[Kavik]

This is like a step by step of what I will be doing soon...

Great work, keep up the pics!

[boots4]

Thanks again guys, this part of the build feels like the toy section.

As for the crossmember, I will be building a new one since I am cutting off the old mounts. I will most likely need to make a U in the new member for the driveshaft. I just wanted to see what kind of clearance issues I might have with that combo and will need a new front driveshaft anyways (lengthening and longer slipspline and what the heck go with a CV so I can angle the axle up for more clearance).

Yes Eskimo, the 4L80e-3 kit from trans-go eliminates the electronics basically turning it into a manual without a clutch, meaning I'll have to shift it from gear to gear. I'm going to use the mech speedo cable hooked up to my transfer case so I don't need the sensor that came on the tranny. I'm looking at different shifters, one from Lokar and of course the well liked (but expensive) one from Art Carr. The "electronics" that I'm keeping are the solenoid that controls the lock-up in the lock-up torque converter. I haven't worked out the details yet (ie wiring, stepping down the voltage, button location) but the plan is to allow lock up in any gear giving me manual efficiency and downhill engine braking. Sounds great for offroad but I'll have to let you know how it feels on the street. I don't know if it will be "clunky" or just shift firmly, there just isn't much google reviewing on these yet. The kit allows for different shift firmness determined by the size of the holes drilled in the separator plate at certain locations. There were three levels, stock, firm, offroad/competition. I choose firm thinking it will be better for street driving.

[boots4]

I was just reading in the diesel forum this morning and Greg_B posted a link to some diesel tech that I think is noteworthy to pass on. I've been reading the articles all morning. Just wanted to share it with all who are interested in diesels!

http://www.bankspower.com/tech.cfm

Check it out. Definitely pro diesel.

[Tapage]

Originally Posted by boots4

I was just reading in the diesel forum this morning and Greg_B posted a link to some diesel tech that I think is noteworthy to pass on. I've been reading the articles all morning. Just wanted to share it with all who are interested in diesels!

http://www.bankspower.com/tech.cfm

Check it out. Definitely pro diesel.

Are great and provide some interesting information about Diesel capabilities .. read the faqs ..

Like btu from gas and diesel ..

[HI^C]

clocking

yep i know this, just was curious if you were going to straighten up the mounting for the motor, then clock the t case back flat. OR at least flat bottom if still having leaning motor. set it up drill holes, then drill or die grind the adapter where the cap heads hit.

i understand i prefer GM stuff as well, just options for keeping full auto with a OD for really easy.

manual kits been out for yrs , with or without compression breaking. Several variations and warnings with all of them. ALL are manual shift only at least so far. FEEL of, is more preference IMO, i prefer extremely firm to near snap neck shifts and i always have been that way. Some people dont like it and i understand it as well, but that is why i built it for myself


diesels run cooler then gas motors, only under loads over time do they require more cooling, usually done by just increasing the overall amount of fluid in the cooling system. yes more available energy from diesel, but more efficient less wasted energy, less heat.

can you pull back of trans to end of splines measurement on that output ? looks like the 4.5" ?


BTW spend time on dodge 1stgen forums for the 4bt several great ones out there.

[boots4]

HI^C, I'm out of town for the weekend so I won't be able to get those measurements you asked for until the trip is over. I don't mind running the engine with the tilt. As for grinding the adapter for the bolt heads, if I cannot find some bolts at the local hardware shop I'll probably follow your advice on clearancing the adapter. There is plenty material in that adapter so I don't see a problem taking off just a little. I don't know how important to me it is to get a completely flat belly.

Do you have a particular 1stgen dodge forum that you like to visit and could link here? I figured those guys already have a 6bt or 6at (i think) and it'd be interesting to know why they would swap in a smaller motor (4bt). If it's just for the mileage or other reasons?

[HI^C]

no problem, in no hurry just curious i dont/havent used a 4x4 4l80 just yet.


1st gen ie 89-93 dodge 6bt is the same engine you have +2 so all the parts, mods, info, turbo, rotary bosch VE pump, etc.... is all applicable

[boots4]

Just got back last night and thought I'd show how I'm going to cool my tranny

This is my tranny cooler I grabbed off ebay. It's a dodge cummins 3rd gen cooler that runs off the engine coolant. I've been reading some good info on tranny temps and how similar to an engine there is a more efficient operating range. So the tranny and diesel engine will help each other out. Again, I'll install a temp gauge on the tranny and if it is running hotter than I want I will install an inline cooler. Once I get the engine mounted I'll figure out a place to put this and then work on routing and connections.

[Tapage]

Huge cooler .. but in the cummings also you have a rad oil line to help in cooling issue ?

[boots4]

Originally Posted by Tapage

Huge cooler .. but in the cummings also you have a rad oil line to help in cooling issue ?

Yes, there is a built in oil cooler on the cummins 4bt and 6bt. That's where the feeder for the turbo comes from.

[boots4]

Sure doesn't feel like I got much done this weekend. Just a lot of cleaning. I think the previous owner had the frame wax coated since there is a waxy residue still on it after I have scrubbed the frame by hand. I plan on recoating the frame so I'm going to have to get that off so the paint will stick. Also scrubbed the axles so I can paint them after I weld on them. Measured, marked and drilled my piolet holes for where I'm going to put shackles through the frame and just need to pick up a hole saw to make my holes. Then I found some rims that I liked better than the ones I had so I picked them up.

Here are the old rims I painted with hammerite and was going to use. Now I'll just sell them.



The new rims. They have 35s on them that I don't care for.



Just for fun.



The 38s make those 35s look small



38s, trimming required



Before the scrub down



After some knuckle grease

[boots4]

Originally Posted by HI^C

can you pull back of trans to end of splines measurement on that output ? looks like the 4.5" ?

The measurement from the back of the mounting surface to the end of the output shaft without the 4x4 adapter on is 3 inches.

[boots4]

Worked hard this weekend and got the leaf springs all set up unfortunately with some re-work. The rears lined up perfectly and bolted on but the fronts required the re-work; now it lines up and I feel much better about it.

Here is the kit I used. I bought 4 of them. Comes with an insert, bushings for that insert, and a bolt. Oh yeah and a sticker that will probably give me 20HP



Picked up a 2 inch hole saw and started drilling. This is the passenger front.



Here is the insert in the driver side. I shortened the body mount for shackle clearance. I probably could have cut off less but this made it a little easier to get in there to cut, grind, and weld.



Here it is welded in the first time.



The rear hole ended up right where a factory hole was. I needed a guide for the drill on the holesaw so I tacked a piece on and cut from the other side. Once I cut through the frame I removed my guide plate.



Passenger rear hole cut through the frame from the inside. You can see the guide plate through the hole. This was one of my reasons for boxing in the rear part of the cruiser frame.



After doing some calculations and testing shackle lengths I decided on 5 inch eye-to-eye for the fronts and 6 inch for the rears. Cut these out, tacked them together, and drilled them out on a drill press.



Made two sets for the front and one for the rear. I doubled up the fronts but not the rear. Fronts on the left (1/4 in) and center (3/16 in); rears on the right (1/4 in).



Welded the fronts together and painted them all.



The first time the front springs ended up pointing inwards. I measured three times before I welded it in but I must have missed something because it was wrong. I decided to cut out the shackle mounts and fix the angle. After the re-work I tacked everything together and test fit. I had it right the second time so I took the springs off again and welded everything back on. The front springs are now on.



Driver side front spring hanger.



Passenger side front spring hanger



Passenger front re-worked shackle mount and shackle.



Front inside frame view.



Passenger side rear spring



Passenger rear shackle and mount. These lined right up just like I planned.



Rear shackle angle with no load.




Got new studs, spaced them with washers and attached the discs to the rear axle.

[boots4]

Once the springs were done I directed my focus on the engine.

I figured out a way to get the crank pulley off by myself and took off the cover plate to address the KDP. The crank turns the oil pump to the left. To the right the crank powers the camshaft which powers the hydraulic pump (it's a saginaw, powered by the smaller gear) and the fuel pump.



This is the KDP, the killer dowel pin. It's located to the left of that bolt head. This thing will work out and you can see what kind of damage it could do with all those gears working together. The pic makes it look like it's close to level with the case but my pin is actually seated well inside the hole which was a good sign.



The fix is very simple. Restrict it from coming out. I had an broken scale laying around that I cut a piece from. I shaped it, bent it, removed all the paint from it, and fastened it with the bolt that was already there. Now if the pin tries to come out it will hit that tab and it will stop it. This is a common problem on the 4bt's and the 6bt's. One of the very few problems needing to be fixed on these engines



This is the backside of the cover plate. I cleaned it up before putting it back on.



Got out the ol' toothbrush and degreaser and got busy detail cleaning the engine. I'm getting it ready for paint but it sure looks better.

Before:





After:







Still soaking the turbo. This week the band is recording. 12 hr work days and recording for 5 hrs after that will make this a long week!

[Tapage]

looking your front springs .. ( maybe just a photo monitor view ) looks your center pin are a little ahead. it could help in the ride section ( with your SR setup ) but could make a little more complicated get the right caster angle in your front housing/knuckles.

[boots4]

Originally Posted by Tapage

looking your front springs .. ( maybe just a photo monitor view ) looks your center pin are a little ahead. it could help in the ride section ( with your SR setup ) but could make a little more complicated get the right caster angle in your front housing/knuckles.

That's with the springs unloaded and I think they will flatten some with weight. I know the caster will change some when the springs flex but I'll need weight on it to measure the adjustment for my caster. I am planning on a cut 'n turn and maybe I'll add a degree or two more, I was going to shoot for 5-6 degrees. I think a little more is better for bigger tires. For on road handling I don't anticipate seeing the suspension move like it would off road so caster shouldn't change drastically plus I'll be running my swaybar on road to help even things out. We'll have to see how it does.

[Tapage]

you plan to run 38+ tires i'll chot on 9 - 10º of caster .. but as you right shot, you need to place wight and see how it goes ..

[aglandcattleman]

This is great man. I love the diesel swap!!!! You are getting alot done for working out of "Big Sky Garage" !!! ha ha I would do something about gusseting the front spring front eyebolt hanger!!! Unless I am not seeing it right. Keep the updates coming and thanks for the inspiration!!!

[boots4]

Originally Posted by aglandcattleman

This is great man. I love the diesel swap!!!! You are getting alot done for working out of "Big Sky Garage" !!! ha ha I would do something about gusseting the front spring front eyebolt hanger!!! Unless I am not seeing it right. Keep the updates coming and thanks for the inspiration!!!

Thanks, and yes I do plan on gusseting those mounts. I have not done that yet. I think I'll put two on the sides: one underneath and one on top although I can probably get away with just one. I've been focusing on the engine lately so I can get that sucker put in!

[boots4]

Busy week at work and then recording at night but I managed to get a little time on the cruiser. I've been trying to focus on the engine because that's what is holding up the rest of the drivetrain. I needed to do just a little more cleaning before I could paint it and I'll probably open up the front cover again and get to the other bolts behind the gears to locktight them. I ordered my trio of gauges and they will be here by thursday. I got the common setup most diesel guys like to run: Pyrometer, Boost, and tranny temp.

I took off the valve covers so I could get inbetween them to clean out the crud.



Inside of valve covers.



Wire-brushed the engine to rough up the paint.



Taping up the parts I don't want painted.



Painted with cummins beige. I sprayed two coats and used two cans; one can per coat.







My stepvan came with a mech. temp gauge so I thought I'd find a place for it and hook it up. The pod I bought for my trio of gauges is only for a trio so I found this spot that had nothing in it. With a face plate and a little trimming it should fit fine.



I finally sold my engine (the 2F) this weekend so that means more funds. I spent some time cleaning up the scrap aluminum (removing other metals like bolts, hinges, or screws) from the stepvan so that I get the better rate for it.

[boots4]

After soaking the turbo for several weeks I decided to hit it a little harder with the hammer and still got no movement. For fun I thought to hit it to try and spin it rather than hit it off. This time it did move and I was able to get the turbine housing off. I had to take the compressor wheel and backing plate off in order to do this. Here's my mess of parts.



Just the turbine housing.



This is the kit I bought from http://www.htturbo.com



The compressor wheel is off, the compressor backing plate it off and this is the inside of the turbo. I tapped out the shaft to get to the bushings. The bushings are held in place by snap-rings.



Pulling the bushing out. Under the bushing is another snap-ring so the bushing is sandwiched by snap-rings. The kit comes with two bushings and 4 snap-rings for replacement.



I coated the bushings with motor oil before I put them back in.



The new bushing is now in place. Once I got this side done I flipped it over and did the same for the other side.



Next I put the oil seal on the shaft and started to tap it in. It gave more resistance than what felt right and when I looked at it the oil seal did not get in the hole and bent. The old seal was grooved and probably the main reason to rebuild this turbo so I can't reuse it. Now I'm trying to hunt down just that part instead of having to buy another rebuild kit just for that seal. Didn't get anywhere last week so I painted the turbo housing and the turbine housing and stopped there with the turbo.

Still lots of other stuff to do so I drilled my exhaust manifold for my pyrometer. The reading will be higher right before the turbo inlet but more accurate IMO.

[boots4]

I got my gauges (autometer sport comp series) and gauge pod from http://www.egauges.com This will mount on top of the dash above the center vents.



Taped the instrument panel for painting.



I didn't think I could match the dash color very well so I decided to paint them the same way for a theme. I've painted the vents outside the same and might paint some other stuff inside the same way.



I'm using the hammerite rustoleum stuff. I think it will turn out alright once it's all together.





Thought about where to put the sender unit for the tranny temp gauge and read about people putting it in the pressure testing port (bolt head in the center of the pic)



I tested the depth to make sure I wasn't going to run into anything and I had plenty of clearance. It threaded right in like it was ment to be there.



This has been done on here and it's pretty cheap to update the lighting inside the cruiser. Except for the vent controls (light isn't working and I'll troubleshoot that some other time) I'm converting everything to LEDs. All instrumentation and dome lighting will now be LEDs. When deciding on which gauges to get I decided against the "through the dial" lighting (sport comp II) because I think those gauges would stick out too much compared to the tired lighting from the factory. Plus the factory is the reflective style and not through the dial. So, figuring the new gauges will still be brighter I decided to get LED bulbs for the factory gauges and the new gauges I bought. I'm hoping this will help even things out a little and the new gauges won't be too bright at night. I chose the "cool white" color. It they look anything like the LED night lights we have in the house I think I'm going to like them. If the color is too bright I can always try a different color. The bulbs aren't spendy at all.



This is for the water temp gauge that came from the stepvan. I grabbed a 4-LED bulb for it.



The 6-LED wedge bulb will go in the speedo, tach, levels, and new gauges.



The single wide angle wedges will go in the turn signals, 4WD, seat belt, etc. This is a blue bulb that will go in the High beam indicator. They said to grab the bulb in the color you need to display so that the light isn't filtered out making it dim.

[CreeperSleeper]

Well done, man! This guy has a new baby and is still bustin his butt on his project... What's Mace's excuse!

[GreasedPiggy]

Hey!!! you got the turbo apart!!!

Some of those things are just absolutely WELDED, it seems.

Congrats! Keep the build info coming...

[boots4]

Got more stuff done that I didn't get a chance to post yesterday.

The 4x4 adapter off of the 4L80e was hitting the tops of the allen head bolts on the 203 doubler. I thought I'd go get some other screws with a lower profile head and then figured if I planned on replacing them anyways it wasn't going to hurt if I ground the top of the heads to see if the adapter would fit. I got out the grinder, was careful and now it fits. If I ever need to get into the 203 behind that bearing retainer I can replace the screws then. Even if I get the same kind and grind again it won't cost much.





I also took 1/4 inch off the output shaft on the tranny and smoothed off the edge.



Picked up an early FJ60 front drvie shaft for the DC joint. The bolt patterns are different and if I cannot adapt my yokes I'll just redrill the flanges on the TC and pinion. I'll take these two front shafts to a shop and have them make me one with more slip spline for the SR. Thanks to the doubler there is plenty of room for that front shaft.



The adapter fits flush against the 203 now.



Full shot









I hope this doesn't come back to bite me but I decided to drill the pattern on the 203 for the new holes to mount it to the 4x4 adapter off of the 4L80e. It was clearing the driveshaft well so that's what I used as my determinant. Once I got it where I wanted it I traced it. Then I took the 4x4 adapter off the tranny and marked the holes by using the holes as a guide for a drill bit the same size of the holes. This got me the center of the hole and then I just drilled the size hole I needed for the bolts I'll use (new grade 8's). I got to four holes easy but the adapter blocked the last two so I going to find a new gasket that was on there and use that or make a jig and find the centers of the last two holes to drill.



I filled the other existing holes with set screws and used RTV to seal the threads (basically what MACE suggested).



The tranny shop was closed saturday so I jumped on to the next thing and removed the interior for floor coating. This is after I cleaned up some PO spills and a few food items from my 2 yr old.



This is actually what I was after was cleaning the tunnel for coating, but not knowing how much coverage I was going to get and knowing I was going to use the same thing inside the cab I figured I'd get it ready if I had more product in the bottle. I pressure washed and then hand washed the tunnel with degreaser to prep for a good bond.



With my little husky air compressor (not strong enough) and my spray gun of Spectrum sound deadener I started to spray. I pretty much had the compressor running the whole time and would get 4-5 passes, wait for 20 seconds and repeat. I might borrow a friends compressor to finish off. Anyways this is Spectrum in the liquid form and it is pretty thick stuff, they have stuff called sludge that's eveh thicker! The spray gun has a 1/4 inch opening and is messy to apply. The stuff washes off with soap and water until it cures so clean up was easy. I'm using this stuff for it's sound qualities and over the top of this I will be spraying a product called Spectrum Firewall for it's heat properties. The Firewall product looks like it's white so the engine bay will return to being white. It took less than a quart of product to coat the entire tunnel and firewall.



Since I had more in the bottle I started spraying inside. I filled up the bottle to half full and this is where it got me. I bought a gallon so I know I'll be able to finish the rest of the floor, out to the tailgate, with at least one layer. The color came out exactly what I wanted and is pretty close to the dash color so I'm thinking of getting another gallon and putting it inside. I don't know how durable it will be but it should be quiet. This should deaden better than bedliner and I'll run some rubber floormats for the traffic areas.



I'm not sure how much warmer weather we're going to get so I thought I should get this done before fall get here. I'll have to get pics of my gauges next time.

[boots4]

Originally Posted by CreeperSleeper

Well done, man! This guy has a new baby and is still bustin his butt on his project... What's Mace's excuse!

Thanks, I'm sad I won't make it to a couple of the meetings since my work week will land on those thursdays now (fifth week in the month throws it off). I never did get to check out your 80.

[boots4]

Originally Posted by GreasedPiggy

Hey!!! you got the turbo apart!!!

Some of those things are just absolutely WELDED, it seems.

Congrats! Keep the build info coming...

Did you get all your parts yet for your turbo rebuild? It really was pretty straight forward. Once I'm actually done with it I thought I'd share that on the 4btswaps board. For me, hitting it to spin it helped free it up and putting it in a vice to hold it solid.

[too tall]

lookin' great keep the pics comin'.

[redcorn]

Originally Posted by too tall

lookin' great keep the pics comin'.

X 2


Awesome work and you must have a great wife to let you out to wrench

to your wife!!

john

[boots4]

Originally Posted by redcorn

X 2


Awesome work and you must have a great wife to let you out to wrench

to your wife!!

john

Thanks, I'll make sure she reads this!