1970 Gladiator 1 Ton 6BT 12V Cummins Build

[Resbum]

I was seriously considering a pull cable for my shutoff until I found a Larry B's solenoid here. http://www.fostertruck.com/dodge/

Larry B's has some other things you might find useful. Check it out.

Resbum

[Mudbull]

I see, mine has (what i believe is) a new Larry B's solenoid, my friend who lent me his driveway has a 97 that it'll be going in. I bought a starter rebuild kit from there too, good stuff. (the starter issue ended up being bad cables, then two bad new batteries).

[Resbum]

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Today I got the hydroboost installed. I did end up having to shift the steering column/brake pedal/dashboard support outboard about a 1/4 inch, but that will still easily allow everything inside the cab to be mounted in their stock locations. In the engine compartment the hydroboost/master cylinder ended up getting shifted 3 1/2 inches outboard. That leaves about an 1 1/4 clearance to the battery and I'm going to have to do some tweaking of the intake plenum I made. The rear brake line out of the master cylinder is only 1 inch in front of the battery so changing batteries will be a real bitch. I'll take it with no complaining. I'm just glad everything fits because I didn't have a back up plan.

[Cecil14]

Do you have enough room to simply rotate the intake plenum there 90*? Looks like it might end up pointing up a bit then...but hard to tell well from the pics.


aa

[ross80truck]

Looks like it is all coming together really well. You got some tight clearances there, but then if it was an easy fit everyone would have a 6BT in the Jeep! I wanted to pass something along to you that I just found the other day, you may already know this, but Summit Racing sells some fitting that thread into your hydroboost and power steering box that adapt to AN or JIC fitting. This was you can get hoses made at your local bearing house or you can make your own fancy stainless steel braided lines. Check out the part #s below. You will need 2 of each. One of each for the Hydroboost and one of each for the steering gearbox.

RUS-648080 : #6AN Male to M18 X 1.5 Power Steering Adapter
RUS-648060 : #6AN Male to M16 x 1.5 Power Steering Adapter

[Resbum]

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Not really, Cecil. It would be pointing well above horizontal. The intake is already really high and the clearance to the hood is going to be minimal. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take any that might keep me from bending or cutting the intake.

Thanks ross. Good timing. I just sat down with my AM coffee and was answering Cecil when you posted. After that I was going to surf the net for just that info.

Resbum

[ross80truck]

Glad I could finally help you after all the help and ideas I have gotten off of your build thread!

[Resbum]

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OH YEAH!!!

Today the truck saw more sheetmetal on it then at any other time in the last 21 months. I roughly assembled the whole front of the truck to check clearances and see where I needed to do some trimming. Man, stepping back and looking at it got me STOKED!!!!

[Resbum]

Nice big air intake opening for engine air

[Resbum]

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Today I found the perfect use for the two covers on the core support


They can act as sue-do parabolic dishes to help reflect forward the sound of stealth two-tone 115db horns. No sissy-girl horns for this manly-man work truck.

[Mudbull]

Looks beautiful all put together! I love that intake too, the whole engine is a piece of art!

I was looking back at your notes on the Raptor liner. Im about to order some, how much would you say you used on the bottom of the cab? I plan on shooting the inner fenders and cab bottom at the same time, then the bed and thriftside fenders when its all welded/ bolted together...

[Resbum]

I'm thinking you're going to need (2) 4Litre kits. One for the front half, one for the rear half.

Here's the link to where I buy mine. I'm including it because you may want to check out the Gravitex Plus on the same page. They don't list coverage, but it seems cheaper and may serve your needs better.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/ ... ialty.aspx

Resbum

[Resbum]

When it came time to fit the inner fenders I did one of my 'stand there, look, and think' routines. I then took some measurements and decided the best thing to do was to lower the inner fenders 3", then move them back 3 3/8". That would go a long ways towards trying to keep it looking stock and really minimize the amount of major cutting.

Doing the spring under frame mounts gained 6" of clearance, going up to 35" tires lost 3" of that. So, lowering the inner fenders 3" should put me back at stock clearances inside the wheelwells.

I took (2) 5" X 48" pieces of 18 gauge sheetmetal and bent them into 1" X 3" X 1" C-channel. I then measured between the cab and core support and fabricate the c-channel to fit between them. The 3" spacer now sits between the tops of the inner and outer fenders.

Here's the inner and outer fenders in their stock location.


On the drivers side the hydroboost stud was just touching the inner fender.


On the passenger side the diaphram, and part of the housing of the turbo intruded into the inner fender.


The top of the c-channel is now where the top of the inner and outer fenders use to marry together


Fitted to the cab at 90*


Bolted to the cab


Bolted to the core support. It took me a little while before I realized it's actually 87*, not 90*.

[Resbum]

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Here's everything back in place with the 3" spacer in.


By lowering the inner fender I now only have to notch the fender 2 1/4" for the new battery trays at the firewall.


... and the inner fender moved 3 3/8" back.


There's plenty of clearance at the hydroboost now.


And a ton of room around the shock tower.


The bottom of the inner fender before lowering it.


After lowering the inner fender with minor trimming of the bottom. I still need to finish fitting in the back.

[Resbum]

I hit another snag yesterday when I got back to the shop with the new master cylinder. On the left is Raybestos MC390279 on the right MC390257.



The reservoir for the 1996 Chevy P30 van is wider than the reservoir for the 1996 Chevy K2500. I was right back to the original problem of it hitting the air intake before I bent it more downward.

The aluminum housings appeared to be identical and the internal bores are listed as the same. I didn't want to make assumptions with something as important as brakes, so I called Raybestos tech support and ended up in a conference call with two extremely helpful guys there. They pulled out all their build documents and started comparing the two master cylinders.

The only known difference there is, is a slight difference in stroke (.080" difference). The only possible unknown is the spring tension of the internal springs.

THE VERDICT- After thoroughly explaining the mods to my truck and its future intended uses, one master cylinder is as good as the other. If I wanted to be absolutely paranoid about it I can pop the reservoir off a MC390257 and put it on a MC390279. That's what I'm going to do only because I already have both. However, I now have a good spare MC for the future that I know is up to the task.

Mine is an extreme case only because I know there are going to be some really heavy loads in the 1-ton truck I'm building. I think for the vast majority of FSJ'ers doing a hydroboost conversion get either one.

Resbum

[Resbum]

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I finally got everything to fit yesterday.

The hydroboost, master cylinder, fuel shut off solenoid, and air intake all happily share space in the engine compartment. The biggest thing is now all I have to do is tweak and bend the last two brake lines from the master cylinder to the proportioning valve and the brake system is finished.


I made a 1/2" spacer and rod extension for between the hydroboost and master cylinder. Before the rear brake line was going to be very close to the front side of the battery and it makes me feel better having a little more room between them.

[Resbum]

The brake lines, hydroboost lines, and fuel lines are flexible in their locations, so I need to put in all the fixed mechanicals first. Today I started on the steering column/shaft. I want its placement to be determined by how it lines up in the cab. I installed the dashboard then placed the benchseat I want to use in its location. Now I can put in the column and place the steering wheel where it's most comfortable. After that I'll make the Borgeson shaft with U-joints down to the steering box.

I've chosen a benchseat out of a 1986 Toyota 4X4 pickup I got off craigslist. I had an '86 Toyota and I know they're comfortable. I also wanted the notch in the center of the seat. In order to use this seat I'm going to have to cut it up the middle and widen it 9 1/2".

This shows the seat at stock width, centered. You can see how much space there is along the sides.


This picture shows where it will sit once it's widened 9 1/2".


I absolutely love the placement. It fits my 6' height perfectly when I sit in it.


This pic shows how much 9 1/2" is.

[Resbum]

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This picture shows why I was so keen on having a notch in the seat. I need the space for the shifter and twin-sticks.


It's going to have a lot more room for storage then I expected.


Here's the dashboard. Until now I haven't mention this, but I scored the dashboard and steering column out of a 1978 Cherokee Chief. Tilt steering, ignition on the column, wider instrument cluster for all the gauges, etc. There were a lot of good reasons to do this upgrade. The dash even had the stock OEM Jeep clock in it, and that's already been sent out to get overhauled.

[twisted frame]

I see that you had an 86 Toyota truck before and like how the seat felt. I'm wondering why you might not have wanted buckets to give you the room you need for the shifters? Is it just a preference that a pickup should have a bench? I'm extra curious because while I've cut seats in half before to get rid of some old stuff, I've never rebuilt or widened one.

The way each area of your truck is being customized is what makes this such a fascinating build, in my opinion, not just the diesel.

Just looking at the trans tunnel from this angle makes it look like there's not much room for the skinny pedal but it's probably just the camera angle, right?

[Mudbull]

Very cool, the intake/ brake/ shutoff solenoid look like they all fit perfect together, good job solving that!

Ill be curious to see your seat rebuild..I have the opposite problem with the ram bench seat (~7" too wide). I like the center console on my bench seat, it can fit 8.5x11 folders, books, etc...but can fold up out of the way too.
How are you planning on covering the seats, take them to someone local? Im going back and forth between finding a set from a half ton or something that wont need to be altered, or cut the rams up and spend the money on reupholstery.