Will be a 2wd dually for a while so I can sort out the wiring and stuff sooner. The idea is to get it mobile under it's own power as is and work out any bugs that might be there. I took a running driving 97 F-Superduty apart to do this swap however I didn't have a lot of runtime on it before I disassembled. The idea is to throw some halftub rear fenders on (think that old Chev from Fast and Furious) because the box won't fit until I move the axle ahead when I do the 4x4 swap..... wheelbase is too long right now. For the swap I have an early 91 Dana 60 front and LS 10.25 rear with 4.10s. I have the ZF5 with the driveline brake that (apparently) unbolts and allows a T-case to bolt up in it's place so the only mods I should need to do will be driveshaft, hoping everything else will be a close to bolt up. I think the first things I'll clean up will be steering (still unsure about coupling the column to the steering shaft... got a couple options). Bolting the brake booster to the firewall and making lines and modifying the brake/clutch pedal bracket from the 97 to the 79. The rest should be just wiring and bolting stuff in place. I have a 90 IDI F250 4x4 for parts, it'll donate the rear end and t-case, tank splitter and possibly the steering column. You'd be surprised how undesireable a non turbo diesel is around here. I would love to find a minty box but they are few and far between around here... did see a beautiful shortbox trailer a while back, will track him down if I see it again. I'm sure there will be issues I haven't considered yet but for the most part the big part is over with.

 

So... it's been monsoon season around here lately which is quite unusual. Today was productive. Basically cut bottom of 97 rad support off so it now sits under the 79's. Shaved the 79 front mounts off of support which allows the 97 rad to fit against the 79. The 79 will prob just get welded to the cut section of the 97 for now... might clean it up later but for now it will work. I am truly amazed at how well it fits.... opening up the firewall a little or leaving the stock downpipe (hahaha) would have left more clearance allowing the body to sit lower on the frame. Picked up some vintage air conditioning thing for $25 so.... after the front end gets mounted, I gotta cut the 79 support a little to allow for the AC rad... no biggy but if I didn't run the AC, the rad would fit up pretty slick as is.





Threw front end on to check alignment before tacking it together.

 

Lookin really good. Cant wait to see the finished product.

 

x2 i cant wait either

 

X3 Me too

6'10" top of roof as it sits...... if I go through with the 4wd swap (in the air right now after seeing how it's coming together) it'll be 7'4" with just the axle swap in on 32" tires..... plans are for 39s so you do the math on final height. BTW, 7'4" is the height it was when I started on the 37s.

 

I am curious as to how/where you will mount the PCM. The stock 7.3(as you know) had it mounted in the firewall behind the e-brake. And can you fit the 97 instrument cluster in the 79 dash?

 

Haven't got that far yet, lots of room under my dash so I'm sure it won't be an issue. I do not want to run the 97 cluster, but it might be the easiest way for now. I have a bunch of Autometer gauges including electronic speedo, but the tach was bought for a gas engine and haven't really looked into if it's possible to run on the diesel. The pedal assembly on the 79 appears to be farther to the centre of the vehicle, probably due to a smaller trans tunnel, so I'm sure even if I had to build a box on the kickpanel for the puter box I could, or rewire it and stick it somewhere else or whatever it won't be an issue..... seeing as I took the whole harness, I'll probably replace the headlight wiring etc. with the new harness, cause someone in the past wasn't good at repairing or adding wires.

 

Dont forget your dimmer harness and wiper controls are on the blinker stalk and not on the floor and dash. Also i am not so sure if the engine will run without the cluster being plugged in(not 100% though)

I have been doing alot of research on a similar swap( a 86 6.9 truck and putting a 95 powerstroke in). At least mine is a direct bolt in, just the wiring will need to be worked out

 

I'm 99% sure I don't NEED the cluster... if I do and don't want it showing, I'll just stuff it under the dash somewhere or build a box in front of the shifter and bury it in there or? Plans are to use a 90 Diesel column, which won't plug in but for things like the wipers and blinker and whatever, it's only wires and they can always just control relays for whatever I want them to. Plan to do things like wire the dual tank switch into the 79 switch (if I can use the 79 version of any control I would prefer it that way). Still unsure about the dash cluster either which way but that's not the big concern right now... worst case is I can get it running and worry about the little stuff as I drive it.


Literally two rad supports welded together.... I'm not worried about fancy right now, can always build another one later that looks better. Plans are to get it mobile.

 

looks like a cool project. there was a thing I think on trucks a while back they took a old Ford truck an put it on a 90's Dodge frame an it turned out good.You might want to see if you can find the video on there site maybe it might help with getting everything swapped over.

 

Gol dang man at the rate you be workin you want to come do my project fully funded? I would have my truck done in a week.

 

Seen that... same idea different motor and frame... Truth be told, I would much rather swap bodies now than construct motor mounts and play with crossmembers and stuff. Make the conversion part in wires and linkages and such, and leave the big parts alone. What I mean by that is... things like radiators, steering parts, brake lines, etc, things that are going to wear out when you need them to least should be readily available when you do need them. I'd rather construct a monster rad support and leave the rad completely stock than to modify or build brackets onto radiators (thinking aluminum), reason being when you need them, it's only a part number away, and not a machine shop as well.

A lot of the things in this swap are very close to bolting in/on, usually shuffling stock parts between years will solve most of the problems. Things that go in the firewall seem to just need some oblonging to the holes to fit so far... the pedal assembly will be a combination of 79/97 brackets. I don't know what changing makes of vehicles would result in for headaches.


USArmy... my time schedule is way off... this thing should have been mobile months ago... but due to waiting for custom cut parts and weather, it's still getting built. I'm "racing" my buddy who is building a toyota on 47" tires.... he's doing the waiting on parts game too so... time will tell. On the bright side, this weekend I found a point where I can see the end of the build, shouldn't be any more custom parts needed and it's mostly laying in the wiring and adapting to the 90 column. I'd rather be driving it than building.

 

I am glad you are sticking to your guns and building what you want instead of the more popular Cummins swap. There is nothin wrong with the Cummins swap, but it will be awesome to see a dent with a powerstroke.
I have only seen one other in my life. It ended up being a 79 crew cab 4x4 that pulled a camper. He ran the late model running gear with the dent body. It has been several years, so I do not remember many specs. What I do recall was the smile on his face when he fired it up and it drew a crowd.

 

How is the swap going?

 

I'll tell you what... this has taken so long that there is surface rust on the floor now from having the holes in the firewall open (brakes column etc) I grafted the two brake pedal brackets together the other day (no pics yet) but haven't bolted anything down so far. The hoses to the brake booster aren't long enough to mount anything to the firewall but the clutch master will go on although it's close (1/2" ish) to the Roda valve that's on the engine. Another weekend of rain so.... thinking the best bet is to clean out the garage and haul it home. Can't see needing the loader again until after it runs so wouldn't hurt having a roof over it again. I did pick up a big chunk of aluminum that resembles a flatdeck. It's 99" wide right now so plans are to cut it down to about 91-92". I was planning on being able to put 2 quads side by side on it but would have to pull a tape measure on a few in the group to figure out if I want deck that wide. FYI 99" is the width of a highway tractor service body here... which is where the deck part came from. As far as the 4x4 swap, still have all the parts available to do it, but probably just going to drive it for about a year before I rip it apart for that. Oh ya, and pretty sure I'm gonna put F600 hood hinges on it which will enable me to have removable inner fenders for better engine access in the future.