The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Yesterday I started on the stacks. I cut the 90's in half and welded them back together to act as offset 90's. My stack pipe will get welded next to the bend and the slip fit will be for the crossover pipe. Today we checked how the 3-4" transition and crossover pipe will fit and everything looks good. I'll have @ 1" clearance for the drive shaft and 1.5" for the bottom of the frame rails.


I spent the rest of the day tinkering in the engine bay and with the nose metal. As you can see in the pics we made some decent progress. We spent a lot of time looking for hardware and making shopping lists for our next junk yard trip. Mostly small screws and body bolts were missing. The paint turned out pretty rough. I didn't spend enough time sanding the old primer and my paint had thickened since I used it last so the paint rolled on heavy. Of course the cab needs polished as well. I figure I'll run it like this and work out the bugs before paying someone to strip and paint it correctly.







I still need to reinforce the bottom valance panel and I need another center radiator bar as I lost two of them that were floating around the shed. Everything still clears the inter cooler by at least 1/4" so I don't want anything moving around up front. The truck is starting from the key and still isn't charging. The old regulator was bad and draining the battery. I'm sure it's something dumb with the wiring or dash being half torn apart. I do have one fried wire in the dash cluster that I have no idea where it went so maybe...

More soon.
Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Today the oldest and I started on the stacks. I wanted to get them fabricated and hung before tackling the underside connections. Fabrication was pretty simple, we just cut a length of tubing and sat it on some jack stands at the correct height and then slid the modified 90's on it. We then stood the stacks on and decided that 5" shorter would work and about 20` of offset would make them look similar to how the big trucks are built.









We're working on the pipe stanchions now. Again, going to do something similar to how the big trucks have them mounted. Coming off the frame and we'll try to use some kind of rubber insulators top and bottom.

More to come.

[sargentrs]

Those stacks look tough, Jamie! Great work.

[FREEHAND]

The truck is looking great, I love that color blue. I flip-flopped back and forth deciding between that and what I am doing now. Decided to save it for a different build. I like the direction your going with the diesel etc. going to be a cool truck

[Florian]

The stacks look mean! Awesome!

[Ranchero50]

Well, today I found out that the truck will fit in the garage completely. 20'3" long so I can even walk around one end if I had to.

Spent the morning getting the flanges and transition welded together. I had a chunk of flex pipe so it got welded in place as well. I still need to weld the hanger pin to the flange to help support the front of the exhaust system.


With this route I have almost 1" of clearance to anything that will cause a rattle.


Stanchion plates drilled and bolted in place. I welded a 1.25" long 1/4" bolt onto the plate to hold the T pipe in place. A self tapping screw is keeping the stack pipe in place.


With this setup I still have 14" of ground clearance at the pipes.


Now I have to get my upright supports fabricated and figure out what I'm going to use for isolators. I have 3 good rubber ones but really need a fourth that matches to do it right.

More to come.

[Ranchero50]

Ok, spent the day finishing up the exhaust and getting the rest of the bed lights installed and tied into the frame wiring. I also finished up the exhaust fabrication. Somewhere along there we managed to clean and wax the cab. Of course it started raining once it was back outside. However, before the rain we took the old truck for a ride around the block and it is surprisingly quiet in front of the pipes. The truck sounds pretty darned good when standing on the loud pedal. No real deep drone like most of the stacked pickups that ride around, more of a higher pitched growl. The truck isn't really quick with 3.50 gears but that's how I wanted it. The stacks are pretty straight so I figure I'll leave them alone until the really settle. I still need to make some flanges for the stacks where they slip onto the 'T' pipe.











My son and I did take a trip to the junkyard mostly to get the interior hardware I lost but we also picked up a set of plastic inner fenders from a dent side bronco for $30. Hoping to get them installed the keep road splash from killing the cab mounts again.

[Ranchero50]

Started a seven off today, made the stack flanges and tinkered with the wiring. Got my brake lights to work as well as the heater fan. Ran the extra wire for the CHMSL and did some misc crap. I have about three pages of stuff to do before it's road worthy.

Tomorrow I want to get the doors stripped down so I can paint them and them put the tinted glass in.

[Ranchero50]

Pretty productive day today.

Managed to install the coupling flanges for the stacks. The pipes are tilted forward about 3/16" per foot of height so they would be perpendicular to the body lines.


We also made the new center grill and hood latch support. It pushed the bottom of the grill out about 3/4" and gave me some much needed clearance around the grill insert screws


I'm currently working on the bodywork for the lower valance. I had to thin it out so I had room for the support and then strengthen it and replace the rusted center mounts. I spent most of the day fitting and welding everything.


And finally we gutted the doors so we could prep them for paint. Hoping to get them painted tomorrow along with installing the door seals and other misc. stuff. I have my tinted glass to install as well.


After all that we went to the farm so I could strip out my old yellow cab that's sold. While there I picked up a rusty receiver hitch and some other odds and ends like the VIN plate for this truck.

Progress is good.

[Ranchero50]

Another good day, I'm pretty tired... This morning I painted the insides of the doors while Matt chased all the holes in the floor for the seat and belts. Then I poked the holes in the carpet with a 1/2" punch and Matt washed the belts in laundry detergent. Once the belts were in we installed the seat. Meanwhile we had stripped out my lower shed looking for the tinted side windows so we had a Ranchero load of trash and stuff for the farm. Once the missing glass was cleaned up we put it in both doors and finished the day with getting the front valance installed. Of course I had to put some bulbs in the fixtures and found that the turn signals work great with a new blinker module.

Front valance showing how it was thinned down and then reinforced.


Interior still looks about the same except it's getting bolted down.


Finally some blue on the doors. They turned out pretty good for a roller job.


And a shot of the front end. After it got dark I put some bulbs in and eventually put the lenses on.


I'm still tinkering with the front bumper brackets. I had to torch them off of the old white bumper and they'll need modified for the 1.5" body lift. At least my punch list is getting shorter.

[Alstoyz]

It's look'n GOOD!!! Keep up the good work, I'm love'n it!!!

[Ranchero50]

Thanks for the encouragement Al, definitely taking small bites out of the punch list. Speaking of which, since this is a new page, here's the list to get it on the road:

TRUCK PROJECTS...

1. EXHAUST
DONE - FAB AND INSTALL STACK FLANGES AT 'T' PIPE
- 4" + CLAMP OR WELD CONNECTION FOR FLEX PIPE TO 'T' PIPE.
- FAB AND INSTALL TRANS MOUNT 'T' PIPE SUPPORT PIN.
- DISASSEMBLE AND PAINT STACK COMPONENTS (BONDO OR)

2. TRANSMISSION
DONE - REPLACE LEAKING PAN GASKET
FIGURED OUT- FIGURE OUT LOGIC, WIRE O/D AND T/C LOCKUP CKTS.
- INSTALL, PLUMB AND WIRE FRAME RAIL OIL COOLER ASSY

3. CAB INTERIOR
DONE - CLEAN AND INSTALL SEAT BELTS
DONE - MAKE SURE SEAT IS BOLTED DOWN
DONE - INSTALL DOOR SEALS AND BUMPERS
- FIND AND RESTORE HEADLINER RETAINING RING PARTS
FOUND - HEADLINER INSULATION / SOUND DEADENER?
DONE - FINISH DASH PANEL ONCE THE ELECTRICAL / HVAC STUFF WORKS
- INSTALL GLOWSHIFT GAUGE
- WIRE TACH
- STEREO...
- MOUNT BRAKE WARNING LAMP
- FIGURE OUT SOMETHING FOR THE COLUMN COVER
- INSTALL REAR VIEW MIRROR
DONE - INSTALL DOME LAMP

4. CAB EXTERIOR
- INSTALL BELT LINE MOLDING *
- SEAL WINDSHIELD
- ROOF LAMP GASKETS *
- INSTALL INNER FENDERS *
HALF WAY - FINISH BOLTING FRONT CAB MOUNTS AND INSTALL COVERS
- FIX RUST IN ROOF CORNER AND PASS DOOR

5. CARGO LAMP
- CUT AND INSTALL LAMP BODY IN TOP OF CAB
- WIRE UP C.H.M.S.L, EXTRA WIRE FROM BRAKE SWITCH TO CARGO LAMP *
- INSTALL DOME LAMP

6. DOORS
DONE - PREP AND PAINT INSIDE
DONE - SWAP OUT WINDOWS
DONE, NEEDS INSTALLED - GET VIN AND DOOR LOCKS FROM FARM *
DONE - RESTORE MIRRORS AND FAB INSIDE MOUNTING / RETAINING PLATES

7. LOWER FRONT VALANCE
DONE - FAB SUPPORT FOR FRONT END
DONE - FAB HOOD LATCH SUPPORT
DONE - INSTALL VALANCE AND FRONT TURN SIGNALS *


8. ENGINE BAY
DONE - TURN UP I/P (ROTATE PIN AND ADD SOME SMOKE)
- WIRE INJECTOR PUMP AND TIMING ADVANCE CKT.
DONE - WIRE WATER TEMP AND OIL PRESSURE GAUGES
- INSTALL AND WIRE THE HEATER GRID MAIN WIRING,
- FIGURE OUT THE CONTROL CKT AND INSTALL IT.
- FAB AND INSTALL AIR FILTER HOLDER
- FAB FAN SHROUD
FOUND - WINDSHIELD WASHER ASSY INSTALL
- COOLANT OVERFLOW RESERVOIR (FAB OR BUY)
- CLIPS FOR MAIN POWER FEED ACROSS FRONT OF CAB

9. BED
- FAB AND INSTALL THE MUD FLAPS
- FAB AND INSTALL THE REAR PIVOT MOUNT
- DESIGN AND FAB BED TILT ARTICULATION
- CUT AND FIT 4X6X10' OAK FRAME PAD
- WELD ON END CAP PLATES
- DESIGN HEADACHE RACK
- POLISH SIDE RAILS

10. WIRING
- INSTALL HORNS AND VERIFY CORRECT OPERATION

11. HVAC
DONE - HEATER CONTROLS AND CABLES FROZEN
- FIGURE OUT UNDER DASH A/C UNIT, CLEAN AND INSTALL

12. FRAME
- FIND AND INSTALL MISSING TRANS CROSS MEMBER BOLTS
FOUND - FIND AND INSTALL A RECEIVER HITCH
- STRAIGHTEN FRONT CROSS MEMBER
FINDING - INSTALL EMERGENCY BRAKE CABLES (NEED TO FIND EXTENSIONS AND COUPLINGS)
DONE - FAB 1.5" OFFSET FRONT BUMPER BRACKETS

13. HOOD SCOOP
- FIT TO HOOD AND DO BODYWORK
- PAINT AND INSTALL SCOOP


STUFF TO ORDER *

- MORE 5/16 - 1.25" FENDER BOLTS (SEAT MOUNT AND MISC FRONT CLIP STUFF)
- COLOR SWAP LED AND 1157 PLUG FOR CARGO LAMP
- ORDER LARGE SPRING 'T' BOLTS FOR SIDE MOLDING
- ORDER THE CENTER EMBLEM FOR THE HORN RING
- ORDER CAB LAMP GASKETS
- SCREW CLIPS FOR PLASTIC INNER FENDERS
- RIVETS FOR VIN PLATE


STUFF TO TROUBLESHOOT

FIXED - NO BRAKE LAMPS
NEVER WAS - NO COLUMN SHIFTER PLATE LAMPS
- HARD TO START (AIR OR I/P TIMING?)
FIXED - HEATER FAN DOESN'T BLOW
FIXED- ALTERNATOR NOT CHARGING
WORKING - REVERSE LAMPS?
WORKING - TURN SIGNALS

Currently taking a break while the paint drys on the bumper brackets. So far this morning I got the grill install. We forgot to paint the mounting tabs black so I did that last night. Matt's wiring up a ground strap for the bed and the trans is draining itself (mostly all over the ground but I digress)... The door paint hasn't cured fully so I'm procrastinating about installing the door weatherstrip. Next up is probably the door mirrors. Still torn between the big ones or the smaller westerns.

[Ranchero50]

Another day down and more accomplished. Spent a lot of time tinkering with the mirrors (too much time actually). I started to clean and install the wide ones but ended up putting a set of Western Jr's that came from a 17k mile truck as they will fit in the garage better than the wider ones.

So, to start, the bumper offsets required a small chunk of steel to be welded on. Then I used the mill to drill some 7/16" holes 1.5" offset from the originals.


That allowed the front bumper to get installed. Once installed you can see some of the frame rails but it doesn't look goofy. The bumper looked pretty rough but cleaned up with some metal polish. I'd love to find another bumper and grill shell. The grill suffered from someones belt buckle and the bumper is pitted bad. You can barely see how the lower valance was thinned out in the middle to clear the hood latch support. Notice the mirrors and the extra mounts at the front of the doors. I'll probably run the narrow one and just put chrome acorn nuts on the bolts for the front plate.


With the mirror brackets installed we went ahead and installed the door panels that I painted years ago. The black has some very fine metallic in it and looks good in person. Everything cleaned up nicely with some Windex. Of course I left most of the tranny fluid on the ground. The stuff that did end up in the bucket pulled the trash bag in with it so it's all contaminated. Honestly it's dark enough that I expect I'll be doing a rebuild by the end of summer.


Final little bit of joy for the evening was making a template for the NOS 'custom' emblems that I picked up at Carlisle many years ago. I still have one of the '70 F350 fenders. I think the fenders on the truck are from the '71 F250. I know the doors are from the '68 F350 I parted out.


Of course I ended up at Wal-Mart for the trans fluid and they were out. I might run down to WV and get some or I might just go take it easy for a while.

[Ranchero50]

Another good day. After the Easter festivities I came home and added oil to the transmission after swapping out the trans temp sensor to the one for the Glowshift gauge. Then once the truck was closer to the garage Matt and I started working on the wiring under the dash. I added an extension for the interior lighting ckt and added a female bullet connector for the CHMSL wire.

Tomorrow should be another good day out so I plan on getting more done.

[Ranchero50]

Good day. Mostly worked on the wiring under the dash, found out the burnt wire by the ignition switch was for the regulator and brake warning lamp. There was a blue wire that went through the firewall with the ignition leads that had shorted and melted everything. I cut apart another harness to get the parts I needed for mine.

I also put the door weatherstripping on and it turned out ok but I'm not impressed with the 3M adhesive. I put a thin coat on each part and they didn't stick together very well. I'll post up some pics later.