The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Free wood... Rotted Cherry, green Tulip Poplar and green Cherry on the ground that didn't fit on my truck. Good couple hours. Tarped and strapped it for the ride home. Truck was a little lazy with the weight but cruised along fine.





Now I have to process and store it before Matthew shows up.

[Ranchero50]

Just some updated pics showing the trucks new front sneakers. Same height as the back but much wider up front. Green thing is a John Deere feed grinder I spent of ton of time rat proofing and fixing some worn out mechanicals on.









Truck is running great. I bought a head gasket kit for it, working on affording studs now. $307 for the gasket kit from Cummins and $400+ for the ARP stud kit hurts. Coolant system became pressurized a couple weeks ago so I think I lifted the head at least once. Nothing blew but the hoses shouldn't be stiff when it's cold.

Truck's currently got a load of plaster and lath boards waiting to go to the dump in the morning.

[hfdco4]

Great to see pics of the truck, sorry to hear you need to pull the head. Will you do any upgrades while it's apart?

[Ranchero50]

I do have a fuel pin for it and the turbo has been welded and recut. I might run 3" innercooler lines and thought about making another top plenum similar to the P pump 6bt's.

[hfdco4]

Good upgrades, did you make a tab for the killer Cummins pin issue?

[basketcase0302]

Lou looks good still Jamie.
I see folks around here selling the cherry wood for projects, (one guy had it listed as "bowl turning blanks").
Is there not a market for it there or anyone who'd want if for firewood-isn't it a hot burning wood?
Have six of them here in the yard, (mature).

[Ranchero50]

So, today was a truck day, yippee. My hydraulic tank has been slowly leaking from some cracks int he plastic housing and finally forced the issue of me doing something about it. Spent some time making a new flange on the mill and am going to bend up some aluminum for a tank in the morning. Should have some pics then too.

BC, Cherry burns really hot and lasts a long time plus it smells nice coming out the chimney. I've been burning the poplar one fire at a time because it starts really well with some old lath board as tender.

[Ranchero50]

So, machined a flange for the tank, then started making a small metal bender before grabbing a 20% off coupon and getting one from Harbor Freight. Other than needing to clamp the top plate to the bender it worked out really well on the 16 gauge aluminum.


Used the Tig on the sheet metal and had to Mig the heavy stuff. I'm only feeding my Synchrowave 350 with a 30A breaker instead of the 150 amp on it needs.


An old bicycle seat post turned into a new fill / vent spout.


Almost twins...


And installed. Of course as I was tightening the one bolt that bolds the pump to the frame, is stripped out. Someone had pushed a standard bolt into the metric hole. I hate that and ended up using a bungie cord until I can get it into the garage to weld up some tabs for the tank.

[hfdco4]

Looking good.

[Ranchero50]

Somewhere along the project I forgot to post up a pic of the finished volt meter, here it is. I used a label print program at work to make the scale.



It's one of those little projects that make the whole driving experience so much better.

[Lone Ranger]

That voltmeter is sweet! Looks original too!

[hfdco4]

Can you tell me what you used to make your Volt Meter? I did a quick look through but didn't see the particulars.

[Ranchero50]

I had a whole thread on the volt meter install but lost it so here's the abridged version.

Found one of these at Carlisle for a couple bucks.


Comparison to the stock ammeter.


Popped the bezel off with a small screwdriver to take the gauge apart. Ammeter behind it for comparison.


Yep, gonna work but the gauge face doesn't look right or fit


Back side shows that I'll need to open up the mounting holes and use the fiber washers for electrical isolation.




Used a file to fit the stock back plate to the Sunpro gauge




Fiber washers installed. I think I opened the holes with a unibit.


Some decals I made up at work while trying to get a decent font match.


Done.


For the wiring I just rewired the main cluster connector for +vdc and ground.

[hfdco4]

Thanks, I will look at this at home since the images are blocked here at work.

[SeapineF37]

Wow that turned out great! Nice work