The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Bear came outside to chase cats and isn't camera friendly. The whole bottom rail of the old supprt had cancer and it didn't look too bad when I bought it last summer at carlisle for $150. I'm still a bit pissed about it.


Sort of purty with very little rusty.


Rusty peices get cut off.


Intercooler will go through the support so there's a good bit of cutting and fitting.


I'm thinking about adding a stiffener like the super duty cooling radiator's mounted to for added hood support. I can only imagine how much pressure will be on the upper bar unless I fab a stiffener to go in front of the intercooler.

Jamie

[averagef250]

The galvanizing on the dent supports is pretty serious, keeps the rust away, but makes it some work to weld. When I did the IC mounts on my dad's '77 it took a lot of sanding and grinding to prep for welding. I should have spot welded the parts together, but it worked.

Looking good!

[Art]

Did you ever consider a 1st gen Dodge (91.5-93) intercooler? Their shorter height seems like it would give you more grille clearance at the bottom. Although not as effective as the big powerstroke unit, the 1st gen Dodge one should be fine for stock or slightly increased horsepower levels...

[Ranchero50]

Actually I did and didn't. Dustin (average) commented that they are pretty small for the load. I installed one on a friends F450 wrecker by grafting the Dodge radiator support into the Ford one, didn't see much difference with it vs. without.

This one is slowly going through the new support. I used the torch to cut the steel ears by the frame holes off and have sectioned the top so I can just rais it an inch which will help with the plumbing clearing the inner fenders. Two more nights of work, then I should be able to get back into it.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Progress... Trimmed the bottom of the top bow off and fabbed in a chunk of 1.5" x .125 tubing as a stiffener. On the front sides I added a 2" x .0625" square tube that I cut down to fit the profile of the support.

I still need to redo the mounts and fab in the IC and radiator bottom mount and a decent stiffener for the mount bosses. I'm about 70% done and just need a day when it's not raining to check the fitment in the truck. One great thing is with the I/C sitting higher in the support I won't have to butcher up the inner fenders anymore.

[Ranchero50]

Truck looks a bit strange without a nose. It sat out in the rain like this for a couple days waiting for better weather.


Meanwhile I tested the basic fit with the old '68 fenders.


Finally mounted the hood and mocked the valance panel in so I could mount the hood latch stuff.

[Ranchero50]

Once mocked in place I realised the valance panel needed shortened or it would interfere with the intercooler. I also noted that I had a good 1" of clearance to the back of the hood latch so I figured a 3/4" thinner valence panel would fit nicely if I trimmed the flat stamping lip off the back as well.

Squiggly lined stuff goes away as do the triangles.


I used a sawzall with a 10" 18t blade to get a fine straight cut and the bandsaw at the ends for a clean quick cut.


I used a spare valance panel from the '70 to make new angled peices. Left side is done, right side is just rough drawn so I can get it to fit under the primered panel to mark the final cuts.


Mocked up it looks pretty good. I'll have to remove the paint and then butt weld the panels together with the little welder and .023" wire.


Should turn out well once I can work on it again.

Jamie

[sargentrs]

Great custom fab work Jamie! Keep us posted on your progress. This is a real interesting fab project. Thanks!

[69SCJ]

17 pages and this is still exciting. Love it!!!

[Ranchero50]

Took some time this evening after sleeping all day to weld the valance back together. I cheated, clamped all the bits to the table upside down and used it for a big heat sink as I welded the panels. Surprisingly it didn't warp andit didn't stick to the table either. The corner peices fit ok but there's a bit of fill weld needed to smooth the radius's.






The ears and back lip on the valance need removed for clearance so I can scoot the I/C further forward.




Tomorrow I'll get the bottom I/C and radiator mounts done and cut out the marker light openings in the dent support and then fit the grill.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Trimmed and fitted.

[Ranchero50]

Making the radiator mounts courtesy of some Mt Dew...

I couldn't find anything that was the correct size so I used a chunk of 1.5" tubing as a break and bent some old scrap metal around it, then drill a hole for the rubber mount's tit to sit in. Once I get the wings done I'll trim them down and make them look sexy.











This was about an hour or so of scrounging and thinking and 15 minutes of work...

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

2/3 of the way done. Made the wings out of some scrap, fitted the mounts and welded them solid, finally trimmed the wings and then welded them to the support. I still have to do the top but that should be pretty simple compared to the bottom.











I'm going to replace the base where the bolts go since they are rusted pretty good and tie the cooler wings to that to stiffen everything up some more.

[Ranchero50]

It doesn't fit...

Walking away to go get the sawzall with the 10" blade to 'fix' it.

[FormerMarine1981]

Sorry it didn't fit. It was looking good at least.