I think I'm finally in the home stretch of this project. The entire drive train is in, minus the driveshafts. I've taken the measurements, I just have to settle on who to purchase from (Tom Woods/HighAngle/others?). Engine is in, Transmission in, Transfercase, and both Axles are in.
The suspension is done, minus the rear shocks. I just have to place the order and bolt them in.
The truck is finally sitting on its own weight, and on all four tires. I'm waiting to mount the larger tires until after I get it out of the garage.
Here's a list of things I have left to complete and questions and concerns I have for each item.
FUEL TANK - I measured out a space of 33x23x8 inches between the frame rails just in front of the rear axle (above the rear driveshaft). That would give me about a 24 gallon fuel capacity. I can't seem to find any 20+ gallon tanks that are that shallow. I toyed with the idea of welding up my own. But I don't have the equipment to weld aluminum or stainless, only mild steel. My idea right now is to mount two smaller tanks (~12 gallon) and bridge them with a fuel line. Thoughts?
TRANSMISSION SHIFT CABLE - I thought this would be as simple as calling Control Cables and having them make me a custom cable. I called them and they said they cannot make a cable to connect to my column shifter (2005 F-150). I'm pretty lost as to how to solve this problem at the moment. Below is a picture of the fitting that attaches to my column shifter. Transmission I need to control is a 47RH.
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The other end of the F-150 cable is a rectangle plastic clip, not compatible with the 47RH. Not sure if maybe a stock Dodge shift cable can be adapted to fit the F-150 column shift lever...
GAS PEDAL- I have the gas pedal from the donor Dodge, I forgot to take the bracket that goes with it, I'll have to go to the junkyard this weekend and grab one (Labor Day 50% off).
INTERCOOLER/TUBING - still haven't decided if I should go with a water-air cooler from FrozenBoost, or try to make a thin (2.5" thick) intercooler from maybe a turbo'd car application work. Will EGT's be a problem with a small intercooler? How much horsepower would I be leaving on the table?
RADIATOR/COOLING - I got 2 electric fans (from 2 Ford Taurus's from the 90's) and plan to mount those in FRONT of the radiator. Since I can't flip the blades, I'm keeping the orientation of the fan the same. Meaning the fans will still face toward the front of the truck, and the fan motor behind it, and it will still suck air and blow it out the back, onto the radiator. I know this isn't the ideal setup, but I only have 2.75" between the radiator and the engine. This truck will not be towing. I also plan on upgrading to the larger F-150 tow package radiator to aid in cooling.
A/C and HEATER - I'll be making my brackets to mount the Ford AC compressor (and Alternator) to the Cummins engine. After the truck is up and running, I'll take it to an A/C shop for them to finish building me the lines and charge the system. I'll also need hoses to connect the coolant lines from the block to the heater box. The hoses have some odd push/connect fitting. I think I can remove the hoses from the 4.6L gas V8 and adapt them to fit. One question I still have is does the Ford A/C system use Vacuum to actuate MAX A/C? If so I'll have to see about hooking that up.
WIRING/GAUGES - I still need to wire in the CompuShift Mini to control the transmission, and I need to wire in the SwapHelper tach converter. For now I think I'm going to get a GloShift 3-in-1 to monitor EGT/CoolantTemp/Boost. I'll look into getting a custom dash made later on after the build it complete.
HOSES - I need fuel line, POWER STEERING lines made, radiator hoses. I just ordered brake hoses today from Crown Performance.
So there you have it. I'm sure I left off some things that I can't think of right now. But that's what I got left to deal with. Still a lot left to do, but I'm closer to the end than the beginning!
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