Nice work!

 

Been slow going lately, as I wait on parts. But now that some have finally come in, I've been able to make a little progress.

The steering situation has had me on edge a little. So I've been anxious to get my idea built and prove it out. It's simple, no doubt, but follows the same basic idea the original setup was, just flipped. As I mentioned before, I swapped my steering knuckles, left to right, and right to left, which put the steering link attachment points in front instead of in rear.

Finished up mounting the steering gearbox. Decided on a final location based on my idea for the links and where the radiator and core support sit. Ended up with the gearbox as far forward as I could get it, but it worked out nicely I think. To mount the gearbox to the frame I made some spacers I welded in from the inside of the frame. I drilled the inner plate so the spacers could slip in from that side and butt up against the inner wall of the outside of the frame, and weld in then grind smooth. This ensured I do not crush the frame when I torque the bolts holding the gearbox on.




TIG welded the spacers in.


Ground all the welds smooth for mounting the gearbox. I also boxed in both sides of my mounting plate to add more structure to the area.


Need to trim the bolts down shorter, and shoot some paint on the bare areas.


Got the Borgeson lower steering shaft installed from the column to the gearbox. I had to cut it down a little as it was too long.


I sourced some heavy wall steel pipe, threaded bungs, 1-ton ball joints and a y-link to build my new setup with. I knew I needed a center connection point somehow, and the best I could find was this 1-ton y-link ball joint.


So I started with that, and cut the ball joint off. Then welded it up to add some material and ground it smooth.


So I could turn it down on the lathe and single point some threads into it. The original threaded side was LH threads, so I needed RH threads in the new side.


These threaded bungs were awesome. Made very simple work out of this, rather than the alternative, cutting threads in the pipe itself. Plus it gave each link a hex for adjustment later when it comes time for toe alignment. The hex ended ones are RH and the round end ones are LH.




Example of one end complete after TIG welding the bung in and assembling the ball joint. These 1-ton ball joints are quite nice. Very good quality boots, with retaining rings to keep them sealed up nicely. And great range of motion, rather high angle reach I'd say. And best of all, relatively cheap.


I had to ream out my pitman arm, and both knuckles, to accept the larger taper of the 1-ton ball joints. Didn't take a lot though, and this nice reamer from Barnes 4x4 did the job nicely. I had to remove some material from the top side of the knuckle mounting points, as you can see in this picture the ball joint did not reach through far enough to get a cotter pin in the castle nut. There was plenty of material on the knuckle, no harm in taking 1/8" off.


After determining lengths of each link section and assembling, this is what I ended up with.


Wheels straight


Wheels full right


Wheels full left


Overall pretty happy with this new steering setup. It was not an expected project from the beginning, as I originally thought the gearbox would be fine in it's factory location. But such is life with projects like this.

Having got this far, and given my new radiator was in, I decided to put it and the core support back in and verify I did my homework right on the steering so there would be no interferences. Luckily I did, and it fit nicely. The gearbox is pretty close to both the radiator and core support, but there's about 1/2" clearance between both, and I'm fine with that.




Starting to look like the front end of a truck again, haha.

 

Really enjoying this thread....can't wait for the fuel mileage results.

Thanks for updating.

 

Got a delivery from The Infamous Project today. My unlocked ECU, engine harness, drive by wire pedal, o2 sensors, MAF sensor, fuse box and stand-alone harness. Time to get some wiring work done.


Top is the factory Ford engine harness, and the bottom is a stand-alone harness (designed around the fuse/relay box in the first pic), made to tie into the factory harness and add fuses/relays by Mars Auto, for plug and play with the 6r140 transmission. The two work together for a mostly plug and play setup, so I'm told. So we'll see how it all goes.

 

I am guessing you will have OBD connectivity for diagnostics? Is the radiator for the year of truck or for a different model?

I don't think I can ever say this enough. Modern drive trains in classics make for the best drivers. Its a lot easier to find parts(moving forward) for an "in-production" engine than a 400 or 460. Especially when driving potentially cross-country. I'm pretty pumped to see how this works out. This will give lots of ideas for me to keyboard swap my Gen2 Bronco.

 

Yep, they retained the OBD port in the harness. I'll actually be using it for my Dakota Digital gauges, and also for any tuning changes (if need be) and diagnostics, as you said. The radiator was a direct fit, advertised by Wizard as 1966 - 1979 compatibility. I am quite pleased with it so far, regarding quality and fitment. It's large, but so was the original.

Having never owned a classic with a modern drive train, I can't speak from experience, but nonetheless I couldn't agree more. It's just such a great combination, and way to keep these things on the road for years to come. And I do plan to take this truck on long trips with the family (eventually), so I am looking forward to the dependability it hopefully provides.

This project with my truck has really fueled a fire in me to Godzilla swap a 78-79 Bronco. It was a close call between my truck and a Bronco of the same year. Always have loved them. My truck just happened to come along and be what I wanted before I found a Bronco that met my criteria.

 

Mounted up the new Fat Fender Garage / Wilwood master cylinger & brake booster setup, just to make sure there would be no fitment surprises. This kit from FFG is very nice, complete with some custom pieces for direct fitment to these trucks. I like the new mounting brackets, as they hold the entire assembly level, rather than tipped back like the original.


Only about an inch clearance to the engine's valve covers. I definitely expected more clearance here, given so many have stuffed Coyotes in these engine bays, which are pretty wide due to the larger heads. Also, my Godzilla is actually mounted rather low, so all in all, seems lucky I didn't end up with an interference. I suppose the level mounting position of the booster and master cylinder took away some clearance though.




This was the last big piece to the puzzle I was concerned about fitment with. Lots of plumbing and wiring from here on. I'm definitely anxious to fire this thing up. Need to get a heater box close out panel installed, to fill that monster hole in the firewall.

 

Well thought out and described elegantly with words and well framed, clear images. Outstanding work there.

 

Being able to drive these anywhere is the key for me. While nostalgia is cool, keeping these on the road in any part of the country is key. when I eventually do a swap, I will try and use whatever late model components I can. Radiator, hoses, brake components, wiring... Hopefully if anything were to go wrong I could order a part from any dealer or parts house for a late model superduty, and any mechanic can run a diagnostic through the OBD.

I've always had 70's trucks, and just acquired one of my bronco's 2 years ago. My wife just had our twins a month ago, and gifted me another bronco this past christmas, one that is a driver. I keep telling her im putting all this money into them for the kids. hahaha

 

This is my thought as well. I pulled everything out for replacement, minus the original wiring harness. I'm attempting to keep that, but obviously just for the lights basically. The original electrical system in these trucks is very basic, and by the time you replace all of the electrical related to the engine, as I am doing, there isn't a whole lot left, haha. So like you said, everything from fuel tank, radiator, fuel/trans/coolant lines, brake components, etc I'm updating to currently available parts, in hopes to extend the trucks serviceable life well into my son's driving years.

 

Factory engine harness is in place. Whew that took some time, and head scratching. These things have a heap of sensors and connections on them, haha.

I started out thinking it should be easy, as it's a factory harness, so everything should only line up just one way. Well, had I known where the PCM had to be located, this would have been a lot easier. But I decided to confuse myself by trying to find some references online, and in doing so I was only searching for the superduty trucks. It didn't even cross my mind, even though I knew, that my harness came off of a fleet vehicle (van cab).

So, my harness is a little different than the truck harnesses, and locates the PCM differently. The trucks place the PCM on the passenger side of the firewall. So that's how I was trying to route my harness. Tricky part is, a good deal of the connections could be reached this way, but then some of them just quite didn't, and some of them really didn't. So I scratched my head for some time, and stared at it all, until I finally figured it out on my own, no help to any references, haha.

But anyways, it's all plugged in and fastened down just as it was originally designed, and actually puts the PCM in a good spot where I can mount it to the fender. I'm quite happy with how it's all laying out so far.


Now I'm working with the Mars Auto stand-alone harness. I laid it out in the engine bay first to see how close it was to what I want the end result to be. They made a very nice instruction manual (PDF) that tells you what every connector is, and what every open wire goes to. Also, what each fuse and relay in the box are assigned to. Shouldn't be too bad, having looked it all over and getting a better understanding of it, seems pretty straight forward. Appears there is ample length on everything, including what needs to reach into the cab (OBD II, Gas pedal connection, etc).


There is no way I'd been satisfied with how this stand-alone harness would look though, wrapped/loomed the way it was, as it is in fact a generic harness and not specifically designed for any particular vehicle. So I unwrapped/unloomed it and am working on routing everything more precisely so the fit and finish fits the truck properly. I'll wrap it back up with oem grade harness tape to match the engine harness when I get it all sorted out. I'll most likely mount the fuse/relay box next to the battery, as it seems like it should lay out that way. Thinking I will try to route the bulk of the harness behind the engine though, not up front like it's laying in the photo.

 

With the stand-alone harness unloomed, I've started laying it out in the engine bay and reconfiguring it to fit better. Having started this, I'm discovering that I do wish some of it was longer, at least so the fuse/relay box could be more up on the inner fender, but I think it will work out ok regardless.


Looking like I'll be mounting the fuse/relay box as high up on the heater box closeout panel as I can. It may be necessary I add a heat shield to help block some of the direct engine and exhaust heat, but we'll see what I think when it's all in place. The wires pulled up to the radiator are for the fan signal and MAF sensor. I'll sort out the fan wiring soon, but the MAF portion will have to wait until I build the intake. The wires coiled up under the fuse/relay box sitting on the passenger fender are fuel pump signal, starter, and a ground.


Next I need to move to the inside for ignition wiring, mount the pedal, and get my gauges with their modules and wiring all sorted out. Thinking once I get to that point, I'll work on getting the fuel tank in, with fuel line ran up to the engine, VaporWorx PWM system wired up for the fuel pump, MAP sensor installed, and build some coolant lines, at which point I should be close to thinking about a first start up.

 

Tackled a couple smaller items I've been pondering over for a while. Pretty happy with both now that they're completed. The shift linkage from the column to the transmission was one of them. The 6R140 is such a long transmission, and the shift lever on it is so far back, I couldn't attach just one linkage rod to it from the column like the FFG guys do on the smaller transmissions (6R80 & 10R80). So I had to get creative. Turns out the 2 pairs of holes on either side of the 6R140 which I believe were originally exhaust hanger mounting points, were placed perfectly for me to attach a rotation point for my shift linkage idea.

To start off I had to modify the original shift lever on the transmission, as it's positionally locked with flat spots on the shaft and I couldn't just index it to where I wanted it. In stock form, the lever was almost horizontal, in parallel with the transmission, I assume because the shifter in the original vehicle must have pulled/pushed on it vertically. I needed to be able to pull/push horizontally. So I played with some paper copies until I found the best way to cut and reconfigure the lever to work best for what I had planned.


Here it is after I TIG welded it back together, and made some paper versions of the parts I drew up for the pivot point.


The pivot point pieces cut out and I found the hardware I needed.


Then I ​​​​​​TIG welded them together




The pivot bracket installed on the transmission


The modified shift lever and my pivot point assembly installed with the first linkage rod.


The linkage rod from the column to the pivot point needed to have some bends in it, so I used some wire I could bend easily by hand to make a template first.


Then I bent the real one to match the template.


Here it is installed, from the column to the pivot. It's hard to show it all installed in photos because space is tight, but this photo shows it well enough. It works quite nicely, I'm happy with it.


I took it all off to paint the brackets and levers.


I also got the drive by wire pedal mounted with the handy FFG mount. Still need to take it off and paint it.


But the mustang gas pedal to old brake pedal mismatch was really bugging me, as it always does when I see it in swapped trucks where they didn't do anything to address it. So I grabbed a cheap used mustang brake pedal from an automatic trans mustang.


And I cut the pedals off of both

Then I TIG welded the mustang pedal onto my original brake lever.


And installed the pedal cover

Definitely worth the little bit of extra time and work to make them match, in my opinion.

 

fab-tas-tic !!!
Does it shift smoothly?
Sure looks great.

 

The shifting action is very smooth, I am definitely happy with the results. It does require more force than I was expecting, but nothing abnormal. I think I'm just feeling the difference between the C6 and the 6R140.