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Wow! Nice job. Found this thread a couple days ago but crappy internet wouldn't let me review. Woke up at 2am this morning and it was so entertaining that I read the whole thing. I feel your pain on the wiring, I no longer have any hair as a result. If I had found this thread earlier I could have saved you some trouble on the KR seats. Height and front to rear length, (front seat back thickness reduces rear legroom) prevented me from using Ford seats. GM seats from late 90's thru at least 2010 work good dimensionally, and comfy too. I did put new mount holes thru the floor tho, this may be avoidable with more time/skill. I would also recommend extensive insulating while you have the dash out. While my engine is a Cummins and probably a little louder than yours, I will have to do more insulating at some point. Under dash and pull the engine again for more insulating on the firewall. In cab engine noise is more than I am happy with. The only other recommendation is if you end up replacing rear springs, consider mid-to late 80's (probably 90's too) rear springs. They are a little longer and have the Teflon pads between the leafs. Made my truck ride a LOT smoother. Also helped compensate for the longer pinion on the Sterling 10.25/10.5. Sorry for the lengthy post. Lookin good! Carl
Wow! Nice job. Found this thread a couple days ago but crappy internet wouldn't let me review. Woke up at 2am this morning and it was so entertaining that I read the whole thing. I feel your pain on the wiring, I no longer have any hair as a result. If I had found this thread earlier I could have saved you some trouble on the KR seats. Height and front to rear length, (front seat back thickness reduces rear legroom) prevented me from using Ford seats. GM seats from late 90's thru at least 2010 work good dimensionally, and comfy too. I did put new mount holes thru the floor tho, this may be avoidable with more time/skill. I would also recommend extensive insulating while you have the dash out. While my engine is a Cummins and probably a little louder than yours, I will have to do more insulating at some point. Under dash and pull the engine again for more insulating on the firewall. In cab engine noise is more than I am happy with. The only other recommendation is if you end up replacing rear springs, consider mid-to late 80's (probably 90's too) rear springs. They are a little longer and have the Teflon pads between the leafs. Made my truck ride a LOT smoother. Also helped compensate for the longer pinion on the Sterling 10.25/10.5. Sorry for the lengthy post. Lookin good! Carl
As always, welcome to the crazy train.
I appreciate the input for sure. I will definitely look into the firewall sound deadener/insulation.
Once the truck is put together and functioning, my plan is to blow it back apart and begin the sanding, coating, etc so that the underside can handle Michigan's crap weather and even crappier salt.
I will definitely look into the rear springs you mentioned. It appears my news springs in the front gave me a little more lift than anticipated.
I just found this thread and read all 17 pages. I'm not a diesel fan but the effort going into this is definitely worthy of a subscribe. Love it.
Welcome aboard the party train. It may not be a fast one, but it does have its moments of entertainment value with me being the court jester.
I wasn't going to go diesel initially. It was one of those beer laced, bench racing, cold winter night discussions that led me down this path. I never liked driving the typical, and this will be anything but typical once done.
Was talking with a friend about Eleanor, and Power Strokes in general, when he stated "have you seen the Noveske Ford Crew Cab?".
No, no I had not.
Has anyone seen this? Its a PS powered 70's crew cab out in Washington. I have been looking for any information on the build. To no avail. Anyone else know where I could find the build write up on it?
FYI, this build is not dead. I have just been super busy with consulting and general day to day with my kid.
Big change since my last post though.
Friend of mine has a pole barn. Said friend has allowed me to not only store Eleanor in his pole barn, but to work on it while its stored there. Extra extra bonus (for anyone who lives in MI), ITS HEATED. so now that its moved, time for more progress.
Additional bonus, my friend has a son the same age as my boy, so they can play together while dad plays in the pole barn.
Done with one client, so now I have some additional free time to get to crackin on this pig...
what all do you have left to do? Is the dash in the truck yet?
I took the old dash out. Removing the old wiring harness and marking what goes where so when the "new" wiring harness from the donor goes in, I have accurate reference points.
Once the harness is in, will be ordering the Dakota Digital dash with the diesel connections.
Got the old dash out, cleaned out the interior of all the tools and stuff. Ready to start removing remainder of old harness and install the new.
Ran out of time Saturday, but was able to remove more of the old harness, label the wires for future reference, move all my schematics and books to the pole barn from my house, and to ad my "pina colada" air freshener to Eleanor.
Sweet! You can get some crap done now. I was raised on a farm where all mechanic work was done under a tree, If we were lucky. Four walls, a roof, and concrete floor make a big difference, climate control even better
Sweet! You can get some crap done now. I was raised on a farm where all mechanic work was done under a tree, If we were lucky. Four walls, a roof, and concrete floor make a big difference, climate control even better
Most of what I have been doing was literally under a tree. With our inconsistent weather, just made for crappy conditions and put a damper on wanting to get things done.
