Next up was the assembly of the doors.
New door and window seals. My dealer loves me…;)
Now that door wiring was in, I installed the dash. I completely removed all wiring, had the shell painted, and then reassembled. Even the vents were hand painted.
Next under the hood it was time to reassess things again. See, I have plenty of fuel flow with the injection system. I have great breathing with the intake and exhaust. But I have one issue. The EGTs will likely be a bit high for towing as the HX35’s compressor will be operating outside its efficiency map. Also, as I would prefer little to no soot when laying on it, that further complicates it as I am at a calculated over fueling. Hmmm. What to do what to do what to do. I know what! Cool the intake charger air! Well wait. I cant do that. I already have an aftermarket PDR 2nd gen performance intercooler. What more can I do? Water/meth? Not really a drug fan as when the liquid is gone the fun is over. I have always been more of an all day horsepower guy vs a injection cooling system so that just won’t work. Next logical answer has to be the one: add a second turbo! And that’s what I did! After much research, a 26 cubic cm HT3B was chosen from PDR and it was fabricated in. Also take note of the Horton Fan Clutch on the first photo. The Horton clutches are a magnetic engagement used on semi trucks and you can control it from the cab. This allows for an engine pre-cool prior to a zesty grade. For ease of install, the fenders were eventually pulled off.
As for the dash, due to running all Autometer Phantom series gauges, I wanted to have the dash match. As the factory fuel level, oil pressure, and coolant were now being replaced, I had an almost entirely dead instrument cluster. So it was time to go custom.
This started out as a solid square of aluminum:
This is the end result with the LED blinkers and warning lights installed, as well as the custom made 5” Phantom tach.
With the dash components getting finished I realized it was time to mount the mirrors as the wiring needed to also be run behind the door panels as well as the dash. This step as simple as it was, ended up delaying the project close to three years. See, part of the reason the truck took close to a year at the painter’s was they were having difficulties with the paint. Although they got it applied, as I found out it was anything but stable. When snuging the fasteners, the door skin flexed, and the pain flexed a bit too much and it cracked open all the way to primer! Seems it was a combination of the paint not being stable or matching, so they would re-apply. Apparently on the drivers door there was no less than 9 coats of paint! After 5 months of back and forth with the painter, the paint manufacturer’s rep, the manufacturers engineers, as well as a few specialists in the paint field, it was determined that the hardener in the paint was part of a batch that lacked a chemical for paint adhesion. This is what started it all and required the repaints. As a result, all the paint was deemed flawed and would all show signs of lack of adhesion. The end result would be that the vehicle would need to be stripped for repaint.
Now at this point, frustration, disappointment, plain anger, and brief questions of selling the truck came into play. In May, Sikkens Automotive finally deemed the solution to be a repaint of the entire truck (the crack happened in January), and I did not have the ability to fully face the situation until September. Up until this point, I had much enthusiasm for the project. The thought of having to strip the truck back to bare body crushed me like nothing else had to date. It literally took me 4-5 months to fully make my choice as to the fate of the project. During the month of September, I got back to what needed to be done and stripped all parts back off the truck (mirrors, wiring, etc) and prepped it for its second repaint. This time the body would also be left on the frame for ease of transportation and as I was finished on the frame, it would be illogical to remove the components.
One item I did do before sending the truck for paint was to pull the cab one last time. When I started off with this project, I went with a South Bend CON OFE clutch. Well, with the compound setup, I decided that with the potential the motor is now built for, the clutch would be a weak link. So, with all the wiring already disconnected, we lifted the cab off its mount by way of the hoist. Then the clutch change commenced. I now have a SBC 3250 street dual disk clutch. My thanks to Peter of SBC for working with me on the exchange of the unused old clutch.
Starting with the flywheel…
The truck was delivered to the painters in October. I would not get the truck back until April as it was continually being pushed off to the side so that work could be done on new projects as no one wanted to tackle the 23’ long truck that needed to be stripped; and had already spent an entire previous year in their facility.
Picking the truck up from paint the second time:
Now that I had it back, it was time to work on it again. Heater core box installed, dash reinstalled, wiring started being put in. At this point I left the truck sit for another few months as summer came and I knew I would not be driving it that year. I would therefore leave the truck till the snow flew.
Fall 2010: Heater core box was pulled out again and rebuilt as it was never rebuilt in the first place. My theory was now going to be do everything right. Up till this point if it was functioning, I would just add the piece back in. Now I would take the time to fully rebuild anything or at a minimum, pull it to inspect it. You can see the dash in the truck and the box removed.
Now I ran into another one of those moments with the engine. If I wanted to do this right, and by the book, I needed to deal with the head gasket as the Cometic head gasket I put in was only rated to about 50 PSI and in the 3 years since install, there had been many Cometic failures in this type of application. With the fact I would now be seeing upwards of 60 PSI, this further enforced this decision. So, deciding to do it right, I pulled the head. Again. This is Feb 2011.
Spring 2011: Now, if you have the head off to O ring the head for high boost pressures, you may as well also port the exhaust runners so it can fully breath. And, if the head is off, and the front gear case is open, and you now have a second turbo that allows the motor to breath, it made be nice to add a Hamilton stage 3 cam into the mix. Measurements on the cam are 181/210 with intake lift at .290” and exhaust at .320”. So the head was decked and the exhaust ports ported as well as a cam install. Also a new ATS O rings and high pressure gasket set was installed.
As the bearing was slightly nicked beyond my linking due to my first Cummins cam swap now going 100% perfect, a new one was installed.
The wood dowels hold up the lifters once installed. In my case, I went to 24 valve lifters as they have a larger surface area and work better with the lower zinc oils. So you press the split dowel into the tips of the lifters, pull them up, then elastic band the dowels together so they don’t fall.
New cold cam softly being pressed into hot gear.
Once cam was in, the oil pump was removed and I pressed the secondary gear off this one. I then welded on an old rounded socket so I can connect a drill to the oil pump. This will allow me to pre lobe the motor prior to starting.
Next is the timing as that has changed yet again thanks to the cam:
Here is another fantastic move. Setting the timing to 18* advance. When setting the timing, there is a hole at TDC on the back of the cam gear. There is also a little tab you have one person pressing on while the other bars the motor over. When the pin goes click and pops into the hole, the person barring the motor stops as he is told it’s in!! Right in the service manuals, every online post, everyone you speak with has a GREAT warning. As soon as it goes click, pull it back out so as to not shear it off. Well, the first time I did the timing a few years ago it was no issue. Seems this time the helper pushing the pin missed the part of instant removal and I did not think to check. So, guess what we fished out of the back of the cam gear with a small contraption….. (This is the pin)
Conversation in the room went along these lines:
Helper: you ready?
I say to helper: push on pin and when it pops into cam gear yell. Once it pops in ALWAYS remove it ASAP. NEVER leave it in.
Helper: Gotcha. No problem.
I go under truck, start barring over motor…….helper pushes on pin……..click…….OK!!!
I stop.
Me: All good?
Helper: Were in!
Me: Ready to go backwards to slowly go back to TDC now that we know where it is?
Helper: Ready to go!
Me: OK!
We back off and watch the dial drop. Zero dial. Go back to TDC. Crank crank crank…..
Me: We there yet?
Helper: No, did not click yet.
Me: Did we pass it?
Helper: I think we did.
Me: OK, lets go back and try again.
Round 2:
Me: Press harder this time!
Helper: OK Jimbo.
Me: Watch the crank damper, if it passes the line, you passed TDC.
Helper: OK.
Crank crank crank on the ratchet…..
Helper: OK! We passed it!
Me: WTF do you mean we passed it?
Helper: We passed the two marks!
Me: Did the pin go in?
Helper: No.
Me: Well why the hell not?
Helper: I dunno.
Me: OK. What are we missing. Hmmm. Oh *****. You pulled the pin out at TDC right?
Helper: What pin?
Me: The one you’ve been pushing on dummy.
Helper: Oh. THAT pin. No. I forgot.
Me: (&%$^**%# and (&%#%) you had one thing to remember! Stupid ^%#@%&* tree stumps and *&$#%& colorful metaphor &$#@%&…..
Well, maybe not that much but you get the point…
Me: Crum. The cam has to come back out.
Helper: Looking at the issue says plastic pin. We can get it. He makes this contraption, heats up the metal, sticks it in the back of the cam gear when at 7:00 and melts it into the plastic!
Me: Freakin brilliant!
Helper: I know.
Two days pass…. Get new timing pin……install pin and retaining star washer….
Round 3.
Set timing, this time to 18*….