54 GMC, S10 swap, OM617 diesel

[DieselRat]

Welded up all the holes in the firewall.



Also filled some minor dents so it wouldnt be sooo ugly.




I had already bought the engine over the winter, and it just sat as an oily mess in the corner. Went at it with cleaners and some brushes and brought it back to life.



Took it most of the way apart except for internals and seperating the head/block and did new gaskets on everything.



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[DieselRat]

More engine pics...
Fuel filter was bolted to part of the PS bracket, it just so happened that a little 45' turn and it bolted right into the 2 holes you see at the top left.


Oh and I chose the blue because its almost the exact color the truck originally was.






Wire wheeled the frame and used some eastwood paint over rust stuff. Came out nice. I have chassis paint for once Im done welding to it and such.


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[DieselRat]

Time to finally spend some money.

New upper and lower control arms (stock)
All new steering links, manual steering box. Drop spindles and new brakes/rotors/soft lines. Hard lines later...









I really wanted to airbag it, but have to settle on static drop for now. Did 2" spindles in the front and 3" block in the rear.



Pulled a4x4 rear from a blazer. New brakes on that of course.


Then set the cab on it...




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[DieselRat]

Bolted the front end on to find the right spot for the cab.



Cab on its new mounts. I made my own front mounts and re used the rear shackle mounts.


I still have feet thst will be welded to the back of the front mounts and rest on top of the frame.


Just another shot.



I welded a piece of 1x2 across the front frame rails to make a support for the fenders/inner fenders. Then cut down the original rad frame to fit around the steering box. Typical S10 swap stuff.



Test fitting the engine.






Eye balled it, measured it, leveled it and finally just plunged in and made motor mounts. Keeping the factor stule MB mounts which should keep engine vibration etc to a minimum. The even nicer part is they basically just need to flat areas to bolt down to, so by adding some more flat pieces I can later shim it if I somehow goofed up the levelnes of everything.

Heres what I ended up with mount wise.




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[DieselRat]

The column I had from my donor was tilt and had the apparently common problem of being sloppy and I wasnt about to buy special tools and tear it out to tighten 4 bolts. Went to the junkyard and found a no tilt column WITH a key and yanked that along with a sector shaft from a full size chevy truck.

Dont have pics of it right now but I cut the top off the brake pedal assembly and welded a piece of rectangle steel across with 2 bolt holes in it. Bolted the column through the original mount holes and added supports that held it to the dash as well. Heres how it sits.





Cut the shaft in half and sleeved it and welded it back together. Hopefully it works well once I get it on the ground with weight on it.




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[propanemudtruck]

This is an awesome build! keep it up!

[DieselRat]

The single biggest problem with putting the OM617 in anything is the oil pickup sump is at the front of the engine and its got a large section of the oil pan that wants to hit steering links, front diffs, control arms whatever. So after getting it set in place I turned the wheels til it hit each way and made a mark where I needed clearance. Then cut and welded.






Baically just cut the rounded part out, put in a flat piece across the gap, then made side plugs then glued it all together. I dont have a finished pic, I didnt go crazy smoothing it all out, but aside from one pinhole leak, its all good. Pans coming off shortly to do more more work.
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[DieselRat]

Originally Posted by propanemudtruck

This is an awesome build! keep it up!

Thanks man I appreciate it!
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