Quote:
Originally Posted by OLDIRON69
Love the build, can't wait to see it finished.
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Thanks, me too!! (the can't wait to see it done part)
So, I have some big items to fit in small spaces. I have a large coolant reservoir ('91 V3500) that needs to find a place to call its own. I tried fitting it on the passenger fenderwell where they normally live. It fit like crap. Not one of the three little feet hanging off of it touch the inner fenderwell in a way that it can be mounted because the feet are used soley for locating it--not supporting the weight of it. The weight, by design, is supported by the tank sitting on the fenderwell. This does not work for me because my fenderwell is the wrong shape. I located a fenderwell to cut up and mount the portion of the top where the tank would sit to my fenderwell. Not ideal, but it should work. Then my air filter and associated plumbing components arrive. Good gawd they are huge.
I wanted to use a paper filter, but I ended up going with an AFE Pro-Guard 7 filter. It has the best fine dust particle filtration of any washable filter on the market (almost as good as dry paper). All of the other filters I researched measured their filter performance in LARGE dust particles--not good in dry, dusty AZ. Anyways, back to the story.
The filter ironically fits an 02-03 Cummins. It has a 4" inlet nipple and uses a clamp to secure it to whatever it mounts to. That will do just super. Well, the dimensions I read on their site look ALOT smaller than actually looking at the part in person. I got some 4" elbows (2-45* and 1-90*) figuring I could make some combination of them work for me. Those looked alot larger in real-life too. None of this is going to work. There is no way to get the filter into the only space it can fit and plumb it to the turbo. It was suggested by a friend to put the filter on the driver side. I did not like the sound of it, and did not like the mental image that my mind created of it, but desperate times call for blah, blah, blah... I ended up entertaining the thought enough to see what would be required to get it over there. The thought did not last long because I would have to place a 45* elbow directly on top of the intake plenum or intercooler pipe. The problem was that there was not enough hool clearance for the elbow to sit up there. Uuuuugh!! What the hell am I going to do?? Is it too late to go back to a big block??
I found something else to work on (don't remember what) and went on about my business. A few days later I went out for a few minutes and decided to cut up some short sections of 4" pipe to connect the elbows. I cut the pipe, de-burred it and started fubling around with trying to make something usable out of them. I ended up with something that looked like it might work, but the coolant puke tank was not going to work. Uuuuugh. Wait!! What about moving the tank to the drivers side. I took it over to the drivers side, set it 90* clockwise from how it would sit on the passenger fender and almost fell over laughing when I saw that two of the three feet actually fit the fenderwell at the correct angle!! No-way!! But it gets better--no, really!! The third foot needs a flat spot to mount to. I looked down through the hole only to see the only flat spot on the whole fenderwell sitting DIRECTLY UNDER THE FOOT!! No!! This can't be possible!! Oh, but it was!! The only fab work required was to make a spacer about .375" to fill the space between the flat foot and the flat spot on the fenderwell and drill three holes!! There were clearance issues with the hood hinge, but I'll let the pics show that.
Here is what I came up with for the air filter and plumbing: (it still needs a support bracket and clamps on it) It actually clears the alternator by a fuzz and will have a fair bit of clearance to the fenderwell when a support bracket is installed.
Puke tank mounted to drivers fenderwell: (notice how the hose nipple points in a nice downward angle that matches the shape of the fenderwell also the pic makes the tank look like it is mounted at a goofy angle when it is actually quite level)
Now, the hood hinges on these trucks are monsterous pieces of iron. The throw of the hinges is measured in feet. A clearance issue is going to result. Look back at the previous pic and notice the back side of the tank kind of zigs then zags. This is a notch in the top of the tank (the notch does not go all the way down to the base of the tank). Believe it or not, the hood hinge uses this notch for clearance!! The pic shows it, but I still do not believe it.
So there you have it. A bunch of big stuff making a big, cavernous engine compartment seem positively tiny.
Oh, by the way, I'm getting closer.....