In addition to making the doghouse narrow at the back, can it also be made less tall since you don't have that air cleaner up there? If it is short and stout, you may just be able to walk over to get to your seats.
In addition to making the doghouse narrow at the back, can it also be made less tall since you don't have that air cleaner up there? If it is short and stout, you may just be able to walk over to get to your seats.
I have a few options:
Do the little nose as above, which is pretty simple and will make the project easier.
Extend the front from below the windshield down - The sheet metal is attached by a row of sheet metal screws down each side and not much else. The trim under the windshield likely covers some other joint but I have not pulled it off yet to look.
Extend the entire front - I think this would be doable as well. The fossil would look just the same, only ten inches longer. The top of the nose above the windshield has a row of rivets across the roof and I don't know what else is holding it on. Nothing connects to the front anywhere so far as I can see.
Last option is to push it back ten inches. I will mock that up tomorrow to have a look at.
My wife will have some input. If she says I have to do it a certain way I will not argue because she did not even blink when the Freightliner showed up in the yard.
With the lengthened nose and fire truck style bumper would you be able to have an access panel for maintenance etc?
In reply to Rons :
Absolutely. I would put the batteries behind the bumper along with power steering reservoir and air cleaner which otherwise will need to take up the two front storage bays.
Well I mocked up a cover and I decided I could live with the motor being farther back.
So out came the angle grinder and I hacked a bigger hole.
Got the ten inches I needed for the radiator and CAC.
I'm really diggin' the look for the new engine cover! Glad its working out.
Oh yeah, that'll work nicely. How high above the floor does it sit? Almost looks like you could make it go across the entire section there and not have it be a huge nuisance.
Moving the center of mass further back should help with the cornering.
In reply to NOHOME :
Almost a mid engine now!
It looks really good with the engine in its new location, and new doghouse. Did you mock this up with the Cummins mounted lower than the Cat as you originally planned?
It is lower for sure, and right now the back of the motor is three inches lower than the front to minimize the doghouse, which will be about ten inches tall. I cannot actually come up more than a couple inches or I lose room for the shift tower anyway. And it looks fine there except I will go from 12 inches under the oil pan to nine inches. There is a much shorter marine pan available but it is $1000.00 so I am going to leave it for now. I can drop the pan anytime as it is unobstructed.
Will the tilt of the engine cause any issues with the driveline? It is good that you can use a shorter oil pan if necessary.
In reply to Chesterfield :
I will most likely have to tilt the rear axle to accommodate, as the two angles need to be equal within half a degree.
bearmtnmartin said:It is lower for sure, and right now the back of the motor is three inches lower than the front to minimize the doghouse, which will be about ten inches tall. I cannot actually come up more than a couple inches or I lose room for the shift tower anyway. And it looks fine there except I will go from 12 inches under the oil pan to nine inches. There is a much shorter marine pan available but it is $1000.00 so I am going to leave it for now. I can drop the pan anytime as it is unobstructed.
Fantastic! I have several years of experience with an fc35 doghouse, so here is my 2 pence. Your idea to move back, instead of forward was a great decision. The look of the slab front is great to keep. The reduced height of the doghouse is great, but you want to consider a detachable "coffee table" to take advantage of the raised portion further back, which should be near the leading edge of your couch.
Having your setup will still provide better ingress than stock.
Also, heat and noise are issues on a stock unit. You may want to sacrifice a couple of extra inches of height/width for addition insulation ( heat and sound). I am greatly impressed!!!
In reply to jh36 :
I have allowed a couple inches to have a steel double wall doghouse, and the Freightliner firewall is going in. The noise leakage from the old doghouse and lack of firewall was pretty bad. Not sure about the table idea though as I want to keep that space as open as possible. 8 years of climbing over the old doghouse has taught me that!
I’m with you on the thoughts of keeping it as low as ya can. Since anything will likely be quieter than before, even low and thin (ish) should be good.
This weekend was wire and pipe time. This is bluebird's idea of a wiring harness.
When I first looked in there nine years ago I thought someone had done a butt connector hack job on the wiring but it turned out the hackers actually worked at the factory.
Anywhoo, that's a good part of the reason for ripping it all out and replacing it with the Freightliner harness.
I noticed my steering wheel is held on with a door hinge.
Haha. Works I guess.
Frame rails had been cut to fit the Cat in between. Poorly with plenty of opportunities for stress fractures to start.
My plan is to double frame it as far back as practical. I that will restore rigidity to the front end and give me the Freightliner engine and radiator mount assembly. This would also fix the problem I have of cracking the passenger side windshield when I put too much pressure on the front leveling jacks, and also take some Wander out of the Wanderlodge as I suspect the front is flexing enough that the frame is constantly adding unwanted steering input. It's not bad but I do spend a lot of time sawing the wheel gently back and forth.
So I spent the weekend stripping the air lines and components off the frame rails and removing part of the wiring. Boring but necessary.
The air system is all copper, and not much fun to play with. Plastic and sharkbites are going back in. I have to reroute some of the components because they would be impossible to access after the new driven is installed. I would really kick myself if I got it all back together and then developed an air leak back under the floor...
And the happy new owner of the old engine and transmission picked them up today. They are going in his Louisville dump truck. So there is no turning back now I suppose. Cummins or bust.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite all-time builds on this forum. Please do keep this updated with plenty of pics and progress. I love old bluebirds and lodges... Always wanted a wanderlodge that could also double duty as a toterhome.
Please carry on!
In reply to golfduke :
If you are interested in a toterhome that needs cosmetics/interior, I have a Cabriolet Sportliner. We cam move to a DM conversation, to not derail one of my favorite posts as well!
Glad the big old V8 Cat found a good home!
Switched gears tonight because I found a reasonably priced (ha!) differential. If $1500 is reasonable I suppose. Anyway it is $1000 less than anything else I found. So I finished pulling the driveshaft and pulled the yoke so I can drop the assembly out on Saturday. Or tomorrow night if I am motivated.
Anyway, I dragged the Freightliner axle around to compare for lengths. Unfortunately the steady bearing is not close. Dang. That will be costly. I am hoping to go to the wrecker with a tape measure and find a couple of shafts that will work.
1550 pounds of torque vs 400 pounds.
I can lift a double section of old drive shaft but the new one I can only just lift one five foot section.
1 and 3/4 inch socket and 3/4 drive impact at 150 psi to get the pinion nut off.
Dat's a big boy!
Wish I had yards around me where I could expect to find heavy equipment parts. Not that I'd need 'em, but it would be neat to wander
In reply to Mr_Asa :
There are three of them near me, which I think outnumber the auto wreckers. Just shows the blue collar neighborhood I live in.
Please don't use shark bites for your air lines..... Use DOT fittings.
In reply to java230 :
Sharkbite style air fittings are DOT. Not using pex!
I got motivated. And thankful that is done and I do not have to repeat the process until the new one goes back in. The four bag air suspension and other junk under there made access very difficult.
If your flying Miata is blowing diffs I recommend this one.
That one is 5.29 to get 35,000 pounds moving with only 210 hp. The highway speed was still pretty good though even with fourth gear being direct thanks to 2800 rpm. (65 to 68). I want to run the new one at around 1500 so a 3.73 is going in.
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