The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Hey Dustin, good to see you back online. For some odd reason the little guide pin that rides on the eccentric pin froze in place so nothing I was doing to the AFC was effecting how the pump performed.

Since then I've been tinkering with the eccentric to get the truck to run without smoking with the pin rotated to maxed out. I did end up milling the top of the AFC housing and tapering the bottom of the pin so it could get more travel for less smoke with the star wheel all the way up. This morning I backed the rotation off a little bit and will see how it runs on the interstate to work tonight.

I have a 366 spring in and a 16cm housing. The truck will haze pretty bad at 3psi of boost with the convertor locked. It's gotten a lot better with the top of the AFC milled and the wheel all the way up. Currently running @650` at 5psi at 70mph pre-turbo. It pulls hard up to around 22psi at the intake, no real smoke at WOT.

[averagef250]

22 PSI is a lot for an H1C. It'll do it, but it seams like it's working hard to get there. Look for an HX35 from a stickshift 24 valve. They have 7 compressor blades, not 8. Bolt that sucker on there, just stock. The 54mm HX35 is a great setup.

The 16 non-gated H1C you have will do better than the stock 18 or 21 exhaust that turbo came with (and get phenomenal milage), but if you want power you'll have to get into the modern (late 1990's technology atleast) turbochargers.

Sorry if it's back there somewhere, but what gears/tire dia?

[Ranchero50]

22psi is with the waste gate line pinched off. I have the gate set to 15psi and wanted to see how the tune felt at higher boost. I agree, the H1C really makes a weird noise over 20psi so I plan on gating it around there until I can find something like an HX35. I was looking at pics last night and I figure if I needed to that I could flip the exhaust manifold over to gain some inner fender clearance.

Funny, plug and play? http://chambersburg.craigslist.org/pts/4472053795.html

Tires are 265/75-16's on all four corners. The fronts are around 60psi and the backs at 40psi.

This morning before coming home I did rotate the eccentric to the original position and the truck ran better. I also noticed that I'm going into O/D around 35 mph and that's usually when I hit the lock up on the convertor. I need to figure out where the stock Dodges shift into O/D so I can set my pressure switch to work there. I also really need to get my tach working so I know where the engine is when it's shifting.

Otherwise the truck is running very well and is very smooth running at speed.

[Ranchero50]

Dang, spent today finding my side trim and went to put it on only to remember that I used my wider T bolts on the hood trim. So another order to these guys:

http://www.autofastco.net/page/page/7775960.htm

Otherwise, just been driving the truck.

I did start fitting my hood scoop to the hood. Sadly I didn't mix the resin strong enough so I have a gooey mess to deal with right now. A thin sheet of teflon is between the goo and the hood.

Oh well. Went ahead and drilled my fenders for the 'Custom' emblems. Funny that Ford's lowest trim level seems appropriate with this truck

[Ranchero50]

Today was a pretty good day. I spent a good bit of it idling around town running errands. The truck is running great. This evening I went down and helped my dad work on his boat (fiberglass) and when I got home my relays were in for the 47rh. The resin finally cured (more or less) on the scoop so I plan on trimming it tomorrow and seeing if I can get it to fit.

Sexy...


Where I'll be June 7th...


Dump bed tilt mechanism...


Finally a pic of the little guide pin that got stuck...

[Ranchero50]

Today was spent doing body work on the Boos 429 style hood scoop. As seen, it did not fit very well so I had to fiberglass the base and use the truck hood as a mold. It worked out with a couple layers of masking tape keeping the bondo from sticking to the hood. I also mounted the 'Custom' emblems but I think I drilled the passenger side on crooked.











I'm still not too sure how I like the scoop on the truck. I think I'm just going to finish and decide once it's painted. I really like the 'stock' look and think it fits the build better.

We'll see.

[Ranchero50]

Only decent picture for the last weeks effort...



I did install my pressure switches but need to add some logic relays and the timer I got as my 47hr won't drop out of OD until the TC releases. No drama, just more stuff to wire and find a home for.

A what the heck. I did get the drivers firewall cleaned up. I ran the pressure switches inside where they should avoid any corrosion issues. I used my wiring harness carcass to get the firewall grommet and used a gasket punch to open it to fit the plastic tubing. Now I just need to get the switches set and wire the release circuit for the TC.



I spent the day at my folks place doing bodywork on their boat and then went to my friends farm and moved a round bale up to his other farm. Truck's rear springs are really loosening up after running with a load.

[Ranchero50]

Spent some quality time today with the truck. Spent way too much time getting the doors aligned with the cab better (raised them so the door seals would actually seal).

While the doors were apart I installed the side trim after giving it a high speed buffing. Marked and drilled the cowl for the 'diesel special' emblems and finally swapped the mirrors out as it started to storm


Oldest kid calls them 'Dumbo' mirrors...


A sot of the emblems from 'once upon a part' that have been waiting patiently to get installed since 2008. I installed them on a set of very nice Ranger XLT dash emblems.


The outside of the cab is pretty much done. I still need to install my plastic inner fenders but want the wheel well trim first so I drill the holes in the correct location.

And finally, sadly the origianl passenger side headlamp died this past week. It cracked for some odd reason.

[460 crew]

Looking good, I have a set of decals gathering dust also. Lol they look great on there.

[Ranchero50]

No pics but we have been enjoying the truck. Yesterday I replaced the leaking valve cover gaskets and adjusted the valves as well as do the killer dowel pin repair. I had to make a 36mm wrench for the fan nut and the balancer bolts were very tight, but otherwise it went well.

Still planning on running it up to Carlisle Saturday and maybe Friday. I have to work tonight so we'll see how rested I am tomorrow.

[Ranchero50]

Took the truck up to Carlisle today, I got stuck in the same class as the new over lifted 4x4's stuck way up on top of the hill at the far end of the show grounds. As it was so far away I did not spend much time at the truck but each time I stopped by there were people spending a lot of time looking it over and I got positive comments every time. One guy was on his phone to his buddy telling him about the original '71 diesel special there, first one he'd ever seen We got a lot of comments about how OEM the install looked.

There were more trucks for sale in the parts sections than in the show grounds. I'd say 3/4 of the show cars were '05 and up Mustangs. Far less than 100 trucks of all years on top of the hill. Even the invitational cars were a let down. Usually there are some really cool oddball rare performance stuff, but this year was oddball colored mustangs, newer and old.

Sad really.

[Ranchero50]

Today was spent in the truck... Had to run up to Rocky Gap to get my boat stickers renewed, about 60 miles each way through some really mountainous (for around here) areas. I really blew it by leaving the camera at home. The truck did really well, pulled the grades at 80+ mph 19-20psi of boost at 800` EGT before the turbo at @ 3/4 throttle.

Once back home I finally found some aluminum boxes for the bed on Craigslist about 40 miles away. These Kobalt small truck boxes were $40 each and should work out well once cut down to fit better. I'm just going to remove the wings that would have sat on the bed rails and tuck them in closer to the frame. The goal was to have some under deck boxes that kept the cab's body lines but be large enough to hold my Stihl 021 saws.





Oh yeah, mileage is looking around 20 mpg or so. I really need to fill it up and document it better.

[Ranchero50]

OK, cut down the first box and mocked it up. I think they are going to work well. It'll be mounted @ 3-4" below the frame and close to inline with the cab sides.





Welding really thin aluminum diamond plate sucks...

[460 crew]

Looks classy!

[Maximus]

Boxes look great! Very functional. I have a 12v in my 96 Dodge 3500, is wouldn't trade that motor for the world the rest of the truck, that's another story!