Always knew there would be weekends like this last one. Seems as though not many things went as planned, and certainly not easily. Started the weekend off on a good note as my driveshafts were complete as of Friday. Total of $385 for both to be rebuilt with all new spicer joints (5 total), and the rear shortened to accommodate the new drivetrain. Not terrible on the price. I was unable to find the correct splicer for the large AC line, so I returned the splicer the guy gave me and I'll deal with it at a later date. So, in roughly 16 hours worth of work, the only thing I got accomplished was:

Installed the 4WD shifter onto the G56 (mounted it) and got it screwed down inside the car.
Installed the fuel filter housing along with the line from the lift pump
Installed the turbo
Fabricated the downpipe and set up the exhaust
Installed rear driveshaft

Not a lot to show for the weekend. Ugh. Couple of issues I ran into. One, the rear driveshaft is on a weird angle now. I used the recipe that @pirate4x4_camo specs for the ProComp springs. However, I think that I may have put the 2 degree shims in backwards (fat part to the front of the vehicle). Need to check to make sure I did that correctly. Also, since I no longer have the same engine/trans/transfer case length or attitude (angle and height), I probably have to do something else. We shall see. First order of business will be to reverse the angle of the shims to see where that gets me. I think that might get me back to where I need to be. Second issue was that the turbo drain did not line up as planned using the original pipes with a piece of hose connecting them. I ended up cutting part of the original pipe back 4" and then heating and bending the pipe that presses into the block to get a bit less angle on it. Still all downhill, but figuring all that out took some time. Third snafu was the mounting of the 4WD shifter. I was able to use two existing mounting points on the G56 to mount the bracket. The bracket for the shifter has a large through bolt that was used to mount to the Ford trans. The large bolt has a rubber bushing in it that allows the shifter to move both front to back and a little side to side for the shifting operation from 2 to 4WD. I put a nut on the back of it and ground it down for clearance. Then mounted one bolt on the flange to the trans with a spacer, and added a small piece of flat strap to connect the other flange hole to the trans. 20 iterations of in and out getting all the spacing together, I got it in the proper position and able to screw it down to the floor pan. Also had to cut away quite a bit of carpet as the inner boot is meant to secure to the floor directly, while the outer boot sits over the top of the carpet. Several iterations of that because I really didn't want to screw it up. I didn't but it took forever. From there, turbo mounting was a bit of a chore as I broke off the studs when removing them when I tore the motor down last year. So, found some bolts that fit, tapped the holes in the manifold, hit the bolts with a die, and they turned right in. A little anti seize goes along way and hopefully they won't break if I have to remove them later. Fuel filter housing went on without much effort once I found the proper bolts in the intake. When I put it together, I didn't know where the longer ones were meant to go as this head has a filter housing built in and I planned on using it. Decided to go with the housing so my injector return would connect easily. New feed line was relatively cheap as well and installed perfectly. Spun a new filter on as well.

I also was able to finish up modifying my AFC, confirm that the FSS operates correctly (it does, which is super nice). Hit the AFC with 30PSI of air and adjusted the star wheel until almost full travel. I had already ground the AFC foot and swapped out the cupped washer for a flat one. I'll wait to adjust the "smoke screw" until I start tuning on the truck while running. Prior to that, I was able to drill out one hole in the 650 dash and paint it.

So, I guess I did get a few things done, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

I'll have to order some more parts this week and hopefully get some more done next weekend. On tap for working this week is to get my engine harness torn apart and start getting that taken care of. I got my swaphelper black box late last week, so with a little effort I may be able wire it up at home in order to install the harness next weekend. I'm working from bottom to top, front to back on the motor in order to keep from having to work around new parts installed. Other tasks for this week are to get my valve covers polished (different set with a Ford logo on one) and polish my injector lines. I debated installing and then painting them, but I think I'll like the polished look. I've never polished anything before. I'll be using Flitz compound and a buffing wheel. We shall see. On to the pictures!


Pinion is not in line with the shaft. Same on both ends. I need to read up on proper pinion angles.

Fat end forward on the shim. Needs revisited.

4WD shifter installed. The end is very close to the dash. May have to be cut back.

**** is very close.

Driveshaft installed.

Filter housing, filter, and feed line installed.

AFC parts removed and cleaned

AFC foot ground down.

 

You prepping for AFC live?

 

More pictures.....

Flat vs cupped washer for the AFC.

Raw F650 dash

Tape and location marks for the 2 1/16" hole.

Gauge installed. Not sure what I'll do with the other hole or the rest of the dash yet.

4WD shifter mounting.

Had to clearance the shifter a bit to make it all operate freely.

First spacer for the downpipe to turbo flange. Needed lengthened.

 

More pictures of the downpipe...

Ended up fabricating it twice. Eyeballed it and ended up being a little short for clearance. I had the old 6.0 stainless downpipe (4" turbo back) and wanted to keep that if possible. The Cummins had a downpipe that fit the flange on the turbo exhaust housing that was a little eaten up with rust. So, I cut all the bad metal out and ended up with a short piece. It fit loosely into the 4" downpipe. I then cut a small section off of the bottom of the downpipe, split it, clamped it on the flange and tacked it up. Slid right into the 4" downpipe with the flange cut off, and tacked that. Then I realized I needed another 1-3/4 in length to clear the trans and firewall. Took it back apart, cut another piece off the bottom of the downpipe, and made it again in the same way. Worked out and I welded it up all the way. First time welding stainless, first time welding something this thin with a stick welder. Had some old stainless rods (older than me at 40ish) that had been sitting in a barn for 25 years. Overall, it turned out decent for my level of welding.

Clamping to tack.

Second iteration

First iteration that was too short.

Set up to weld

 

Another week/weekend of work, and another week closer to completion. Overall a good weekend of work and I feel like I'm getting super close now. So much so that I'm seriously contemplating working nights this week on it. If I do that, I'm probably starting it for the first time Saturday and driving home on Sunday. Fingers crossed. I'm still shooting for a road trip first weekend in October. We'll see.

So, this past week, I stripped down the wire harness and painted my valve covers. I had originally planned to polish them, but after spending quite a lot of time sandblasting them and the trying my hand at polishing, it just wasn't worth the stretch. that, and apparently I suck at polishing (or just don't know how to do it). In light of making a huge mistake in cutting the transmission harness prematurely, I haven't cut anything and labeled each connector with the connector number out of the wiring diagram manual. Hopefully this will preclude me from screwing up again. It's also nice to have the connectors labeled so that I can use certain things as necessary such as constant power or switched power for other items I may need. Installed the front driveshaft, but I'm again wondering whether I need shims. I need to research a bit for the angles required for double cardan and what position they're supposed to be in. It's also very close to the crossmember on the front and I'm a bit worried about any rise in the front end and it hitting. That would not be a good day.

So, injection pump is on and timed. I timed it after install to make it easier to turn with the engine. I needed 6 degrees to get from 12 (factory) to 18 (where I settled on where to start). So, 6 degrees, @ .1mm for every half a degree is a total advance of 1.2mm. Convert that to thousandths, and I get 0.0472. I went with 0.047 on the dial indicator. Install pump gear to 20 ft lbs, rotate engine to desired measurement, remove pump gear, turn engine back to TDC, install pump gear and torque pump nut to 144 ft lbs. Then, remove the dial indicator and reinstall the DV holder. Torque to 68 ft lbs. after initial torque of 29 (I think). Installed the injector lines as well with the brackets. Super thankful for pictures when setting up the injection lines. I was able to polish them without much issue, so they're fairly shiny now. Not sure how long it'll last.

Prior to all that, I had to plumb in the oil feed lines and oil pressure sender. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Ford sensor to cooperate. The thread is 12x1.5 on the sensor, so I drilled out an 1/8" pipe thread tee on one end and tapped the hole. For whatever reason, the sensor threads wouldn't hold very well in the fitting. I believe it's because there's a gap in the threads on the sensor before the oring and the threads were not deep enough in the tee before the interior opening. In any case, I'll retain the wiring and go back at it as a longer term fix. I installed another tee so that I can plumb off of it for the Ford sensor when time allows. In order to have enough room for everything, I used a steel braided line off of the engine block and used a piece of flat strap with a cable clamp to secure the hose. Flat strap is secured on the end by a motor mount bolt. I was able to drill out a 1/2 x 1/8 bushing for the the Ford temperature sensor (tapped to the same 12x1.5) and installed that in the head. Hooked up the heater hose and fuel supply and return as well. Also had my dampener notched for the crank sensor by a local guy who has a mill. I measured another dampener and the notch was approximately 1/2 wide by 1/8 deep, so that's what I had him do. I also ordered the DCS alternator mount, which didn't work exactly for my application. Something about an "updated" dodge mount. Easily fixed by reaming out the holes in the mount and moving the mount up a hole. Now I just need to find a belt to fit and I'll be on my way. Other items installed were the fan hub, fan clutch, and fan blade. I set the radiator in and plenty of clearance front to back and the front half of the Ford shroud fits perfectly with about 1.5 inches of clearance on the bottom. Should work out nicely.

So, lots to do yet, and I'm sure I'm missing something I did over the weekend. Not too many pictures this time, but I finally feel like I got some real progress this week.

Wire harness in the original state

Mostly stripped down. There's at least two rolls of tape on this thing.

Blasted valve cover

"polished"....sort of

Prior to wire wheel and paint. Love the Ford logo.

Painted. Still had to paint another one on the truck that I already had for the oil fill.

$20 12" piece of hose for the turbo drain.

Extended my clutch line so it would reach.

Used brake line for the clutch.

 

Almost forgot. Also got my clutch fully installed. Since the slave/master was too short for my application, I took the center section and cut it in half. I added back a 10" section of brake line. I used 3/16 barb to 1/8 pipe thread with couplings in either end and mated those to the brake line via a reverse flare. Double clamped with 3/8 fuel line over the plastic tube to secure it. I think it'll hold, and the few times I depressed the pedal it didn't pop or leak. the one snafu I had was because the Ford pedal had a large spring on it. I pressed it down and let it go a little too fast, which blew the retaining spring out of the master. It all came apart. Not happy. I was able to get it all back together, put the spring back in, and it operates correctly. I removed the large spring and it works just fine.

Oil drain installed.

Oil feed line

60 some odd years my dad has been collecting fittings. This is just but one bucket of brass. Grateful to have access to this.

Tee installed for injection pump and PS/vac pump


Tee for the oil sender. the tap didn't' work very well.

Sender in, but it's loose.

Bushing for coolant temp.

Drilled the backside so some liquid would get in around the sender.

 

More pictures.......

Bracket and extension for the other oil feed for the gauges.

Oil pressure gauge plumbed in and an extra port for the future gauge.

Dial indicator for pump timing

Front driveshaft is super close to the trans crossmember. Maybe too close.a

Terrible picture but the angle looks terrible.

AFC boost reference installed.

Pump timed and installed.

Injection lines installed. You can see the Ford logo on the valve cover.

Fan installed and great clearance for the radiator.

 

Well, dreams of getting back on the road by the weekend were dashed...by the dash. Sort of. Didn't take the normal number of pictures as I was super intent on just getting stuff done, so I'll have to either take a few tonight or just post up what I have.

So, I was able to finally find all the stuff I needed. AC drier, serpentine belt, radiator hoses, a mess of fittings and stuff that most of it will have to go back to the store. Also finished up getting my fluids, etc, etc, etc. Got everything basically wired up, most of it neat and tidy in loom and placed where it needed to be, got a gas pedal and cable out of a 5.4X at the yard (which I just happened to see while walking around), got my AC lines crimped, battery tray built and cables made. So, got quite a bit done, and then hit a giant wall. I pulled the starter wire (activation) out of the loom that runs across the top of the engine compartment (yellow with a blue stripe), hooked up the batteries, got power to everything, turned the key, and no voltage at the start wire. Then I monkeyed with the starter relay and tried to find the wires under the power distribution center, flipped about 1000 pages in the wiring manual, and decided I wanted to hear it run. Out comes the heavy duty momentary switch and wired that in. Got fuel to everything using the lift pump, cranked a few times, and it fired right up!! Wooo!! Idle is screwy, but everything else seems pretty ok. No leaks, no weird noises, no crazy smoke (or any smoke for that matter), and she sounds like she wants to RUN!

Still lots left to do...intercooler pipe setup, radiator (really all the front end), figure out why my swaphelper isn't reading correctly (and has some flashing lights - Tach "works"), a whole bunch of wire cleanup, and every single light is on in the dash. I figured I'd have some of that, and at a minimum I'd have the check engine light. I guess the good news is that they all work. I also really want to figure out why the start circuit wont' work with the key. I have a feeling it has to do with the selector switch for the trans and the fact that none of that is even present any more. Any insight from folks is GREATLY appreciated on that front. For now, I give you the song of my people.

 

Keith, I know a lot of us haven't said much....doesn't mean we aren't watching. We just don't have your expertise Great work man! keep your head up. It's coming together nicely!! Sounds good!

 

Not a diesel person, but just read a lot of this. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks! It is coming together nicely, just not as fast as I wanted. I have a fair amount of project fatigue going on in my head at this point but hearing it run made my day for sure! I'm also excited that I don't have to go find another injection pump. Wasn't sure this one would work in the first place. As far as expertise, I do have to give props to my dad. Even at 40ish and having worked on stuff since I was old enough to hold a wrench, I still learn stuff from the old man every time I go work on the X. And my youngest at 17 came out with me this past weekend to turn some wrenches too. It's nice to pass on some of that, even if she never has to use it.

I'll keep going!!

 

Figured I'd give a bit more of an update with a few pictures from this past weekend. Since my P-Pump didn't come from a Dodge, I didn't have any of the normal throttle linkage that most folks have. I essentially had a rod attached to a clamp on the shaft sticking out the side of the pump. I also have what I can only assume is a return bracket that a spring would have attached to. Nothing on the front of the pump. I also didn't have any sort of throttle cable on the X as it was a 6.0 Fly by Wire. My oem pedal has a stand on top, but it's not made for a throttle cable to attach to it. So, off to the yard. My youngest had never seen a junk yard, and was flabbergasted that you could just go take whatever you wanted off of whatever car. Kids these days. Anyway, I was hunting a super duty, gas, adjustable pedal, with all the parts still there. Not one was still in the truck. I found one super duty with the cable still in it, but no adjustable pedal. As I was headed back to that truck, I spotted and X, hiding in the back. It was in a sad state of affairs. 02 limited 5.4 4WD. One thing I don't like about yards is, folks take the parts they need and then just chuck what they don't on the ground. This X had (at one point) Warn hubs in it. Someone yanked the unit bearings out (and took the Warns apart), and just left them laying there all over the place! Ugh!

I digress....she had the throttle cable and pedal I needed. It's not adjustable, but once I get mine back on the road, I'll take the non-adjustable pedal and cut the top off and weld it on mine. Eventually, I'd like to have high idle by moving the pedal in and out. So, got those parts, and grabbed the e-brake release handle as well as mine is broken. Score! I'll definitely be back to that old girl though. I make just go pull all the rust free parts I possibly can off of her and put them in storage....

Anyway, so, made a throttle bracket by removing the old shaft clamp and replacing it with a piece of flat strap. The challenge was making sure that I had enough throw in the pedal so that the short throw of the pump shaft matched up. So, the flat strap is about 5 inches long. I drilled a hole large enough to fit over the pump shaft and then used the old spring return to secure the strap into position. I drilled a hole and created a slot at the top to hold the throttle cable, and another smaller hole to put a spring into for the return. Then I made a bracket to secure the tube end of the throttle cable. Essentially, it's just an "S" bracket with two holes in the ends. One is bolted to the top outboard bolt of the vac pump and the other has the throttle cable in it. Overall, it worked out really well!

Also had planned on having to cut and weld or braze the dipstick because I have an industrial oil pan and a 24V dipstick and tube. I put 12 quarts in after filling the filter and turns out the dipstick was almost exactly spot on! Another score!

This week so far I've installed the adjustable track bar and fixed (I think) my clutch line. I had originally cut it, used two barb to 1/8" pipe thread to 3/16 reverse flare to 3/16 brake line. Needless to say that even with two hose clamps, the barbs leaked. So, I found that 5/16 compression fits the outside diameter of the plastic line perfectly. So, I ended up using 5/16 compression fittings and went back to the brake line. Filled up the reservoir and gave it a few days to see if it leaks down. Hopefully this is the fix I need. I did call Valair and talked to the tech guy. Unfortunately, his answer was that they supply the line in it's specified length and that's it. No extensions, no longer lines, I'm on my own. So, if this doesn't work, I'll have to take the barbs out of the factory line and make my own by brazing them to a hard line. If anyone else has any ideas on that, I'm all ears!

After all that, a couple pictures.

AC lines crimped and installed

They did a pretty good job once we found all the right fittings

"S" bracket for the throttle

Had to clearance it to make it around the PS pump

Bracket for the throttle control on the pump

Brackets installed


Bracket with the cable installed

 

Another good weekend, and sooo close, but no cigar.

Finished up some wiring that I didn't like. I still don't like a lot of it, but it''ll do for now. When I did a preliminary start last week, the Swaphelper tach didn't seem to work very well. It operated the tach on the dash, but it didn't seem right. So, I took another look at the wiring and I had the provided wires (swaphelper) the length that was provided and the wires, which are shielded and long, from the PCM, all bundled up in loom with power and ground, and all the other stuff. Figured I was getting some crosstalk that would be causing the tach to not be exactly right. So, I shortened the wires from the swaphelper all the way to the box and shortened the PCM wires as much as possible. Solder connector and heat shrinked them back together. From there, I cleaned up as best I could everything else. Got some clamps for the other wires going to the engine, and wired the rest of the gauges. I also added in the grid heater solenoids to a switch I got from rocker switch pros. I ordered another one for the revers lights and a different switch cover for the grid heater. I ended up doing away with the pod for the A pillar and went with all gauges and the switch in the F650 dash. I wired an extra ground and power wire in the lower dash so I'd have it available after install for other accessories. When I get the new stereo in this week, I'll wire in an extra illumination wire off of that when I build the harness. Ended up getting a Kenwood unit with the iDatalink Maestro for the steering wheel controls. The illumination will be for the gauges to come on. I'll have to verify that's the proper wire for the equivalent of the dash lights coming on. No need for the gauges to be on all the time. Anyway, back to the engine bay. It's quickly filling up. I had to pull the PS/Vac pump off because the tank was leaking. Pulled that off and replaced the o-ring with another one I had from a different pump and reinstalled. No more leaks! Easy enough to do, but it took some time. Once that was installed, I installed the core support for the last time! Intercooler, radiator, and AC condenser. Got to work on the intercooler piping and radiator hoses. Top hose is done, and the bottom still needs some work. The passenger side intercooler tube ended up getting made from a combination of the old CAC tube and a CAC tube laying around from a school bus. Couple of welds and some boots, and it was on. Drivers side was way easier, but it's hitting the battery tray a bit. I don't want to dent the pipe, so I may have to have some custom piping done at some point. From there, I went on to the coolant recovery tank. I ordered the tank that sits up by the radiator like the 7.3 's have. With the front half of the fan shroud fitting correctly, I was really hoping the tank would work as well. So, I trimmed some of the fan shroud to make it fit, only to find out that the dang intercooler pipe interferes with the tank. Ugh. I'll have to find a different solution. Probably hit the salvage yard this weekend and take a good look at the X sitting up there with a 5.4 that has that tank. Hoping the shroud and tank will work for me. Worst case, I'll find a smaller squareish tank from another car and fit it where I want. So, still have to get the lower radiator hose in place, which is going to take a bit of custom work, and put the rear bumper on and the rest of the front. From there, I'll fill the coolant, pull a vacuum on the AC system and then fire it up for cam break in. Then, I'll be off to find the heaviest trailer I can get my hand on and run around town pulling hills for a while to seat the rings. Only concern I have at this point is the clutch break-in and operation.Since I lengthened the line, I've had a bit of trouble with bleeding and it feeling a bit mushy. Could just be my uncalibrated foot. Oh, and I'll also have bleed the brakes. Probably a good idea to not forget that. On to the pics, and there aren't many....

Ground strap for the swaphelper

F650 dash installed. The 4WD shifter just clears.

Still a few wiring bits need attention. Things are getting tight!


Actually put a small block under the filter to keep it off of everything and not get all jacked up.

 

Glad it's coming along! Source on the dual battery tray and cables/ends?

 

Battery tray is made from 1 1/4 angle and some 18 gauge sheet stock. Piece of flat strap along the middle and threaded the thread all in, then just a bent strap on the top. Battery cables were cut from the old 6.0 cables, aside from the starter cable, which came with the started from the yard. The multi ends are from amazon, and the lead ends were from NAPA. I also sourced crimp ends from NAPA and got a crimper from Amazon as well.

Crimper:
Cable ends: