I'm hoping that's just an install issue, and not one that rears its head if you need to work on the valvetrain etc. in the future, but I'm guessing that you'll account for that when working on the final placement of the engine.

 

No changes. Engine's always been dark grey.

To watch motorcycle racing at Indy. Moto GP -- it's like the F1 of motorcycles. Those things are bad a$$!

Ford for chassis codes -- through the stock OBD II port, and Dodge for the engine codes -- through an additional OBD II port I am adding in.

Just an install issue and that's it. It just won't quite all clear...the oil pan, front crossmember, and upper cowl, with the valve cover still on.

 

Sweeeet. Did you ever hear back from the state about the new license plate selection?

 

Jeremy, I guess that this picture shows why I thought that the engine was tan but the block isn't I see. OK, ignore the previous thought.

 

Mark, the older industrial engines like the L10 Cummins were tan, almost like calf**** brown. I worked on one in Diesel Tech we had sitting on a stand.

 

Actually I haven't even applied for another one after they denied DESTRKD. I have my list, but haven't sat down to look through them yet. I have to renew my plates in December, so I'll probably do it sometime later in the year but before then.

Took a much needed day off (mostly) of working on the truck and went to watch a buddy of mine go motorcycle racing today...man, do I miss doing that. Anyway, no major progress, but did get the radiator shroud brackets located and the new holes in them drilled this evening. They're hanging in the garage now with paint drying on them. They'll get put on tomorrow along with the shroud. Radiator will be temporarily put in place so I can locate the engine fore/aft and get a measurement for driveshaft length...this has to be done tomorrow, probably in the morning. Also need to locate the engine so I can get measurement for the IC tube lenghts.

Looked over the wiring stuff too and am going to clean it up a little more. There's only a few wires in the 42 pin connector that I actually need to use, so I'm going to work them into some unused pins on one of the Cummns connectors. Should be clean with only the two Cummins plugs in the engine bay. I'm going to try and get all of the wiring done by tomorrow night. Will probably pull the driver's side inner fender out, take the tire off, and work from on everything from there. I think that will help give some extra room to work. Only wiring I won't get done tomorrow is battery cables and anything that was taking 12V straight from the battery. I need to get the batteries in before I start with that.

 

Sounds like your making some good progress on it. I could only imagine what your going though if it anything like when I put the small block in my s10 Blazer.

 

Shat Jeremy. What is this measuring the driveshaft business? I thought that the idea of the plates, adapters and all was that we mount the 5.9 right up to the tranny which remains in its stock location which means stock driveshaft. Guess I had that wrong, or did I? What gives?

 

Greg said that you need to cut 1-1.5" off the driveshaft, im guessing the part that sticks out rearward of the carrier bearing, that the long section slides on. Don't want to bottom it out, i guess?

 

If you cut off the rear drive shaft, you have to lengthen the front one. Actually make a new one 'cause you wouldn't want any splices on it. Could reuse the ends.

 

I got the fan shroud fitted up and found final location for the engine and got my measurements for the driveshaft and IC tubes. That took a lot longer than I had anticipated, so I didn't get to the wiring like I had wanted to. But, the radiator is all ready to go in now. The top brackets that hold the radiator to the top brace had to have their holes slotted, because the radiator sits about 3/8" further forward than it was. It's almost touching the crossmember now. I'm going to clean and flush the radiator before I put it back in. I'll probably leave it out until I get all of the hoses and wiring finished under the hood though. It's a lot easier to work on some of that stuff from the front of the truck with everything out of the way. It'll be simple enough to drop everything in place though after fabbing it up today.

I'm sure they're similar in the fact that they've both been done before, so there is some advice out there, but that doesn't make it any less work. Every day I'm figuring out something new it seems. Most of it's common sense stuff though now, like hooking up the power steering and coolant lines. Reminds me, I need to order a lower radiator hose.

Mike, the engine as a whole is just a little longer than the powerstroke, so the trans actually gets moved back a little bit. That's why I had to slot the trans crossmember. If the trans were left in the stock location, the engine fan would hit the radiator.

I'm actually taking it off the front section of the driveshaft. Mine is only getting shortened 1/2" - 5/8" though. I took an overall measurement from transfer case flange to center of the carrier bearing to the driveshaft guy. Think about this Kris, if you move the engine back and take the length off the rear section of the driveshaft, what happens to the carrier bearing? It might just be too far back to fit the carrier bearing mount. So, I'm having it taken off the front section.

Mike, the splines are another reason I didn't want to cut it off the rear section. I figured the more splines engaging, the better. My driveshaft guy also mentioned that.

So tomorrow my goal is to get the wiring all done (minus the battery stuff), get the heater core hoses hooked up, and get the power steering lines hooked up. I've got to go get a new pressure hose made for the power steering tomorrow too. Either that or see if someone can lengthen the one I have now. It's simply too short to fit, but the fittings are a direct fit for the power steering pump.

 

Long night of working on the truck again. Got quite a bit done though. Too tired to explain it all now, but I'll give a more detailed update tomorrow. In the mean time, I did upload some new pics. Click the pic below, and it will take you to my webshots album. This is where the newest pictures start:

 

You always impress me with your workmanship and ingenuity!

 

I don't know how you do it? I would have had to fire that thing up right on the stand just to make sure it worked. It's like what, 3 wires, fuel line and what not? I see it is not nearly as straightforward as I had imagined.

I for one do not dig the drive shaft modding. I would be trying like he!! to move stuff up front if possible, but I am sure there is a reason why that does not work. Still wouldn't stop me from trying.

Keep us posted. I know it's going to be a brute.

 

Thanks for the compliment Kris.

Mike, I guess I want to fire it when everything is ready and done, rather than have it running then be in a rush to get everything else tied up and have it look sloppy & hacked. I have no reason to think it won't run. But, you're right, it's only 3 wires, fuel, and tie the coolant lines together to make it run on the stand. Part of it has to do with the new cam too, since it has to be properly broken in. I didn't want to fire it and have it running on the stand for 20 minutes...cooling would be an issue then and it's not worth the trouble of mocking up a radiator for just that.

The driveshaft thing is not a big deal at all. It's a simple matter of removing just a bit from the front tube. My guy pulled the spline out, cut off the tube, then re-welded the spline back in. No worries at all. Good thing I took it to him though, because he also found it out of balance, which he fixed. Perhaps that is what was causing my highway vibration at 60-65 MPH.

The motor has to go back a little though, or the fan will hit the radiator. No way around it. Even after modifying the top brackets to move the radiator forward, there's not enough room, as the radiator is basically against the top crossmember now and the fan is not more than 3/8" from the radiator with a tight fit for the shroud to radiator. It's just part of it.

The last couple days have been pretty productive.
Radiator and IC were mocked up so I could get measurements for the driveshaft and IC tubes.

Got the fan shroud brackets back from getting additional metal welded to them and drilled new holes to mount them. You have to use an engine mounted shroud for the conversion, which is an 05+ shroud, so the brackets have to have metal added and new holes drilled to work on the 03-04 motors. The 05+ motors have a different front cover on the engine that have extra holes for the bracket. The pic I posted last night was the modified brackets.

Modified the top radiator brackets that hold the radiator to the crossmember. Top of the radiator has to be moved forward to clear the fan, even with the engine moved back further.




The fan shroud is a 2 piece affair, and one part has to be basically cut up and you end up only using the top part of it as an appearance cover.




Fuel lines are all hooked up and sending unit for the fuel pressure gauge is in place. New filter in the Aeromotive fitler and a new filter for the Dahl should be here tomorrow.




Heater core lines are hooked up. That took some figuring out to get everything so I was happy with it. I basically took the Ford heater hoses and cut them up to fit how I wanted. I replaced my coolant shutoff valve when the AC is in use from one that just shut off the flow on one hose to one that will recirculate the coolant. I also put tees in the heater hoses that will run to my coolant bypass filter, which I am going to locate in the back side of the front bumper.




The flexplate/torque converter cover had to be trimmed down to fit with the Destroked adapter plate. The pic doesn't show much, but basically the top and driver's side had to be trimmed. Still need to paint it though.




It's raining here, so I'm on hold for a while. Supposed to rain all day tomorrow as well, including the evening, so it may be the weekend before I can do anymore. I picked up my high pressure power steering hose today -- it had to be lengthened, so I can get all the power steering stuff hooked up. The black tee in my pics is what I'll use to hook the two return lines to the single inlet on the Cummins reservoir. It's brass that I just painted black to look a little cleaner.

My downpipe showed up this week too, so I can get it fitted up and decide how much I need to get trimmed off of it, since it's quite a bit longer than I need right now. It's 304 Stainless though, so I'm not sure my sawzall will buzz through it. I may have to take it to the steel shop to get it cut with one of their bandsaws.

Most of my air intake stuff showed up today. Everything but the filter. I've got a couple 90* and some 45* stuff that should allow me to get everything in place. I'm using 4" tube for all the inake stuff and for a filter I've ordered the AFE version of the 6637. Found it on Amazon for $85! It should flow well more than enough air than I need and with that much filter area, I shouldn't have to clean it often.

If the rain lets up, I'm going to go out and put together my power steering hoses and try to get the driveshaft put back on the truck. I may also try to get some of the wiring done that's easier to get to from the front, like the changing the connector for the AC compressor and hooking up the wires for my Autometer gauges. That will allow me to at least get the front end put back on and I can finish the rest of the wiring from the fenderwell, taking out the inner fender to work on it. Just depends on how long stuff takes and what time it is.