Walter

[tbone1004]

Not a bad week for Walter. The 6v starter is finally en route so hopefully the 12v conversion will happen in the next week.

Loving the 1/4" NPT ports all over this thing, makes connecting things like vacuum gauges to the manifold that much easier. I got the vacuum gauge connected and got a timing gun with a tach built in. Have the idle down to 750rpm ish which is down from around 1000 rpm but only pulling around 15psi of vacuum at half a turn out on the mixture screw. I can get the vacuum up to 16" on the mixture but the idle speed runs up to 850rpm or so. Looks like the spring to return the throttle back to idle is stretched a bit, so will have to get a new one of those and that should help get my idle back down to where it needs to be.

Need to buy a fan shroud for it which should help the cooling system a bit but it doesn't seem to be overheating at all so that is a good thing. Debating on buying a fan shroud or going to an electric fan, decisions decisions.

[jim lee]

T-Bone, Here's the plane you found : http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N424NE.html

-jim lee

[tbone1004]

Fun day today... Got a new throttle return spring from Napa but looks like that won't be going in for a while. My quite old but new to me 6v starter showed up today so that is trumping the throttle return. The generator put up one helluva fight on it's way out with the front bottom bolt, but a few bruised knuckles later and it came out. Regulator came out no problem, so the rest of the week will be devoted to wiring everything up. Starter should bolt right in once I figure out how to get the top bolt to come out easily, and the wiring I'm hoping won't be so bad since the starter has a wire coming straight from the battery. Will be drawing up a wiring diagram this week since I have to get creative now that I've lost that nice 4 pin plug on the regulator.

[tbone1004]

Drew up the diagram today. Wasn't quite as nasty as I was expecting, but is fairly different than the original, that's for sure. My long term plan is to run dual batteries. Starter battery will be dedicated to the starter, slave receptacle, and the ignition coil. Deep cycle will run out to the fuse box with a heavy wire run to the inverter. Until I figure out how I want to do the charging system for the 2 batteries, the inverter will be left out and the fuse box will be put on the starting battery to run per normal vehicle. Exact location of fuse box is TBD because I'm still not sure what seat decisions I will be making. I'm leaning towards from buckets with a custom locking center console which may mean removing the existing battery box, but I'm not sure which route I'll go. If I can find some cheap seats out of a Jeep, then I'll go buckets, otherwise I'll leave the stock benches in there. Both need a lot of work right now and I'd like a thinner seat back for a bit more leg room, but we'll see. Glad to have the wiring diagram done, just have to figure out which connectors I'll end up going with, which fuse box to go with, and which gauges to go with.

The generator wanted nothing to do with coming out last night, but I did get it out. Tonight I have rehearsal for the opera I'm singing in so no work tonight, but tomorrow I'll have the alternator bench tested, and get the pulleys swapped out, and hopefully get the starter swapped. The top nut looks like it is going to fight me, but hopefully the seafoam works magic and it will be loose when I go to turn it tomorrow

I probably should have noticed that this was going to be a bit of a pain before I went through everything.... The shaft on the alternator, while the same diameter, is much too short to accept the pulley from the generator. Got them both off today and had a face palm moment. Going to an alternator shop this week to try to find a V-belt pulley that will work on the alternator and then unfortunately will have to do something about the brackets since the mounting face to center of pulley is going to be about half of what it was on the generator.

[tbone1004]

Got the new starter in and no power... Has to be a ground fault since the starter spins well on jumpers. Have 12v at the battery cable when grounded to the block and the starter mounting studs but will try to brush everything off. Rest of the weekend is devoted to trying to figure out alternator mounts to get the pulley far enough out. Got lucky with an alternator shop that had a 17mm ID pulley that fits the large diameter belt. Thought it was a B-belt looking at the parts x-reference but it's the next size up which is apparently an uncommon size for the 17mm, but he had one that fit so now I've got a working alternator. Trying to figure out which gauges I want this week, but want to get the truck running before gauges go in

[tbone1004]

welp. Got the starter and alternator in. Haven't wired the alternator up yet, but fired the truck up with the battery connected to external power for charging and it ran, but realized I must have hit the oil line going to the bottom of the filter and that sprung a leak. I do have good oil pressure though! oil EVERYWHERE! I'm definitely going to need to be adjusting some stuff on the idle though as this was the first time to start with the new idle return spring and it is quite a bit stronger than the last one. Off to get a replacement oil line. Opera rehearsals have been killer as far as having time to work on him and with all of the rain coming in this week it will probably be next week before any significant changes happen.

[tbone1004]

Been a few weeks since an update, but here goes.

Got a new oil line from Midwest Military which arrived yesterday. Did an oil change on it this morning. No drain plug on the bottom of my filter housing so needless to say it was fun removing the whole filter assembly to drain the nasty stuff out of the bottom. Filled it back up with oil and got the alternator hooked back up. Truck fired up and ran but I fear that the head is getting a little funky. May take it to a machine shop this fall and have them clean it up. The fire department drilled some holes in the center of the hood and I had thought I plugged them properly but there was standing water in the spark plug recesses and when I started it you could see gasses getting out from around the plugs. Maybe the unclean mounting surface for the plug is causing some of the compression problems. who knows. Important but is the truck runs and is charging, when I have some more time I'll get into it a bit more and try to figure it out. The idle speed is way too low so I'll have to adjust the throttle cable a bit. Keeps stalling out and feels like it's wanting to be at 500rpm, woops.

I think I have settled on an engine for the swap and will probably be hammered for it but oh well. I'm looking at getting a Ford IDI V8 with a tbd transmission. The IDI is about the same dimensions as the 4bt but a 150ish lbs heavier. I keep going back and forth on the 4 cylinders and the more I think about it, the less I like the idea of it. I will have to find time to ride in one to decide for sure, but I like the idea of a v8 and the IDI would be more fun than a 360.

[Tuko]

the 4BT is an excellent little engine that has been in use forever. Its big brother the 6BT (AKA 12 valve Cummins) is also top shelf and parts are readily available and always will be, internet support from anything from a replacement oil pressure sensor to a complete rebuild is available, it also has excellent cold starting ability, which without a wing and a prayer and a fully functioning set of glow plugs you can forget about with that V8 ford diesel. not to mention the size difference, the 4BT is obviously an inline 4 cyl where the V8 is just that. Much easier to navigate around the engine compartment with one of these tough little tractor engines in there. weather you get a 4BT with the inline injection pump or the VE rotary injection pump all you need to run that is 12 volts to the fuel shutoff solenoid. there is also a LARGE aftermarket parts network out there that will have that little 4cyl making more power on the stock bottom end then the V8 (and your axles/drivetrain) would be able to handle on any given day. thats why its the #1 engine used for conversions. Im not totally trying to poo-poo your decision to go with the IDI but since you seem to think its a superior engine to the 4BT I just thought id throw a little commentary in there to maybe help you make a better decision. No modern Big rig, cement truck, fire truck etc are running V-style diesels, all Inline 6's thanks to the great torque curves and better fuel economy with alot less moving parts.

Either way good luck and get some pictures up along the way!

[tbone1004]

the torque curves have nothing to do with the cylinder configuration, just the bore/stroke ratios. That being said, the unbalanced nature of the I-4's is what is driving me away from them. I've been in quite a few vehicles with I-4's and I've never liked the way they felt. Never said the IDI was a superior engine to the Cummins line, I know it isn't, and I still haven't started cutting and welding, so until that happens all hands are on the table.

I understand the 4bt's can be turned way up, but the IDI's have the kind of power I was looking for anyway and I like the sound of the v8's a bit better as well. We'll see, still some stuff to think about, but we'll see. The IDI is half an inch shorter in length, 10 inches shorter in height, and only 2.5 inches wider, so I don't think there is going to be any issue fitting it in.

[tbone1004]

Finally got some time to work on him a bit today. Stacked 6 tons of pellets for winter warmth and figured I'd finish some engine stuff. Alternator is working well which is good, battery is nice and happy. 6v starter works like a charm, and everything it seems happier after the oil change. Had some serious tranny or transfer case whine today when I drove it up and down the street and when I was backing into the driveway the two sticks on the xfer case were jumping back and forth, not quite sure what was causing that... Other issue was the complete lack of brakes. Pedal goes straight to the floor which is a big problem. Still having stalling problems at low idle, but oh well.

Now off to figure out how to get a Vocational school up here to do the body work for me for cheap. If I can't I may buy a cheap sand blasting unit and learn to blast and paint in the driveway... At least the winters in Maine are dry

[tbone1004]

long time no real update due to life and lots of work travel and shitty weather.

Brakes still haven't been fixed because I haven't really looked at them yet. I am taking almost 2 weeks off at Christmas to try to get a lot of work done.

Plans for Xmas are to remove the hacked on top and clean up the original parts of the cab mounting surface
Remove the water tank from the bed
Fix the brakes
Install new Hella headlights
Rewire the whole thing
Start construction of side rails for bed stakes

[T. Highway]

I can't wait to see the progress, make sure to post up a couple of pictures.

Bert

[tbone1004]

I will, there hasn't really been much to take pictures of from the last updates, but I'm going to get the picture of the alternator up and the cab top removal when that happens in a few weeks. Some much needed time off of work and some much needed work for the truck.

[tbone1004]

First big day in a while. Plugged the motor in and after about an hour it fired right up. Pulled it out of the side driveway and planned on pulling it into the garage to do some electrical work. Unfortunately, I found out that the tires I have will only lose about an inch of height when they are fully deflated which wasn't enough to get it in the garage. Luckily the ice storm hadn't quite started so out came the sawzall and cutoff wheel to remove the roof. I had to be careful because I didn't want to destroy it since the guy up the street wants it so I didn't do any damage to it which was good. Got 98% of the way there and had to run to lowes for an air chisel *badass tool btw*. Got the last of the rivets out and the roof lifted right off. Got the water tank out of the bed and the truck is finally in the garage for the first time and has lost that godforsaken chevy top. I have the next week and a half off of work which was the push to get it in the garage this weekend. I'll let it thaw out tonight and tomorrow or Monday I'll back it out for a hot date with the pressure steam cleaner then back in for a new wiring harness, brake job, and anything else that I see as needing to get done in the next week or so.

[tbone1004]

removed the headlights and the gauge cluster to start converting them over. Clearly wasn't thinking when I ordered because the speedo for the gauge series I'm using is a 3 1/8" instead of the 3 3/8". Will keep the stock speedo for now and will figure out whether I fab an adapter ring or use a different gauge set. I really like the gauges I got so I will likely fab an adapter ring up and weld it to the panel.

The headlight retainer rings were a little beat up and there is a dent in one of the headlights so I need to decide whether I replace those with NOS or try to repair them and chalk it up to battle scars. Will be replacing the bushings there too. Pictures to follow