Project Le Blanc

[Thewespaul]

Started on this truck for @D_Fresh361 a few weeks ago and since the job has snowballed into putting together a pretty sweet ride, figured I would share another IDI build.

The truck came in with no working electrical, with many years of poor wiring leading to a lot a messy burnt wiring under the dash and hood. Since we never intended to make a thread for the truck I dont have a lot of pictures from the process of getting each circuit working, but Ill do my best to catch up to how the truck sits as of this weekend.

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This is how the wiring under the dash looked before, and how its setup now. I got rid of all of the fuse taps for the radio and gauges and put all the accessories on one circuit protected by a circuit breaker and a fuse I added in off the ignition source, then ran all the speaker wires under the carpet.

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Cleaned up under the hood, replaced a few fusible links, and ran some new wiring to replace the burnt up harness feeding the fuse box and the ignition circuit for the engine. Also replaced the rotten terminals with stud style connectors. After getting everything working properly, I organized the wiring and re-loomed everything.

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Ac was blowing cold but the air flow wasnt great, so I pulled the old fan out, cleaned the air box out and installed a good used one.

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After getting all the electrical sorted, decided to install a boost/pyro/temp combo gauge and tune the stock ip for as much as we can safely make with the stock 6.9, in anticipation of studding it and installing a big pump. Well, went to pull it into the shop and was under it checking out some boost leaks at the Y pipe when I noticed the oil cooler started dripping coolant as the truck warmed up. I gave Doug a price for resealing the oil cooler, and for pulling the engine to do studs, a reseal, fix the oil cooler with the engine out, and we decided to pull the engine. So this weekend I will be pulling the engine out and he is shipping the studs to me for the install. Gonna take some more pictures through this process and keep this thread updated throughout the week, thanks for checking it out! -Wes

 

[D_Fresh361]

Looking great so far man! Keep us posted!

 

[IDIBRONCO]

You can bet that it will be a good runner by the time that Wes is done with it.

 

[frankenwrench]

You can bet that it will be a good runner by the time that Wes is done with it.

I'll second that. Man's a guru with these trucks. But I'm sure you are already well aware.

 

[pastorjeep]

Looking forward to seeing the results of this!

 

[Thewespaul]

Thanks everyone! Just happy to be in a position to get to do what I love each day.
Here’s something interesting, here’s a 6.9 stud next to a 7.3 stud, you can see why the 7.3 is preferred for higher power builds, but the 6.9 will still be able to handle boost in the 20s with the 7/16-14 studs, plenty of power for what most people are after.

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[D_Fresh361]

Thanks everyone! Just happy to be in a position to get to do what I love each day.
Here’s something interesting, here’s a 6.9 stud next to a 7.3 stud, you can see why the 7.3 is preferred for higher power builds, but the 6.9 will still be able to handle boost in the 20s with the 7/16-14 studs, plenty of power for what most people are after.

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Anyone ever machined the 6.9 block to use the 7.3 studs and heads? Assuming there is enough material present to do so on the 6.9? I’m sure I’m a little late to the party on this lol

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I believe that it has been done. I want to say that Justin did it. It would be very cost prohibitive in my opinion. I believe that it's fairly difficult to do. The 7.3 heads will bolt on a 6.9 with no modifications. The bolt holes are larger than the 6.9 bolt holes. It's going the other way that takes some effort.

 

[D_Fresh361]

I believe that it has been done. I want to say that Justin did it. It would be very cost prohibitive in my opinion. I believe that it's fairly difficult to do. The 7.3 heads will bolt on a 6.9 with no modifications. The bolt holes are larger than the 6.9 bolt holes. It's going the other way that takes some effort.

Cool bit of info.

 

[Thewespaul]

Engine out, got it all cleaned up and ready to tear down tonight.

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So couple interesting things, first off is the driveshaft. This truck had a custom 3.5" single piece shaft built for it at some point in its history, and seeing some things on the engine I suspect its been out and had some work done to it, it might have popped a head gasket at one point or had the oil pan resealed, we'll know soon enough. Gonna pull the trans off and the turbo kit then get it on the stand to tear the heads off.

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[D_Fresh361]

Can’t wait for what’s to come! Super stoked
Wish I could be there to get in the way

 

[Thewespaul]

Gonna be hard to give it back it’s gonna be so sweet. So couple more things I’ve seen while tearing it down, there’s some 7.3 parts on it like the valve covers which have the 7.3 style hold downs. Oil pan has definitely been off, it’s got non oem rtv there

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Couple head bolts are broken too, good thing we’re going to studs.

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Head gaskets are original, so the engine was pulled at one point to reseal the pan.

 

[hacked89]

I enjoy seeing each motors secrets and history they hold that are uncovered during teardown.

Looking forward to seeing this ones.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[D_Fresh361]

Gonna be hard to give it back it’s gonna be so sweet. So couple more things I’ve seen while tearing it down, there’s some 7.3 parts on it like the valve covers which have the 7.3 style hold downs. Oil pan has definitely been off, it’s got non oem rtv there

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Couple head bolts are broken too, good thing we’re going to studs.

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Head gaskets are original, so the engine was pulled at one point to reseal the pan.

Makes ya wonder if someone went to re-torque the heads at some point in its life. When I bought the truck one of the heads of those broken head bolts was still sitting on the exhaust manifold. No telling how long it rode there.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Oil pan has definitely been off, it’s got non oem rtv there

Not mention the pan gasket.

This truck had a custom 3.5" single piece shaft built for it at some point in its history,

You may be right on this one, but didn't the regular cabs have a one piece driveshaft as stock? I've seen driveshafts shaped like this one before. I don't know what they came out of. Instead of being custom, could it have been swapped out from another vehicle?

there’s some 7.3 parts on it like the valve covers which have the 7.3 style hold downs.

What's the difference between the 6.9 and 7.3 style hold downs?