46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[bones1]

Most excellent write up Desoto, thanks.

[Desoto61]

Lots of personal stuff interfering with the important things, like working on the truck! But I have been getting something done.

With the frame back in the garage I started working on mocking in the fuel tank. The original mounting system was set up to support the bed controls for the boom winch, so the rear support had to be cut out. It was welded to the rear crossmember in the middle and bolted on the passenger side.

A new piece of angle iron was cut to span the frame and clamped in in-order to fit the tank and allow me to drill the mounting holes. I will also drill holes to eventually install a third strap in the middle. It's probably not necessary but can't hurt. 40 gallons of diesel is a lot of weight!

I need to modify the front support to provide some additional clearance for the fuel pickup tube and the return line.

Once the mounting is completed I want to template a skid plate for under the tank for extra insurance. I don't plan on a lot of off-roading but it's cheap insurance.

I do have one modification I want to make to the tank. The sender hole is designed to take a stock sending unit, which are expensive and not really set up for aftermarket guages. So I will have the opening modified to take a standard aftermarket sender mounting flange. Otherwise the tank is great! Well worth the money and should give me huge range with the diesel.

[Desoto61]

The tank is finished so I turned my attention to play with the diesel. I purchased the transmission adapter I needed for my setup, and at the same time I ordered a KDP kit and new rear seal just to be on the safe side.

I pulled the front timing cover, everything looked good, the pin was right where it should be. Installed the KDP tab and checked all the bolt torques. Then found out I had been sent the wrong timing cover gasket. So after getting it swapped out I replaced the front crank seal and put the cover back on.

After changing the oil and both the oil and fuel filters. I ran some hose to a fuel tank, primed the system and grabbed a battery and a ground strap to see if she would start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=341pA6OBURY

That made my whole week!

Then it was time to tear it down so I could clean and prep it for a coat of paint.

[Desoto61]

Been playing with the engine. Removed all the accessories and brackets, then the exhaust manifold and turbo. Blocked off all the ports that shouldn't see water and spent quite a few hours washing and scrubbing the motor down to remove all grease, oil, and dirt.
Then took some sandpaper and scotchbrite pads and went over the whole engine skuffing and sanding everywhere I could get my hands.
Finally taped off everything that shouldn't get painted and did a final wipedown and laid on a coat of high temp primer, followed by some shiny black paint.

Also cleaned up and painted the transmission adapter and installed an bolted it and the flywheel (that thing is HEAVY) onto the engine. I got a starter spacer with my adapter but it's not needed for the setup. Want to see about rebuilding the starter while I can get to it easily.

Currently working on blasting and painting the brackets and accessories I am going to re-install on the engine. Need to get some sheetmetal so I can start working on cab repairs.

[Gordon Maney]

Your shop is neater and cleaner than shops are supposed to be, isn't it?


:-)

[cj7ox]

Beautiful...

...work, Desoto!

[Doc Dave]

Wow,
Looks good.
How hard was it to get the exhaust manifold bolts/studs off?

[Desoto61]

Wow,
Looks good.
How hard was it to get the exhaust manifold bolts/studs off?

Not that bad. Hit them with some penetrating oil, let them sit for a little bit and then hit them with the impact gun and they came right out. Even the ones that connect the turbo to the exhaust manifold didn't put up much of a fight.

Now I'm trying to remove the turbo exhaust housing to blast and paint it and that's a whole other animal.

As for the shop being clean, It's still a cluttered mess as far as I'm concerned, you just can't see it in the picture. I did make a recent push to clean it up so I could move the engine around and paint without worrying about getting crap in the paint.

Thanks for the compliments!

[Desoto61]

I'm still here, progress has been slow with the holidays and other stuff but it's time to start moving forward again.

I picked up some pieces/parts to finish off the transfer case e-brake assembly and the winch. It's amazing how a lot of money turns into a little pile of parts but at least it's one more thing done.

I picked up the sheet metal for the cab and some 3/16" plate for various tasks, the biggest of which is building a skid plate for the fuel tank. There's a lot of metal work to do on the cab, and to be honest I've never done this stuff before so it will be a learning experience.

Also picked up some square tubing and a piece of 3/8" plate to build a cradle and motor mounts to hold the Cummins till it's ready for it's new home. Most of the pieces are cut, just need to do the finish work so they all fit well and then see about welding it.

[Desoto61]

I tacked the motor mounts into shape and took them to a local welding shop for final welding since my equipment and skills are not such that I trust them for a critical part such as this.

The shop was very nice to work with considering how small a job it was. I'm sure I'll have more business for him in the future. I don't expect to be treated like a big customer for stuff like this but it's nice when they do anyway.

I blasted and powder coated them and then bolted in the isolators and mounted the whole thing to the motor. Now I just need to finish fabricating the matching mounts on the cradle and figure out how I want to support the back of the motor for now and that will be one more task done.

Next onto the cab, lots of repairs to be done, should be a good learning experience.

[SlickEdy]

I must say that I am impresed by the photos and accompanying text. Looks like you were / are very thorough. Thanks for sharing.

[Desoto61]

Thanks for the comments.

I have been working on the cab. Started small welding up some of the small holes in the cab. Used a copper backing spoon on the small bolt/screw holes and made small patch pannels for the bigger openings.

Luckily the sheet metal in the firewall and floor is pretty heavy so even my amature attemps at repairs turn out pretty well. The back side is a little ugly but no one is going to see that!

[Desoto61]

The floors are really bad. The driver's side isn't as bad a I thought but it's far from good.

I got some pre-made patch pannels off of e-bay for the front driver and passenger floor corners. Some time with the grinder and air hammer and the old piece comes out (what's left of it).

Before the new one can go in I need to fix the floor it attaches to. Since my truck didn't have the stock seats and I don't plan on using them either I removed the old seat base to get better access to the floor pan. I'll end up building my own base like in the magazine a while back once I decide what seats I want to use.

Someone had hacked up the floor and (looks like) drilled a few extra access holes for some sort of work in the past. A little work with the hammer and dolly got the worst section back into shape and then a little time with the welder and it's looks a lot better.

Need to figure out which of the holes need to stay and plug up the rest. Also need to figur out how to make some of the stiffening ribs in the new replacement floor panel. I think the floor pan lip can be saved, which saves me a lot of work too.

[Desoto61]

Put the engine on the cradle a few days ago. Decided I'd fire it up for some motivation. Also wanted to check a few things like oil pressure. Hooked up an oil gauge while I was connecting everything and turned the key.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JusINQZ_GE0

Oil pressure was great at idle (over 60 psi), everything seemed pretty good. Got a bit of a pop when it comes off throttle, have to check into that.

Definitely makes you want to get back to work! So I spent the rest of the day working on the cab. Cut out the worst section of the floor on the driver's side and used it as a template for the new piece. Then fitted and started welding.

The outside forward door sill is just too think from corrosion to weld to very well. I'll probably have to try and cut it back and weld in some new metal. Otherwise I don't think it came out too bad for my first time!

[Gordon Maney]

What are those neat little clips holding the repair panel? Pretty slick.