Subways DT360 into my 94 F350

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
I am a little behind in posting this up. I am about a month and probably about half way through this swap. to bring others up to speed and see how I did here we go.

starting I have a 94 F350 Crew cab, it started life as a basic NA diesel with a 5 speed and was like that when I got it. over time I have added a turbo, intercooler, AC, moose pump and other little odds and ends. the truck ran great empty but when I hooked my 27 ft 5th wheel and headed towards the mountains it was still not enough in my opinion. I was climbing the Appalachian mountain range but I was driving by pyro much more than speed and eventually my coolant temps would catch up to me. been spit-balling and dreaming of upgrading to another platform and one day an opportunity came along. I picked up a 88 DT360 set up with a spicer 5 speed from a box truck.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


unfortunately the spicer is not an overdrive but it was the right price and I should not have to worry about breaking it. I went back and forth on this but I figured the cost to adapt the 360 to my current ZF was in the 2500 ball park. that's significantly more than I paid for the combo and I still have a ZF that while it has a good reputation could get questionable if I start pumping up the engine.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
I got a first impression on how heavy these engines are when I unloaded it from the truck. I lifted the combo with a cherry picker that was supposed to be rated for 3 tons. one of the legs folded while letting the combo down and dropped the engine. fortunately it was a slow fall while the leg folded and did little damage to the engine. it basically cracked out the huge water outlet coming off the front of the engine and one of the flywheel sensors. I was not really planning on using either so no big loss.
You must be registered for see images attach


unfortunately that killed any way for me to lift and move anything big so i let things set for a couple of days while i built colossus. lol
You must be registered for see images attach


it does not show it in the picture but i added another set of wheels on the inside of the frame also for a total of 8. the frame is only about an inch off the ground to so if i totally overload the tires it will just sit on the frame. so far that has not been an issue and colossus has been invaluable to be able to roll around the DT and transmission easily while working by myself.

You must be registered for see images attach


You must be registered for see images attach
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
You must be registered for see images attach

the tear down
You must be registered for see images attach

i ended up pulling out the whole assembly, it was a tight fit getting the turbo to clear the body while the old pan was hitting the cross member but i got it.
You must be registered for see images attach

my lovely wifey helping out lol she has been great through this whole thing
You must be registered for see images attach

first test fit, I wanted to see how it would go. i was told that the stock bell housing would probably not fit and that the cross member would all but have to come out. i was actually surprised to see the bell housing did not look like it would be a problem. the cross member on the other hand is going to be introduced to my plasma cutter. lol
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


i ended up cutting out a fairly significant section to get the engine to sit in cleanly. the rear firewall to cylinder head and front waterpump shaft to radiator are the areas it gets tight. you also have to watch the turbo and how close it gets the heater box. its tight but it fits.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
 
Last edited:

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
You must be registered for see images attach


here you can see where the ag pulley will come into play.

You must be registered for see images attach


the large bellhousing is tight near where the accelerator pedal is but it fits. i only had to lightly tweek the floor a little.

You must be registered for see images attach


now that i have the engine basically where i want it, time to test fit the transmission. this thing is far heavier and larger than the stock ZF and even time tested T-19.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


i will have to build mounts but the transmission seems to fit fairly well.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
You must be registered for see images attach


i think i like where the shifter is, not sure it will clear the seat but i might let it ride for now lol

since things are lined up about where i want them and they seem to fit now i get into the fun part. building all of the custom bracketry to hold all of this together.

You must be registered for see images attach


the motor mounts i will be using, they run about 25 a pair.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


starting with the mid mounts, i did not get a pic of the passenger side but it is basically a shorter mirror image of the drivers side. i am currently using the brackets that came stock on the bell housing and tying them into the frame.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
next up i started working on the front mounts. it may not look like it but between the measuring, planning, cutting, fitting, grinding and anything else i probably have 4-5 hrs per side into each mount.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


passenger side top, i had to trim to make sure i could easily get the coolant filter on and off

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


the drivers side was a little easier since i had the basic idea down and had more room to work in general.

i know some others have kept the large front mount that came stock but i could not see any easy way of making that work and having any room for my bottom radiator hose. this opens up the bottom of the engine much more and ties the mounts in the cross member. i know the cross member is significantly cut up right now but i plan on putting as much of it back together as i can.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


front mounts done and tacked into the frame, i might have to tweak the bottom of the front mounts angle later to get it more to my liking.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
i decided to work on getting my transfercase mounted up before i started on the rear transmission mounts. that way i could see what i had to work with as far as drive shaft clearance.

You must be registered for see images attach


with another members help i sourced a 73 divorced NP205 to split the power from front to back. they are heavy beasts, probably around 200 by themselves.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


to mount the transfer case i had to remove the cross member that was used for my previous carrier bearing on the rear drive shaft. i tried to get the front and rear driveshafts to be equal since that might be a nice perk incase i ever twist one up but could not. i got close, the rear is now about 68 and the front is coming in at 70. both within reasonable length to have a single shaft.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


i used some 2 x 2 square tubing that i had for a cross member and found it handy to use some trailer spring hangers drilled to accept the stock NP205 mount, set the height fairly well. checking my drive angles, it worked out that transfer case is pointed down 5 deg, this matches the engine 5 deg and is very close to the stock axle angle of 4 deg. i might have to get a shim but will try it and see how it goes.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
thanks, its defiantly a work in progress. i have not even gotten into the rust sealing and painting yet to make it all nice again lol i think that is enough for tonight. i will try to post up more of the rest of my work tomorrow.
 

F350camper

BOOST!
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
Posts
1,950
Reaction score
671
Location
USA
Thanks for taking the time to post all this up man. I really enjoy checking out these builds and seeing what you guys come up with. Just because it cant be bought doesnt mean it cant be had. Great job ! Keep it up!
 

BrandonMag

Dana 50 rebuilder
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Posts
1,185
Reaction score
99
Location
Oregon east
Thanks from me as well. ;Sweet

My DT360 swap got put on the backburner once I picked up my 4BT Bronco. I will be getting back to it once the Bronco is done; I like your front motor mount design. I haven't yet seen anyone build them that way.

What are you going to do about the turbo/injection pump? It's my understanding the stock setup is underwhelming.
 

laserjock

Almost there...
Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2012
Posts
8,841
Reaction score
3,129
Location
Maryland
Subscribed. I wonder if this is the path I'll end up going down if I still don't feel like the truck has enough balls to suit me.

Time will tell.
 

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
Thanks from me as well. ;Sweet

My DT360 swap got put on the backburner once I picked up my 4BT Bronco. I will be getting back to it once the Bronco is done; I like your front motor mount design. I haven't yet seen anyone build them that way.

What are you going to do about the turbo/injection pump? It's my understanding the stock setup is underwhelming.

Thanks, I kept going back and forth on the front mounts. I saw how other people have done them and they seem to work fine but I kept thinking there had to be a better way to set up some smaller profile mounts that could keep the front of the engine clear. I don't have it on the road at all yet but I think the mounts will be ok.

As for the engine, I will probably just put it on the road and take it from there. I plan on cranking up the fuel and maybe the timing to squeeze some more out but will probably just run with it for now. It can't be worse than my IDI was lol. Later on I might look at putting a p pump on and building a compound set up. After the fabrication I have done I don't think it will be to hard. I don't need earth shattering power, I just want a strong reliable runner.
 
Last edited:

subway

be nice to the admin :D
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Posts
6,542
Reaction score
1,038
Location
York PA
some of the side work that I ran into while I am in the truck.

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


the drivers side was rusted to almost nothing on the top of the mount, passenger side strangly was just fine. Jason ( Freebird01 ) here stopped over and fixed this up for me and also helped build the mid mounts I posted up earlier.;Sweet

You must be registered for see images attach


I also ran into a nice little frame crack that was hidden under the core support on the passenger side. not sure but I suspect it is from when my truck rolled down a hill one time and kissed a tree pretty good a few years back. -cuss

You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach


I drilled out the end of the crack and v'eed out the crack itself before I burned it back shut with the welder fully turned up. I also extended the factory weld down a few more inches to help tie it up. between that and plug welding up the hole where the rivet was I don't think it will be going anywhere.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
91,217
Posts
1,128,497
Members
24,045
Latest member
Ramtough01
Top