My 86 Silverado Cummins Project

[BigHemi353]

yea man get 4 guys to help you put it back on

I really can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks hotrod 

[Captkaos]

That is the way I normally do it...

[BigHemi353]

ha, well, its been about 2 months or so now but some progress is coming and I'm happy with it. Finished painting the frame 2 days ago after about a month worth of prep to get down to bare metal and after chipping off all the rust scale. I acid washed it with dx579( i believe) and then washed that off before i shot it with 2 thick coats of tractor gloss black. I'm happy with the outcome. I Carefully put on leaf packs yesterday. Finally feels like I'm actually getting somewhere on this project. Going to start on the axles tonight so hopefully it will be back on its wheels in a week or so.

Here's some pictures, I'll post more next week of it back on its feet. Thanks for looking, Andy

[BigHemi353]

Wow....its been over 3 years now and I'm finally going to give you guys an update. Theme for this project is probably Busted knuckles and broken dreams.   Alot has change over the last 3 years on this project. Reading what I posted before makes me realize how crazy I was thinking before. Cubicdollars has helped me along the way on this and I appreciate his insight as long as many others on here.

  I have completed my frame and axles. 15x10 8 lug wagon wheels that I had powdercoated "like chrome" wrapped in 35/12.50-15 Mastercraft MT's


I bought a 77 cab rust free cab and various other parts trucks


Got me a bus motor


Built me a new crossmember to clear the Cummins oil pan


Tore the Cummins apart and inspected everything. Installed all new gaskets and seals. New 5x.012 100hp injectors. Gutted AFC. Repainted motor.


Got me a NV4500 and installed a Valair Clutch to hold up to 650hp/1100ft. lbs of torque.



Im in the process of body work and prepping the truck for my paint guy. I'm still going with the 73-80 doghouse. Going to complete my chassis while my body is gone. Still have to fasten brakelines, put in new rubber motor mounts, install my 205 transfer case and my driveshafts. This will be completed sometime in the spring.

[Calebmcclellan]

Put the guts back in the afc and take the plate out and tune it with the afc unless you just want it to billow smoke and bog down and go nowhere. I see the manifold flipped. Do you have plans for twins?  Are you going to run ac?  Do you think those sbc mounts are going to hold up?  It looks real good though.  Looks like its gonna be real clean when you get it done.

[BigHemi353]

No twins but was contemplating them at the time of that picture. No a/c at the moment but leaving the cab to accept it later on if I believe that I need it. I have heavy duty big block motor mounts ready to install so I shouldn't have a problem there.

[BigHemi353]

Took my cab and dog house in for paint today. Earlier this month I hacked up my core support for my intercooler and fabbed up mounts. Going to use a Chevy 4 core radiator since the Dodge radiator wouldn't fit the way I designed the truck.







A 89-93 downpipe fit dang near perfect. Running 4" exhaust(5" wont fit past transfer case) to a 6" stack. Im finishing up the little things on the drivetrain before I get my body back.

[slammed79]

Lookin good!

[cubicdollars]

Great Progress   Looking Great !

[bake74]

     It is coming along.  Will be interested in how it runs when you are done.  I know how it feels to have a long break in between progress points on your truck.

[BigHemi353]

Got my cab back so I have plenty of work to do now far as wiring, sound deadening and interior work. Probably go pretty slow for a while since we have snow/freezing rain coming and I work for the local highway department.

Managed to bolt on the stock chevy alternator to the cummins. Nice to just use all Chevy electrical components rather than having to worry about wiring up the Dodge. Alot easier than I expected. Basically just drilled out the threads on upper mount on the alternator and put in the stock location and used some flat stock for the lower mount. I put the dodge pulley on the chevy alternator and with little bit of shimming, i got the the belt to run true.

Chevy on the left, Dodge on the right.


Lower mount


Upper mount


Looks like everything will work in theory. Just have to see if works once I get the thing running.

[Edahall]

Nice that you used the Chevy alternator.  What are you going to do about the AC compressor?

[BigHemi353]

Not exactly sure yet about the a/c compressor. Probably later on down the road I'll get the autoworld mount for one. Im not running a/c for now and I've converted my cab to a non a/c cab.

Haven't been able to work on it since I've been stuck in a plow truck for the last week. Hoping to get some progress done here soon if the snow lets up.

[BigHemi353]

I've been working on the little things and knocking them out. I sound deadened the firewall and floor of the truck so far. Had to weld me up a crazy transfer case shifter bracket and lever but it worked out nice. Made a plate for the transmission hump, sealed it and screwed it down.



 I fabbed up my clutch master cylinder firewall support rods so they would fit the F-350 master cylinder and reworked my clutch pedal so It would work with it. Had to weld an extension to the clutch pedal bump stop so my master cylinder wouldn't take the complete force of my foot stomping it. Also welded and tab to the pedal for the rod to attach. Took a few tries to get it right where I wanted it but finally got it.

Also, I installed my jute padding and a vinyl floor mat. I don't recommend working with vinyl in cold temperatures because its a complete pain to work with. It turned out decent though. Installed my heater box and sealed it up. Welded me up a shifter and installed my shifter boots which I think turned out nicely. And with a little modification to it, I installed a later model Tahoe overhead console. There are some voids with the curvature of the roof but they will all be filled in once the headliner is installed.  Kinda started on the wiring tonight but its kinda overwhelming. Going to really get into that tomorrow night and hopefully I can knock a lot of it out.

[Captkaos]

Nice progress!