The official 6bt conversion thread

[averagef250]

Some pumps you have to reclock the linkage and others you don't, the VE pump throttle linkage changed a bunch through the years and you could have one of several different styles. I look at how much of the idle screw is hanging out of it's boss and figure if there's more than 5/8" or so the shaft should be re-indexed to get full throttle travel. As you advance the timing and increase the fuel rate with the screw on the back the idle speed will go up and you'll be dropping it down so keep that in mind with regard to indexing the shaft, you want to leave yourself enough idle screw adjustment to get the idle down where you want it. Never needed to grind anything myself, just pulled the high speed stop screw completely out and that should get you more throttle travel than needed.

The full load screw can't be turned in all the way, at some point, without internal mods, you'll go past the fuel controlling limits of the pumps design and it will run away. On most pumps when you start approaching the runaway level the RPM's will hang a little when you blurp the throttle. That's the point where you stop turning it in and back it out a 1/2 turn or so until the RPM's don't hang and you are done touching that screw. Occasionally a pump won't give you warning and just zing up there pretty high. Be ready to shut it down, the kill lever on the pump will always shut it down if something is wrong. There's more fuel in VE's in the fuel pin/aneroid section than there is at the full load screw if you really want everything out of it you can get. My own feeling on it is that the VE's are great at a little over stock levels, like where you run out of fuel with the screw on the back and some larger than stock injectors, but when you start really cranking with them they get cantankerous and finicky and you're money ahead to get a P-pump.

You'll find that the 5.9 HP parts center around P-pump and commonrail stuff. VE and VP44 stuff isn't as well supported.

[zack]

kind of off topic but not really, Im wrapping up my 6bt swap and I have a drivetrain question I need some help with. I have a 47rh trans and a 241dhd transfercase and the t case has no hole for the speedo gear to hook up and neither does the trans. the trans is from a truck that was 2wd and had a pto drive tail shaft that had the speedo drive in it. after I figure out where to hook up the speedo, how do I convert it to the old ford style cable?? I think I have a pretty heavy issue here...i was thinking maybe there might have been a older dodge that used this t case and had a cable style speedo that I might be able to use parts from, but Im just guessin'. does anyone have any info that can help???

[averagef250]

kind of off topic but not really, Im wrapping up my 6bt swap and I have a drivetrain question I need some help with. I have a 47rh trans and a 241dhd transfercase and the t case has no hole for the speedo gear to hook up and neither does the trans. the trans is from a truck that was 2wd and had a pto drive tail shaft that had the speedo drive in it. after I figure out where to hook up the speedo, how do I convert it to the old ford style cable?? I think I have a pretty heavy issue here...i was thinking maybe there might have been a older dodge that used this t case and had a cable style speedo that I might be able to use parts from, but Im just guessin'. does anyone have any info that can help???

The 94-98 241's had a gear driven VSS in the transfer case. You can pull the VSS and replace it with a speedo cable drive from a pre-93 2wd dodge application and connect your ford threaded speedo cable directly. These will usually be found in Dakotas and vans, not pickups. Seams like the pickups used the VSS earlier.

To add the early speedo port to a late 241 you'll need the rear extension housing from an early transfer case.

[zack]

thanks dustin, do you know if the drive gear for the speedo is on the shaft even though the hole isn't drilled on my t case? I have'nt pulled it apart yet to look. It would be awesome if all I needed was the transfer case tail housing!!! of course, then the parts to make the ford cable work with the dodge gear....
thanks for your help!!

[zack]

Dustin ,if the tail shaft housing from the pto unit looks the same as the t case housing but with the hole in it for the speedo, could I use that? or would that be different inside? I have the pto unit, I took it off, and it does look almost like a transfer case cut in half to make the factory pto unit.

[averagef250]

I don't follow what you're talking about with the PTO.

The dodge 241 output shafts should all be about the same, the non-vss ones should still have splines on the output shaft to accommodate the plastic speedo gear.

[cancow]

I noticed on the FordCummins site that it only lists conversions on 1969 on up trucks. Is there a difference in the 67 and 68 that I am unaware of?

[1971ford]

Try to avoid going to that site...

And no there's no difference as far as the cummins swaps go

[zack]

does anyone have pictures of an intercooler installed in a highboy? we are trying to use a stock 95 dodge intercooler and we're not sure it will work.

[averagef250]

does anyone have pictures of an intercooler installed in a highboy? we are trying to use a stock 95 dodge intercooler and we're not sure it will work.

The 94-02 dodge intercooler is wider than the space between the Ford's inner fenders. If you go wild with the sawzall and get it behind the grill you could flip it upside down, but the tubes will be where a battery probably needs to go.

The 91-93 dodge IC fits behind the early ford grills OK, but doesn't actually do anything

Intercooler's an easy fit in these trucks with a 4BT

In my dad's 76 with 12 valve I used an IC from a new Hino cabover truck paired with a 94-97 powerstroke radiator. Behind the grill wasn't going to work for me so the firewall moved back 1.5". Intercooler went behind the core support and had room for the AC condensor behind the grill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_GNa4cPdU4

Even though the application is completely different, this video shows how I mounted a 94-02 intercooler upside down. The connections are changed to 3" and angle corrected though.

[1971ford]

you can stuff a powerstroke intercooler in, which is what I will be doing eventually, but it's not easy
And plan on running hood pins (no room for a real latch) and modifying (cutting) your grill and radiator support pretty good.

I have a few pictures of IC's in highboy's, at home. I"ll try and remember to post them up here.

[averagef250]

If you put your mind to it you can probably find an alternative to front mount IC that will cool a lot of power. There's a lot of real estate under the hoods of these trucks that isn't used for anything, even quite a bit of room under the inner fenders. Water to air setups are a royal pita to sort out, but have worked well in some situations. HRDROKN was planning W/A setup in his 69 crew after tape measuring it all out. Looks like he sold it off before making progress with the intercooler part. Water meth is also a simple alternative.

Something any pre-79 Ford truck owner putting a Cummins in should know going into it is that the engine is physically too large for the truck. You're kidding yourself if you believe that engine and the old truck are a perfect match for one another. Sure it's been done, sure it can work, but you will make sacrifices to get there.

The challenge for most is making those sacrifices appear as minor as they can. If you can't intercool without swiss cheezing the core support, grill, upper apron and losing your hood latch you would probably have a more respected truck in the end by just passing on the intercooler. Not to mention saving a lot of time and frustration.

If you use a crappy old mystery intercooler there's a good chance of doing more harm then good. Ever cut an IC apart that's been inline after a bad turbo? Just a turbo spraying oil into the IC has a way of making them not much good at cooling air anymore. If the airflow isn't pretty smooth from turbo to intake you may be defeating the purpose. If an IC isn't simple, actually effective and reliably constructed/mounted/plumbed it's not a good investment of your time.

A cracked IC or blown boot will turn your 300 HP 5.9 into an 80 HP turd instantly. Kinda sucks if you have a trailer behind you.

[zack]

We did a lot of work to get the engine in the truck and we want to keep it intercooled. We flipped the 95 cooler upside down and fab'd up some brackets to hang it. I wanted to keep the condenser for future a/c so that took up some room between the cooler and the radiator. Looks like we will have to trim the back of the grill and the lower valance might have to be trimmed to. I just wanted to see some pics of what others have done in case they have a better idea, thanks guys!!

[Ranchero50]

The center of my lower valance is going away and I'll be fabbing a different hood latch mount. I widened an aluminum PS intercooler to fit around a 3 core aluminum '94 F150 radiator. My grill will need tweaked a bit for more clearance. No AC for me.

Jamie

[averagef250]

One tidbit that gets overlooked in many swaps is where the AC condenser goes. When you run it behind the intercooler you pretty much make your AC non-functional.

Often you have no choice but going behind the IC, but the reality is on hot days the AC doesn't work so good when the condensor's getting "cooled" by 150 degree air.