake booster vacuum line is there, the OD pressure tubing id at the firewall. A good bit of the Ford electrical is routed. Fuel lines are done too.

[Ranchero50]

Worked on the shifter linkage today after vacuuming the floor. I have my buddies Cummins powered Ramcharger here, put a 3200 spring in yesterday because I had to pull the top off to get the idle screw to loosen. Someone had been in the pump before and it's buggered.

I did use it's shifter linkage as a model for mine. Making a new on will take a day or two if I can get the correct snap bushings from NAPA Monday.

Jamie

[averagef250]

Looks really good, starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel?

[Ranchero50]

It runs, finally.

Fought the fuel system, could not get the pickup tube to draw fuel, ended up denting the bottom of the fuel tank right at the pickup with 5 gallons of diesel in it, expecting a leak. Had to blow through the line with an air hose to get whatever was stuck in it. Ended up using a gearpump to draw the fuel from the tank, real PITA but it worked out in the end.

I didn't have the 3/0 wire battery terminal so I ended up clamping it to the battery with a pair of vise grips. Wired a toggle switch to the injector pump and used a scrap of wire for the starter solenoid. The starter seemed stuck so once it turned the engine over I powered up the injector pump and primed the pump a couple times, then hit the starter and the thing sprang to life instantly. It actually startled me it fired off so fast.

I did get a nice tranny fluid squirt when it started, had it in low vs. park and I have tubing coming from the governor port for the OD control and didn't have the pressure switch on it yet. Took a couple minutes to button it up and fired it off to reset the idle much lower.

I'm pretty stoked, it's runs smooth and doesn't shake at all with the '94 mounts on. My buddies Ramcharger with the '93 puck style mounts is obnoxious in the cab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9N2ZPC0R_8[/video]

Jamie

[Hemmi06]

[robroy]

Good evening Jamie!

Most excellent video! I loved hearing your narrative and seeing your truck run.

I was actually surprised by how quiet your 6BT sounded in the video. Also, maybe it's just the way the camera's microphone sensitivity was auto-adjusting, but your 6BT sounded much quieter than your buddy's. How similar are those engines?

Robroy

[CrypticRacer13]

Nice to see it going after all the work

[basketcase0302]

A lot of work in a short time Jamie, sounds nice!

[Ranchero50]

Thanks guys, like I said before, I was running out of excuses not to start it up. I think playing with the Ramcharger also got my motivation up. That poor thing had a few bugs, wouldn't charge, wouldn't go into OD and all the warning lights for the 6bt stayed lit. I rewired the alternator to run a standard Mopar regulator which after a couple days when it stopped charging well started backfeeding the injector pump keeping it running. I was a bit miffed about that so I decided to just hook the OD pressure switch up to the pressure port but ended up having the 4wd shifter in the way. So long story short I dug out the processor that was on one of my spare wiring harnesses and connected it and everything worked.

On mine I think it's quieter because it doesn't have any coolant in it and there's a lot of ambient noise from the fan and turbo blowing air. It's also idling lower. My exhaust is currently just the 3" pipe exiting under the cab.

Todays project is to get the shifter linkage done, maybe bleed the brakes, work on the inner fenders, and draw up a wiring diagram for the diesel integration. I want to keep it as simple as possibly but still work well.

Jamie