I have had a 12 valve cummins sitting around for about a year. It only has 80k on it.....this thread has inspired me a little to start de'stroking.

Of the 10k you said you could have done this for, how much of that was for the motor? I am trying to figure out how much it may cost me to do this seeing as though I already have the motor.

WR

 

I think he paid about $6500 for the engine alone, but it had 5 miles on it, so basically brand new!!! Pricey, but likely to be worth it.

You've heard it several times already, but it's true; things are looking GREAT and there's no doubt it'll be one sweet swap when done.

 

Not a chance. No air ducting, IC pipes, fan shroud brackets, battery tray, or battery cables. Just not possible.

Nope. Been working on the engine, tidying up all the electrical stuff so I don't have to mess much with finding specific wires once it's in the truck. They'll already be marked, so I just have to hook them up.

I have run into a snag though, and don't know how major it will be to get around it. For some reason, and I have no idea why, but the wires that are supposed to come out of the ECM for throttle position and crank position aren't there. The location where they are supposed to be just has solid plastic pins in there to fill the hole. It's as if they were never there.

That's a big problem though because the PCS controller needs both for shift stratgey, so it can read throttle position and RPM. I also don't have a coolant temp signal output wire, which the PCS can also use to change shift points when the engine is cold to aid in warming it up quicker. I'm thinking I can just insert some wires in there with the correct female pins on them and it will work.

I have some extra that came with the PCS and are the correct size...I think. The only thing I wouldn't like about that is some extra wires coming right off the ECM that aren't part of the factory harness. I'd also need to find a weather tight connector for them, so they're not hard wired to the truck, just in case the engine would need to come back out for some reason. Maybe I can use some of the pins on the Ford 42 pin connector that aren't being used anymore. I need to talk to Kai tomorrow to see if he knows anything about this before I do anything else. The engine is not going in until I get this figured out.

See below.

Correct. Most used common rail engines I'm seeing are anywhere from $4500 to $5500.

I'm going to try and get some sleep now. I have to be up in 3 hours to help Jeff clear some brush around his property. Don't know if I'll be able to rest or not, since this missing wire thing has me concerned. Major snag #1 is officially here.

 

sounds like things are moving along..looks really good Jeremy..your bound to have snags like this doing this kind of swap over..you would be surprised what a little sleep would do for you...cant wait to hear some sound clips when she is done..good luck on the rest of the job....

 

Man, that's not much of a snag. The whole problem is just a wire, you'll get that figured out as soon as you talk to some people. Keep that bouncing purple head up

 

I figured that you were busy on the engine. Too pumped up to sleep.

Ouch, you get rolling good and a big bump in the road. Doesn't sound like a major problem as long as the ECM supports data from the throttle position and crank position sensors. If it is plug and play, that would be a minor delay but if it doesn't have the electronics inside to use the data, that would require a replacement part.

 

Stupid wire. Damn. Now what??

 

Damn Jeremy, after being offline for a month it took me a while to catch up with the reading on this thread. Engine looks great! Can't wait to read about your final product - you are close man, damn close. Hats off to you and

 

I got the wiring thing figured out. It was something that I probably misunderstood. I though there were wires for those three sensors coming out of the ECM going to the plugs that would connect to the chassis, making for an easy connection. Well, the wires that I thought were supposed to be in place, actually aren't. I checked on both of my friend's Dodge trucks today, one an '04 the other an '06, and neither had the wires I though I was missing.

After a call to Kai, I found out what I actually had to do was splice a wire into the actual sensor wires, right off the sensor connection. So I used the DVM to verify the correct wire and spliced in a new wire to it. Loomed all that up and it looks pretty good. I also disassembled the chassis connectors, and took some pins from a spare connector I had (which was for the Dodge trans) and added them to some blank spots on one of the connectors I'm using. That make it all still plug and play, so to speak, with wires all tucked into loom and connected using the Cummins connectors. Going for the clean look, as you know, and I think it worked.

Now for the good news...THE ENGINE IS IN THE TRUCK!!!! After I got the wiring for those sensors done, Jeff and Rob came over to help me get it in. Bolted up the adapter plate, flex plate, and starter, then dropped it in place. The valve cover had to come off to get it to clear the cowl, but it wasn't bad. Got in in place, leveled, and the trans bolted up. I'm pretty stoked about getting it in.

Next up is to connect the wires for the PCS to the Cummins connectors, hook up keyed power from the Ford harness, loom it all, hook up the wires for the electronic fan lockup & OBDII port, connect fuel lines, and connect coolant lines. Need to get the fan shroud mounted to the engine then I can drop in the radiator, IC, trans cooler, and AC condensor. Then I can get the engine moved to the correct place fore/aft and get the measurement for how much the driveshaft needs to be shortened. Also can finally get the length and placement of how I need my AC lines so I can get them made.

Other parts I'm waiting on to get here are air filter & associated connectors and tubes, IC tubes, coolant reservoir, and throttle cable adapter kit. I think one of our own, Mike Norwood, is going to be able to hook me up with the throttle pedal and throttle cable I need, that he's got from a wrecked truck. Many thanks to Mike for that. Battery tray should be ready Monday evening, and I can start working on the battery cables after that.

It's all getting pretty close. My goal is to have it done by the end of the month so I can get some miles on it and work out any bugs before I have to take the truck on vacation in mid September.

Here are a couple pics from today's progress.

Engine ready to go in, with all the Destroked plates installed:




Engine in the truck, finally:

 

Wow, Jeremy, I think you hit a home run last night. You really came a long way toward getting the engine running. Glad to hear that the wiring problem was minor.

Didn't the engine used to be tan???? I missed the change.

 

Looking great man..... What are you off to in September? 4 wheelin? Motorcycle?

I'm tired of driving man, after 6,000 miles & camping this summer - my wallet hurts

 

Rich, where all ya been? That must have been quite a vacation. Glad you're back safely.

Jeremy, just a thought. What will you use for diagnostics, Ford or Dodge or Cummins?

 

Mark,

One more camping trip before the kids went back to school. At least this trip was work related also.

Ran the kids up to South Dakota one more time to go camping with family in Yankton at the Lewis & Clark State Campground, and to do some house hunting for our move next summer to South Dakota.

Figures, after I get finished pullin the camper diesel drops down to $4.09.

Sorry for the Hijack Jeremy.....

 

This is something I had thought of also Jeremy.......will you be able to pull codes with this engine? Interesting trying to sort em out I bet lol

 

I would think that if the ECM is dodge you would be talking in the dodge diagnostice. I don't know anything about the PCS controller, but the way it seems is the engine will be programmed like it had a manual transmission and the tranny has it own control box.