Project Family Chummins

[ryanroo]

looks nice in black!

[Ackattack]

So what emblems and or decals should I put on the truck? It's looking a little plain. I ordered a couple of cummins emblems last night for the front fenders. I was thinking about a "4x4" or Z71 decal for the bed. I could also put the wide black trim just below the body line, put a 3500 emblem, and or others. What do you all think?

[ryanroo]

I like the no emblem look. especially on engine swaps. i think with the flares it will be just right. I like to leave everything to the imagination so people have to wonder... i had considered using C/30 emblems on mine simply because it has a 60 front but again, i just like to keep everyone out of the loop.

[Dieselwrencher]

It looks really nice all black! I usually don't put emblems on the newer trucks I do just for the reason Ryan said. I like to keep people wondering. People probably think that is a healthy sounding 6.5. If a customer wants emblems I usually show them the third gen ones as they are shiny chrome and don't take up a lot or real estate.

[jbclassix]

GMT400 wit no emblems, no trim, and no decals. I'm biased to that.

[Ackattack]

I installed a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator:



This morning driving to work it was probably about 15 degrees and the truck got up to about 175, so it improved the comfort level.

I got the fender flares on. The front ones fit really well. I did have to do some triming at the bottom where I had already trimmed the fenders. The back ones did not fit so well, and the double sided sticky tape that came with them didn't stick real well to the fender flares. However the tape stuck extremly well to the new paint. There is an area or two that isn't taped down like it should be. I'll probably re-do them in the spring/summer when it warms up and they're more pliable.

So for my birthday/christmas present I ordered some injectors, a 4k GSK, and AFC spring. So hopefully I'll be getting some more power AND better fuel mileage. Then the power bug got too me (and too much internet reading) and I bought a different turbo today. I'll be getting a HE351cw off an '05 cummins. These are supposed to be real fast spooling higher boost, and can support nearly 500 HP.

Oh, I also got a kit to fab up a traction bar setup.

[jbclassix]

Well Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!!!

[Dieselwrencher]

Happy Birthday! Sounds like you are getting there now. Becareful making 500hp on the turbo selected. They don't take high boost for long.

[scotts62]

I like it!!!

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Happy Birthday! Sounds like you are getting there now. Becareful making 500hp on the turbo selected. They don't take high boost for long.

yeah, I figure I'll limit boost to about 42 psi, hopefully that will put me at a cool 400ish HP

[Ackattack]

I took a picture of the truck outside while I was at work, its a little lighter, but of course now the truck is dirty.

[jbclassix]

I like it!

[Dieselwrencher]

It looks really nice!

[Ackattack]

Well new injectors, gsk are installed and new springs and modifications to the AFC are in.

I wish I had installed the gsk when I had the engine out. For as easy as it would have been to do with the engine out, it was a PITA with the truck. I assume that in a dodge truck, the line of sight and arm reach isn't too bad. In my truck its tough. I could look in through the bottom of the inner fender, or look in through a bunch of wires, tubes, cables, and whatever else. I basically had to do it blind by the time I got my hands down in there. But never the less, I got it done.

The first one I didn't removed the fuel shutoff solenoid linkage, and it was kind of a pain. I read one set of instructions that said to remove it. I did that, put the other set of springs in, then went to go put the linkage back on. Well there's a little woodruff key in there too. The instructions say not to drop it. Well that is a lot easier to say than to do. Needless to say I dropped it. Luckily I had put the cover on the pump, so it didn't fall into the pump.

So today I got a new one from the hardware store (luckly they had one that was the right size).

On the AFC, I set the star wheel (with slightly lighter/longer spring) to reach fulll travel at 25 psi. I also ground the foot just a little too. I set the stock fuel plat in full forward and set the afc full forward. I didn't touch the pre boost screw.

I got everything put back together and fired her up. Nothing too exciting, I did notice that when I turn the truck off it doesn't shake as hard as it did.

So I took it out for a test drive. Now keep in mind its about 15 degrees and some snow on the roads (mostly clear though). So I'm playing around a little, watching the pyro, boost, and rpms. I broke the tires loose going about 30 (or the clutch slipped....hope not since its supposed to be good for 500). A little while later, I slowed down to about 25 in 3rd gear to see what she really had. Well I had a young grasshopper moment As I hit about 3000 rpms (don't know what boost pressure) I hear a loud noise come from the front drivers side fender. I let off the pedal, everything sounds fine, keep driving and quickly realize I don't have any boost.....yep, blew off a boot. So that ended my test drive, and I limped her home.

Overall, it drove good without a lot of black smoke and I could tell there was definitely more power. I'll have to do some more testing and tuning.

[Ackattack]

Started on my traction bar, or maybe anti wheel hop bar, whatever

I got a "kit" from Barnes 4x4 for this with the brackets, bushings, rod end, and then added the tubing (2" x .25" for the bottom, 2" x .125" for the top bar). The bars as shown are 6', but I'm going to cut the bottom one down to about 5', and then the top one will be whatever it has to be to intersect with the bottom. I'll also add a vertical bar near the rear. .



I had to drill out the holes a little large which sucks when your bits are dull. I assume this is generally meant for a jeep and with 4" axle tubes of a dana 80 I had to break out the plasma cutter.



So I got the bracket welded onto the axle, got the front hanger welded onto the frame and an inside piece to distribute the load welded in. Then I got the 2 tubes notched for the bushing tubing. There is only one bar that is going on the passenger side axle/frame. I don't see much benefit in making a second one since I'm not going to use this a sled puller or drag racer.

Hope to have the setup complete later tonight.

[ryanroo]

nice. the next step is...

[Ackattack]

Got it all finished up:



Took it for a test drive and this definatly makes it feel smoother when backing up, it would kinda studder as I slipped the clutch to roll back.


As far as the tuning goes, it has a nice amount of power now, so it feels like it can get out of its own way instead of being a giant turd. I do need to back off the pre boost screw just a little, rolling a little coal as I get into it, but then when the boost comes on it cleans up nicely and takes off.

[Ackattack]

Got a couple of things taken care of today.

My blower stopped working on anything but high, so I swapped out the resistor thing that controls the other speeds, so now I have all blower speeds.

Then I moved onto the washer sprayer. The drivers side wasn't working well. I took it off and cleaned it out and blew some compressed air through it and now its working.

Meanwhile I also worked on smoking the clearance lights. I think they turned out nice.






I let them dry while I was working on another truck, so this truck set outside for about an hour and got a little snow on it.

[Ackattack]

Driving around the for a few days the trans was popping out of 5th gear, which I seem to recall is an issue with this trans. Well, Friday on my way to work I lost 5th gear completely. This is another common problem with the NV4500s, however I upgraded the main shaft to a fully splined unit that is suppose to prevent the issue. Obviously it didn't help me, but luckily I could drive home at 60 in 4th. So between Friday and Tuesday I worked over 75 hrs, so no time for fixing the truck. Luckily I have my beater ext cab to get me by.

Tonight I'll drop the TC and pull off the back of the trans and hopefully its just the 5th gear nut and no permanent damage.

[Ackattack]

I popped off the TC and back of the transmission expecting to see the 5th gear nut and gear loose. That's not what I found. I found the 5th gear snap ring and clutch, and syncro ring loose. Apparerntly the snap ring came off some how. I looked at it, and it looked slightly out of round and chewed up on the edges, so I ordered a new one.

I didn't have good light under the truck to see, but I hope it didn't damage the groove that the snap ring goes into.

[Ackattack]

Got the new snap ring put back on and $75 worth of Mopar gear lube (discounted from $120) and all is good.

[Palf70Step]

[Shoppy2387]

Nice build! I just finished axle swap and all body work on mine. Cummins swap and tranny next!

[Shoppy2387]

http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/...psb6fd47f1.jpg
http://s1334.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2f28417.jpg

Here are some links for pictures couldn't figure out how to put on here.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Shoppy2387

http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/...psb6fd47f1.jpg
http://s1334.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2f28417.jpg

Here are some links for pictures couldn't figure out how to put on here.

Nice

Where did you get the double DIN dash, or did you make it?