Ryan's Truck

[Dorsai]

Yes, it is good to hear from you, Matthew! And tell your grandmother hello from me, please.

I understand about being behind on projects, so sympathize with your brother's friend as well as your brother. But having your own shop is by far the way to go.

As for the robotics and kids, I agree with Jim - they are fortunate to have such a caring mentor. Good luck!

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'm not sure the students agree with you right now, though...we just got done reading the student leadership the riot act over their refusal to do anything because of Covid. Although once we explained that if they didn't want to actually build a robot we'd find a leadership team that would, they suddenly discovered that maybe they wouldn't all die after all if they wore masks and used hand sanitizer.

[Dorsai]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'm not sure the students agree with you right now, though...we just got done reading the student leadership the riot act over their refusal to do anything because of Covid. Although once we explained that if they didn't want to actually build a robot we'd find a leadership team that would, they suddenly discovered that maybe they wouldn't all die after all if they wore masks and used hand sanitizer.

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

My brother gave up on waiting for his friend with the shop to clear him some space...and with the supply chain disruptions and other political and Covid-related nonsense going on, he has put off building his own shop. So this will be getting done in his garage. Harbor Freight was sold out of the engine stand he wanted to get, so that is on order and should, if all goes well, be delivered late this week. He's decided to twin-turbo the engine so he's in the process of picking out a turbo kit. Once he installs that he'll be ready to pull the old engine/transmission out of the truck and install the new setup.

I'm not sure where the 4wd conversion stands...he's got that 2003 donor he's going to pull the parts from, but he made it sound as though he's going to do that sometime later on. I would think it would be easier to do after he's got the old engine out and before installing the new, but of course I know nothing about conversions.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to work on the transmission controller. I still have all the parts and whatnot sitting around, but it's been a while since I've thought about it and I don't recall exactly what we decided about how it should work. The goal is still the same, though...use as much of the original Ford interior switches and indicators as possible, to avoid goobering up the dash with a bunch of add-ons.

So that's it for now...not much, but I am hopeful that once the engine stand arrives we'll start seeing some real progress on this truck. I'll keep folks posted as it happens.

 

[Gary Lewis]

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

My brother gave up on waiting for his friend with the shop to clear him some space...and with the supply chain disruptions and other political and Covid-related nonsense going on, he has put off building his own shop. So this will be getting done in his garage. Harbor Freight was sold out of the engine stand he wanted to get, so that is on order and should, if all goes well, be delivered late this week. He's decided to twin-turbo the engine so he's in the process of picking out a turbo kit. Once he installs that he'll be ready to pull the old engine/transmission out of the truck and install the new setup.

I'm not sure where the 4wd conversion stands...he's got that 2003 donor he's going to pull the parts from, but he made it sound as though he's going to do that sometime later on. I would think it would be easier to do after he's got the old engine out and before installing the new, but of course I know nothing about conversions.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to work on the transmission controller. I still have all the parts and whatnot sitting around, but it's been a while since I've thought about it and I don't recall exactly what we decided about how it should work. The goal is still the same, though...use as much of the original Ford interior switches and indicators as possible, to avoid goobering up the dash with a bunch of add-ons.

So that's it for now...not much, but I am hopeful that once the engine stand arrives we'll start seeing some real progress on this truck. I'll keep folks posted as it happens.

Thanks for the update. Hopefully y'all can make some progress, soon.

As for the controller, you should consider selling them if it works well. Baumann makes big bucks on them.

[Dorsai]

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

So this will be what, the third time I've come on here to comment that the project isn't dead? Well...it isn't. And there is progress to prove it!

I mentioned a while back that the project had been delayed due to a friend of my brother's being delayed on *his* project, so no shop was available. The plan was then to do it all in my brother's garage, but there wasn't enough room. So...he built a shop. It's not super fancy but it *is* big, and has a lift in it. That's actually why I was there this week to take photos - my son's car has been having knock sensor issues, so we brought it over to take care of that (and the coolant leak that killed the sensor).

As you can see from the photos, the engine is in, as is the transmission - the truck is fully driveable. The turbo plumbing was a bit tricky and in fact may not be in its final location just yet, but otherwise there was relatively little difficulty in getting everything in place. As for the transmission controller I was going to build, James was able to get a deal on a commercial controller, so he's using that instead. But the parts won't go to waste, as he needs a controller of some kind to control the grid heater for the Cummins. That's even easier than the transmission controller was going to be, so I am putting that together now - the last piece I needed was a temperature sensor that arrived just yesterday.

Now that the drivetrain is pretty much done, he's moved on to interior work...the inside of the truck was a complete disaster zone. He's got new carpet and door panels in, and has procured new-to-him seats as well, which need to be reupholstered. Once those are done and go in, it will be fairly well habitable in there.

After that comes the 4WD conversion. He still has all the parts I mentioned in earlier posts, but I don't know what the plan or timeline is there.

[ArdWrknTrk]

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

So this will be what, the third time I've come on here to comment that the project isn't dead? Well...it isn't. And there is progress to prove it!

I mentioned a while back that the project had been delayed due to a friend of my brother's being delayed on *his* project, so no shop was available. The plan was then to do it all in my brother's garage, but there wasn't enough room. So...he built a shop. It's not super fancy but it *is* big, and has a lift in it. That's actually why I was there this week to take photos - my son's car has been having knock sensor issues, so we brought it over to take care of that (and the coolant leak that killed the sensor).

As you can see from the photos, the engine is in, as is the transmission - the truck is fully driveable. The turbo plumbing was a bit tricky and in fact may not be in its final location just yet, but otherwise there was relatively little difficulty in getting everything in place. As for the transmission controller I was going to build, James was able to get a deal on a commercial controller, so he's using that instead. But the parts won't go to waste, as he needs a controller of some kind to control the grid heater for the Cummins. That's even easier than the transmission controller was going to be, so I am putting that together now - the last piece I needed was a temperature sensor that arrived just yesterday.

Now that the drivetrain is pretty much done, he's moved on to interior work...the inside of the truck was a complete disaster zone. He's got new carpet and door panels in, and has procured new-to-him seats as well, which need to be reupholstered. Once those are done and go in, it will be fairly well habitable in there.

After that comes the 4WD conversion. He still has all the parts I mentioned in earlier posts, but I don't know what the plan or timeline is there.

Good to hear from you Matthew!Happy New Year:nabble_anim_jump:

[Dorsai]

Good to hear from you Matthew!

Happy New Year:nabble_anim_jump:

And a happy New Year to you as well!

I'm going to try to be more active here for the coming year - I haven't lost interest in my truck or anything, but it's been on the back burner thanks to switching jobs, high school robotics, etc. Time to get back to it!

[Gary Lewis]

And a happy New Year to you as well!

I'm going to try to be more active here for the coming year - I haven't lost interest in my truck or anything, but it's been on the back burner thanks to switching jobs, high school robotics, etc. Time to get back to it!

Happy New Year, Matthew!

The truck is looking good, glad it is coming along nicely. Hope your brother gets it finished up soon.