The 396-6.2 swap project

[Barrman]

Lines can be bent and things can be pushed over a little. We bolted the Hydroboost on upside down a bit ago. Then we made the lines work. Here is how much more clearance there is between the booster and the valve cover. Basically, about as much as the old dual piston master cylinder:


I don't really like the lines being up like this, but they clear the master, aren't next to the exhaust, won't tangle with the steering shaft and most importantly. They fit!



We still need to cut and install the return lines this afternoon. Then we can move onto the battery tray and putting the radiator back in to stay. Plus the wiring, bleeding the brakes, finish rebuilding the wheel cylinders before we bleed them and get started on the exhaust.

[Barrman]

We got the master cylinder on this morning and all the power steering hoses attached:


Then we started in on the passenger side inner fender battery box. We made a few cuts, bent the panel down and test fit the batteries. They fit and it will work. Here is the metal all bent after cutting:


Then I got some cardboard out and showed my students how easy it is to make a template with a ball peen hammer. This is what we are going to make tomorrow in metal:


We also started cutting the drives side of the transmission cross member for the exhaust.

[Barrman]

Here we are at Friday again and I remembered to take a picture for the update.

This is the battery box all done:


I still need to make tie downs for the batteries though. We got the drivers side exhaust run through the transmission cross member back to the transfer case area. The passenger side exhaust is also behind the transfer case now. I need to figure out how to get them to where I want, buy a muffler, mount it and then make a tail pipe.

Now they the batteries have a home, I can start running wires. 24V is just going to be for the starter and slave cable. I think I might add a NATO single pin slave on the front fender and make it 24V while the 2 pin slave at the rear of the cab will be made 12V.

The truck is going to stay 12 V at this time. Since the fire department screwed up the wiring so bad. The #11 wire does just the lights/brake lights/blinkers and nothing else. I can switch them over by just moving the #11 connector and changing bulbs without messing with anything else. The rest of the wiring is for 12 volt stuff like the cb, radio, gauges, engine and now glow plugs.

I also got the foot starter wired up this morning, put the tunnel cover back on and the NV4500 shifter back in. It looks so much better inside now.

[Flingarrows]

I like the battery box. Mine is in the same spot, but unfinished

[Barrman]

Thank you.

Bleeding the brakes is kicking my back side. I am going to pull the master back off and take it apart checking the piston seals if it doesn't build pressure on Monday.

[Barrman]

We pulled both front wheel cylinders off yesterday trying to figure out why I can't get any pedal to build up. They looked ok. We pulled the master apart today and it was full of thick goo. 3 years old and still DOT 3 is reaching out to me. We didn't get it cleaned up before the day ended. Maybe tomorrow or the next day we can have brake pressure.

We also have the exhaust extended to the rear crossmember behind the underbed tool box. I need to either order the muffler I need from home or bring my debit card with me to work so I can get that thing moving toward me.

On the other hand, it is amazing how much can happen when all the pieces are sitting around waiting to go on. I finally remembered to bring in new belts. That meant the fan shroud could go on, the radiator could go in, the batteries could be installed, the upper and lower hoses could be put on plus the heater hoses. All of this happened today.

Leading up to my last big sleep looser. Were the head gaskets any good? The thing had good compression and ran great. I never put any coolant to it though. We got all the hoses on and a few minutes ago hooked up a coolant pressure tester. It took forever to pump up to 15 psi, but once there it didn't move. I let it stand for 15 minutes and put all the tools up. I am happy.

I have about an hour of wiring to make the truck start with the push button, have automatic glow plugs and turn off with the key. Which means about 3 hours with my "helpers." Of course, we still need to bleed the injectors too. But, with my onboard electric fuel pump it shouldn't take too long.

Here are pictures from today:

[Flingarrows]

Looking good Tim

[Warthog]

We expect to see smoke on Fridays report.

Way to go Tim!!!

[Barrman]

The horitculture class took the camera this morning so they could document a new fondation they are pouring for a green house. If I had the camera, I could have videod it running and putting out smoke on start up.

We finished wiring in the '88 glow plug controller and even with my electric fuel pump, it took forever to fire after we got fuel at the injectors with the lines cracked. As in it doesn't want to start no matter what I do. This is the same IP as has been with this engine all along and it ran great in the can.

Only with lots of cranking and letting it wind up on the starter does it run. Idle is terrible. But, give it some throttle and it sounds real good and smooth. Once we got it fired, I shut it down, checked and added more power steering fluid so that system can bleed itself down, put in 2 gallons of coolant and then tried to fire it up again. It wouldn't.

I got it going again by winding it up on the starter a while later and found the clutch does work just fine. The fan shroud we made doesn't have enough clearance with the engine running and makes a terrible racket. However, I wanted to move the truck to another bay in my class. So, I backed it out wincing at the fan to shroud noise, got as far out of my room as was needed and it died. Nothing would get it running again. We pushed it back to the class and found fuel in the valley.

I think it is the bottom injector line at the IP. I pulled the IP fuel inlet line off and did a flow test to see if that was the run ability issue. Good pressure at the line when I pulled it and good flow too. Nice clean fuel. My fuel psi gauge says 6 psi with it running and oil psi is 50-60 running. I couldn't get a wrench on the bottom line to tighten it. The intake is coming off for that.

I decided to try it some more and got it running again. Open pipes under the bed really sound good. I backed it out again and going forward it is just exhaust since the engine moves the fan away from the shroud enough. Since the master cylinder is on the bench as we are trying to get the primary piston to actually push fluid. I didn't want to run up the ramp for the lift very fast and stalled it half way up. It would not restart.

I put it in low range granny gear and just turned the starter to get the rest of the way up. All of my student watching dropped their jaws. "What kind of truck is that? It isn't running and still climbs up the hill." They were impressed.

I have meetings this afternoon. So, we pulled the fan shroud mounts trying to figure out how to move it over a hair or two and just left the rest for next week.

Next week might be very productive. It is spring break for public school. We have never had a spring break here. However, the new person in charge in Austin wants teachers to only take off work when they want us off work instead of whenever we want to go like it is now. So, they created a spring break for us and said we have to take the time. I wrote a persuasive email to my boss explaining why I should be allowed to come in and he approved.

That means I can show up, go get the 3 or 4 good students I have and let them work all day without having to deal with the idiots who only want to tag up my desk, steal my pop tarts or hack into my computer while I am not looking like I have to deal with every minute during class. Plus, I won't have to kick them out after 1.5 hours like I do now. We will see.

Besides the running issues, the fan shroud and the fuel leak. We also need to finish the brakes, wire in at least one alternator, figure out how to make a gauge so I can wire in the other alternator and a few dozen other things. Not counting work on Sermis truck and 4 other long term projects we have right now.

Oh, the only thing different between when the engine purred at idle a few months ago and now is the IP solenoid cover and the injectors. I'll bet these are different pop pressure injectors than what it had. Looks like the long ones are going back in again. Always something.

[Barrman]

I couldn't stop thinking about how bad it ran. Then I remembered how bad the Gulfport truck engine ran a few months ago. I looked at the video linked earlier in this thread and the Gulfport engine actually runs better.

Looking at the video of the can engine running also linked in this thread from the fall just mystifies me because it fires right up and is so smooth.

The only thing changed between the can engine running then and now is this. Different injectors, different IP cover, different intake manifold, different cdr valve set up and different fuel.

The intake and CDR shouldn't matter one bit.

The IP cover has two solenoids and a return line fitting. Cold advance and on/off. The on/off solenoid works. The cold advance clicks and really wouldn't cause the no idle. I realized the return line fitting hadn't been checked. I pulled it as soon as my last meeting was over. It was clear but had no glass ball. I swapped it with another that had a glass ball.

I keep coming back to the injectors. I can find nothing anywhere about any pop pressure differences between long and short injectors. However, there has to be a difference in something between them. It might just be timing due to the different length, I don't know. I just know the long injectors on the gulfport truck ran bad and the short injectors on the can engine run worse.

Then there is the fuel. Remember my thread about the neighbors tractor not running under load right but idling perfect? Same fuel. I put 10 gallons in the tractor and 10 in the M715 back in September. Old ag diesel taken from a generator tank. I ran the can engine and the gulfport truck on road diesel that is 6 months old. I will pump the 715 tank dry and put in new fuel next week.

Between the fuel and injectors. I hope to have it figured out next week.

I won't be able to fire it up until we get the fan shroud moved over a bit though.

Any thoughts?