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59 Chevy / Cummins-4

4K views 50 replies 16 participants last post by  tinner 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here is the interior of the truck.
The seats are going to be switched to more comfortable high back buckets out of a 1985 S10 Blazer.
The air conditioner will mount under the center of the dash right where the radio is now so the radio will have to be moved.



The inside of the cab is stripped out and the factory transmission access panel is removed from the floor.



I cut the metal out around the bell housing hump.



With the engine set back in the frame, I can see that more metal needs to be trimmed around the bell housing.



At this point I can also mark where the firewall needs to be cut out to clear the exhaust.



The indent on the firewall is angled at the top and the valve cover is going to hit this angled area and prevent the engine from going back as far as it needs to go.
I taped off the area to cut out for the exhaust and I'm going to also cut up around the top of the indented area.



This is how it looks with the metal removed.
The hole at the bottom of the firewall on the drivers side is for the gas
peddle mount.
I'm hoping I can keep the gas peddle mounted at that point.



The engine is set back in place and there is good clearance for the exhaust.



If I form metal that goes straight back from the top of the cutout and then down behind the back of the engine, it should allow me room to remove that back valve cover later for adjusting the valves.



The transmission is fitting good.



Clearance on the passenger side for the air conditioning pump.



Clearance on the drivers side for the vacuum pumps.



Clearance between the engine and the power brake unit.



As you can see, it is a tight fit all the way around but it does work.
With that big hole in the firewall, it will make it easier to re-locate the radio right now and I also need to mount the new electric windshield wiper motor up under the cowl.
When those are taken care of, I can then set the engine back in and start on motor mounts.
When the engine is mounted in place, then I'll form new metal for the firewall.

Link to other post:

-3 http://gardentractor...hevy-cummins-3/
 
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#6 ·
Possibly .. but I like how the truck sits and raising the cab would change that.
 
#4 ·
Boy that's a major amount of fussing and cutting to make that fit in there. At least you have the space behind and under the dash to make room. Thanks for documenting this. It's very interesting to see how you make room for all the bits and pieces.
 
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#8 ·
Lots going on in there, but I am sure you are up to the task! Thanks for letting us know what it takes to put that diesel in there. Best of luck with all those cut outs!
 
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#11 ·
I my self, like to see the top of the front tires, if thay was mine i think I would give'r about 3" more, just to get past the extra weight, but its yours and you have already done a beautiful job on it!
My biggest hang up is, "I want it to look and function factory, or better" one of my many faults i guess, lol.
Keep up the awsome work Ray, it is surely fun!
 
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#12 ·
You might be able to go up as much as 2" and not hurt anything. Play with it once the engine is in, you'll find a happy medium! Will the front springs handle the extra weight with a load on the truck?
 
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#16 ·
I found two pieces of aluminum that are the same thickness so I cut them each in half and drilled mounting holes in each piece. These will raise the cab 1-1/4 inch.



The back of the cab is going up first so it tilts away from the bed.



Then the front gets jacked up.



And the riser blocks are set in place.



This sets the cab back square with the bed.



The steering shaft was removed to do this work and you can see here that the brake lines are now setting up off the frame.



Lowering the brake lines back down to the frame is not a problem.
When I built this I formed flex coils in the brake lines coming off the master cylinder so they wouldn't crack from the movement of the cab.
I just stretched these coils out a little to lower the brake lines back down.



The brake lines are re-mounted on the frame.



then I put the steering shaft back on.

 
#17 ·
Looking good, Ray! Hope this gives you enough clearance every where!
 
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#20 ·
Looks like you have another nice project in the works Ray. Should be another dandy when you get it done!
 
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#21 ·
When I pulled the Cummins engine out of the Dodge, the odometer on the Dodge showed 90710 miles.
I want to re-set the odometer on my Chevy to match that so I'll always have the correct mileage for the engine.
First thing is to take the instrument cluster out.



Then I removed the speedometer and took unscrewed the face plate so I could turn it around and get to the odometer.
It currently shows over 26000 on it.



I re-set the odometer to reed 90710 and mounted it back in the cluster.



then I put the whole thing back in the dash.

 
#22 ·
At least you can always get a job selling LOW milage used cars!! LOL
 
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#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
I don't know ... seams to me that I'm not very good at it because I ended up going from 26 thousand to 90 thousand.
 
#23 ·
At least you can always get a job selling LOW milage used cars!! LOL
OLD vehicles anyway. When I worked at auto dealers I can remember guys coming around and offering to service the speedometers. For a modest fee of course. Most carried a small bag similar to a doctors bag.
I've been away from it a long time but I wonder if it is possible to do something like that today with the digital speedometers? .
 
#25 ·
OLD vehicles anyway. When I worked at auto dealers I can remember guys coming around and offering to service the speedometers. For a modest fee of course. Most carried a small bag similar to a doctors bag.
I've been away from it a long time but I wonder if it is possible to do something like that today with the digital speedometers? .
I've heard of guys saying they can hack the computers, but I've heard other guys say that it's either not possible or causes other problems. With what little I know of computers, I'd guess that it's possible but most people making the claim don't really know what they are doing.
 
#27 ·
Ray, this is the first chance I've had to go thru each pic and really read this thread with full attention.

Beautiful job, as usual. I had a friend in HS who was big into repowering older trucks with Perkins Diesels. I remember the effort and love they put into them. The job I was around the most was an old pipe truck (1/2 width cab) that they put a 2 stroke detroit diesel into. Real beast when they were done.

Took some getting used to driving with the half cab LOL
 
#28 ·
This was my first chance to go through this thread too Ray! Great work and lots of it going into this build! Should be able to just jack the house up and take it with you on long trips when you're done with this one! Thanks as always for sharing with us!
 
#29 ·
The issue of oxidation between the aluminum rizer blocks and the steel was brought up on another forum and I hadn't even thought of that at the time.
Today I went back and put a piece of rubber in between the aluminum blocks and the steel.
I also coated the bolt shanks with antiseize compound to prevent them from corroding.

 
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#30 ·
Hadn't thought of that, Ray! Glad it was brought up. Good fix!
 
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