68 C10/international L110 Mut

[jmlcolorado]

Originally Posted by OSM 70 C20

Not to be a pest but, how are things going with the Truckenstein?

Your not being a pest.
I picked up a little side work (that seems to end up being more and more side work every day) so after my normal 10 hour days, I'm working another 4-5 after work, so unfortunately not much further has been done to the truck
But rest assured, once I get moving on it again, I'll keep everyone up to speed
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[Palf70Step]

I am. Just waiting to see what you come up with next.

[ERASER5]

Very interested.

>>> 4BT? gotta see that!

>>> Need more info on the "brassing" thing.

>>> But mostly, just MOARRRRR!

[jmlcolorado]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

Very interested.

>>> 4BT? gotta see that!

>>> Need more info on the "brassing" thing.

>>> But mostly, just MOARRRRR!

Well alright then

The brassing is an interesting process, though not totally to my satisfaction.
Basiclly heat base metal till hot, and rub brass onto it. I was using a brass wire brush and it worked well. It only applies a thin layer, but it sticks. It also gives you a brushed brass look.
The truck has sat in the weather for an extended period of time and the brass has patina'ed to a greenish color. It's kinda neat really.

I think I'm going to try brass electroplating next though to try to get a more consistent, even look.

I'll post some updates including the 4bt (actually 2 or them). Bummer story on the first one.

[jmlcolorado]

Okay guys. Two years worth of updates coming so bare with me. I'm a little (a lot) ADHD. I bounce around a lot, get distracted, get pulled away, so this all could be a bit of a cluster, but here it goes.
Back to 2013:

Ah yes, I also need to share my other addition. This one is not a garage toy, worth MUCH more then anything I've got in the garage.

Brooke Rozlyn, born Feb 9th at 5:00 am!

[jmlcolorado]

Anyways, I have not made any progress on the truck lately. The kid has been occupying my time, and the garage seems to be collecting crap each day, making it not-so-motivating to work in. That on top of my endless side jobs for everyone else.

Today I decided to take a break from side work and focus on cleaning the garage out. Spent the whole day doing that so now I can walk around in it, and I'm not as embarrassed to have the door open.

Once everything was clean, it just didn't feel right, and motivation was there, so I HAD to dirty it up a bit and find something productive to do.
I have many many projects laying around, but since the rat has been neglected, I opted to do something with it.

On another thread (can't remember exactly which one now) we were talking about vintage heaters, and someone posted a link to an article restoring an old heater, and it really got the juices flowing!

I wasn't really planning on using mine, and in that thought process, I filled those holes on the firewall. But now that it's winter........again, I feel the cold, and decided to bring the original heater back to life for the truck.

I want the interior of the truck to be nice and maybe shiny, so the heater needs to fit the bill.

The heater has a 6 volt motor who's wires were completely gone and the motor didn't work very well. So I had disassembled the heater some time back to look I to it. For fear that a replacement motor would be very tough to come by, I tossed the thing asside to collect dust......until today.

Pulled it out and looked at the motor again. Took some measurements and searched the web for a suitable replacement. That process took a whole 3 minutes, so now an exact fit, 2 speed, 12 volt motor is on its way.
Since the credit card was out, I figured I better pice a powder coat color for the heater, so off to Eastwood I went.

Now that a motor and powder is ordered, I wanted to get ready to get it all back together.

Broke out the stripper (yes, I keep strippers on hand in the garage, just in case) and dumped all the parts in it to soak.

Began pulling each one out, flushing, then wire wheeling to get the remainder of the paint/rust off to clean metal.
I was quite surprised, and frankly, dissappointed at how much rust (including pitting) was found under the paint. Figured that with the heater being inside the cab all these years, there wouldn't be any. Guess I was wrong.

With that said, all the parts are set asside all cleaned ready for powdercoating.




















I've never attempted a 'restore' on anything, with the idea in mind that it will look nice, so this is kinda exciting to me. I'm looking forward to getting it all back together all pollished up.
Hopefully it'll provide good heat in this little cab

[JRANGER]

man thats some awesome progress

[jmlcolorado]

Received the intercooler and radiator for the truck yesterday.
I've been procrastinating the grill shell/radiator setup for quite awhile. Not sure why, but I've been dreading that work.
I changed routes in the radiator. I had a mustang radiator that I was going to flip sideways, relocate the filler neck and use. But all that work into one I wasn't sure was going to work right (running sideways), I figured I might as well get one designed to run that way to begin with.
This one also has a trans cooler built in, so that's a plus. The external trans cooler I recently bought will now be used for the power steering cooler. Probably a little overkill, bit that's okay.


Tonight we get a rare look up the skirt of the international.


I had a buddy come over who is very interested in building vehicles, and also has a much sharper eye for detail, and how old bunch more patients that I have to the small details to help me with the valve body modifications to convert the trans into full manual.

I got a transgo TOFD-3 Kit. Neither of us had ever been in an automatic transmission. Like never even have dropped a pan before. So this was new and exciting for both of us.
This is also not something I would have ventured to tackle 5 years ago when I started the project. Too much fear involved in unfamiliar Territory.
Seems as I've gotten a bit older, I've gotten a little more adventurous. What's the worse that could happen? I screw something up and I gotta fix it. At least a lesson would be learned from the whole thing.

Anyways, between the two of us, took about 4 hours start to finish. Not bad at all and I don't question one thing about the process if I did wrong or not.
Took our sweet time, lots of discussion and I'm confident.

The guy I bought the ram 1500 donor Tru,ck from said the transmission was recently rebuilt. I had my doubts, based off the cracked block cummins he also said was good. But once inside, I was pleasantly surprised at how remarkably clean it was!



The thing was absolutely spotless. No metal in the pan. Nothing. All the pieces we removed from the valve body appeared totally new. No score marks of moving pieces. I'm happy with it. Now we'll see how our efforts pay off once the truck is moving.

I was hoping to stab it back in the truck tonight, but the new filter I got was too deep and wouldn't let the pan install. Also couldn't find the flywheel to torque converter bolts. No big deal though. At least the main goal was accomplished.


Now, question.
The torque converter I had left the fluid in and taped off the nose.
I planned on draining it and refilling with fresh fluid.
How do I go bat doing that?
Just dump out the old and fill up? How much to I fill it up with? Till it starts spilling out when standing verticle?
Or does the transmission fill it up? The end of the output shaft appears hollow. It doesn't pump fluid into the torque converter does it?
I feel like it doesn't.
Let me know your thoughts.

[dug224]

Man, you are officially out control. Great build and adventure. dug

[jmlcolorado]

Originally Posted by dug224

Man, you are officially out control. Great build and adventure. dug

I don't know. I'd like to think I've finally gained control

[jmlcolorado]

Started working on the intercooler and radiator mounting

Here's the mess I left myself when I started building the shell, but never finished. Glad I never finished, otherwise there would be a different radiator in there.


That big round frame crossmember passing throu this thing is a real PITA, but it serves a good purpose, and once the grill is mounted for good, it won't be too bad. I think it adds a lot of character too.

Intercooler will set here.


In/out piping on top. (P.S. I LOVE plasma cutters!)


Radiator behind.


The one thing that REALLY bothers me is the turbo out and intake aren't symmetrical. But I think i can fix that with some creative piping.


I was a little concerned how the intercooler was going to fit, but it fits very well. Just barely hangs below the grill, and no lower than the oil pan.

[jmlcolorado]

Interesting. I have two sensors/switches in the water jackets of the head. One at the rear with a short pigtail with 2 leads on it. Another at the thermostat housing with one spade terminal on it.
Wondering which was which, I got out the volt meter and torch to test.
The one at the rear of the head with 2 leads is a Nason TT-D1B-230R/WP110.
The breakdown of this part number is
Temprature switch
1/2" Probe legnth
1/2" NPT
Normally closed
Fixed set point of 210*
Set point direction- rising
Weather pack connector.

Now WHY would they have a normally closed switch on this engine?
This means the circuit is closed, until the truck reaches 210*

This doesn't make sense for a fan, because it would be on all the time, and the engine wouldn't likely ever reach 210*

Doesn't make sense for a warning light, as it too would remain on all the time.

From what I read, this particular port is the best port for fans because it reads hottest.

Wouldn't you want a normally open switch here, and in a temprature range of closer to 185* or so?

[jmlcolorado]

Got another box of stuffs today. I'm really starting to like getting boxs of stuffs.




Got the intake piping roughed up. Adding a 45*elbow stright off the turbo really helped bring things in line.







Only thing not symmetrical is the valve covers. They are about 1 1/2" off center of the block. But ain't no changin that, so I'll live with what I have.

[swamp rat]

Man this is one crazy build! I can appreciate this one, takes lots of skill to chop and channel body panels like that. (first page observation, read the rest later)

[jmlcolorado]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Man this is one crazy build! I can appreciate this one, takes lots of skill to chop and channel body panels like that. (first page observation, read the rest later)

Absolutely no skill was involved
The whole thing has been trial and error. I've never done anything like this before, so I've spent about 12 times more time reading about it all then actually doing it.

As with most of my projects, they start out as a simple idea, then I progressively get carried away and they get 20 dozen changed and never end up being what the initial vision was
Usually they end up better than my initial vision, so I suppose I can't complain too much
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[jmlcolorado]

I really haven't made much progress the past week or so. So came out tonight determined to get something done.
I picked up a speedway cooling fan that is supposedly rated for 2700 CFM on its highest setting.
It's as thin as I could go and came with a shroud. I a,so wanted the biggest fan I possible could, just to maximize effectiveness.

The shroud was still quite a bit too big so some love was required.


Width is okay, but height needed changed.


Hacked off the top.



Marked to hack off the bottom.





Right before cutting, I decid d to add 1/2" so I could re mould th bottom back so the shroud was completely closed.
I'm not sure 1/2" of open space across the bottom would be that big of deal, but figured it came as close to sealed to the radiator as possible, might as well try to mimic the same theory.
I also found the shroud had a lot of flex, and there was basiclly zero clearance around the fan to the shroud so when it flexed, the fan would bind up. Figured assign this 90* edge back would provide much required suport.





I worked with ABS for the first time over the winter when I had to clearance my 2013 ram 3500 to fit 37's with 2.5" lift. I had to trim some fender lip and re mould the wheel well. Yeah d think bending and plastic welding ABS would be easy. HA! That suptuff is such a PITA to reshape its not even funny.
I know I have a nice pair of metal bending players somewhere, but the move to the new house has me in a funk still and can't p find the things I only use once in a while. Heat gun and Regular old players were used.





Looks like crap. I tried a hammer and angle iron to try to straighten it out and it helped some, but I'd bend in one place, and it would pop up in another no matter how hot I got the material.


I finally realized if I heated it up, placed it where I wanted then sprayed with water to cool, it would stay pretty well.
That's when I decided that more clamps, more heat and more angle iron where required.
Heated the whole thing till it was all jiggilly like santas belly the night after Christmas and clamped the heck Out of it and doused with water.

[jmlcolorado]

Tada!





Here it is sitting in place. Seems to fit nice and will hopefully pull loads of air through the radiator.


This whole assembally is pretty large and hefty. I weighed it with the fan sitting in place and it came in at 88 lbs dry.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work on the fan. IT looks like it should have the strength and flow needed.