Wish I could go back to 21. Those were some good times.
I'll be seeing you at Smokin in April.

 

We look forward to it Roland. It looks like The Diesel Garage is going to have some real competition from the FTE crowd this year.

 

I wish that I could go back to 21 and know what I know now!!
Your right JD I think that the turnout will be huge from FTE!! It is going to be a great time!!!!!

 

I guess the biggest problems that I ran into in the conversion from a gas to a diesel was in the wiring. There was some minor stuff that was not a real big deal. The main thing was the wiring harnesses. The thing that I would probably stress the most if you were looking for a straight drop-in job would be to find two trucks that are the same year and have the same trim package. You have replace or swap the entire wiring harness from the diesel into the gas body, both under-hood and behind the dash. Also the accelerator has to be from a diesel. I ran into some issues because my original truck was an XLT and the new one was a Lariat. I like the leather seats, but the Lariat had the overhead trip computer which necessitated extra wiring being integrated into the diesel harness behind the dash and under the hood.
The gas body also had some extra heat shield for the exhaust system that the diesel does not use because of clearance issues.
The fuel tank from the gas body needs to be dropped and replaced with one from a diesel. (Sorry Roland, the lift pump idea did not work.)
The transmission on the gas engine was also a hair over 2 inches shorter than the diesel transmission so the driveshafts also had to be swapped. Also, because of the differences in length, the crossmember that supports the transmission had to be moved back a bit further. That was no big deal because the bolt holes were already there, I just had to move the crossmember back.
I guess the thing that really surprised me the most was the way that the dash comes out. It took 9 bolts(that includes the steering column), 10 or 11 wiring harnesses(depending on the year), 1 vacum line harness, and the shifter cable. Loosen that stuff and the entire dash comes out as one unit.
If anyone has any more questions or there is something that I did not cover please feel free to PM me or post up a question. That is not saying that I will have the answer, but I will do my best.

 

How does she drive Mike?

 

There are still some issues. I think my batts are toast, and I forgot to tighten up a fitting on the power steering pump so I am leaking fluid like nobody's business. Other than that, it runs great!!! I also have a list of 17 little things that need to be done, like step bars, washing it, etc. It is perfectly fine to drive, it just has no A/C and that makes it not so fun. Oh yeah, there is a funny squeak when I put it in Reverse. It is almost like a fan hitting a shroud, but I haven't driven it more than 1 mile so I'm wondering if it might not be the torque converter low on fluid and just hasn't been driven enough to fill it back up. It only does it in Reverse when I am moving, just sitting there it won't do it.

 

I'm glad that you got he done Mike. I can only imagine the grin on your face as she fired up the first time.

 

I'm not going to post pics of the completed truck until I wash it. That white truck got really dirty in those two weeks with all the greasy hands. The grin? Yeah, my gf accused me of jumping up and down when if fired up for the first time.

 

Tell her that if you did it was an invoulntary reponse!!

 

Not involuntary, mandatory after not hearing it run for so long

 

Wow... So it seems that the moral of this story is that it's easier to put a PSD in a V10 than convert a PSD to a CTD. After all the discussion & doubt, who'da thunk it...

 

Joe, I would have to agree with you. It's certainly taken me a lot longer than 12 days, and I'm not quite done yet.

Congrats on getting it running, Mike. And thanks again for the throttle pedal -- for those of you that don't know, Mike so graciously offered to and sent me the throttle pedal out of the gas truck he got, which I needed for my conversion.

 

Well, I hope that if/when it's time to put a CTD in mine, it will take less time than you since you'll be around to provide all the lessons learned...

 

Joe, when the time comes around that you're ready to do it, I'm more than willing to help. That goes for anyone else wanting to do a CTD swap as well.