Digger's '69 Build Thread

[BOBS 2 68S]

F*%#ing amazing work!!!

[Jesus_man]

We are all very excited to see your creation come to life!!!

[Digger]

We are all very excited to see your creation come to life!!!

You and me both.

[Eck]

“While the engine is out” — I expect your list to get longer!


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[Digger]

First to-do with the engine out was replacing the steering column. The OE column had multiple issues, but above all was non-collapsible, making it a danger in an accident. I got to work removing the old column.


The old column was out of a 1969 model year, the new one was built for a '74-75 model year and was configured for a floor shift and added tilt.




The two columns had different wiring due to a changeover between model years. This required refitting both harnesses. Luckily my Bronco has an aftermarket wiring harness with provisions for both model years, so installing new plugs and rearranging wires was all that was required.



The horn wiring changed from 2-wire carrying the full amperage of the horn to a single wire, grounded through the steering shaft and using a relay to trigger the horn. The steering wheel adapter I have was built for a 2-wire, but looking at how the contacts lined up, I just snipped the non-essential wire and continued.




In the process, I accidently knocked the PCB board loose from the adapter and had to re-glue it.



I installed the new column and bolted up the steering wheel adapter only to discover a fitment issue where the adapter sat too low on the shaft and was dragging on the horn contact post. I pulled the board and shorted the post slightly. All good now.

[Digger]

With that fix, I fully assembled the steering wheel to the column and found out the cover cap was dragging on the column. I had a similar issue with the old column as well. Pulling back apart and a little work with a dimple die and the cap now cleared.


Next I measured and order parts for the collapsible steering shaft.



Before cutting it down, I took it apart to see what I was dealing with.



I cleaned up and reused the old u-joint, which was in good condition other than a stripped setscrew hole that needed fixing.



After measuring and fitting a few times, the shaft was cut down, cleaned up and reassembled.

[Digger]

The steering gear had a slow sector shaft leak since the day I bought the truck. Now was a great time to fix that.



My steering gear is a bit of an odd-ball. Although it is a standard Saginaw/Delphi 600 box, it uses the housing casting from a RHD Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee. This allows it to function like the LHD box when mounted to the exterior of the frame like a Bronco uses.



For the curious, this is the sector shaft size:




I noticed the wiper seal was missing from the old setup. That could explain a few things.



Old vs New:


Fixed up:


I discovered the supplied o-ring was the wrong size and had to reuse the old one. Hopefully it continues to hold.


Reinstalled with proper 10.9 hardware and hardened washers.



Final Product

[Digger]

The steering finished, it was time to make a few mods to the engine. First up was adding a thermocouple port in the exhaust, which required pulling the turbo.










And buttoned up, ready to roll.

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I am using a hydroboost brake setup, so no need to keep the vacuum pump. I ordered the vacuum delete kit from Cummins and got to work.

[Digger]

We live in the land of snow and cold, so why not add a block heater?


The engine comes with a block heater port, so it's just a matter of removing the plug and installing the heater.


You can see the cylinder castings through the open hole:


Simple:




I needed to make adapters for the coolant and oil pressure sensors. Both are 1/8" NPT and need to thread into metric o-ring boss holes. My first attempt at modifying a standard brass fitting failed because the NPT hole was too close to the external threads and cracked with minimal effort.



The resulting adapter was much longer to prevent the two threads from overlapping.




The oil pressure sensor got a similar adapter:






Last was re-installing the clutch that was removed during the initial fitup.

[Digger]

With the engine out and front clip removed, I needed to fabricate the ducting to provide fresh air to the air filter. The space available was too small to cut a 3" round hole for the intake tubing I need to use, so went with a rectangle...


...and formed the end of the tubing to match:














Looking down the tube:

[Digger]

Yesterday was a big day. The engine went back in for the final time. Even with the clutch installed, mating the engine to the transmission was easy.





There is still a handful of items to check off the to-do list. Mostly PS plumbing and electrical. Then I should be able to test fire and drive around the block!

[BroncoRaider]

Excited to see it finished!

[phyler]

The cold air intake looks pretty sweet. Wonder if that would be a good way to deal with it for efi instead of a cone filter sitting on the inner fender?

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[Justin]

Sweet! It'll be great to see this thing running. I had the same thought as phyler. Does that air filter housing flow enough to feed a gas V8?

[Digger]

That air filter is a little light for a gas V8. WIX has the filter rated at 350 cfm, which is fine for the little diesel, but a 302 will require 400-450 with good heads at 5500+ rpm.

You can figure out your engine CFM by taking the [displacement in cuin] x [rpm] x [Vol eff @ that rpm] / 3456 = CFM

example: 302 CI x 5500 RPM x 85% / 3456 = 408 CFM


I did see some similar looking filter assemblies on Mod motor V8s at the junk yard. Larger, so you will need to do some hacking.

[Jesus_man]

I installed the new column and bolted up the steering wheel adapter only to discover a fitment issue where the adapter sat too low on the shaft and was dragging on the horn contact post. I pulled the board and shorted the post slightly.

That could have been interesting on first startup! Horn blaring!!

This all looks amazing! One thing you may consider is isolating your intake tube from the core support. I would bet it will rattle around inside that hole.

[BOBS 2 68S]

Now that is a round peg in a square hole. GREAT progress!!!

[Digger]

I installed the new column and bolted up the steering wheel adapter only to discover a fitment issue where the adapter sat too low on the shaft and was dragging on the horn contact post. I pulled the board and shorted the post slightly.

That could have been interesting on first startup! Horn blaring!!

This all looks amazing! One thing you may consider is isolating your intake tube from the core support. I would bet it will rattle around inside that hole.

True. More isolation = better. These old trucks rattle enough already.

[Digger]

After fitting up the expansion tank and making some brackets, I bought a new unit for the install.




And my power steering reservoir showed up and got modeled into CAD


I ordered exhaust wrap to help keep heat in the pipe between the turbo and the DOC.



The last large mechanical job was plumbing the power steering system. With the pump on the right side of the engine, limited space for a reservoir and hydroboost combined with power steering, spacing is tight and there are lots of hoses running around. To keep things clean and provided additional cooling surfaces, I ran SS hard lines between the sides of the engine bay. 3 total were required for pressure and 2 returns. I started with some brackets:


...and laid out where the soft lines would run. With position of various components and fitting angles, I needed to have the pressure line and one return cross over each other.

[Digger]

After a few tries, all three lines were in.




The power steering reservoir needed a mounting bracket. Starting with some aluminum sheet:


Punching some holes:



Add some dimple dies


And paint:





Installed

[Digger]

I didn't take many photos, but I spent a few night building and running hoses


I'm trying out spring clamps over the usual worm drive stuff. Seems like it is hard to find good quality worm clamps anymore.





The reservoir lines are close to the turbo compressor, so I added a heat wrap to protect them.



Without a running engine, I purged the system with a drill

[Digger]

Getting the power steering wrapped up puts me in the home stretch. I needed to dig into the interior and get the gas pedal mounted. The Cummins kits uses a drive-by-wire throttle with redundant circuits
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Removing so many factory pieces left a lot of holes in the firewall. I made a patch to close it back up.


Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.



I spent a few nights deciding how to mount the computer.


A new battery tray was ordered and needed to be trimmed for wiring clearance

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[Digger]

Since I will have power ports front and rear with a winch and a more powerful starter, heavier 2/0 battery cable was ordered and new cables made. This was another chance to improve things over the last iteration.



Making my own coolant hoses required grafting 2 diameters together. Trying to keep things clean looking, I ordered some Gates heat shrink hose clamps


The flasher modules were also upgraded with all lights going to LEDs


Back to the cooling system, the new fan needed to be mounted to the Explorer radiator

[Digger]

The Cummins lacks any ports to plumb an additional MAP sensor for my boost gauge. By dumb luck, the CAC has an extra port for a sensor. I just needed to make an adapter to hook it up.

[Digger]

The Cummins has a large bulkhead fitting to pass electrical through the firewall. I also am adding a 2nd fitting for the gauge sensor wires



A bulkhead plate needed to be made









Since the front end was tore apart, I pulled the trigger on upgraded headlights

[Jesus_man]

Truly amazing work! Things are coming together nicely!

[Justin]

Wow. I'm impressed, as usual.

[TOOLMAN]

You're such a dick....(wink wink).

For the record, I say this when I play golf with friends that strike the ball especially well. It's truly a compliment.

[Digger]

You're such a dick....(wink wink).

For the record, I say this when I play golf with friends that strike the ball especially well. It's truly a compliment.

It's true. If we didn't call our friends "losers", how would they know we were friends?

[Digger]

I got into the wiring this weekend. Everything under the hood is wired except for the engine fan. I made some brackets for routing the chassis and engine harness past the radiator.




Any wires that didn't have labels printed on them were given a labeled shrink tube so I don't have to guess later if the harness needs service.




The power distribution box is buttoned up and 2/0 cables run to the battery. One red goes to the starter, the other connects to the 200 amp relay and on to the power distribution. Blacks are chassis and block grounds.






I positioned the lower radiator hose, marked its orientation and applied the PowerGrip hose clamps. The black port will attached to the expansion tank.