Notch the pan?

 

Try a van oil pan. Julien, send him yours for a test fit.

 

I'm going to try to grind the rest of the hex head off that bolt and see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'll try to loosen the intermediate mounts and see if there's any side-to-side play there, look to see if I can notch the pan a bit, and may try to start trimming down part of the rubber bushing inside the front diff mounting bracket to see if I can get the head of the bolt to recess inside of it. That bolt has a small hex head on the opposite tip as well, so I don't think it's critical to have anything on the engine side that can be grabbed with a wrench.

Here's some more pics I took this morning.

Passenger side mount installed


Driver side mount installed.


Here's a couple showing the oil pan and center link level with each other.





Radiator hose clears steering box

 

I got the bolt to clear...had to grind the head off completely and also take a little bit off of the sleeve that goes through the front diff support. There's about 1/8" clearance there now, I hope that's enough.



Crossmember is bolted up too. I used an existing hole for the front bolt on the driver's side, then drilled the other 3.

 

sooooo, whatcha gonna do for a gas tank and pump?

 

I've got a line that I'm going to run to the driver's seat. I should be able to keep the thing powered just fine as long as I keep eating pizza and ice cream.

I'm going to swap the fuel tank over from the donor truck. The diesels don't have a pump in the tank...eventually I'll add a lift pump but for now I decided I just want to get the truck running in stock form, then do mods later. The factory hard lines from the crew cab will be too long for the reg cab, but others have used rubber fuel injection line, so I'll get some of that.

Cooling stack is back on.



Next step is to pull the chassis wiring harness, tank, and fuel lines from the donor truck and put them on this one. I have a pump rub kit from Merchant Automotive on order, so that will go in next, then I need to get my body lift in, then I can set the body back on.

 

Looking good! Is that body lift necessary so as the clear the trans tunnel? If it is would it be possible to open up the trans tunnel instead of doing the body lift? I know it's easier to do the body lift but it would be really cool to see this thing at stock ride height if not lower!!

 

Body lift is necessary because the diesel radiator supports are taller than the gasser ones. There are some guys who do tapered body lifts, starting at 2" or so in the front and tapering back to nothing in the back, but I think I'm going to take the easy way out and just do a standard body lift. I'll do a suspension drop to compensate, not sure how much yet. Maybe 4"?

 

Is it possible to shorten the lines?

 

Probably...if hard trans lines can be extended, I'm sure I can shorten these.