55*6BT My 55 w/ Cummins power

[Kim57]

Those are some nice looking seats.
Kim

[lower50's]

You may want the head rests if you drive a lot.

[II_Slow]

About to wrap up the speaker boxes. Just need to finish gluing and screwing this thing together. Then tie the front console in to the speaker box. Amp will slide in beneath the sub. Will strap it all to the floor using some small angle brackets.



My next big obstacle is AC vents. I hate those cheap looking vents hanging under the dash, and I just don't have room for vents int he dash. May have to "stretch" the dash as little.

[II_Slow]

Finished the speaker boxes and powered up the stereo and amp. It all works and sounds great, except it does need speakers in the front - I'll do that when I do door panels in the future. Went back and took another look at the caddilac seats - the DS had a tear I somehow missed the first time, and the seat retractor did not work which I learned is an issue on late model stuff - retractors tied into the safety system and commonly in-op after the bags deploy.


I also added the push buttons to program the Dakota Digital dash and calibrated the sensors I had hooked up. I'll have to figure out how to interface the sending unit on the 47RH transmission to the DD dash. The kit came with a GM sending unit, so hopefully it will be as simple as matching common sensor pins on the two units.

Also modified the accelerator pedal for the 7th time. Got it centered better between the transmission tunnel and brake pedal. Just needs a little clean-up and respray. I hate do-overs!

I'm back to looking at bench seats. The steering colum and instrument cluster on these trucks is too far inboard in my opinion and if you center a bucket seat up with the steering wheel, the seats are crowded to the middle and too far from the doors. If you place the seats where they look right, then the seat is not centered with the steering column. I know I'll have to modify any bench seat for more clearance at the console. It's just never easy once you stray from stock.

Pretty cool part of the build - making it "come alive". Certainly starting to feel more complete.

[II_Slow]

Moved her outside for a little fresh air Saturday, and a much needed shop cleaning. She is starting to look a lot like a real truck now. Put the steps on for the first time, need to raise the bed up a little, then fabricate some tabs to mount the step brackets.



Put the bumbers in place and cut bumper brackets out of posterboard. Tried cutting one myself with a reciprocating saw and decided that was a really bad idea. Took them to a local auto restoration shop and had the owner cut them with his plasma cutter. Got to get me one of those! He cut 20 brackets in about 30 minutes, charged $40. I'm sure I would have spend all weekend and killed $40 worth of cut-off wheels and saw blades.



Time to clean up these brackets, grind to fit, and weld them up. That out to keep me busy a while. Stuff like this really drags thigs out, can't just buy factory brackets for this late model frame.

[Kim57]

Looks real good.
Kim

[Dieselwrencher]

The truck is looking real nice. I'm glad I got my plasma cutter when I did. It's so handy.

[II_Slow]

I found a bench seat locally on Craigslist from a Tacoma which should be about the right width, and being a manual shift the seat it is designed to clear the shifter, which should also clear my console. I think I'll go check it out take some more measurements - this just might work.....

Hopefully the headrests are removable without resorting to a saw.

[Brant Campbell]

Build is going awesome! I recognize your car.. I race in Denton too. You've probably seen my old Camaro.. lol.. I'm about to start a 6BT Cummins 53 1.5 ton truck build. Your build is definitely helping!

[II_Slow]

Oh, damn. Nice Camaro, Brant! Yep I saw it at an RTTA race there.

Finally drug my ass back to shop and made more progress on the 55. Front bumper looks like it will be pretty easy to mount. I have the bumber hanging in place, all of the brackets and tabs shaped and should be ready to weld up.
The back bumper is mounted but I'm not happy with it. But with it hanging in place I can cut some better brackets in posterboard and go to metal with them a little easier now.
Steps are mounted, but not braced. Another visit to the plasma cutter and I now have brackets rough cut.
Thinking about hitting it all with some cheap tinted primer just to get it all one color.

The transmission is leaking at the front of the pan. I bought a deep aluminum pan and will put it on and get this thing where it will start and run again soon.

[II_Slow]

Got the transmission pan replaced with a deep sump aluminum pan so I could start the engine again (was leaking fluid badly so I stopped topping it off). Started the engine for the first time since I ran it to add antifreeze last November! It fired right up and I got to see all the gauges work for the first time. It took it 30 minutes to warm up enough to cycle the fans, and then it would drop back below the "on" temperature and shut right back off. I don;t think I'll have any issues keeing it cool.
Front bumper is permanently mounted, it was much easier than the rear. I'm going to re-do the rear - I'm not happy with what I have done. Another do-over, not the first one on this project!
Brackets are cut for the steps, should be pretty easy to mount those up.

I still think I may have the hydroboost plumbed wrong. It pukes fluid when I shut it off, and the brake pedal pulses a little. maybe my assumptions on input and output on the brake assembly are wrong. I know the power steering pump is right (obvious which is high pressure, and which is return) and i know the gear box is right (compared it to factory truck) - or maybe my parts aren't compatible.

This thing starts are runs so great - can't wait to get my 12-valve back on the road. I've had that engine for 21 years now.

[Dieselwrencher]

That looks very nice!

[lower50's]

Very nice!! What do you use for metal shaping?

[II_Slow]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Very nice!! What do you use for metal shaping?

I just sacrificed and sectioned an old hood I had that was rusted out across the top along the back brace and at the hinges. Other than that it's bend stuff by hand or over anything that resembles what I'm looking for. Pie cut or slice here and there. I don't have any metal shaping tools.
Going to take some filler to smooth it out, but should look fine and provide a nice blank canvas for a pinstriper!

[lower50's]

Oh cool good thinking.

[Kim57]

That looks slick.
Kim

[Purcell69]

This is coming along very nicely! Keep up the good work!

-Joe

[II_Slow]

Had to move the truck out to clean the shop. Got a wild hair and took her for cruise on the backroads, then parked her in the wife's spot in garage. She looks right at home there.

With the shop cleaned, and a little motivation from the extended cruise (with no glass, brake lights, etc.), I started back to work on extending the dash to make a spot for the AC vents. With the engine set back so far and all of the electronics (wipers motor and arms, Dakota dash, Guard Dawg remote start, wiring harness, AC unit), it pretty packed behind the dash so I'm adding a couple of inches along the bottom for AC vents. With the contour of the dash, the glovebox door can't be hinged from the bottom so I sectioned it. I think I can make this work.

[lower50's]

What!! sneaking in a cruise and no pictures or video?! lol

[II_Slow]

High 80's in Texas in August, yep I'm working in the shop.
Bonus: It's always a great day in the shop when I get to use my Clecos!
That's a lot of drilling and tapping to get the top plate drilled, and the bed frame drilled and tapped. Drilling both panels at the same time with an 1/8th inch bit, clamping with Clecos, and drilling all of the holes is the best way I know get good hole alignment panel-to-panel - much better than drilling one panel and trying to mark second panel with center punch.




You can really see how much the bed floor is raised to clear the late model 3/4-ton frame.

[II_Slow]

Well I got the 55 running with the factory PCM with no problems - except the tach still does read. This was using the tach output from the PCM feed the keyless ignition and Dakota Digital interface. I even tried using the diesel tach interface module from Dakota. It has an LED that will flash the tach pulse train and it shows nothing so I think my crank sensor is bad. Tired of messing with for now - I'll try measuring the signal voltage on sensor next. At least the fuel shut off circuit works - and I didn't smoke the PCM.

[Purcell69]

Man that is coming along so nicely!

-Joe

[II_Slow]

Thanks, Joe. I'm so ready to wrap this thing up and just drive it instead of work on it all the time. I've got the wiring about 90% done but the lack of an ideal tach signal is wearing me out. Wouldn't be a problem but the keyless ignition is very unhappy right now - doesn't know when the engine is running so it doesn't sequence properly. Glad to see you got past your PCM issues!

My major fab work is done, except the dash extension and a little more on the console. Just "tying up the loose ends" but boy there's a bunch of them. Not sure what I'll run in to when I start really trying to get the gaps right on the panels. Really don't know what to expect but that's what keeps me up at night now.

[Dieselwrencher]

Can you add a different tone wheel to your dampner to get an alternative tach source by chance? Auto world in Montana makes several different ones and maybe that is a better signal than what you're getting from the dodge pick up sensor since it only uses 2 pulses.

Nice work on your radiator cover. It looks dang good!

[II_Slow]

Maybe - first I need to confirm that the PCM is seeing the Engine Speed Sensor out. I just gapped it over the weekend. The original damper was broken when the '94 truck was wrecked, and the replacement damper (from Cummins) was a larger diameter. The sensor mounting tabs were slotted to align to either, but I had not gapped it to .050 until Saturday. It's gapped now, and wired from the PCM Tach Out to a Dakota Digital Diesel Tach Adapter which has an LED that flashes with pulses in. I haven't fired the truck with the sensor gapped, but last time I ran it wired this way there did not appear to be a Tach Out pulse train (no flash on the interface). I need to read the ESS output signal voltage and see if it changes when it's over the notch in the damper. Just really hard to get to it, and I hate to splice into the sensor cable but I really need to see the voltages.

And yep lots of hours in the rad cover, but it came out even better than expected. I just ordered a new master cylinder reservoir - the last of the old cruddy parts. It should look pretty good under the hood when I get it all painted and cleaned back up. It's really crowded under there - even with all that engine set-back. But I had to have the big radiator, big intercooler, and of course A/C and that stuff had to go somewhere.