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Discussion starter · #41 ·
Onto some more serious shots.

Here's a pic of what looks to be...some sort of bearing welded to a plate.



In fact, there's two of them on each side.



Maybe it'll make more sense here...



Turns out, those are Toyota throwout bearings. I found a dusty box of them in the attic at the garage. They are the exact inner diameter to fit the rubber mounts on both the intercooler and radiator, and also the exact depth for the bushings to sit in them nicely.



Here's the anatomy: that formed 1/4" plate for the radiator support, where you can see the intercooler bushings sitting in those bearings. The whole support and the front clip is mounted to the body at the stock front body mounts, using these angle brackets we made with a Chevy trans mount bushing in between.



That'll be finished up tomorrow.

The other thing is some pics of the motor mount crossmember...I apologize for the quality, as it doesn't really do it justice...but hopefully you'll get some idea of what we have going on.

This is from the passenger side, looking forward past the oil pan. The cylindrical object is the Dodge starter, which is relocated to the Ford side via the fordcummins.com bellhousing adapter plate.



A shot from the bottom of the passenger side looking up...that nut poking through is on the bolt that passes through the motor mount. It looks similar on the front side.



Here's the driver's side, looking towards the front.



Again, I'll try and get some better pics, but with everything assembled it's a little hard.

We've got it starting and flipping the fuel solenoid via the stock key ignition, which is pretty cool. The clutch is all hooked up and bled...so it's getting very tempting to find a driveshaft that fits and start driving it around. However, we've made the decision to not even look at the driveshaft until it's a lot closer to being done...because honestly, as soon as it moves, it'll be driving around a LOT more than it'll be in the garage being worked on.

Stay tuned.
 
Discussion starter · #42 ·
Minor update, just to keep you guys posted.

We've been doing hardcore wiring stuff, trying to take care of as much of that as possible before bolting the grille/hood/lights and junk on there. I can't imagine that you'd like to see pics of us sitting there with a test light and multimeter, or browsing through pages upon pages of wiring diagrams, so I'll spare those and just post pics of the final engine compartment when we get it done.

Lookin pretty sweet right now though, we have dual batteries running in parallel, using the power cable harness from the Dodge pickup. The driver's side fender has the same threaded holes and stuff as the passenger side, so we stole another Bronco battery tray and mounted it there, and filled them with an Optima RedTop on each side. We've got the wait-to-start and water-in-fuel lights all wired up to their standalone computer (and the intake grid heaters work), and I just have to figure out where on the Ford harness the oil pressure and water temp gauge senders connect to, and those will be hooked up too. The engine compartment is filling up nicely - we've cut back a whole lot of the Ford wiring harness, so it's clean and functional.

Radiator supports are also done, and it came out awesome. I'll take some pics of those this weekend sometime. The radiator hoses (factory Dodge ones) mated right up, and the Ford heater core lines required no modification to hook up either. The intercooler hoses are gonna take some custom work though, to properly clear the Ford coil spring and shock towers. No biggie there.

I've been finding out more and more that a build like this tests ALL aspects of your automotive knowledge - suspension, drivetrain, electrical, packaging, serviceability, and so on. It's a great challenge and I've had an awesome experience with it so far...hopefully the finished product will work out as well as we think it will!
 
bigtoyfreak said:
Yeah the master/slave line was on my mind too. They both use external slaves but the ZF goes in with 1/4 turn and the NV is a bolt on so I have to do the compression union connection too...too bad they use plastic line instead of a hose!

If you can get an accurate measurement on the adaptor and spacer that would be VERY helpful to me!

Thx again!
Cory
The hose is held in with a roll pin. It appears to me that you can mix and match m/c's and s/c's between Ford and Dodge.
 
Discussion starter · #46 ·
PineyPower said:
holy crap dude, I just read of this for the first time now, that is probably the most bad ass build I have ever seen, I think the bronco would look cool with some dually flares from a pick up, and the dually rear, not to mention killer traction, and by the way, I think the bumper is my favorite part! I want one for my 88 F-350, only problem... I don't weld, where the hell wher you guys when I lived in Jersey?
Dude...lemme tell ya...the dually thing has crossed our minds.:smokin:

Sorry for the lack of updates folks, I just started a new job and my buddy's been swamped with work at the yard, so we haven't done much. Since the last update, we got the power steering hooked up which is pretty cool (turns the 37s pretty easily), and the Ford gauges in the cab are reading from the Cummins sensors, both oil pressure and temp.

Alternator's been a bit of a problem, but it's getting there...a lot of crap with the regulator wanting a different resistance across the field in the alternator than what the alternator has. It's dumb things like this that unmotivate me from updating.

Pics soon or something like that.
 
vetteboy79 said:
Alternator's been a bit of a problem,
I used a Leece HD555 alternator. It is a 140 amp, 1 wire, real truck alt. The conversion is fairly simple. You even have a "W" post to drive a tach. It is detailed on Turbo Diesel Register.
 
vetteboy79 said:
We pretty much had to make a custom clutch hose today. The stock ZF uses an external slave, and the stock bronco trans (mazda 5-speed?) uses an internal slave. We had to order a clutch hose for the Bronco master cylinder, cut the end off the hose for the ZF trans, and use a 5/16"x1/4" compression union fitting to mate the two hoses together. Yes it works, yes it's a bit of a hack job...but these things are unavoidable in projects like this.
Actually there are alot of ZF's that are internal slave, mainly the SB ones. I hate them with a passion.

Can't wait to see some action pics though :grinpimp:
 
Discussion starter · #49 ·
Scot said:
I used a Leece HD555 alternator. It is a 140 amp, 1 wire, real truck alt. The conversion is fairly simple. You even have a "W" post to drive a tach. It is detailed on Turbo Diesel Register.
Got any more info on that unit? I just did a quick Google search and found nothing, and I'm not a member over on TDR yet so I can't really find it there either.

85f150dsel said:
Can't wait to see some action pics though :grinpimp:
You and me both, man...
 
Discussion starter · #50 ·
PineyPower said:
I really think the dually rear would even out the weight a little better
C'mon, we gotta leave something to do for the next version of the build... :flipoff2:

Think we got the alternator figured out tonight, as well as the temperature switches for the electric fans, as well as the remainder of the suspension and steering. Now it's time to get around to fabbin junk.
 
Discussion starter · #51 ·
Yay pictures.

We got the regulator and charging issue figured out. This lovely Leece-Neville heavy-duty regulator came from an old school bus. It's got an adjustable field voltage so we were able to tune it for the Dodge alternator. It maintains a perfect 13.8-14.1 volt charge throughout all load and RPM ranges.



Here's a shot of the nearly completed engine compartment.



Dual optima batteries, flanking a dual-electric fan setup (both are Taurus fans). The fans are temperature controlled via a sensor on the radiator hose. We used an overflow bottle from a Jeep Cherokee:



and this K&N air filter, selected after rummaging through about 20 different boxes at the local Wal-Mart.



It's mounted to the firewall via a small bracket and some sheet metal screws.

So what's left, you ask? Brakes, which should be done on Monday. The steering needs to be revised (however the Dodge power steering pump is hooked up to the Ford box and works just fine). Another inch of lift will be added to the front to level it out and give a bit more clearance for the HP60 - it's not in there yet, the Hp44 is staying for a little while, but now's the time to do it. Then driveshafts, and interior, and it'll be rollin.

All gauges are now hooked up, including wait-to-start and water-in-fuel, wired to the special diesel indicator panel from a '95 Powerstroke. Looks perfectly stock. Chassis electrical is all done, and with the alternator done, pretty much all wiring is ready to be cleaned up and tucked away. It's gettin close, and with the warm weather coming, we'll be working that much harder.
 
Looking good man! I fired up my F250 last night for the first time with the 6bt in it, it was a sweet sound. You wouldn't happen to have a part # off of that air filter would you? I need to get a shorter tube too, there isn't much room in the engine bay of the ford. What alternator did your dodge have? Mine had a ND with an external regulator, the same VR you'd find on any old dodge, wired up with one keyed power wire. Are you running AC? Whats the hottest it gets up there in the summer? I ask because I was thinking about electric fans, but was told that many have tried it on a diesel, and they were marginal at best.
 
Discussion starter · #54 ·
Scot said:
Thread on using the Leece alternator.
http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34554&page=2&pp=15&highlight=leece

He fabs something to the original bracket on top. I just made a bracket from the original mount surface to the alternator. It is directly across.
Thanks for the info, even though we got it going with just the Leece regulator. :)

Today we finished ALL the wiring up and put all the interior panels back together, worked out a few ground issues, and basically completed that phase of bitch work...also bolted the hood on and aligned it and stuff. Brakes and steering are the two remaining things keeping it from going down the road.
 
Discussion starter · #55 ·
Got the tach working today.

This involved a little bracket from the nice people at Fordcummins.com, to whom we owe a lot for the progress of this project.

Basically, the factory Ford tach sensor senses notches on the harmonic balancer, which it translates into RPM. The Ford balancer has 4 notches, while the Cummins/Dodge setup has 2. We had to remove the balancer and create 2 additional notches along its perimeter (for a total of 4 equidistant notches, about 3/16" deep by 5/8" wide). The adapter then located the Ford tach sensor properly over the harmonic balancer. A simple connection to the white/pink wire on the Ford ECU harness, and suddenly we've got tach readings on the factory instrument cluster.

:)

A small step, sure, but just more progress towards the end of this mess.
 
The display of ingenuity and resourcefulness in this thread is absolutely amazing. :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

I smiled when I saw Toy throwout bearings being used as mounts for the rad/intercooler...but then, hey it works! All the unique hardware created out of everyday parts and materials is proof that one doesn't need a custom cast or specially machined adapter for every thing. Rather, bend some steel stock with a torch, or other, and it's done.

IMO, your and your partners' attention to detail-engine compartment appearance, functioning FACTORY gauges (esp. wait for start/H20 in fuel), wiring harness and electrical sys.-is what makes a good build, a truely great one.

I can't wait to see the finished product.
 
Discussion starter · #58 ·
Thanks for the props, guy. A project like this has a lot of investment of one's self into it, even besides all the time, money, and effort. At this point, the project has been going for so long, that another week or two of downtime is nothing if it means that much more detail and quality. No need to rush it. We're pretty damn proud of it (I've done a few things, like building a longarm suspension for my XJ, MiniBaja at school, etc) but this is by far the largest undertaking we've done yet. The buildup in my sig is another, which will be equally challenging I think but in some different respects.

So thanks again to everyone who's been following along, and to those who have offered advice and suggestions. Without forums like this, I think a lot of us wouldn't know half the things we know.

I'll also mention that if any of the local-ish people on the board want to come by and check it out, just shoot me a PM, anyone is more than welcome.


IN OTHER NEWS...

Goddam turbo took a crap today. Apparently there was a small piece of metal shaving stuck in the air intake tube that we didn't see.

*zing* and now 3 impeller fins have nice little nicks on the edges. Doesn't look like much, but at 15,000+ RPM it's off balance enough to start rubbing the inside of the housing. It looks like a new impeller may be all that's needed, but we'll be stripping the whole thing down anyway.

Tomorrow Banks gets a call, and even though we've already got the BigHead wastegate and exhaust kit, there's still the intake side of the turbo that hasn't been modified yet. If the price for a factory impeller is anywhere near the rest of the Banks kit...I think it's obvious where this is heading.

Good thing it happened now, rather than when it's "done" and going down the road.
 
That sucks about the turbo. Happened to me back in my turbo mustang days. Actually I bought a turbo and it wouldn't even make boost it was so fucked up. The turbine and compressor wheels both had to be replaced. Fuckin bulllshit. After that though the thing was FAST.

Haha you guys do the minibaha at your school too? I was gonna join up but I'm only a sophmore and underclassmen don't get much work to do on it. Besides I have another thing to build.

Props on the bronco. Don't do a dually that would be retarded IMO.
 
Discussion starter · #60 · (Edited)
mooktank said:
That sucks about the turbo. Happened to me back in my turbo mustang days. Actually I bought a turbo and it wouldn't even make boost it was so fucked up. The turbine and compressor wheels both had to be replaced. Fuckin bulllshit. After that though the thing was FAST.

Haha you guys do the minibaha at your school too? I was gonna join up but I'm only a sophmore and underclassmen don't get much work to do on it. Besides I have another thing to build.

Props on the bronco. Don't do a dually that would be retarded IMO.

$495 for the center section for the turbo. I don't know if my buddy ordered it or not, but something's gotta get done either way.

Yeah I did the baja thing (graduated May '05). I was at the competition in Rochester NY last year. We did pretty well until a steering box failure kicked our ass in endurance (lost 6 laps).



^ I'm the punk in the sunglasses in the upper left

This was fun. The next day the race course was set up to go down this hill.



Testing accident. Nothing broke, both car and driver.



:D

/hijack

So yeah, turbo makes no boost right now. Anyone have a figure of how much boost it should put out when revved up but with no load?
 
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