'71 F-250 Diesel conversion and more 01/10 starting back in

[Ranchero50]

I'll figure something out... I have a couple heavy duty universals if I have to. I figure I can get away with using the manual steering lower column mount and a neoprene flexible coupler with the power steering for an inch or so of lift. Hopefully I won't have to lift it too much or I'll just cut up some more of the truck floor / firewall.


It poured down rain all day so I didn't make it to the farm for the engine parts and the cab floor section that was ordered Friday came in as the passenger side when I needed the drivers side so today saw the passenger floor get gutted and the replacement '77 bronco floor section get fitted and welded in. You know it's bad when you have to move the jackstand that's holding the cab up to remove rusted layers. The lower inner door post was rusted from the inside out and had to go as well. It actually made thing easier because I was able to use the kick panel and lower door post metal from the '77 and fit it all as one piece. It took a lot of time trimming away the metal until it fit correctly. I hate rust, I had a five gallon bucket of crap before the floor was removed and refitted. I didn't take any pics during the replacement and only two of it 90% finished, it was an ugly day. I'm going to do the other side tomorow.

The before pics...


I pulled half a window screen out of the kick panel hole once I broke away the bondo...


'New' cab floor. It's all one piece including the door post. I have to finish the welding and do a couple small rust repairs on the panel with the left over stock.


A plate hiding a ruined rusted cab mount. You know it's bad when a 1/8" plate rusts away and the cab droops when the fender gets unbolted.


Look a factory cab mount. I still have to drill some holes to puddle weld the lower panel to the door pillar where the vise grips are.


This is the sixth day of my seven off and I'm beat. I had hoped to have it running by tomorow, but I don't expect that to happen now, just too much to do to finish it off.

[spartman]

Looking good so far.

Keep it up.

[Ranchero50]

Didn't do much today since I have to work tomorow I took it easy and just cleaned up the front dress stuff and painted it red to match the rest. I did run the other front brake line and ran down the adapter universal for the driveshaft so that's about done. Dustin's question about the steering had me thinking all day so I finally tried to set the cab and check it out. Found out pretty quick that it wasn't going to sit flush on the cab mounts in the front. I had about 1/2" of gap between the cab mount and the rubber because the tranny was in the way. I inserted some 1.5" spacers and things worked out better, but the tranny was touching both sides of the tranny opening. After removing the 1.5" spacer block for the tranny crossmember it fit dang near perfectly.

Since the manual steering box is about 1.5" shorter than the power box I can reuse the manual steering firewall plate with the power steering box and the 1.5" lift.




This shot sucks... I was trying to show the clearance to the rear of the motor, there's plenty. With the cab spaced up I have more room for the power brake booster and even have room to mount the hydraulic clutch. Before changing the valve cover gasket was gonna suck.


Almost an inch of clearance all around now.


With the cover on. If I cut the shifter port out with a 1" offset rectangle I'll be able to flip it around so the cover will meet the firewall correctly and keep the shifter port centered over the shifter. I'm still not sure which style shifter to use.


A short list of what's left:
- 1.5" body lift. Need to make the spacers and buy the longer bolts, then figure out what to do with the front bumper mounting so it looks correct.
- Brake hardlines, finished hooking up and bleeding.
- Clutch pedal rework for the hydraulics and mounting the hydraulics so they won't flex the firewall.
- Accelerator cable and pedal rework. May just replace the pedal with a newer style.
- Fuel system, route return line to tank and modify tank for the return fitting.
- Exhaust system. I have some flowmasters and enough 3" pipe to run straight out the back
- Rust repairs. Finish the cab and patch the inner fenders and core support so I can bolt it back together.
- Electrical. Tie in the diesel wiring to the chassis and figure out a prox sensor mount to make the gas tach work.
- Steering column still needs the short shaft swap so it'll work with the power steering
- Drive shaft U joint and the E brake cables need reinstalled.
- Engine. Finish up the front dress and basic motor swap stuff so it'll run.

All that still to do and so much has been done already.

Jamie

[layedout72]

for bumper, if you are worried about "the gap", you can always weld a bar to the front frame horns, cut them off, and space them up 1.5 inches, weld it all back up even, and it will close the gap. should be able to do it far enough back, and plate it, so that it looks beefy, not ugly.

thats how the minitruckers do body drops, to get the bumper to match up. and the fenders/core support/grill and all that front end stuff.

[Ranchero50]

Yeah, I was thinking about that. I'll worry more about it when I get there.

Jamie

[averagef250]

Good thinking on the manual steering firewall plate. I didn't realize there was so much height difference between the two plates.

Where is the tranny hitting? Is the clearance issue mostly around the bellhousing area?

Hey, one thing to think about in advance while you have the cab off is preparing for ever having to pull the tranny from under the truck in the future for a clutch. A big thing I overlooked on my '71 when going to the integral bellhousing M5R2 was how there's no possible way to fit even the small block bellhousing between the riveted in frame crossmember and the cab floor. I had to pull the tranny to fix a synchro issue and had to cut all the crossmember rivets and bolt it back in after the tranny was back in. I haven't looked at a 2wd crossmember in a long time, but if it's somewhat close to the tranny, and I know the diesel bell is much bigger than the small block bell I have, and you have two exhaust pipes running down there too, you might cut the rivets now while it's easy to get to them and put bolts in to make life easier down the road.

[Ranchero50]

Dustin, I have come to the conclusion that I will never pull another ZF series tranny from under a truck or pull a 6.9/7.3 diesel over a core support. Did that with the '95 F350 crew cab 4x4 and it sucked both ways. For the '89 F450 wrecker I had the cab off because it was too rusted to keep and the motor and tranny are right there. Some pics of the wrecker.





Thanksfully Ford built everything plug and play and it came apart quickly and went right back together nicely. Only problems I had was fitting a '94 cab to a '89 interior column and pedal setup. That took some cutting and grafting.

Jamie

[averagef250]

That'll work too!

I've always seen the 80's and 90's Ford diesels as by far and away the easiest newer trucks to pull transmissions from. A 7.3 rep set clutch job takes me about 2.5 hours from racking it to driving again. I always thought Ford was actually nice and gave enough room to get at ever bolt with air tools and such.

Pulling the engine's a different story though. They aren't the worst diesel by far, but definitely a tight squeeze.

[Ranchero50]

Made some 1.5" spacers out of nylon last night, enough for the cab and core support. Hope it cools off a little so I can finish the drivers floor repairs.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

A couple more things done. Today I fitted and welded in the drivers floor and cab mounts. The hydraulic clutch stuff is mounted, just need to fab a reinforcing plate and the lever from the pedal to the piston rod. The gas pedal is modified and the cable has been routed. I filled the gas tank with water this evening and welded the return line fitting into the tank. It's moving along. Maybe I'll take come update pics tomorow. Plan on working overtime Wednesday.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Been working on it some more. I tweaked my back Monday evening and didn't work on anything Tuesday or Wednesday. I did finally finish up the passenger side door pillar's rusted out sections and I've been working on the drivers side as well. Last night I made a stress plate for the firewall where the hydraulic clutch goes and welded a bar to the clutch pedal assy. Hopefully tonight I'll get to finish the actuator and see if it'll work without deflecting too much. If it does I'll have to fab a pivot plate by the hydraulics for the clutch pedal.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

I finally got the clutch linkage worked out, but I don't have enough throw to dissengage the clutch completely. I did have to fab some 14ga reinforcement ribs for the firewall to eliminate the flex. The clutch master cylinder can't go much lower without running into the valve cover so I'll have to figure something else out. I should have the '84 F250 at the house tonight to measure the piston throw to see how far off I am. The pedal effort feels about right, just not enough throw with the stock limits in place.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

I've gotten more done, the floors are sealed and I started on the exhaust. Camera is MIA so I'll pos pics later. The clutch is working too as is the accelerator cable and pedal.

Jamie

[two-bit]

[Ranchero50]

Two-bit, thanks for the reply, I was biginning to think I was talking to myself. For the clutch I had to tweak the actuator lever and relocate the pedal stop for more throw. Cool thing is with the cab sitting away from the frame I can reach through the tranny tunnel and turn the output shaft with the tranny in gear and the clutch pushed. The sealant (asphault roofing sealer) is sitting up nice so I should be able to paint it sometime this week and start getting it back together.

Jamie