At last, a break from house renovations, time to get on with
truck renovations.

Done a whole heap of work over the last few weeks.

For starters, FRx and all new seals in the fuel bowl.
I wish that the long leg of the FRx was maybe 5mm longer, it would
have made fitting it a lot easier.

Also fitting high flow CVD fittings and high flow banjo bolts to the
fuel rails.

Did the CCV mod and replaced the O rings at the same time.

Replaced the glow plug relay with a White-Rodgers unit from
DieselOrings.
Apparently the standard items are prone to failure and it's an
easy and cheap upgrade.

I replaced the seriously under sized air filter with a 6637.
This turned into a bit of a fabrication job, had to modify the BD
cool air dam and replace the air duct to the turbo.

Next step was the plenum reinforcing inserts and complete
intercooler and engine boot set. I also removed the foil wrap
from the intercooler tube and gave them a coat of "Ford" blue
engine enamel.
I also lashed out on an AFE "Blade Runner" intake manifold to
replace the standard spider.

This lot should help the beast to breath easier.

I also bought one of the MAX AC control valves and the
Cold Rush unit from DeiselSite to fix the heater always on
stupidity.

Next came the hard work.
Replacing the water pump with an IH style unit with the
screw on filter.
This was easy but there was some minor modification required
at the bottom radiator hose conection. It hits on the steering box.
I also had to rig up a steel wrapper for the radiator hose to stop it
being worn away by rubbing against the steering box.
I will try and get some photos to illustrate the job.

This is obviously not a problem with left hand drive vehicles.
If I manage to get some decent photos I will send them
to "DieselSite" to let them know about the problem with right
hand drive vehicles.
Don't know if it will change anything, the entire water pump
casting will need to be redesigned to fix the problem and I can't
see them spending that kind of money on the limited market for
right hand drive trucks.

Replaced the top hose with one of the dual alternator model ones
to stop it feeding through the belt and fitted a new serpentine
belt as well.

While I was in the area I replaced the LPOP with a Melling
M208 unit.

That's it for under the bonnet next, under the truck.

Fitting over sized diff covers and tranny pan.
The AFe front diff cover required a tiny bit of work with the
angel grinder.
The edge of the rim hit on the leaf spring U bolt and had to
have a few millimeters removed to clear it.
This appears to be another problem caused by right hand drive.

Fitting a tranny fluid filter kit and Derale Atomic-Cool tranny
fluid cooler. These were both easy jobs.

I have still got two more jobs on the list, I have to drop the enormous
250 litre fuel tank to do the hutch mod. Not looking forward to that job,
that's a big tank.

Lastly for this session I am replacing the vacume operated front hubs with
Warn Premium manual ones and fitting the greasable blockoffs to allow
for easy hub lubrication.

Once I have it all done I will be taking it to a local diff specialist, recommended
by Eaton, to have an Eaton Tru-Trac in the rear and an E-Locker to the front.

The next jobs on the list are the tranny upgrades, that's another saga.

 

Wow Brian , a lot of work there old mate, some nice work the photos will be great .
It's always good to do some work on the truck just to do some up-dates , it will be interesting to see if you have better air flow with the Afe blade runner.

That back head fuel fitting (on the FRx) is a PITA to get in , when i done mine i lost a fitting down the back of the motor somewhere never to be found again , that was the time to have a spell and go back to it later , all worked out in the end.

Good work mate

 

Thanks, I will get some pics posted when I get the job finished.

As for the FRx, I ended up unscrewing the long line from the
valve and inserting a brass 90 degree elbow fitting.
This made the line much easier to route and made manipulating
the rear fitting a whole lot easier.
I will see if I can get a decent photo of it.

The biggest pain of the whole job is the actual pain of laying
on an engine to work on it.
I don't have the luxury of a topside creeper. Can't find anyone
in Australia that sells them.

They are available in the US but they are not cheap and
freighting something that cumbersome here wont be cheap
either.

 

The top side creeper looks like an easy project to take on if you have the workshop to work in. I have seen some steps you mount on you front tyre it just hooks over the top of the tyre. This is a home made top side creeper , photo from a US site.

This link is for the tyre mounted step.
Hitchmate 4040 23" X 4" X 15" Hitchmate Tirestep | eBay

 

Thanks for the photo, the DIY idea sounds like the best bet.
I have been using a small ladder but it's still a long reach to the
back of the engine.

 

When i did the up-pipes and turbo up-grade i just put two or three layers of blankets and an old sleeping bag on the motor to lay on , quite comfy , but it does help if you have a T/A helping you with the tools, that up and down the ladder has **** on it.

 

You're not wrong there!!

 

Brian B, be sure and let us know if you can notice any power gains with the aFe blade runner fitted , al though you have fitted so many different mods at the one time it may be hard to determine.

 

Pretty much impossible I'm guessing. To many things changed at the
same time.
Both fuel and air supply improved so there's going to be no way to
tell what did what.

 

Time to update the signature

 

Yes the bottom radiator hose is different if yoy got it from the States. Got mine from Ford AUS and it fit fine.

 

Spent the day under the truck.
Finally bit the bullett and dropped the tank and did the hutch mod.
One more job ticked off the list.

 

Finally got time to take some pics.


These show where I had to grind off a bit of the diff cover rim to clear the spring mounts.


Next the air intake work in progress.





The following are some shots of the tidy up of the wiring of the auxillary electrical stuff.






This shot shows the Blade runner manifold


Now some shots from under the truck

Oil filters


Tranny filter


Tranny cooler



Tranny pan


I could not get any clear shots of the water pump hitting the steering box.
To much in the way.

This is the cold rush gatgets to stop the heater on all the time problem.




Finally some shots from the interior of the cabin and cargo area.

 

Neat pics Brian, do you put a Fridge on those rollers?

 

Yes.
after you pull it out to clear the drawers the slide drops down to the
tailgate so you don't need a ladder to get into it.