'93 E350 Goshen - Adventure bus build...

[joeblack5]

Hi That looks real good, just checked out you WVO or WMO set up at flickr.
WVO did not do a great job on our IDI, lost a couple of pumps. Filtering on the road is a little rough.
Like your access door and battery box.

Good luck J
.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by joeblack5

Hi That looks real good, just checked out you WVO or WMO set up at flickr.
WVO did not do a great job on our IDI, lost a couple of pumps. Filtering on the road is a little rough.
Like your access door and battery box.

Good luck J
.

Yeah... I'm not a fan of WVO at all.. we steer clear of that stuff like the plague. However, WMO.. I've put over 500 gallons through my '90 F350 with a 7.3 IDI and ATS turbo. Loves the stuff. Always start and shutdown on diesel.. once up to temp, straight oil.

I've been thinking about some way to filter oil while on the road. We use a powersteering pump to drive the centrifuge. In theory, one could belt drive a 2nd pump to process oil all of the time while driving. Would need some form of automatic pressure regulator on the pressure line though.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Got this SOB of a passenger side valve cover gasket finally replaced. Had to pull the motor mount on the passengerside and lift the engine roughly 2" to get enough room to wiggle the cover out. I had been putting it off because I knew it was going to be a PITA... I was right. Lol. Just over 2 hours just because Ford couldn't give an extra 1/2" on the pass through on the firewall.

Oh well... cleaned all the bolts holes... wire brushed and cleaned the bolts and gave all of them a good coat of blue loctite.

IMG_20180123_213107531 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

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Alternator back on.. belt is ready to go back on.
IMG_20180123_223327618 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

I'm just about ready to drop the radiator in. Slowly but surely.

[dopamine16]

Hell yea, that passengerside is a bitch no doubt, i hope you replaced the glowplugs while you had that cover off.??? i didnt do the passengerside myself i took it down to a shop called deisel tech near by, almost $700 dollers but they did my transmission fluid, passengerside gasket & glow plugs, i asked the tech how he got it off he just said a long magnet swival extension & some wiggling will get that cover off without lifting the motor.

[Mr4btTahoe]

This is an IDI... Pre-powerstroke. Injectors and glow plugs are on the top side of the heads near the intake.

The valve cover is taller on the IDI and there is only 1/4" between the lower lip of the cover and the firewall pass through. Not sure how tight the fit is on the Powerstroke but I'm sure it wouldn't be any fun.

With that said, glow plugs and harnesses are new.

[dopamine16]

ahhh i see, their i go again making assumption that all are the same. it probably would help if i didnt view the pics threw my cracked phone with hazy eyes.
maybe next time take a trip to china town & pay alittle oriental girl to do it.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by dopamine16

ahhh i see, their i go again making assumption that all are the same. it probably would help if i didnt view the pics threw my cracked phone with hazy eyes.
maybe next time take a trip to china town & pay alittle oriental girl to do it.

Now that's an idea! Lol

[Mr4btTahoe]

Now that the ground is fairly dry, I started on the underside of the engine.

First thing, I pulled the oil cooler and block drain plugs. Oil cooler removal is cake in a bus chassis.. much easier then the trucks.

IMG_20180125_173015916 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Will pull it apart tomorrow for new o-rings and cleaning/paint. Got the old starter pulled off and the old block heater out...

IMG_20180125_213237175 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180125_213248208 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

New block heater is in but waiting to install the new starter as I have to build some battery cables. Also need to scuff up the surface rust on the side of the oil pan and hit it with some paint. Don't want it pin-holing as the engine has to come out to replace it.

I also stuck the new belt on tonight...
IMG_20180125_213450367 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Ready for heater hoses, fan, and radiator to be dropped back in.

I believe I'm going to order my big trans cooler tonight so hopefully it gets here early next week.

Anyways.. pile of parts is getting smaller yet... slowly but surely.

[Tango]

Progress!!! Keep after it!

[Mr4btTahoe]

Oil cooler rebuild....

Disassembly.. yeah.. silicone. I've seen this in every single oil cooler I've pulled apart.
IMG_20180126_084237526 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180126_084411323 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Cracked o-rings...
IMG_20180126_090845891 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Cleaned up and painted...
IMG_20180126_103244078 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180126_103248181_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180126_120208540_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

New o-rings...
IMG_20180126_141219257_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Ready to go.
IMG_20180126_145855561 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

[dopamine16]

Yes the pile of parts, they seem to disapear, than get larger in time somehow for me. mishimoto- tru-cool makes pretty good coolers have a certin one in mind.? what did you use to clean the oil cooler & parts.?

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by dopamine16

Yes the pile of parts, they seem to disapear, than get larger in time somehow for me. mishimoto- tru-cool makes pretty good coolers have a certin one in mind.? what did you use to clean the oil cooler & parts.?

After taking it apart, I dipped the parts in a solvent we use at work for ~ 1/2 hour... then cleaned the tubes with a pipe cleaner... then a can of brake cleaner and a wire brush. Paint it up... new o-rings... lots of transmission assembly grease and press it back together.

I just ordered the trans cooler last night. Long Tru-cool Max 40k. Its a great cooler... I use one on my built 4l80e that is in my Cummins Tahoe. With compound turbos and a heavy foot, dead of summer, trans won't get over 150F. Tahoe scales ~ 7800# with full tanks.

I'm waiting for it to get here before installing the radiator so hopefully, the bus will be moveable again by mid next week.

Gonna start installing gauges tonight.

[Tango]

Funny. I just saw one of those TV car build shows a day or so ago where the engines was overrun with red silicone. It was everywhere. Inside and out. What were these people thinking? You don't have to go nuts with the stuff.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Oddly, most of them had never had the cooling systems open.. so it was sealant used by the OEM. For instance, I've had the entire cooling system apart on this bus and nothing was sealed with any type of liquid sealant. Everything still had oem gaskets. This is the 3rd IDI oil cooler I've rebuilt and all of them have had large chunks of red or clear silicone stuck in the tubes.

Anyways.. oil cooler is back in.. I flushed both sides of the block with distilled water while I had the plugs out (funnel down the heater core ports on both heads). Inside of the cooling system is remarkably clean (as has been the case with everything else... makes me wonder if it's been rebuilt at some point. I mean.. not even any oil sludge under the valve covers with over 250k on the clock).

Put the drain plugs back in and put on my new fancy starter from power master.

The list of mechanical things to finish up...

Install trans cooler (when it arrives.. looking like Tuesday)
Heater hoses
Install radiator, fan, shroud, hoses
Injector return line kit
Batteries/cables
Fluids
Brakes
Gauges.

The top 4 will be an evening job. Planning on getting all the gauges put in this weekend and wired up. Then all that will be left is batteries/cables (hopefully picking these up next week), fluids, and full brake overhaul. Hopefully the weather stays decent or at least gives me some consecutive warmish days to break up the crap weather... lol

Anyways... more to come soon.

[Mr4btTahoe]

#racebus?

Got the gauges mounted. With the tall captain's chair, they don't block any of the windshield but are easy to glance at without taking your eyes off the road. Hoping to get them all wired up by tomorrow.

IMG_20180127_135523341 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180127_145151943_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

IMG_20180127_151321061_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

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IMG_20180127_151340269 by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Other then getting these wired up, it's now back to the waiting game... should have everything here to get it moveable again by Friday. Then all that will be left is brakes (which is going to be a major job.. I'm replacing everything including bending up new hard lines, along with wheel bearings and seals).

I'll be back to building interior parts soon and we should easily make our early spring deadline. Cant wait for the shakedown trip.

[Robin97396]

You make it sound so simple, and you're fast too.

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

You make it sound so simple, and you're fast too.

Not fast... just highly motivated. Lol. I'd been stuck in the house when off work for the last month due to nasty weather.. this week has been in the mid 50s and nice.

[dopamine16]

Nice, not a fan of combo guages are ya.?

[Mr4btTahoe]

Originally Posted by dopamine16

Nice, not a fan of combo guages are ya.?

Honestly didn't think about running one of their quad gauges.. but then again, they are quite a bit bigger and would have been in my line of sight a bit more. Probably could have worked though. Not sure on price difference.

I did get everything hooked up today as far as signals and senders go. Got the pyrometer probe installed in the manifold... trans temp sender installed... oil and coolant gauges plumbed. All that is left is the wiring for the lights which I cant sort out just yet as the bus has no power.

Picking up batteries next friday though!

[Mr4btTahoe]

1 massive trans cooler... CHECK.

IMG_20180130_164136524_HDR by acidburn02zts, on Flickr

Gonna be busy for the next few days but hoping to have the radiator back in.. cooling system all buttoned up.. and it ready to fire by the end of the coming weekend, weather permitting.