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Project "Johnny Cash"
- Thread starter Rockabillyrat
- Start date
n8in8or
I never met a project I didn’t like
Looks like the factory did it. Awesome work!!
Will L.
Well-Known Member
Nice!
MrMarty51
Well-Known Member
Wow, thatsa nice unit.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
The last few weeks I've been crazy busy. Yard equipment and my DD Tahoe kept me busy with repairs. Then I picked up some side work doing a 5.9CR rebuild and a set of lb7 injectors. So needless to say the truck was on the back burner for a little while. Today after I got back from pulling that 5.9 I had a few hours to myself so I decided to pull the front clip and start figuring out where I need to cut the fire wall to clear the up pipes. The drivers side is going to need the most trimming because the lower lip sticks out farther. The passenger side looks like is just needs a small spot trimmed. From what I can tell the rest should clear once the engine is in its resting spot. Its going to lower down about 1 1/2" in the back and move back about 3" once the firewall is trimmed away. That should lower the turbo JUUUUST enough to clear the hood 
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n8in8or
I never met a project I didn’t like
Nice. So you think it’s just trimming pinch welds and not cutting holes in the firewall to make it fit?
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
The drivers side will probably need a hole cut in the corner of the floor. Im going to trim the pinch weld area first and see how much closer that gets me.
Husker6.5
135' diagonal 16:9HD, 25KW sound!
Why not use the BFH to make a large dimple instead of hacking up the firewall and creating a possible fluid/exhaust/rust entry point?
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
I might hammer the passenger side in. But the drivers side definitely needs cut to clear.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
I'm waiting on my father to finish the drive hub adapter for my test bench so I had a free Saturday to work on my truck for a change. First thing was getting the fire wall lip trimmed on the drivers side. That and the heat shield bolt boss on the manifold needed to be removed to clear the floor board.
With everything cut out of the way I test fit the engine again.... I ended up being 5/8" away from the trans with the engine touching the fire wall. So at this point I had a few directions I could go.
* Cut out ALOT of the fire wall to clear. Only bad part was the throttle pedal was in the exact area I needed to remove
* Move the drivetrain forward. This would require custom engine mounts.
* Move the cab back. Which would require moving the cab mounts back. Steerting shaft and clutch linkage modifications.
After some thinking I came to the conclusion that moving the cab back was my best option. So I slid it back 1" and the engine went right into place with plenty of clearance all around.
But before I commit to this I wanted to test fit the body to make sure it dosen't look weird with the cab moved back..... You can't even tell!!
Moving the cab back actually helped me out in a few other places. The nv4500 shifter is a few inches back when compared to the sm465. So this helped bring it closer to the factory location. And the fan moved closer to the radiator putting it in perfect position to run the one piece BBC radiator fan shroud. Sucks I wasted all that time on the other one... but thats part of the game on a truck with this many modifications.
With everything cut out of the way I test fit the engine again.... I ended up being 5/8" away from the trans with the engine touching the fire wall. So at this point I had a few directions I could go.
* Cut out ALOT of the fire wall to clear. Only bad part was the throttle pedal was in the exact area I needed to remove
* Move the drivetrain forward. This would require custom engine mounts.
* Move the cab back. Which would require moving the cab mounts back. Steerting shaft and clutch linkage modifications.
After some thinking I came to the conclusion that moving the cab back was my best option. So I slid it back 1" and the engine went right into place with plenty of clearance all around.
But before I commit to this I wanted to test fit the body to make sure it dosen't look weird with the cab moved back..... You can't even tell!!
Moving the cab back actually helped me out in a few other places. The nv4500 shifter is a few inches back when compared to the sm465. So this helped bring it closer to the factory location. And the fan moved closer to the radiator putting it in perfect position to run the one piece BBC radiator fan shroud. Sucks I wasted all that time on the other one... but thats part of the game on a truck with this many modifications.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
Moving the cab back was alot easier by using the DIY4x4 beyond 52s front spring/core support mounts. They are designed to be bolted in two different locations to adjust for different spring lengths. So because of that the cab mount hole is slotted. Well since I'm running stock springs the mounts are all the way back. That gave me exactly 1" to slide the mount back!!! Its like it was ment to be!
So now I need to move the cab mounts back. Which is no big deal since I didn't finish weld them in place yet. For this very reason!! Coming together, but at this point I'm running out of money to get the rest of the parts to put this thing together. So it's going to have to sit for a little bit. I need to focus on my test bench. If only I didn't have to put a roof on the house this year. That on top of the wedding my wallet is screaming at me
So now I need to move the cab mounts back. Which is no big deal since I didn't finish weld them in place yet. For this very reason!! Coming together, but at this point I'm running out of money to get the rest of the parts to put this thing together. So it's going to have to sit for a little bit. I need to focus on my test bench. If only I didn't have to put a roof on the house this year. That on top of the wedding my wallet is screaming at me
Husker6.5
135' diagonal 16:9HD, 25KW sound!
Meh, who needs a new roof on the house? Just get a bucket of that stuff the guy on TV sells that he makes a boat out of hardware cloth with and plugs the chainsaw hole with and smear it on! 
n8in8or
I never met a project I didn’t like
I can't believe how well that worked out for you. Like it was meant to be. Great job!!
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
IM BACK!!! I cant believe its been almost two years since I last worked on this project. Life got in the way for a little while, so I had to step away longer than I wanted. Between getting married in Alaska, our house needing a new roof, and the dog needing surgery all in the same year. 2021 ended up being the most expensive year of my life. Then on top of that I decided to build a test bench for DB2s, and acquire all the equipment to rebuild 6.2/6.5 mechanical pumps and injectors. I may have bitten off more than I should have financially, so I ended up doing as much side work as I could handle in 2022 to help pay off my debt and put me in a better finical situation. I finally finished up all the work I lined up and for the first time in years I was debt free.... for about 2 days then I decided to drop some cash on a 2nd gen dodge cooling stack and a few other things for under the hood.
I've seen alot of guys have luck swapping the 2nd gen Dodge radiator and intercooler into the square bodies when doing Cummins swaps. The larger 6.2/big block radiator and shroud that was originally in the square bodies is extremely hard to find and all the "Performance" options don't have a large enough lower radiator port because they are all designed for gas motors. So I figured this was the best option to get a properly sized radiator into this truck. So I ended up picking up a Mishimoto Radiator and intercooler. As well as an oil cooler from them and a stock A/C condenser for the 2nd gen Dodge. What I like about this is all the parts are designed to fit together and I wont have to piece a bunch of aftermarket parts together and hope they fit. I'm going to mount the air to air oil cooler in the stock transmission cooler location since I don't need it with this truck being a manual. I also got the 2nd gen fan shroud to use because it mounts to the radiator nicely. Along with the cooling stack I also picked a Vintage Air kit, S&B intake and a Hydroboost kit. That way I can start laying out all the major components in the engine bay and figure out how to plumb everything together. Unfortunately the Chinese condenser is super bent so I need to call summit racing and get a replacement.
I started by test fitting the radiator. Its a good thing I saved this cracked one I replaced at work. That will make it nice for mock up so I don't have to risk scratching the Mishimoto radiator. Everything centers off its location so that needs to get done first. I spent about 2 hours with the tape measure making sure I could make all this work. It looks like with ALOT of cutting I can fit the entire 2nd gen cooling stack into my truck. As it sits right now I need to lower the radiator about 1 3/4" to center it in the fan. Which I'm sure I can come close too but it might end up sitting a 1/2 inch off centered to the top which I can deal with. The Left to right center is a different story. I need to offset the radiator to the side in order to center the fan into the shroud. Unfortunately, the intercooler is too wide to offset it. The only way I can fit it is to center it into the trucks core support. So the radiator will also have to be centered as well. This is going to cause the fan to sit slightly offset in the shroud. I might have some wiggle room with the radiator and shroud, but I wont know for sure how much until I get it all mocked up. So the next step is to pull the core support out, and to start cutting the center out so I can start to get everything to fit. I sat down and came up with a game plan so hopefully it all works out like I hope it will.
There looks to be enough room to drop the radiator down and make some mounts for it.
I looks like the entire center of the core support needs to be removed including the support gussets where the body mounts are located. So new supports will need to be built to maintain structural support and also allow room for the intercooler. I still have no idea how I'm going to mount the grille, and the hood release may become an issue too. So this is going to be a very tedious and thought-out part of this project to get all this to fit. But I feel confident it can be done. At least I have 90 days to return parts if for some reason all this back fires
Guess what....? more 7.3 parts!! I've always liked the way the 7.3 Ford incorporated the battery tray and air filter box together. So I though I might be able to make this work on my truck. The front air intake opening is going to run right into the radiator though. But if I move it back and sink it down into the inner fender I think I can build some duct work to relocate the intake off to the side more. I'm not sure if this will work until I get the cooling stack in place. But at least I can use it for mock up and see if it can all work together.
I was absolutely amazed on how nicely the body came apart. It was defiantly worth it to buy a clean body from California. I'm not used to taking off body parts with A 1/4" ratchet and no torch. Makes me really jealous of you guys living outside of the rust belt. In the up coming weeks I will post some updates to how this is coming together. Feels go to finally get back to work on this project.
I've seen alot of guys have luck swapping the 2nd gen Dodge radiator and intercooler into the square bodies when doing Cummins swaps. The larger 6.2/big block radiator and shroud that was originally in the square bodies is extremely hard to find and all the "Performance" options don't have a large enough lower radiator port because they are all designed for gas motors. So I figured this was the best option to get a properly sized radiator into this truck. So I ended up picking up a Mishimoto Radiator and intercooler. As well as an oil cooler from them and a stock A/C condenser for the 2nd gen Dodge. What I like about this is all the parts are designed to fit together and I wont have to piece a bunch of aftermarket parts together and hope they fit. I'm going to mount the air to air oil cooler in the stock transmission cooler location since I don't need it with this truck being a manual. I also got the 2nd gen fan shroud to use because it mounts to the radiator nicely. Along with the cooling stack I also picked a Vintage Air kit, S&B intake and a Hydroboost kit. That way I can start laying out all the major components in the engine bay and figure out how to plumb everything together. Unfortunately the Chinese condenser is super bent so I need to call summit racing and get a replacement.
I started by test fitting the radiator. Its a good thing I saved this cracked one I replaced at work. That will make it nice for mock up so I don't have to risk scratching the Mishimoto radiator. Everything centers off its location so that needs to get done first. I spent about 2 hours with the tape measure making sure I could make all this work. It looks like with ALOT of cutting I can fit the entire 2nd gen cooling stack into my truck. As it sits right now I need to lower the radiator about 1 3/4" to center it in the fan. Which I'm sure I can come close too but it might end up sitting a 1/2 inch off centered to the top which I can deal with. The Left to right center is a different story. I need to offset the radiator to the side in order to center the fan into the shroud. Unfortunately, the intercooler is too wide to offset it. The only way I can fit it is to center it into the trucks core support. So the radiator will also have to be centered as well. This is going to cause the fan to sit slightly offset in the shroud. I might have some wiggle room with the radiator and shroud, but I wont know for sure how much until I get it all mocked up. So the next step is to pull the core support out, and to start cutting the center out so I can start to get everything to fit. I sat down and came up with a game plan so hopefully it all works out like I hope it will.
There looks to be enough room to drop the radiator down and make some mounts for it.
I looks like the entire center of the core support needs to be removed including the support gussets where the body mounts are located. So new supports will need to be built to maintain structural support and also allow room for the intercooler. I still have no idea how I'm going to mount the grille, and the hood release may become an issue too. So this is going to be a very tedious and thought-out part of this project to get all this to fit. But I feel confident it can be done. At least I have 90 days to return parts if for some reason all this back fires
Guess what....? more 7.3 parts!! I've always liked the way the 7.3 Ford incorporated the battery tray and air filter box together. So I though I might be able to make this work on my truck. The front air intake opening is going to run right into the radiator though. But if I move it back and sink it down into the inner fender I think I can build some duct work to relocate the intake off to the side more. I'm not sure if this will work until I get the cooling stack in place. But at least I can use it for mock up and see if it can all work together.
I was absolutely amazed on how nicely the body came apart. It was defiantly worth it to buy a clean body from California. I'm not used to taking off body parts with A 1/4" ratchet and no torch. Makes me really jealous of you guys living outside of the rust belt. In the up coming weeks I will post some updates to how this is coming together. Feels go to finally get back to work on this project.
MrMarty51
Well-Known Member
Maybe take a look at the cold air intake of about a 1988 or 89 square body suburban or crew cab that had a gas engine. It poked out through the radiator support but I just dont remember how. Might be the diesel unit of the same years did too.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
Unfortunately the Cummins radiator is wide enough to cover the area in the core support where the hole is at.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
Why is it the the two things you never have at the same time is money and time. My weekends have been booked solid the past month. We had an out of state wedding, our anniversary, and of course a long list of spring yard work to get done.
I found some time to get back into the garage to get a little bit done over the weekend. I had to go back over everything to remember where I left off. Since I think I can make all this fit I wanted to trim the fan shroud to see how it fit into the truck. Nothing like cutting up a new $350 piece of plastic
. A little off the bottom and I was able to clear the frame on the truck and still have room to drop the radiator down at least 1". The fan still wont be centered in the shroud perfectly, but I think I can live with that. I might be able to move it slightly on the radiator if it really bothers me that much, but one step at a time.
I finished pulling the front clip apart and got the core support on my cab dolly so I can work on cutting it apart and making all this fit. I think I spent at least 2 hours marking it and going over how I want to make the cuts. I finally came up with a game plan that I'm happy with. Next I need to pick up some steel and start making mounts for the radiator. Once that's in place everything else will be located of its position.
Hopefully I can find more time to get back in the garage with summer finally here. I have a few house projects and a few pump to build here in the next few weeks. Just need to find more time in the week to get stuff done so I have my weekends to work on the truck.
I found some time to get back into the garage to get a little bit done over the weekend. I had to go back over everything to remember where I left off. Since I think I can make all this fit I wanted to trim the fan shroud to see how it fit into the truck. Nothing like cutting up a new $350 piece of plastic
. A little off the bottom and I was able to clear the frame on the truck and still have room to drop the radiator down at least 1". The fan still wont be centered in the shroud perfectly, but I think I can live with that. I might be able to move it slightly on the radiator if it really bothers me that much, but one step at a time.I finished pulling the front clip apart and got the core support on my cab dolly so I can work on cutting it apart and making all this fit. I think I spent at least 2 hours marking it and going over how I want to make the cuts. I finally came up with a game plan that I'm happy with. Next I need to pick up some steel and start making mounts for the radiator. Once that's in place everything else will be located of its position.
Hopefully I can find more time to get back in the garage with summer finally here. I have a few house projects and a few pump to build here in the next few weeks. Just need to find more time in the week to get stuff done so I have my weekends to work on the truck.
Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
Well after all the measuring and test fitting it was time to cut up the core support and see if i can make all this work. I ended up cutting out the whole middle area out in order to give me enough room to mount the intercooler as far back as possible so hopefully the condenser will still clear. Everything is just rough cut for now. I dont want to take away too much at a time and cause the core support to warp or shift. So im going to focus on the radiator for now then work my way to the rest.
The fan clears the shroud nicely and doesn't look as off centered once its in place!
The radiator is very tight to the gear box. So I will end up moving it back and upwards slightly to give me a little more clearance so nothing will rub if the truck flexes. My goal is around a 1/2" of clearance. Need to keep it tight so thr rest of the cooling stack will clear.
I test fit the front grille filler to see how much room I had to fit the intercooler/condenser. I need at least 4" and measured close to 4 3/4. So i should have room to move the radiator back and still have room for everything else.
I still need to make mounting plates for the lower part of the radiator. I ended up cutting the bottom of the support to allow the rubber mounts to rest in the correct location. This allowed me to test fit and get an idea where the final plates need to sit. I also had to trim the inner support. More if not all of that will need to be removed to clear the intercooler. But I didn't want it to flex will all the support being cut out. So once I get the new bracing welded in I will cut the rest of that out.
I got the radiator to rest in its finally mounting location with the help of a block of wood. Now I can measure and start laying out the mounts.
I will be building new supports from some 1 1/2" .120 wall square tube. It will slide right into the upper part of the support. Then i can add some gussets from the core support mount area to the new vertical supports to tie everything together. I will also be building the radiator and intercooler upper mounts off of the new vertical support bars. That should give it plenty of strength and prevent it from flexing, and give the cooling stack a solid area to mount to. Once that is done I can go back and safely cut out more of the lower part of the support to clear the intercooler. I will probably also add a upper and lower bar that run between the two new vertical supports. That will allow the whole middle area I cut out to be boxed in with square tube. And also give the hood latch some support since I'm more than certain I won't be able to reinstall the center support with the intercooler in place. Not a bad start for this project. Hopefully i can have the radiator in and mounted next time I get out to the garage.
The fan clears the shroud nicely and doesn't look as off centered once its in place!
The radiator is very tight to the gear box. So I will end up moving it back and upwards slightly to give me a little more clearance so nothing will rub if the truck flexes. My goal is around a 1/2" of clearance. Need to keep it tight so thr rest of the cooling stack will clear.
I test fit the front grille filler to see how much room I had to fit the intercooler/condenser. I need at least 4" and measured close to 4 3/4. So i should have room to move the radiator back and still have room for everything else.
I still need to make mounting plates for the lower part of the radiator. I ended up cutting the bottom of the support to allow the rubber mounts to rest in the correct location. This allowed me to test fit and get an idea where the final plates need to sit. I also had to trim the inner support. More if not all of that will need to be removed to clear the intercooler. But I didn't want it to flex will all the support being cut out. So once I get the new bracing welded in I will cut the rest of that out.
I got the radiator to rest in its finally mounting location with the help of a block of wood. Now I can measure and start laying out the mounts.
I will be building new supports from some 1 1/2" .120 wall square tube. It will slide right into the upper part of the support. Then i can add some gussets from the core support mount area to the new vertical supports to tie everything together. I will also be building the radiator and intercooler upper mounts off of the new vertical support bars. That should give it plenty of strength and prevent it from flexing, and give the cooling stack a solid area to mount to. Once that is done I can go back and safely cut out more of the lower part of the support to clear the intercooler. I will probably also add a upper and lower bar that run between the two new vertical supports. That will allow the whole middle area I cut out to be boxed in with square tube. And also give the hood latch some support since I'm more than certain I won't be able to reinstall the center support with the intercooler in place. Not a bad start for this project. Hopefully i can have the radiator in and mounted next time I get out to the garage.
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Rockabillyrat
SlIgHtLy StUpId.
The past month has been full of set backs. I ended up having to make the lower radiator mount brackets three times before I got them to fit correctly. So progress has been slow up until now. On top of that my daily driver Tahoe lost the fuel pump on the highway, AND my wife's 17 Honda had a injector fail. Which normally isn't a big deal, but her car is direct injected. So $600 later the misfire is fixed.
The lower radiator mounts turned out nice once I got a set to finally fit. Getting everything to clear the gear box wasn't easy. I wanted to push the cooling stack as far back as possible so it has the best chance to get the condenser to fit. Its a real challenge though because the cab is pushed back 1" already to clear the up pipes. So I'm starting off with less room then a stock truck would already have. To make it work I had to cut some 1/4" spacers to lift the radiator up because I wanted some room between the radiator and gear box incase the body flexed. I got most of the area cut out around them. Once the core support is braced properly I can cut out the rest of the lower part of the core support to clear the intercooler.
Next it was time to reassemble the front clip and square it back up. That way I can make sure everything is in the proper location when I weld in the new support brackets. I decided to add a bar inside the boxed area in the upper section of the core support. I figured this would add alot of strength and give a good location for the vertical supports and upper radiator mounts to weld too. Since the factory core support has dimples in the corners of the boxed area I couldn't fit a 1 1/2" piece of box tube tightly to the top without alot of cutting. This seemed like a waste of time to go through all that, so I went with a piece of 1 1/2" x 1" that way I didn't have to spend the time to grind out the corners to clear the 20ish dimples. It sits flush with the bottom so it couldn't have worked out any better. From there I built the two new vertical supports from some 1 1/2" box tubing. The Core support isn't flat so a relief cut in the top was needed to give it a slight bend. As well as notching the bottom to fit. After some delicate cutting and hand filling them to fit I had something I was happy with and it was time to move onto the upper radiator mounts.
The lower radiator mounts turned out nice once I got a set to finally fit. Getting everything to clear the gear box wasn't easy. I wanted to push the cooling stack as far back as possible so it has the best chance to get the condenser to fit. Its a real challenge though because the cab is pushed back 1" already to clear the up pipes. So I'm starting off with less room then a stock truck would already have. To make it work I had to cut some 1/4" spacers to lift the radiator up because I wanted some room between the radiator and gear box incase the body flexed. I got most of the area cut out around them. Once the core support is braced properly I can cut out the rest of the lower part of the core support to clear the intercooler.
Next it was time to reassemble the front clip and square it back up. That way I can make sure everything is in the proper location when I weld in the new support brackets. I decided to add a bar inside the boxed area in the upper section of the core support. I figured this would add alot of strength and give a good location for the vertical supports and upper radiator mounts to weld too. Since the factory core support has dimples in the corners of the boxed area I couldn't fit a 1 1/2" piece of box tube tightly to the top without alot of cutting. This seemed like a waste of time to go through all that, so I went with a piece of 1 1/2" x 1" that way I didn't have to spend the time to grind out the corners to clear the 20ish dimples. It sits flush with the bottom so it couldn't have worked out any better. From there I built the two new vertical supports from some 1 1/2" box tubing. The Core support isn't flat so a relief cut in the top was needed to give it a slight bend. As well as notching the bottom to fit. After some delicate cutting and hand filling them to fit I had something I was happy with and it was time to move onto the upper radiator mounts.
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