This truck was built from mostly used parts... including the exhaust off of 4 trucks. The down pipe was my 3" from diamond eye that I had on the crew cab, but I hacked that, again, to bring it up to 4" a few inches before most. A lot of the exhaust is 4" off a Duramax. They used a different coating other than aluminum so it appears brown, but it is not rust, and welds nicer than aluminized. the Muffler came off an Excursion, and the tail pipe came off a F450. I set the muffler as far forward as I could, which is one of my tricks for a real deep exhaust note. I need to finish the exhaust by bringing it out from under the body. I literally ran out of pipe, and time, otherwise it would have been done before I installed it. I guess I will just find a clamp on tip. You will also notice I left the floor heat shield from the 454 on the passenger side. The 6.5L trucks didn't have this, but it clears and just makes sense, so it stayed.
I did tuck the exhaust up and as close to the frame as I could get it so that nothing hangs below the frame rails for wheeling purposes. In the past I have had big problems with down pipes interfering with the #6 glow plug wire, and in the crew, this DP and the glow plug heat shield sandwiched the wire, which ended up melting, again. I re-worked the heat shield to bend and clear the DP. You will notice that the heat shield is turned and only mounted with one of the bolt holes. So far it works like a charm. Well, at least here. Somehow I missed part of the glow plug harness when I was tying everything up, and part of the loom was too close to the DP. I don't have my pyrometer hooked up yet, but I know I got my EGTs up there going over Vail pass and going up to the tunnels. There was no damage to the harness, and I am thinking this was some el cheapo loom I had left over from removing some audio accessories.
I was cautious about heat shielding everywhere else. The glow plug wires and the heater hoses got sleeves, and the rear AC lines got heat barrier matting. You can also see my hasty heater "T" fix.
With this being a 96, the windshield washer reservoir was where I had the remote PMD originally, so, against my will I relocated it to the inside of the bumper, but gave it a little more protection than most, as well as a little more air flow than most. The best of a compromise, I would say.
The only t-case I had to replace the NP243 was a BW4401, which is what came in the K3500's. It has a fixed rear output, and a PTO mount. Other than that, I don't know if it is any better than the NP241. Using the BW does require a different torsion bar cross member which is not straight across like the NP cross member.
For a driveshaft, I found a stock rear driveshaft from a 73-82 K20 that had a SM465 with the NP203 (not 205!) that was the perfect length. I also found that 85 and 86 F250 RCLB, but Ford doesn't use a conventional u-joint. I was real happy to find this driveshaft, and it was the last thing I did before I hooked to the trailer to move!
Here is one of the little things that can cause havoc on a swap, and sometimes gets overlooked. Diesel caps (and the ones from parts stores aren't right) vent different than gas caps. I need to find the pictures of what I did to modify the 454 fuel tank for diesel still.
I swapped in the diesel cluster that came from the vehicle that donated the motor, and this is where I am at on the swap. I used a 97 dash harness, and a 98 engine harness, so the speed sensor signal is lost somewhere... I got the oil, temp, fuel, and charge gauges working before I left. I figured those were important because I didn't think I was going to be able to speed (especially through Utah) pulling the trailer. The SES light is because I haven't set the TDCO yet... Gotta get to that too.
This is our LEAST favorite part of the truck. Luckily the left one is broken so I get to put the boring ones back in.
One one of our trips back from Cahone I blew the left rear tire to pieces up by Blue Mesa Reservoir and it did some damage to the fender and body... boo hoo... Im just glad the family was ok, and I dont really care about the body on this, but I will secure the flare back to the body.
