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1993 Ford 24v Cummins crew cab

459K views 943 replies 113 participants last post by  Snowman_w900 
#1 ·
Hi all
I began my conversion last summer. I found a solid 93 f350 7.3idi crew cab dually 2wd super cheap. Cut out broken section of fuel line drove it home and around town for a couple of weeks to see what kind of shape it was in(bugs to work out). Then i found an '01 24v on ebay reasonable price, which my friend picked up for me in kentuky and brought back, no charge. I found a dana 60 with all of the springs and brackets, made my own shackle reversal kit. Made an engine to e4od transmission adaptor, have married np205 to put behind that. I have done some of the body work. Gutted the interior, fixed a few rust holes, cleaned up and sprayed all of inside with bed liner material for rust prevention and sound deadening.

With much research of this forum i have figured out most of the things i want/have to do to make this work. The upgrades i will be doing besides the 24v and 4wd are as follows.
100hp nozzles installed
new head gasket installed
arp studs installed
s475 turbo for compound setup, need to make plumbing
edge juice with attitude (used ebay)
5" exhaust
airdog 150
32 gallon rear fuel tank from bronco
flat bed with gooseneck hitch

This is a start i will get pictures up as i can with more info on my progress.
 
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#6 ·
Took delivery of the 24v from deck of friends semi trailer. Put into my poor ranger at work for short trip home.


Wired it up (4 wires and a relay) hooked garden hose to it using Minnesota chrome for cooling system and water pump as i had no alternator or a/c compressor. hooked up edge juice w/att. for display of vitals and fired it up. Ran it for probably half an hour, ran great. surprised neighbors didn't complain about it not having any exhaust.
 
#7 ·
Here i have dropped it on floor to do body work on back and roof


I sanded all the paint off the roof because there was some surface rust and dents to be pulled out with stud puller. And yes it was previously painted rattle can black with out any masking(real special).

Then i got tired of body work and wanted to create. So i tore it apart and pulled the 7.3idi


Then for the first of many fittings of the cummins.
 
#9 ·
I set the front clip and radiator back on to check clearances and see where and how the motor was going to sit. I was considering doing electric fans but they can be a lot of work, so i will be trying it with the mechanical fan to start with.



I got my 05 cummins a/c compressor off of ebay as well as the 8 rib pulley for my existing ford alternator. I fabricated these brackets to mount the alternator in the facory position and use a stock cummins belt. My goal is to use as many stock wear parts as possible so if something fails on the road i can find the parts easily and get on my way.

 
#11 ·
Are you planning on using the 7.3idi radiator in your pics? If you do you may have some trouble finding an intercooler wide enough to fit around the radiator. The 1999 and up 7.3L radiator and intercooler fit best in our style trucks, a different radiator may give you more clearance up front to run the stock cummins fan. I know that the 1994 and up dodges have a wide intercooler but with that cooler on 1980 to 1996 ford the tubes would go into the wheel wells and then they would need to be plumbed up to the engine. These were just a few things i found out when doing my truck.
 
#13 ·
Thanks guy's it is a fun project, just been interrupted too much. This weekend drove down to Indiana to pickup 30' gooseneck trailer that i will be pulling with this when it's done(killed friday night and saturday).

Old ******:
I will be using the 7.3 radiator but i picked up an 06 cr intercooler and the outlets on that just hug the sides of the radiator. I'm under no illusion i no it's going to be tight and i will probably have to trim the backside of the grill a little on top of everything else.
 
#14 ·
Once i had the general location of the motor, i cleaned the front cross member and frame. I found raw unrusted steel(never in Minnesota on a 17 year old truck):party018:

then the biggest clearance issue was the a/c compressor, i considered moving it but the more i looked at it the more i agreed with NCOVEY about that.



So here was my solution, i cut out the cross member and it will be boxed in. This was the inaugural run for my new plasma cutter. I am very happy with it.

And i guessed right the first time.
 
#16 ·
With news that my dana 60 and front suspension were being removed i began boxing the frame and removed the 2wd wore out front suspension. I used a 7" wide piece of 1/4" plate 20 feet long to do the boxing, shackle reversal brackets, and motor mounts.


Front of frame boxing tacked in.

Everything gone except the steering gear which is the same for 4wd.

I picked up the dana 60 and couldn't wait to put it under the truck.
 
#17 ·
Thats gonna be quite a truck! gonna keep it a dually? I had to move the firewall back quite a bit on my swap, did you run into the same thing?

Only suggestion that I have is get a better camera,..... putting that much work into a truck it is worth having quality pics of the build.
 
#18 ·
Thanks. I checked out your build pics, yours looks really good. How long did it take ?
Yes I'm keeping it a dually(someday I'll get the front hubs to convert it).
Didn't have to move the firewall back, just rolled the lower seam completely under. I can get a finger in between the the motor and firewall and i believe i still have close to an inch on the radiator if i move it tight to the core support. It is close to the top of the valve cover but i should be able to slide it forward enough to roll it out of there.

And i would like to have a better camera but this thing keeps eating all of my spare change and then some.
 
#19 ·
Now onto the front suspension and shackle reversal kit. I put on new u bolts and poly bushings to start with. Made the initial measurements trying to keep it as low as reasonably possible for garage door clearance. Made the outer plates first, clamped and tacked them in place.

Set the front clip on to check for clearances.

Measured adjusted and measured again.

Crossbar and inner tabs.



Welded in the lower, front, and rear plates.

Cut and welded in the inner plates.


Then to make it look good i primed and painted it off the truck.

The front bracket all back together.


Here you can see i bolted into both layers of the frame horn rather than sleeving it.

I got some info from manufacturers instruction sheets as well as from a four door bronco forum. Next will be the shackle end.
 
#21 ·
For the shackles the factory ones had to narrow of an upper pivot and did not clear the spring eyelet radius. So i ordered in poly bushings for the rear shackle of an f150 not as wide as the mount but i will put in spacers to make it work. I found a piece of heavy wall tube that the bushings fit into then cut a radius into one end of 1/4" thick flat stock to fit the tube end. Then laid them out with a socket for spacing. Decided where to bend them, and did so in the press.

Welded them up with a stiffener across one side for lateral stability.




And as with everything painting as i go.
 
#22 ·
Once the shackles were done and the front suspension was solid. I changed focus and made a template for the motor to trans. adapter. I used the ford adapter, the cummins adapter and both flex plates to measure and create a template using thick plastic.

This is my template with the starter clocked over to the passenger side to match up with the bell housing. I will be using the dodge starter.


The template does not look as good as the real thing but you get the idea.

I used the dodge adapter plate to transfer the cummins bolt pattern to the piece of 1/2 inch plate. Then i used the template to transfer the bell housing and starter location.

Then of to my dad's to borrow the newly acquired bridgeport to spend the afternoon drilling, and tapping a bunch of holes. Then i milled out around the rear main seal cap.


This is what i came home with and it fit.

This is what i was able to cut it down to, notice the stack of pieces in the back ground. I used a portaband saw to cut it down.

I then trimmed the ear on the engine block to clear the starters new location.


And the almost finished product.
 
#24 ·
I wish!!
But as with many others on the forum i have had things not go quite as expected, lots of interruptions, and the little things you didn't think about slow it all down. I was originally going to buy the engine adapter but couldn't get the funds together and the the Bridgeport showed up making it much more possible to do. Even if i mess up and have to do some of it over i will be cash ahead. I am farther ahead than i have got posted just trying to get it up in the order it has come together as i get time.
 
#25 ·
With the adaptor plate coming together i changed focus again and finished boxing in the frame rails back to the front shackle mounts and boxed in the crossmember where i had clearanced it for the a.c. compressor.


I then made the plates for the motor mounts that bolt to the frame.

Here are two of the plates that will recive the factory mounts.

Here they are mocked in place for final fitting.

I then discovered that i would need to clearance the crossmember on the back side for the motor mount thru bolts.

The completed motor mount waiting for the motor again.
 
#26 ·
Then i moved to the motor itself. I replaced the front and rear main seals and the head gasket. Installed ARP stud kit and stage 3(100HP) Edge Jammers. While i had the valve cover off i milled the DODGE and Ram off of it and then painted it appropriately, as it is the red headed step child of the cummins family.:hehe:
 
#27 ·
With the suspension all buttoned up and the engine back together. I pulled the cab off the frame to cleanup and spray the firewall and underside with more of the bed liner. I also planned on painting the frame while it was off. Originaly i was not planning on this being a full resto job just a big conversion project. But as i have gotten into it i have been trying to do things that will make it last longer as well.
I had to remove the front suspension so i could support the cab with tall jack stands and be able to slide the frame out from under it.

Firewall is done also have brake booster mocked in place.

I also spayed the whole underside as well.

With that done i made brackets to mount the bronco 32 gallon fuel tank and skid plate.
 
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