My 2009 Ford F550 Cummins 6.7l Transplant story #1

[AnOldBiker]

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As for the physical install, it overall went okay. Here are some things that I figured out by trial and error (mostly error). First, buy all of the conversion parts from the same builder as there are repercussions if you don't. For example, the motor mounts make a difference with the power steering mount. Also, F250/F350 is different than F450/F550. The power steering gearbox is bigger on the F450/F550 than the F250/F350, so different mount needed for the Ford diesel pump. In my case the used engine mounts I bought, already had been drilled to change the height of the engine for a compound turbo setup that the previous owner had tried to install. These extra holes seemed to help me out with power steering pump to gearbox clearance issue that I had. Then there was a flexplate issue. Somewhere along the way, Cummins change the way the factory flexplate centered. It went from centering on the outside of the crank snout to a centering ring on the center of the shaft. Problem was, the conversion flexplate didn't account for this. So I have the option of either grinding off the centering ring on the crankshaft or cutting a recess in the flexplate. I went with modifying the flexplate just in case this engine ever needed to go back in to a Ram. I broke out my die grinder and ground a circle in the face of the flexplate. Seemed to work but not sure yet, having issues with the starter. It is possible that the circle that I cut may have not been deep enough. For some reason the starter doesn't like to engage far enough to start the starter motor. Swapped the starter with another, and still the same issue. Back to the motor mounts, the ones that I used won't let you keep the ECM mounted on the side of the engine. You can barely see in the photo where I built a stand that is welded to the crossmember of the truck that holds the ECM. Another company claims that their mounts would have worked but I didn't find that until I had already cut/lengthened my driveshafts and I don't know if the different mounts changes the location of the engine or not. The location/height of the engine also makes a difference on the fan shroud, which I will have to make some adjustments for that anyways since I had to raise the engine to accommodate the power steering/gearbox clearance issue. One of the things that I didn't realize on this swap was the relocation of the engine. There are a set of transmission mount holes that are about 2 inches to the rear of where mine started. The biggest issue with the physical install will be this move. Driveshafts got lengthened/shortened (4X4), which was easy, problem now is the manual shift transfer case. I have no idea what the rearward set of holes are for but it doesn't appear to be for a 4X4 truck with a manual shift transfer case. When I started looking through the parts catalog, the shift lever and swivel was different for a gas engine vs a diesel engine so I thought that would fix me up. Not the case, still the same issue, shifter is 2 inches further back from the hole in the floor. Looks like I will have to do some fabrication of the swivel to move the lever a couple inches forward.

Exhaust so far seems to be going okay as well. Bought a down pipe from a 2017 Ram that has a big flex joint in the middle. It fits in the space but a little close the the transmission cooler lines. I have a trans temp gauge that I can keep an eye on just in case I have to do some reengineering. I kept the factory flange on the downpipe and found a guy that builds a weld on replacement flange that would normally go on a DPF. Bolts up like it should and I will extend that with a piece of 4 inch pipe that I picked up. The muffler is a simple commercial side exit dumped straight to the ground. Will look more like a big box truck with the muffler putting the soot to the ground and not in someones face or on my fifthwheel.

The fan shroud is going to need some work. With the changes to the height of the engine, I can't use the Cummins inner fan shroud even if I did have it. When everything lines up with the right mounts and engine location, the Cummins inner shroud is supposed to line up with the conversion shroud that I have. But in my case, not so much. With my arrangement, I have space issue getting the cool side intercooler pipe up between the frame and the shroud so that will be a little cutting action happening to help out. Along with the cut, I will need to have a lower panel cut to fill in a very large gap around the bottom. I had opted to use a Ford 7.3 fan and clutch which is a little smaller than the Cummins which was good, the Cummins fan would have never fit. As long as I close in the bottom of the shroud, I don't expect to have any cooling issues.

I got on Amazon and picked up a bunch of random intercooler pipe including a kit that was supposed to fit my truck if it came with a diesel engine. That didn't work out so well, the kit didn't really fit very well. They have you cutting up the core support just to make it fit. Looks like I will get to use some of the parts after a sawzall and a hammer but I did have to order one of the Ford pieces to get through the core support.

Transmission line and filler tube were fun (NOT). For the lines I started with a new set from Ford. Each line is a two piece assembly that after they are assembled, you can't get them apart (found a YouTube video about that). The rear section is the same between a gas truck and diesel but the front are different. Because you can't get them apart and I needed the diesel version for the fronts, Ford parts order was placed. After I got my new lines, I broke out my torch. With some heat, hammer, pliers and some blocks of wood, I was able to reshape the lines to fit. Turned out pretty good and will have a decent pattern to use if I have some made in the future. For the filler tube, I used the original. Again with the torch, did a little adjusting with some heat, and got it looking like a factory tube. Found a stud topped bolt on the valve cover of the Cummins to bolt a strap of metal to and welded it to the tube. Topped it off with some semi-flat black paint and good to go. I did measure the before and after of the dipstick and it came in less than an eighth of an inch different, not enough for me to worry about.

Fuel lines are another good story. I still haven't got far enough to test my plan but here is what I did. The gas truck has an in tank pump with a fuel pump driver module and no return line. The ECM monitors the fuel temp and pressure and the rail and maintains 40psi. The Cummins wants 10psi at the engine but has a return line. So I re-plumbed the vapor line that goes back from the engine to the canister that hangs off of the frame through a "T" that ends up in the tank. I swapped out the "T" for a coupler and now returning fuel through the original vapor line. Seems to work and haven't blown anything up yet. As for pressure, the original fuel rail pressure sensor is a potentiometer that varies a 5 volt signal. So what I will be doing is feeding the Ford ECM with an aftermarket pressure sensor that I will be putting inline. I don't have exact numbers there may be some tests but the maintained voltage from the sensor for the ECM should be around 2.8 volts so I picked up a 20 PSI sensor that will output about the 2.8 volts at 10psi. So my hopes are is that the pump will see the 2.8 volts and maintain that pressure. I will see.
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