So what did you do with your truck today?

Greenie said:

I'm considering a 3 1/2" Hypermax which I believe is similar to the Flowmaster. Do you notice any improvement, and is the cab noise worse?

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I’ve got the flowmaster flowFX 71419 on the truck and it’s good. Decent rumble at speed. You can hear it a little but it’s not bad. No drone and more importantly, I can hear myself think. Maybe that’s a bad thing for me but who knows.

The total exhaust length from the factory two bolt flange is right around 56”. With that being said, I’d definitely get another for my wife’s IDI.

Started tearing all the Ambulance stuff out of the back so I can figure out my camper design. Wheeled Coach built these thing to last! All welded aluminum frame. Have a leak between the aluminum box and the fiberglass over cab transition I have to find. Winter finally is giving up and we had a hard rain and my seat was wet. Designed a center roof section to gain me 4 inches, can't quite stand up. Taller than a regular ambulance, but not quite as tall as me.

Share your design for that raised center section, I have the same problem.

nelstomlinson said:

Share your design for that raised center section, I have the same problem.

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I designed it with the old pullman coach roofs in mind. Some of them had a raised center section, like this: https://www.alamy.com/restore-1910-...-active-from-1910-to-1930-image374236238.html

Mine has an arched roof, all aluminum so I have yet to drill out the rivots holding on the ceiling skin to see what I am going to have to do structurally. Box has no leaks now and I want to keep it that way. I only want a 3-4' width section in the middle where I will be walking. I will roll the front down like the Pullman for aero. I may stop just short of the back and extend the roof out over the work light so twigs don't catch that. will not have any windows in it as I only need to go up about 4", and also no leaks.

Cabinet shop just got busy so I may be in a holding pattern for a few weeks, but thats ok, still have snow and cold here. I'll let you know as it progresses and when I figure out how to do it structurally.

I see you have an E350 vanbalance, does it have a square box for a back? Mines and F350 with a box.

Yes, dualies, and a big box that's not very tall.

Easter egg hunt. Did not find one egg.

hce said:

Easter egg hunt. Did not find one egg.

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It doesn't look like you were trying too hard. It also doesn't look like you were too disappointed either.

nelstomlinson said:

Yes, dualies, and a big box that's not very tall.

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I looked at a few Vanbalances and they were always about 5'6' inside height, the one I have is about 5'9". So you would need another little bit depending on how tall you are. I could actually get by with mine, just have to duck my head a bit but I have all the material from tearing out the aluminum benches. Have a buddy that is a welder. I can weld steel but not so good with aluminum. He has a spool gun which would be fast and fine for what little stress this would be under. Nice thing about the Navy ambulance is it does not have any doors on the side, no storage boxes intruding on the interior. Basically a big aluminum box with two doors in the back.

Mine is a standard civilian ambulance, loads of outside storage which intrudes on the inside. We use it for overnight road trips, and for grocery runs, so that works for us.

I finally got around to pulling the motor and starting to build up the replacement this weekend.

#1 was down on compression, 390 psi vs. 500 to 520 psi for the other 7. I figured that I had broken a ring, or something similar, and that was causing the high blow-by and severe oil leakage. However, I found out that the dumb-ass (me) that assembled the engine, screwed up, and installed a keystone ring in a non-keystone piston groove. The top ring was not sealing at all (no surprise, given the ring to groove geometry problem), and enough combustion pressure built up that it eventually pinched the middle ring groove closed onto the middle ring and stuck the ring. This in turn scored the cylinder wall and the hole lost compression and sealing ability. In my defense, I built this engine in 2021 during the height of COVID, and you just didn't know what parts you were going to get. I made the assumption that the rings and pistons were correct for each other and did not inspect them close enough. I am not mad that I got over 30,000 miles before she finally chewed up a cylinder, given the completely wrong rings used. Surprisingly, The rod and main bearings looked brand new given the mileage. I may just drop the original block off at the machinist and have them punch it out to 0.030" and order a set of pistons and rings. Build it back up, pickle and oil it, and stick it in the corner until the next time.

So, now just going through the motions of transferring parts over to the new short block. And yes, the new pistons and rings are correct for each other, I checked, twice.



#1 Hole


New short block

F350 Frame is complete, got the cab set on it today and threw a fender on to see how it all looks. Progress feels nice.

FrozenMerc said:

New short block

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Could you be bothered to take a picture of the block straight on with the lift pump bolted on?

hce said:

Could you be bothered to take a picture of the block straight on with the lift pump bolted on?

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Without the front cover being on. It's in relation to the lift pump arm, I believe. Hce, I tried to clear that up a little bit for you.

Here you go hce.

Had to make a parts run today. Temp finally hit low 70's so turned on A/C. No cold air so when I got home connected gauges to find system was sitting at 0 pressure. Connect vacuum pump pulled it down and it held for 20 minutes without dropping so pulled vacuum for hour plus and recharged. Believe this will be the 3rd summer I have owned the truck and have not touched the A/C before. Have no idea last time it needed charged. Will have to see how fast it leaks out if it does. I did not take time today to leak test it. At $16.00 a pound for freon if it does leak I will certainly be looking.