11 Year 75 Crew Cab 7.3 Build

Torinojts

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Yeah the Covid s**t is really getting old. I hope all goes well for you when this starts to clear..................Here is a pick of the engine in the frame after removing the 94 cab and body
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Torinojts

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Next I sat the 75 crew cab on and figured where the fender / wheel alignment looked best, close to factory alignment. I figured the engine would be best moved 1” forward and about an inch lower.
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I removed the motor mount plate and marked out the crossmember
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Torinojts

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Here is one of the rear cab mount brackets I made.
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The front cab mount i chiseled off and moved it forward. Cut a 1/4” plate so I could space it out a little further and move it up on the frame.
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the radiator core support mount are bolted to the front frame spring hanger bolt
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Torinojts

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Here are the motor mounts i cut them apart and moved the studs to a different location. Motor mount modification and relocating the crossmember holes got my engine 1 1/2“ more forward and about an 1” down as needed.
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Torinojts

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I also cut out the drip rail on the fire wall for a little more added clearance.
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Torinojts

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I completely stripped down the frame, including removing the axles. I made a rotisserie and put the frame on it. Borrowed a construction sand blaster and sandblasted the frame, Alex’s and all components. Also sand blasted the cab floor, easy way to find thin spots!
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here is one of my monkeys “helping”, got himself stuck by his coat trying to climb over.
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Here is one of the rotisserie legs that I made. It is put away for now, hanging upside down.
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Here is one of the brackets I made. I used this for the cab, bolted it to where the door hinges mounted. Made it really easy to move the cab around and turn it upside down or sideways, a lot easier when you can raise the cab and turn to work on the floor.
 

Torinojts

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I can not seam to find the pics of all the rust repair, cab on rotisserie, or frame sand blasting and paining. But here is a pick of one of the rear doors. The PO had stuffed insulation in them and completely rusted out the bottoms of the rear doors.
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A lot of parts I get from a older gentleman about 25 miles from my house. He has about 40 acres of 50s, 60s, and 70s cars and pickups. He has some newer models and odd and end junk as well. This is my favorite place to shop. He doesn’t let very many people in just a select few. I normally give him some junk I have laying around and I can get anything out their that I want, except the 428 mustang hidden under a couple of other cars. Also late fall to early spring is the only time I go out there. The bugs and weeds get to bad otherwise.
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. I snatched this A/C unit from a pickup out ther as my 75 cab did not have A/C.
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Torinojts

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I completely rebuilt the front and rear axles, all new suspension bushings, and tie rod ends I assembled the frame components and painted it with POR 15. I sat the freshly overhauled engine in along with the rebuilt transmission. I sat the cab on after all the body work was done and was in primer. Next I needed a pickup box as the one was to far gone with rust. By word of mouth and some dumb luck I found a guy that had a 78 f150. It was not for sale but he was willing to sell it. His dad bought it new in 1978 and has been sitting behind a barn since 1985, after his dad could no longer drive it. I bought it from him for $800. It has the box full of junk and moss growing all over it, so hard to tell how much rust. After trailering it home, I removed the junk out of the box, and to my surprise no rust, fenders we not even rusty! I got it running with a new battery and fresh gas. Pulled it into my shop cleaned it up and waxed it. The truck was in fantastic shape, kinda wish I did not pull the box on it. I put a flat bed on that I had laying around. After clean up I parked it outside my driveway for sale. Made sold it for 4 times what I paid for it.
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the pickup box off of this I ended up shortening it about a foot to fit on the 94 frame.
 

Torinojts

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I wish I had more pics to show you guys all the process and steps involved. In my shop I made a paint booth out of 2x4s, house HVAC filters, 5 mil house rap plastic, some extra lights, and two squirrel cab fans that I placed in the window.
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primer
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sealer
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base coat
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before clear coat
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Did I mention this is the first go around on paint. Half way through paining the clear coat, my air regulator/filter must have failed. When the truck was out in the sun you could see ghosted white spots all over. Had a friend that is in the auto body industry come out and look at it. He verified it was moisture caught in the clear coat. So I sanded the entire truck back down to sealer and repainted and cleared it. Second go around with a new air filter/regulator turned out much better.
 

Torinojts

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The hardest part on this whole project seemed to be picking out the right looking wheels and tires. Also to have them not stick out so rocks don’t beat up the sides.
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Few things left is pretty much some interior. Need to recover the back seat to Mach the front ones. I also need to get the factory correct steering wheel with the cruise switches. Tie up some under dash wiring, and get a top dash pad. Notice my center council i made with PVC board.
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The last pic here is a hunting trip the two boys and I took it on. The first real drive I took it. Just over 400 miles round trip with no issues, ran like a top the entire way out and back. Right around 1000 miles this happened check my other post. Not sure how to copy link but here is the title.
Re-ring...nozzle issues??? Tired of project
 
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Torinojts

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So this only gets better, the engine out of the ambulance I got it home and removed the heads and this is what I found.
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.040 pistons. ***!!! There was hardly any oil leaks on the engine, had the factory valve cover tag, looked all over block and oil oil pan and no reman tag or stamping of any sorts. 181,*** miles on it and the cylinder walls had a pretty good wear ridge on them. There goes that engine, So off to find another one.
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I called several machine shops and a shop 100 miles away new a guy that had several 7.3 idis so i headed that way., bought this turbo block for $200. And got the rods and heads with it. The guy used the crank in a different engine. Oh and he also gave me the factory turbo set up. He claims it was a good running engine. So off to the machine shop it went.
 

Torinojts

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The machine shop called and said this pluck needs to go .030 over. I was really hesitant about it do to all the cavitation horror stories I hear, but the assured me they have a process of checking cylinder walls for this. They also nock out all the freeze plugs and use a bore scope camera as well to look at them. They do use the correct to to install them as well. I also sent my heads in to have check.here is what my heads looked like off my blown engine.
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My first engine was a mess. Good thing I had a set of heads yet off the ambulance engine.
 

Torinojts

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I got my block and heads back from the machine shop. Along with the pistons and total seal gapless second ring set. I set the gap on all the rings .026 top, .074 2nd ring. I took an old piston cleaned it up and left the second ring on only. This is what I used to square up the rings to check the gaps.
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After gapping all the rings I made my tool to check my piston to deck height. The tool actually turned out pretty good.
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I already had my old crank put in 1 rod and piston with no rings installed. Protrusion came out at .028 on number 1. I checked the degree of the cam shaft and I was right at 111*. I just had the machine shop set the initial valves in so I could check the Val ave to piston clearance with the R&D cam.
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I saved one of my head gaskets so I Check the V-P clearance.
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Here is one of my adjustable push tubes I made. I cut two push tubes in half. And took about 1” out of them. They actually tap really well. I tapped them to 1/4’ bolt and threads on both ends. Cut a long 1/4” bolt down after threading it down further. Works really good for an adjustable push tube. I also took apart two push lifters and installed washers to make them solid. After checking I had .010 on the exhaust and .025 on the intakes. The valve recession are set at high end of spec, just to see. I called Justin at R&D. He told me he would like to see around .050 on the exh and .065 on intakes. Justin also informed me he has taken the recession on the valves to .070 that seams like an awful lot to me, add to premature valve guide wear i would think. So as of right now I am debating running the R&D cam.
 
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