I started on this project in the summer of 2006. Progress has been slow since I spend so many hours at work. Currently I am working on the bed of the truck.
The whole truck was in pieces when I purchased it. It took 2 large trailers to get it home. The body was media blasted to remove all the old paint. There was some rust repair done. The cab corners and rockers had been replaced in the past. They were in good shape. The cab mounts and rear floor corners were replaced. There were some small patches made on the floor above the rockers. The fuel tank has been moved to the rear of the frame. It is a new poly tank for a Suburban. Last week I painted the bedfront and bedsides. Now I am in the process of installing composite decking in place of the wood. I had to modify the metal strips in the bed because of the frame swap. Those are now finished and were painted (3-22-07). I wanted something that would not rot like the wood tends to do on trucks stored outside. This is not going to be a show truck. It is going to be a daily driven "rat rod". Paint will be satin black. I'm using John Deere "Blitz Black". It is an enamel with hardner used on the tractors.
The frame of this truck is actually a 1984 short bed. The original frame had the suspension removed when I purchased the truck. This truck is going to be different from the majority of 4bt Cummins conversions. Typically this conversion is done to 4x4 lifted vehicles. This truck is 2 wheel dirve and is going to be lowered. The rear suspension has had a spring flip which places the axle above the spring instead of below. The rear frame rail has been C notched to clear the axle. The front suspension has lowering springs and lowering shindles installed. All of the wear items on the front and rear suspension and steering have been replaced.
The Cummins power is why this project was started. I was looking for a truck to install the 4bt Cummins engine. This motor is common in step vans. I purchased a truck from Frito-Lay for the engine and transmission. I drove it 550 miles home. The rest of the truck is being scrapped. The body has already been removed and recycled. The motor is currently still in the chassis. It is cleaned and ready to remove. Hopefully it will be removed tomorrow (3-24-07). I am considering the use of biodiesel for fuel, but that part of the project will come after the truck is running on diesel.
Left rear quarter without rear fender. I'm not sure about the wheels yet. The tires are not as tall as I want to run
Right rear quarter without rear fender.
The finished fuel tank installation. This is a 31 gallon poly tank from a Suburban. The fuel lines are biodiesel safe, except for the filler tube. I need to address that yet.
This is what it will look like under the bed. Hopefully it will be a long time before any of this needs service.
My other toy is a 1932 Ford 3 window coupe highboy. I completed it early in 2006. I had some major transmission problems that it took me most of the year to sort out. The torque converter bolts were to long. They dimpled the converter which broke the lock up clutch. The broken clutch destroyed the transmission twice. Finally the transmission shop figured out just how stupid I was. Now it runs like a scalded ape. Plenty of HP and not much weight.
