[fredalowski]

Is that due to the pulley arrangement?

Yes Sir.

 

[AnarchyI]

Those are great work! Can't wait to see you finally using it. Keep us posted man!

 

[turbogrin]

Nice work and attention to detail ! A must to watch and Sub to see the final results ! Thanks for sharing by the way !

 

[fredalowski]

Worked on the truck today after a few weeks break. I got the shift mechanism working correctly matches the pattern on the knob. I used the original parts from the NPR, but I flipped the bracket (painted blue) over. It is flipped end to end from front to back, not side to side. Then mounted the shift components back on again. Had to trim off some material from the levers. This method requires more clearance above the transmission, so if that is an issue for your project, you will want to look for another option. I still need to attach the centering spring. It attaches to what is now the rear of the blue bracket. The attaching bracket was cracked and I need to make a new one first before mount it. The driveshaft is at the shop getting made up to fit correctly. Hoping to have that in a week or two.

 

[fredalowski]

I got an Aeroquip oil quick drain in the mail today. You have to purchase the parts separately, they do not come as a set. Cost is about $60 for the oil pan half and about $50 for the click on drain half. A little expensive, but in my opinion well worth the money. part numbers are FBM3132 for the part that screws into the oil pan. FMB3117 for the click on drain half, and FBM3118 for a spare/replacement dust cap.

 

[Michael Osoba]

Man, I love that.

 

[fredalowski]

It has been a little while since I posted. I have gotten the cab mounted to the chassis. With the cab mounted, the only issue I have noticed is that the intake air may not work in the location I had planned. Of course nothing is written in stone. With these types of mods, you need to be a little flexible with your plans. Clearance on the transmission tunnel is about as expected.

Went to the junk yard and pulled out a hydro boost from an old Chevy Astro Van. Watched a few YouTube videos, ordered a kit and rebuilt the hydro boost. Then got it mounted up and mated to the brake pedal.

While at the junk yard, I also pulled an electric power steering column from a 2010 Toyota Corolla. Amazingly, the Toyota column bolted right up to the original column hole locations and fits like it was made for the truck. Now the portion of the column with the electric motor will take a little more wrangling. But it will go in there eventually. And the steering wheel will probably get replaced with something a little more appropriate for an old Chevy truck

 

[fredalowski]

Built a bracket to mount the Toyota power steering column motor. I first took the whole column off and painted the dash to get things ready. I held the column in place with some zip ties while I tack welded the bracket to get the proper angle. I haven't electrically connected it or powered it up yet. I still need to connect it to the manual steering gearbox up front. By now you should know that I like to communicate through pictures rather than long writings. So to that end - here are some more pictures. Hope this encourages someone else to make a similar mod.

Here is the finished electric motor bracket I made

Bracket installed in the column support

 

[Dougal]

While you've got it this far apart is the ideal time to consider noise insulation. Perfect plan involves deadening layer (dynamat, roof-flashing tape etc), then a full cover insulation layer (felt, EVA foam, etc) and a heavy full cover top layer (vinyl, carpet etc).

And great work. That's a really clean build.

 

[Fxsu]

While you've got it this far apart is the ideal time to consider noise insulation. Perfect plan involves deadening layer (dynamat, roof-flashing tape etc), then a full cover insulation layer (felt, EVA foam, etc) and a heavy full cover top layer (vinyl, carpet etc).

And great work. That's a really clean build.

You may want to consider a mounting support to the center of the dash just below or to the passenger side off the radio cutout. I’m not sure how vibration is on the Isuzu engine, but the Cummins about shook my dash apart in first gear around 1000 rpm. The 64 dash is weak near the glove box and flex’s. I found that sound deadening the back of cab behind seat/gas tank helped also. Great work by the way. Keep the pictures flowing

 

[fredalowski]

You may want to consider a mounting support to the center of the dash just below or to the passenger side off the radio cutout. I’m not sure how vibration is on the Isuzu engine, but the Cummins about shook my dash apart in first gear around 1000 rpm. The 64 dash is weak near the glove box and flex’s. I found that sound deadening the back of cab behind seat/gas tank helped also. Great work by the way. Keep the pictures flowing

That's actually a great idea. Nothing is more annoying than a humming / squeaking dashboard. I don't have any real experience with either engine, but from what I have read, the Cummins vibrates more than the Isuzu. Still, I hadn't thought about a support near the center of the dash. I'm going to seriously look into that.

It reminds me of a story. About ten years ago a friend of mine who is less physically mobile than me, had a squeak that was driving him crazy. He was convinced that it was coming from the dashboard and he asked me fill the under side of his dash with expanding foam, believing that the squeak would be eliminated. Unable to talk him off the cliff I proceeded to be a good friend and entombed his entire dash with the aforementioned spray foam. Now you probably already know that this did not fix the problem and you are correct - the squeak persisted. I saw him again about three weeks later and he informed me that he had found the offending component that had almost driven him crazy. It was the right front fender. It was loose.

But it shows how far people will go to eliminate a squeak, rattle or vibration.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[fredalowski]

Not a lot of work on the truck since my last post. But i did get my fuel tank in the mail and mocked it up. Now its time to get my fuel filters mounted and fuel lines connected.

I also made a tray out of aluminum "C" channel for my new radiator to sit in. (The inter-cooler is going to mount where the original radiator resided)

 

[fredalowski]

Got a chance to work on the truck this weekend. I completed the fuel system by mounting the water separator and filter setup from the Isuzu NPR under the cab and running the fuel lines.

 

[fredalowski]

I have a few loose ends to tie up before starting the engine for the first time. Mostly plumbing, setting valves, etc . . . But I have questions about how to approach starting the engine. Frankly I'm a little nervous about it. You spend that much time and money on something, you don't want to screw it up. I am planning on not running the turbo on it for the first run. I figure that just eliminates some of the complexity and points of initial failure. I am also planning on running it without water the first time.

So is there any special oil I need to use for the first start? Or just use a plain old right-out-of-the-jug Rotella motor oil? Any certain weight? (I'm in Arizona where it has been in the 100's F lately) There is assembly grease on all the bearing surfaces. Do I shoot some light weight lubricant into the cylinders before cranking. Do I crank without starting the engine for a while to circulate oil first? How long do I run it? Just long enough to look for leaks? Is there a break-in procedure or time period? Any fuel additive to help with pump lubrication since we use a low sulfur fuel here in the states? These probably seem like obvious or dumb questions, but this is my first diesel, so please humor me. I depend on your experience and advise with these engines for my success. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tada]

Wow! I recently went down the rabbit hole with finding diesels and found these insane isuzu motors. Keep up the good work I can't wait to see where this turns out great job!

 

[JoggerFogger]

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!

You've picked a lot of the same options that I chose as well. So pretty!!!

I think the best break-in is variable speed/load with dino oil for the first 2000 miles or so, then swap out oil for whatever you're going to run. I am by no means a specialist.
I mostly just wanted to post up and say thanks for sharing. My plan is/was to build it all dirty, mostly because I don't want to make it pretty and find out it doesn't work. Then phase II would be make it pretty. I just love the work you've done. I'm going to copy some of your touches when I paint my motor. Love the gold injectors, it's a nice accent.

-Kevin

 

[fredalowski]

Today I mocked up my turbo charger installation. I am happy with how it worked out. First I installed all new exhaust studs.

Next I got a 90 degree T2-T3 adapter from Amazon. I had to make some adjustments to the holes. Nothing major.

On Dougals' advise, I picked up a TD04HL-19T junkyard turbo from a Hyundai something or other. It looks to be in very good condition. However it was lacking an exhaust housing. So I also picked up a junkyard 6cm Saab exhaust housing.

Final result looks like this:

The turbo is water cooled, but both water ports are on the inboard side of the turbo housing.

I am really pleased with how small and compact this packaging turned out to be. Can't wait to see how it performs.
I need to take it all back off. This was only a test fitting. I still need to drill out the exhaust manifold for a pyrometer probe.

In other news, I also got some new wood for the bed and test fit the bed to the truck. I sometimes feel like this project is never going to be done, and it helps me to see some visual progress to give myself a little boost and help me keep going on. Even if it is just a little bit of a a dog and pony show.