Building a retro M37

[retiredguy]

the weird thing about the front cab mounts is that they use the same bolt holes as the original cab mount brackets. Here you see I have made some box mounts. I have lowered the box down to the frame as low as possible. This was done to hide as much of the frame as possible. Makes it look more stock.

[retiredguy]

wrote:
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what happened to all the pictures?

[Lifer]

wrote:
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I was just gonna ask the same thing!

[monkeymissile]

wrote:
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dead link I think

[retiredguy]

they are workinig on the site and must have lost some links. read the post adding images under General M37 and you will see the explanation. He says next week it should be fixed. I'll make sure the pics are back up.

[retiredguy]

Ahhhh!! Fixed the picture issue. I will post more soon. Ran out of time now.

[Josh]

I'm impressed, this is tuning out much better than I expected. I mean that in a good way!

[retiredguy]

so I got the fender mounts done

[retiredguy]

then put the fenders on and installed the inner shields to check for engine compoent clearance.







this is the view from the drivers seat area over the dash



Now to fit the hood and repair some damaged parts.

[Josh]

FANTASTIC!

Fit and finish is great!

Only part I am still pondering is how your grill and radiator will all fit. I still recomment doing an air to water intercooler and mounting the heat exchanges for the water somewhere where it won't get a hole poked in it. That fat air to air unit is going to take up a lot of real estate.

[Master Yota]

Just a thought from looking at your pictures; you may find it easier to fit the hood and such by mounting the rad (whichever you choose to use) on the front of the rad support, rather than moving the whole support bracket and all forward. It might make lining up the end of the hood and fenders and such easier, while still giving you the same amount of room...

Just some food for thought, looks great otherwise!

[retiredguy]

I was thinking of moving the rad support back but I can't because it would interfere with the crank pulley. It is right at that level. I already have the left fender lined up and the hood gap is good, just working on fixing some rust on the right right fender. the rad sould not be an issue, I don't think it will be above the rad support. I am going to use the rad that one other member suggested, the one from flex-a-lite. demensions seem right. As for the intercooler I thought I might install a custom cooler from Vibrant to fit just below the grille and behind the rad. I found one rated for 350 HP and woul fit in there just fine. It's also a lot cheaper than a water to air cooler from Cummins. I'll post a picture when I have the fenders on and the hood on.

[Josh]

I was the one that used the Flexa-lite. It is MUCH shorter than the stocker. It's about as tall as the core support, so, you'll be able to scoot it forward a bunch, and, it has the nice channels in it for mounting hardware, so it practically bolts itself in with some small "Z" bent brackets right to the factory mount points. I have pictures of it in my build thread around page 16 or so.

Without the fan on, my 400 big block will creep up over 200* at idle after about 15 minutes, but, if I flip the fan on and leave it on, it will suck that baby right down to 165 in a hurry. I recommend putting the fan on a thermostaticlaly controlled relay, she pulls some amps.

I would shy away from putting the IC behind the radiator, it will run much hotter than intended from the radiator heat. I would actually not run an IC befor I ran one mounted behind the radiator. You can get aftermarket air to water units, check out ebay, search "air to water intercooler".

Have you considered water injection in place of an intercooler? would help your packaging issues a lot.

[retiredguy]

just did some more measuring and the flexalite rad with the fan and shroud will be too thick to fit. But the rad alone will work with the mechanical fan I have on it now. I think it will give me plenty of air flow even without the shroud. Deisels don't build heat till you put them to work. But I do have a request from you guys. I need the measurement for my steering column. The distance fron the dash bracket to the steering wheel. I plan on putting in an aftermarket column in and I need the correct measurement to order it. The one I picked out is the one pictured below. I wanted a column to look close to stock and still have a biult in signal switch.



I also need the measurement from the metal bracket under the drivers seat to the top of the foam or cover. this is so I can get the seat to steering wheel geometry correct for driving. I am going to reshape the metal box or remove it under the seat to fit a seat of my choice. Thanks in advance for you trouble.

[retiredguy]

Oh I forgot to correct an earlier post about the intercooler. I plan on mounting it under the grille in front of the rad and behind the bumper. I found one that tucks in nice and if I paint it black will be almost invisible. It should work good there, I hope. I will be installing a pyrometer so I can watch the EGTs so I will know if it's working.

Happy New Year to all of you!