Okay, it's been a while. Longer than I anticipated. We got hit with an ice storm on the weekend I planned to get things done, and when that finally cleared up, the hydraulic ram on the engine hoist had crapped out. So, I ordered a nicer replacement ram, a Big Red unit, same rating, but quite a bit beefier (1.5" piston compared to the 1" piston of the original, plus weighs about twice as much, more meat in the base and ram) and easier to use compared to the original from HF (moves faster per pump, and is more controllable when lowering). Then, it took way to long to get enough people together to help move the massive engine pack out of the garage.
With 6 people, including myself, assembled, and after some dancing around and magic (had to unbolt the hood springs and do some up/down dancing with the engine, adjustments of the leveler, etc) Now, It's finally back in, in all its glory. Apparently it was quite the show, because some neighbors came out to watch, and some passer-bys decided to slow down and rubber neck a little. Gotta love suburban neighborhoods.
None of my assistants were really tech savvy, mostly just free muscle, so I was running around making sure things were clearing and getting mounts lined up. I'm rather proud of my ability to get the transmission mount dropped into the crossmember by just eyeballing it and using the leveler to drop it into place.
That ice storm did some funky stuff, mainly with what items were in the bed, none of which are incredibly vital, including the old engine. In my haste to get things moved around in the garage, so I had space to clean up the new engine, I never fully drained the oil and all the diesel that I dumped into the old 6.9, so when the rain started pouring, and then freezing, it filled up the open cylinders and valley with quite a bit of ice, and then started displacing all the oil to leak out of both the front and rear main seals. So my truck bed, and driveway got a nice coating of dinosaur squeezings, which I then had to crawl in while installing the new engine.
But, after all that hard work, this was the big step that needed doing, it's finally done. So now I can move forward with ALL the little stuff that needs doing. I already got the transmission squared away with a fresh dowel pin for the shifter, a new shift knob, and fresh gear oil. And I got the new battery cables installed in their relative positions. All the wiring for the engine itself is reconnected. But that leads me to my next task.
I did crank the engine over a bit just using the crank and a socket, to make sure that the new fresh oil and additive could be circulated around before it actually starts. But I wanted to see if I could get it to turn over with the starter after doing that. I hooked up all the cables, new starter solenoid, new batteries, and got everything where I thought it should be, but got no power in the cab and no response to the key. So I'm guessing I missed something. I have a new 3G alternator, which is installed, but I haven't wired it in yet, I have a
Painless Wiring 3G wiring kit, because I SUCK at electrical wiring and wanted something simple, but is the alternator a part of the power circuit? Meaning, does the alternator NEED to be wired in for the rest of the system to get power? This is the guide that I've found for the swap, but automotive wiring just goes over my head for some reason:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1506233-130a-3g-alternator-upgrade-on-6-9-7-3l-idi-guide.html
Once I can figure that out, and get the thing cranking/running, I can bleed the air out of the injectors and see how this thing idles.
After that is done, its just a matter of replacing u-joints + a center bearing (the whole rubber ring is pretty much torn and gone and I'm struggling to figure out the correct one I need), filling and bleeding the clutch, getting tires on (I don't know how I'm going to manage to afford that until next year), and all the other items I've detailed in the past (brakes and suspension issues mainly) so I can FINALLY get this thing moving again.