Haven't got the new engine bracket plates drilled out yet, been too busy at work. I planned to take them to a local guy that has a drill press and let him do the hole work. Figure it would be cheaper to pay him a few bucks, rather than buy/replace all the bits that would be needed to drill the holes myself. Not to mention, much less strain on my arms....... They got enough of a workout drilling/cutting/punching out the rivets holding in the OEM ball joints in a dodge 2wd 1 ton earlier this week......

Much less chance of breaking or burning up a bit with a drill press, versus hand drill, when dealing with 3/8" plates X2, especially when the holes (4 in each) need to be ~1/2" diameter........

Perhaps I should holler at Gary. He's got this really nice mill..........

 

Gary wishes he could help, but things are a bit busy at the moment. Maybe later in March? I sent you a PM explaining.

 

On another note, the boss bought a 97 T-Bird for cheap, just to get the engine (4.6L V8) for a 97 F150. We were looking under the hood, and I commented that there was an electric fan/shroud assembly I could steal for the truck, along with the pigtail for wiring. His only response was, "think it'll be strong enough?".......

He didn't know that I had already been looking various factory e-fan options, and determined that either a V8 mustang or T-Bird would be about the right size for the radiator I will be using. Pretty sure both are 2-speed fans.

 

Cool! Literally.

 

yes it is.
I just looked up the size/specs for both the rad and fan. 2 speed fan (3 wire connector) and the intergrated shroud is within 1/4" on width & 1/2" in hieght of the core size of the (3 row) dodge radiator I plan to use. Both are very close in size to the 80-84 F series V8 factory radiator. As such, retrofitting should be rather easy........

 

What is the CFM rating on the fans?
I think that has a lot more to do with it working or not as you can always fill in the gaps if need be.


I now guys like the Torus electric 2 sp fans as they how a high CFM rating.
Dave ----

 

Iirc '90's T-bird fans are 1400/1800 cfm

 

Probably far exceeds the CFM rating of the original engine driven fan, particularly when factoring in the 2500 RPM max governed speed.

 

The stock Cummins fan is around 8800 CFM at 2500 rpm. An IDI fan is around 16,000, and a 460 one is 14,000, both at 3000 rpm.
The 3.8 Taurus fan is one of the best single fans out there, and it moves 5600 cfm on high.
Knowing how little the fan kicks in on my Dodge you could probably get away with that.
This is the setup on my 460.


They are from a 00 or so Chebby Malipoo with a 3.1. The low speed fan is 1500 CFM, and the high is 2500. They keep the 460 happy for the most part, but that truck hasn't towed a trailer since 04.

 

Been a couple weeks since I last posted. In that time, the T Bird has been scrapped and I have the fan/pigtail stashed.
I have cut and drilled a pair of 3/8" steel plates to use for the engine side motor mount brackets, which will be used with the factory dodge/cummins saddles seen in the pics posted recently. These saddles are not as thick as the plates I cut, and their width will have them meeting the plates very close to the bolt holes, barely allowing room for a socket to fit over the bolt heads.
Have not been able to get the truck back into the shop, as it is blocked in by a dodge truck with no trans. Been waiting for the replacement from the rebuilder (warrentty stuff) for the last couple weeks.
Will be at least 2 weeks before I can get anything done on this, as I will be moving again, hopefully next weekend. Was not a planned move, but I have no choice. At least I found a new place quickly, and it even comes with a garage for my RX7 and Miata. Signed the deal yesterday, and should be able to start moving in next weekend. At least internet options are much more plentiful at the new house, since it's fairly close to a school. Might be 2-3 weeks before I can back up and running, rather than 12 months like the last round........

There are a couple new guys at the shop. They aren't the greatest, but at least they show up (most of the time). I guess they make me look pretty good, as I was given a 10% increase in pay without even having to ask...... A good thing, since my monthly cost is going to go up a bit.

This may be my last update for a bit, but fear not, things will be ramping up in the near future. I hope to have this running/driving before the worst of the summer heat sets in.

 

Looks like you are making progress - on the truck, on the job, as well as where you live. Good!

 

Getting there.
The newest guy is likely not gonna last, just don't think he's up to the task, considering the high standards me and the shop owner have.
I kinda wish we could find a guy or 2 that could do what I have been doing, allowing me to transition into a bit more of a manager. I already do a lot of the management stuff, in addition to repairs. It gets a bit hectic when constantly having to jump between the 2, neither gets done as well as I would like and much slower than usual.
I'd be happy to move my box to the side, and let someone a bit younger do the harder tasks while I settle for the "mundane" office tasks and simpler repairs that don't take 15 minutes trying to remember exactly where you were prior to getting interupted, before you can continue, just to get interupted again....... A 2 hour job can take all day, when you have enough stoppages along the way. Had one today, 30 minutes of actual repair work, and two hours (or more) of talking to customers/suppliers/coworkers either on the phone or in person. Hard to make money, when you live by the flat rate book, and cannot devote 100% time to the flat rate job due to handling other stuff of equal importance in the grand scheme of things.

Wow, I kinda went off on a bit of a rant there.........

 

I hear the same thing from my paint/body man. Can't find someone that wants to work, and if you do they won't stay long. So he is going it alone. Such a shame.

 

It runs!......

Need driveshaft and throttle cable in order move under it's own power.

July 4th weekend of 2014 was the last time this truck had a running engine in it, till today......

 

Excellent! I'm assuming you'll have to shorten the driveshaft? And what will it take to create a throttle cable?