The chronicles of Lou, '70 F350 dually Cummins project

[Ranchero50]

Progress. Picked up the new steering box and think I may have a winner this time. It turns smoothly out of the box and went right in. Fingers crossed.


Also had the new turbo dropped off, looked like UPS literally dropped it quite a few times. Box was shredded but everything was still inside. Shaft play is within spec and I think it'll work fine. I do need to weld my 3" flange inside the 3.25" opening. H1C had a 2.75" opening so I welded a 3" flanger over top of that one. Compressor scroll is the same size, inlet and wheel is larger. Turbine wheel is larger as is the housing. Hoping I don't have any fitment issues.




The injection pump is also back together. Hoping it won't leak again. I need to cut up a base gasket for it and get it back in.

[Ranchero50]

OK, little pain, little misery but I think we are back on the road. Overall pretty happy. Chinese PS box must have been copied form a worn out Ford box because if I set it up so the steering wheel has some slop in the centered position it works fine. If the center is tight, it binds in the corners. turbo is a little lazy but I'm working on the tune to help bring it to life. Not going ot push it because my radiator hose is pretty stiff. Head gasket time is coming up.

[Manny]

Time to fire ring that thing you push it big time???

[Ranchero50]

Nah, not really. It's running a VE pump so I'm limited about how hard I can overfuel it and quite honestly I don't need to push it that hard for it to do what I want. I fought a fuel leak around the water trap valve and finally tossed the stock style NAPA 3379 filter ($28) for a NAPA 3373 / 3375 ($16) filter without the drain fitting. No more leak and the truck starts easier. In the past the "leaks" would leak fuel when the tank was higher than the leak and suck air when it wasn't.

Post filter I made a run up to Greencastle PA to help a friend get his baby Dodge / Mitsu truck running and I'm pretty happy with the performance. The turbo no longer screams but seems to pull at least as well. Exhaust note is much deeper so I may end up with a muffler since there's not much room down there for a 4" pipe 1700 hz helmholtz resonator although I could just turn the "T" into a "X" and have it reverb back towards the main tube...

I also fixed an annoying rattle from the driver door latch Friday by taking the door apart and lubing the spring loaded lever that keeps the pawl tension on the latch handle. No more rattle. That and getting the steering wheel aligned took an hour or so.

Today's project is to build a framework to hold a pair of 20' 2x10's on the side of the bed. I need them for a header above the shed where I'm going to install a 16' x 7' garage door in a week or so. Figure 3' hanging off the back and @ 6' off the front stabilized by the mirror mounts should work well. Try that on a short bed.

[Bullitt74]

enjoying your posts, and learning a lot. Keep up the good work!

Good luck with those 20’ Lengths - I’ve hauled 16’ lengths with Smokey, and that felt about the max I was comfortable with. I’m sure if you plan your route and take your time, you’ll be fine!

[Manny]

Ah yes flatbeds the invincible for long items. Just have your flags!!

[Ranchero50]

Got the boards home drama free. The little saddle framework worked out really well. I bungeed a rag around the front so it wouldn't whack the fender trim and did another around the mirror mount to help hold it away from the body. I also screwed the boards together with 2.5" deck screws to stiffen them up.





Of course it's supposed to rain this weekend so I'm tripping over them in the main shop for now. During the trip I also noticed that I need to go back through my OD strategy because when cold the trans locks the convertor as soon as it goes into 3rd. I may put both controls on switches until I can figure out some tach based switches. I was on Aliexpress the other night looking for low pressure electrical switches ot hook up on both sides of the fuel filter to monitor the filter and pump performance. Nothing there so the search continues.

[Bullitt74]

Success! Well done, good luck on your garage door!

[Ranchero50]

Another day is done. 16' door install about 70% complete. This was a lot of work but is going to make parking the toys so much easier.

[Ranchero50]

No pictures but the shed door is in and even works pretty well. I still need to trim it out and install the siding. Then on to the threshold concrete work and it'll be ready for winter. Really impressed with how much room I now have.

In other news I drove the truck to work and it's running really well with the new turbo and pump tune. Doesn't seem to have a huge amount of power but it pulls effortlessly.

[popeyes71]

Cool, glad you got things tuned in a little better with the turbo and fuel!

[Ranchero50]

Progress... Been off all week trying to get some stuff accomplished with the shed. Two days of day, two days of sun and today is back to wet... Yesterday afternoon I did a junkyard run up to the woods and found what I hope is a good working PS box from a '74 F100 with 88k miles on it. It felt good, had plenty of old oil on it and the hoses were still attached. The fluid that drained out was somewhat brown and the walk back to the car carrying this thing and a tool bag full of stuff just about killed me.

Note that when Ford assembled these that the locking clamp was straight up when the wheel was centered. Four turns total so two from either end gets you to center. With the Chinesium ones I was never able to get the wheel centered when going straight.


Next up is a piston replacement kit for the trucks fuel pump. This is more for a friends tow truck but he wanted me to figure it out first. Piston pumps do 30 psi with the stock spring. The VE pump tends to spit the front seal if the feed pressure goes above 15 psi which fills the crankcase with fuel.
Some folks install a weaker spring to reduce the pressure. I intend to mount a bypass style fuel pressure regulator after the filter and have it return the excess fuel to the front of the pump. It'll filter the fuel.


Shed door is just about done with the exception of getting the door opener working and nailing two pieces of siding up (ran out of nails). Overall really happy with the results, especially shallow mounting it to the 4x4's to make it much less intrusive into the interior.


I gave the door a bath Tuesday in the rain and got some of the smoke stains off. Then once it dries up I'll dig the dirt out in front and install some pavers on the slope.


Finally it was raining while I was cleaning out the shed this morning. Everytime I pull my fairlane out it rains. As part of my junk yard crawl yesterday I picked up a pair of replacement wiper arms because I had one newer black one and one without any rubber. Of course I fault getting the blades replaced so I could see where I was going and once ready to put it away I found the wipers don't work anymore. Another day... Note the dolly in the back of the truck. I was too lazy to drag it up in the yard and too lazy to go get it once I wished I had.




So once I get the main garage cleaned up enough I plan on dragging half the truck in and tackling the steering box, again...

[Ranchero50]

So folks are probably getting tired of reading about this so hopefully this is the last time I swap out the PS box. Funny thing, once the air is purged out it works like the factory intended. Kind of funny how you forget about it once it's working correctly. No lash problems and the power assist isn't wonky. Now I need to decide what to do with the old box. Would love to get my $170 back but I doubt that'll happen.



While parting out my old frame last week I grabbed the dentside PS oil cooler and mounted it today. Funny that the F350 crossmember was longer than the F250 one and I needed to tweak the lines so it would fit.

[Ranchero50]

Been running the truck to work the past three days due to snow and freezing weather having me locked out of my Jag. PITA.

New Project List:
1. Windshield washer reservoir and pump (salt spray sucks)
2. Heater fan and motor upgrade (Being cold sucks)
3. Radio (because I can't sing)
4. 4k governor spring (governor is slowing me down)
5. Figure out the cooling system to get it to warm up quicker (see #2)
6. Clamp the waste gate shut (see #4)
7. Align the steering wheel (crooked wheel drives me nuts)
8. Quieter exhaust (because it's mind numbing after 10 minutes at 70+)
9. Make replacement foam pads for the roof lamps (because they rattle)
10. Figure out a window lock for the back window. (see #9)

Truck runs really well. Pacing a newer Civic this morning I noticed I'm only doing 72 when the speedo says 80. The engine is taching 2k and defueling a lot above it so it's a dog at speed. Effortless power otherwise. The engine pulls so easily I seldom load it hard.

After driving the Jag it's funny that this trucks hood is higher than most cars roof line. Not the most agile animal on the road but still fun to drive.

[basketcase0302]

Don't know how ya'll cope with it Jamie, (the cold) as I have ice on my barn roof down here this morning brrr!

I was so...glad I'd put the 110V engine heater in my last bump as i walk out in 10 degree weather there in TN and have instant defrost and heat the second I started the truck, (not to mention how much easier the starts were).

Is there no way to add an engine heater to the 6BT engine?
Fleabay has so...many of them listed. I believe I got mine for around $40, (metal freeze plug style) but looked hard at the inline hose type.

edit: awesome job on the garage door! It was on my list if I stayed there in Chattanooga-real glad i didn't have to figure out how to manually lift it by myself!