Thanks for the info!! This is all completely out of my wheelhouse. One thing I did remember as I couldn't sleep last night is that I think that another signal that the PCM is looking for is the fan clutch from the 6.0. Being that I don't have that, I'm probably back to doing a bit more research on the subject before throwing parts at it. I do have the auto temp controls and the interior temperature sensor with the long hose on it under the dash.

I'll for sure have to dig back through the wiring manual and see what I'm missing and what all is tied into the system. There are 3 connections at the AC relay, which I would assume are all required for operation of the relay. Tach signal is one for sure, fan clutch I think is one, and maybe that interior temperature. That wiring book ha paid for itself several times over by now for sure.

Once I get it operating as it should be, I'll probably do a full writeup on how to do it. There's just not a ton of information out there on how it all works (that I can find anyway..)

Cheers from sunny (sort of) FL!

 

Keith, are you using the dodge compressor in your build, I can't recall

 

Yes, Dodge compressor adapted to the Ford lines.

 

Thanks Keith, heading the same way so following your results closely.

 

Sure thing! I should be able to get through the wiring diagrams early next week and hopefully I can get some clarification on the inputs needed to make the relay kick in. From there, it's a matter of the high and low pressure switches doing their job (I think). We shall see.

 

take a look at those simple temp controlled switchers to see if they may work if you can't get it factory per the wiring signals.

 

For sure! Do you think there’s any issue with how long the pump runs between temperature cycles? My limited understanding is that the factory system is controlled by line pressure In the AC system. Is there a chance that pressures will get too high if using something like that? I found myself switching the pump off and on every few minutes on the drive down here, but I’m not sure how necessary that was. Rear air wasn’t getting cold that way either as I think I wasn’t letting it run long enough. It’s possible I have a blend door malfunction as well I suppose.

 

I think in your case of the electronic climate system, it primarily cycles based on the other factors like the in vehicle air sensor, and possibly the fan clutch sensor as you mentioned, the main purpose for the low pressure switch is to keep the evap from freezing over. And likewise with the high pressure switch. The high pressure switch is mainly a fail-safe, once the system is running the high pressure is what it is and remains relatively stable with the exception of stopping at a traffic light and your RPM/Radiator fan slows some, when ambient temps increase, and the heatload or removed heat VIA the evap coil. So if you were to drive down the highway at a sfixed speed, the outside air temp never changed and you did that forever, your head pressure would basically stay the same. In my 1979 Lincoln the system ran 100% when it was turned on, using a suction throttling vale (early design of the rear system TXV) which regulated the Freon to the evap coil allowing it to maintain an average temp/pressure.
Actually is the system has no issues like Freon restrictions, proper amount of oil, and constant airflow over the condenser it can actually run non stop, like a refrigerator.
I actually ordered 2 different of those temp controlled devices to experiment and see what they will do.

 

Great info!! thank you!!

I'm starting to think that I should have gone a little further with rebuild/maintenance items while I had the whole thing torn down. I only changed out the drier as I had the system open to ambient for several months. I should have gone further and changed out the orifice and made sure that the rear air was in good working order while I had the interior out. Lesson learned. I'll leave the system intact for now while I troubleshoot the compressor cycling (turning on) and make sure I have a good understanding of that before I go tearing it down again.

 

Been dealing with a power steering leak for a while now and hadn't really messed with it til now. Got bad enough last week to where I had to refill every 3 days (150 miles driving) so I got under the hood and wiped everything down, ran it at idle and nothing was leaking that I could see. I was a bit concerned that the crimp fitting for the hydroboost line was leaking, with the risk of it blowing off and not having brakes. The crimps were not leaking that I could see, so I shut it down and got back under to take a look. The rubber hose was weeping after shut down and dripping everywhere. Odd. Local parts store had a replacement, so I got that yesterday and went for it. This particular part is one of the worst placement parts I had to do for the swap because my motor mount is in the way. In the end, I had to drill out the mount and fish the hard line through for the hydroboost, which means the hard line needed to be bent. While the motor was out (on install), this activity was fairly easy. However, it's down in a hole and around a bunch of other stuff while in the X, so I was dreading it a bit. Got the line out fairly easily, bent the new one straight(ish) and reinstalled with not a lot of effort, which was nice given the temperatures yesterday.

While I was under there, I also noticed that the oil feed line is seeping for the vac pump and the front differential vent hose is cracked and fell off. I cut the end off and shoved it back on there, but it cracked again. I'll have to get a new hose for that soon. Tried to tighten up the oil feed line and it's pretty tight as is, so I'll have to figure something out there.

Other than that, all seems well in Cummins land. Still have to get my AC going on it's own, but it works fine with the switch for now and given that two more kiddos are headed off to school in 2 weeks, it will have to wait. I'd like to get the rockers swapped out and welded in and the running boards on before winter hits this year and I found a set of OEM power fold and power telescope mirrors on FB last week that I snapped up for a measly $150. They need caps and the lady said that they "just stopped working so our insurance had them replaced on our truck". Not sure what that means, but I'll power them up and see what works and doesn't. I also have a set of OE switches with pigtails coming soon to wire them up. Projects out the wazoo!!

New hydroboost line

New line bent to the same shape...mostly

 

Well, no real work done to Clifford recently, but was able to finally haul the old camper out of where it was to home and then to the new storage lot, which is close to home. I managed to forget the pins for the WD bars on my camper hitch, so I had to tow it home on the back roads. Not a huge deal, but I wanted to see how towing would be with a bit of weight behind the X on the highway. The Procomp springs worked very well and not having a rear sway bar didn't seem to affect anything one way or another. Rear sag was about 2" (I didn't think to actually measure it at the time), so not terrible. All in all, she pulled like a dream and I can't complain about the torque and being able to shift gears myself. It's certainly a different towing experience and not one complaint on my end.

I'm still a little smoky when puling a load, so I need to tune some more out. However, I had a hair brained idea. Anyone have real world experience with porting and polishing a head? Is it really worth it in an otherwise mostly stock configuration? One thing is for sure, I do need a bit more air than the HX35 is pushing and it takes a little bit to clean up the smoke and get moving. Also, EGT's are a bit higher than I'd like to see. Once I was able to hook up the WD hitch properly, I hit the highway to run to the storage lot and on flat ground (mostly) at 70mph, I was running right around 1000 degrees. I did have my foot in it a bit during that time accelerating, so I'd expect those to come down as much as 200 degrees at a cruise. Generally speaking, I don't tow above 70 unless I absolutely have to, so that's about the extent of speed in my book. I have an extra head for the 12V laying around that needs valve seats anyway, so it wouldn't be a stretch to have my machine shop guy polish and port the head while he's at it. He'd do it for shop time I'm sure. Another, further option, would be to have him oversize the valves while he's at it. As a hobby, he takes 14HP kohler engines and bumps them to ~70HP for lawn tractor pulls, so he's well versed in getting valves as large as they can be and his grind is superb. Plus, if i do that work, then I'll stud the head while i'm at it as I have access to another set of rocker pedestals that can be machined prior to install. Mostly just a crazy idea, but wanted to see what folks think. My goal would be to move more air so compounds would be in the mix as well (which I already want so that's not a stretch). Still looking for longevity on this motor, so not interested in cranking it way up, just to have a more free flowing air side to go along with the fuel that I have. The injectors are 5x0.12, which are marketed as +100HP injectors.

Thoughts? Ideas?

 

Be careful porting. Too much meat removal can raise running temps. A nice clean up of any core shift, slag or turbulant edges is the best plan for a driver. Also, with bigger valves, make sure you have enough space for air flow between the valve and cylinder/piston (as well as piston to valve clearance), if not careful, you can create hot/cold spots in the cylinder or top of the piston. Usually, the largest valve and giant ports are for WOT applications. There is deninitely a balance for ai/fuel misture, bore size and stroke. You can really screw up your volumetric effeciency if you just go huge everything.

 

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

I think that if I can get a set of towing compounds on my existing setup, that's probably the best way to go at this point (and consequently was my original plan before the brain fart).

 

Got some much needed maintenance items complete last night in view of an upcoming trip to Murray NC for some R&R over Labor Day Weekend. Oil change, transfer case fluid change, and transmission lube change. Also went to replace my broken wastegate. More on that later....

Oil change went as planned, no issues whatsoever. Had a little fuzz on the Mishimoto drain plug with the neodymium magnet, but nothing crazy.

Transmission lube change went ok as well, but had some extra fuzz on the drain plug and I found a bit of lube up in the shift boot that apparently came through the vent tube on top of the shift tower. I never put an OE vent on it when I installed the transmission. I'm running 75W-90 synthetic gear lube (6 quarts) and from what I've read, the gear lube runs a bit hotter in the G56, and with the extra quart over stock specification it can cause a leak there. It was no more than 1/4 teaspoon, which isn't a lot so I'm not super worried about it. Went ahead and added a piece of tubing on and ran it down next to the trans. Unfortunately, the hose will dump directly on the exhaust pipe. I'll need to fix that before I tow a camper for 7 hours next weekend.

Transfer case went fine as well until I emptied the pan. Found quite a lot (at least I think so) of tiny bits of metal and one larger one. I haven't used 4WD since I put this together, but the internals spin all the time. I did put a new chain in it, so maybe that caused some wear? Who knows. It only takes 2 quarts of ATF, so I'll make the run to NC next weekend and drop it again to see what I see.

Turbo wastegate. Ugh. I had wired it shut before because the rod was just flopping around. I got it mostly closed, but knew it was just a little bit open because I couldn't build boost for crap. If I got in it really hard, like foot on the floor for each gear, I could only get to about 22 PSI measured at the manifold. EGT was also a bit high for my liking, especially when pulling the camper. 1000 degrees at 70mph on flat ground. So, I had ordered a new wastegate a while back from the interwebs. Little did I know at the time that there are 2 rod length sizes. I ended up with the short one and needed the long one. I figured out that I could stick a short box end wrench up there and get to the bracket bolts easily enough to get the whole assembly out. I removed off the c-clip from the end of the rod (which went flying and took me forever to find) and removed the tube from the compressor housing. Then realized the rod for the new one was too short. I also found the wire that someone else put on the rod to keep it tight. So, being 10pm, I wired the flapper shut for real this time and called it good until I can get a proper wastegate. Drove to work this morning and HOLY FREAKING CRAP what a difference! Boost is way up, super responsive, and EGT's are way down. Pretty sure I hit 30 PSI getting on the highway and EGT's never went past 850. I can actually hear the turbo now with windows down. I can also ear when the boost drops off. A very satisfying PSHHHH. For the time being, I'll control boost with my right foot and generally I don't get in it very hard anyway. Towing the camper will tell the tale for sure.

G56 plug fuzz

Oil on top of the shift tower

Vent added

Terrible pic, but these are the chunks from the transfer case

Wastegate rod length difference

 

Thanks for keeping us updated Keith. I'm hoping to get at my build again soon. Just ordered the final adapter plate and finishing my wife's Daytona upgrades, then on to BART. BART was what the guys in my dad's unit called their M4 Sherman. Seems appropriate.