Not a lot to show yet, but T O N s of progress today. Got the front plate made to mount both idler pullies. I found that I can not move my upper rad hose enough to give me piece of mind enough without hitting the belt. It is tacked into place thus far and I will probably pull and weld it sometime this weekend.
I also had my leftover piece of #40 pipe that I used to make my previous intake hat. I had my buddy cut it with a ban saw (1/8'' and a torch sucks so imagine my frustration with only having a grinder now) to just over 3". I am going to take a piece of 3" pipe and oval it out to make both inlet/outlets and run a divider in the center of it. It will have to be at an angle, then go to a flat piece, and then go to an angle again. with that, I will then have to make some sort of adapter to have enough material to screw down the factory air cleaner. I was pulling out my hair today with other things too. If you are going to make your new a/c box off of a OBS try to fit parts/pieces of the early 80s ones, do yourself a favor and just stop by a bone yard and get a new one. I am going to put a plastic plate between them to make it work...there are 2 reasons for this though, not only because I am cheap. The squirl cage I got from JBG hits the selector door (go figure) so that will space it far enough to make it not hit.
Now, the problem with the idlers is this: Attached to the arm and mounted to the plate, they sit too far to the front. Easy enough though, I am going to tap the original mounting hole from Ford and that makes it close enough to perfect that I am not even going to measure it. After that, if I can get the intake to fall together, the only problem I will have is the inlet to the IP. The hard line from the filter will no longer be of use since I am using the factory position for the SC. So, I am giong to mount it on a plate next to the SC, cut the factory hard line in half, run a piece of hose under the SC to the other half that goes into the back of the IP. Not really wanting to do that but at this point I am still in 'trial and error'. So next year, I will probably hook up the Powerstroke filter and use it.
If it does not rain tomorrow, I should have the main bracket made and will have it attached to the front of the engine. With that, I am also going to make it removable at the front of the SC mount to add strength to the whole setup. It will not be the prettiest thing you have ever seen, but if it works, I will be pumped.
I forgot to add this...and it is important so pay attention. If you are going to follow this type of build for your INLET, you need to remember that the Eaton starts to build a lot of heat after about 8psi. So, you will want to run a cold air intake of some sort since the intake and inlet will have a common piece. I know a lot of other things use this but understand that I will not have an intercooler at first so I will have to keep you aprised of that situation.
SWS
