54 GMC, S10 swap, OM617 diesel

[DieselRat]

[Bubba54]

Nice work, truck looking good.

Shawn

[54worker]

Excellent work. Can't wait to see more.

[b2948kevin]

Well done on the build!

I used to drive and wrench on an 84 Mercedes 300TD Wagon with the OM617 diesel, aka "The Million Mile Motor". Well done on choosing one of the most overbuilt and long lasting engines ever built.

[alaska gasser]

I thought I was going with a different motor. Very nice job and a good looking truck!

[DieselRat]

Thanks a lot guys. Im getting real close to being able to take the maiden voyage. Ill have some pics and updates later. Got my throttle csble hooked up and working good. Raised bedfloor frame is done, needing paint. Then just waiting on my fuel tank, wiring harness, bed wood and some odds and ends.

[54worker]

Sweet man.

[DieselRat]

Got my driveshaft today, also got some bed wood to work with.

Layed the bed on it last night, had to get some longer bolts this morning to attatch the fenders in the back. Also got some SS screws for the headlight buckets.

Wiring harness in the mail.

Getting excited, everything is falling into place nicely.

[DieselRat]

Throttle bracket pic. Found a cable at the yard out of a ford ranger that was a good length and had the right end on it, I cut the end off another cable and added that to the otherside and there she is. I cut slots in the mounting holes so I can fine tune the pedal response once I drive it. Since its driving the fuel via the injection pump and not a throttle plate response might be a little different.



Got my driveshaft yesterday.


Raised up the bed floor using some 1 1/2" angle, and some 1X2 tube. Left a gap back at the tailgate side so I can put a board vertical in the back and cover up the space that will be left when the tailgate is down.



And lastly. I still need to order new headlight bulbs, but I put them in just to get a look. Seals the deal for me!

[DieselRat]

Couple pics outside in the 5 mins of daylight I had left!





Cut my bed wood to size and layed it in to get an idea how its going to look.

[Katrina/10]

What kind of wood is that?

[DieselRat]

Its oak. Local amish guy does rough cut lumber, so i got my measurements and told him what I needed. Next day it was ready, cost me $30.

[Katrina/10]

It looks great! I just paid $50 for some knotty pine boards at a lumber store. No Amish here.

[DieselRat]

Its not perfect but I really didnt want it to be. Toying with ideas how I want to mount it, I dont want to take the time to route it all out and use oem style straps. Prob just make my own out of some powdercoated steel or something.

Working on figuring out my coolant hoses and such and hope to fire it up tomorrow possibly.

[DieselRat]

SO I sorta kicked myself in the on behind on this one. Should have just used a standard radiator with a cap and dealt with adapting hoses/custom hoses for the top and bottom. Instead I have the stock MB rad, that uses a pressure bottle and yada yada.

Everything is plumbed up but I have to adapt a fitting on the bottom of the rad (it has 3 ports, top-bottom-and second on the bottom for the bottle return) to a pressure bottle I got from a ford excursion (because it mounts nicer than the MB one)

Once I get that ironed out it will be leak free and hopefully ready to run again... Heres a pic of the current status. All the lines will be tied down with clamps etc once I find the final position for them. I'm not crazy about the hose clamps on the back either for the factory heater core but again I had to use reducers to make the coolant lines smaller and keep them out of the way of the downpipe. Any suggestions I'm all ears!!!

[Bubba54]

DieselRat, Trucks coming along nicely. Looks like you’ve done a lot of work in just a short time. The stance and the color really look nice.

Shawn

[DieselRat]

Thanks! A lot of the build was pics from when I started end of last summer so its been a solid year in the making. I try and sneak out all but every night and do something! After everyones in bed my welder is welding!!

Right now im down to the only part I'm not so confident in which is wiring it up cleanly and making it do something other than sit in the garage!

[DieselRat]

My pics arent working because my photobucket is full. I am working on changing that around, they should show back up soon. In the meantime here is a video.

54 GMC S10 Swap OM617 Turbo Diesel First Startup...

[DieselRat]

Just a mid winter update.

For the few followers I didn't turn into one of those guy who bail 3/4 through the build and sell it off! Just turned into hunting/trapping season here in PA and my priorities changed until it warms up some.

Got a bunch of new parts for it, a lot of pieces to finish up the interior, strips for the bed. Was working on my gauge cluster before I took a break from it, got all my gauges fit in just need to finish some painting and mounting of stuff. More updates to come in the next month or so.

[daveshilling]

Just read through the whole thread...that's a great project. You have no idea how fast 1 year is for an auto project. I bet there are guys who spend 6 months just staring at one corner before they patch it!

[DieselRat]

Thanks! Its been a couple of years, the first year I had it was basically a lot of patching holes in the cab and a lot of staring at it! Its not nearly as nice as some of the rides on this site, but its mine. I built it to be a full on driver, and once its done I'm gonna do just that. I dont care if it gets rained on, or stone chips or whatever. I'm waiting until its totally done then I'll add up my folder of receipts to see how much I have in it, but so far its probably under 4K. I'm sure theres some stuff I will end up going back and redoing.

As for right now, I'm still working at my wiring, I have the stock MB radiator wiring figured out just need to terminate a few loose ends and then wire up the dash. Then hope it all works!!!!

Going to make a box under the bed for the battery, was going to run it in the cab but I think Ive changed my mind on that. Kinda dragging my feet on doing the bed wood since I need to run fuel lines and finish attaching the rear wire harness to the frame rails. I'm sorta bouncing all over the place right now being held back by the fact that its too cold to paint!

[Bomp]

Read and now a follower.

Great build.

[DieselRat]

Had a nice little warmup this weekend, so I got a few things done!

Finally got my bed wood routed out for straps. Kinda going my own way because Im too cheap to buy the premade kits that are out there. So i spent 30 bucks on the wood and probably around the same in flat stock steel. Still got some things to do underneath before I fasten it down. Also not crazy about my fuel tank size, thoughts on that? If anyones interested I would probably sell it. 10x24 end fill with sight gauge stainless steel and powdercoat.



Also decided against my battery in the cab, and ended up making a spot for it back in the bed. Its gonna end up having a cover or an old cooler or something cool to disguise it.

Also finished up just about all of my wiring. Only need to get a nee alternator and then connect up my source power! So I stuck my gauge cluster back in. Sort of a bad pic but you get the idea.



Then we go 10" of snow, and tomorrow were getting snow and and ice, come on spring!

[DieselRat]

Ended up losing power for about 4 days with that ice storm, calling for about 15" again tomorrow. Having a pretty brutal winter for this area in PA.

Either way I've been putting in about an hour or so each evening I can. Decided to redo a few things that I wasn't crazy about. First off I ditched the stock MB alternator and got a GM alternator that I should be finished making brackets for tonight...to get that out I needed to take some of the coolant lines off, so I figured that was a good time to rethink my cooling system. I was using the stock MB rad as well, problem is that it uses a pressure bottle and not an overflow, it has no filler on the rad and I just wasn't crazy about it other than that it was free. After some digging around I found that a radiator from a MB w123 240D has almost the same dimensions but with a filler! It was way cheaper than some aluminum job, hoses and mounts will all stay the same too.

Also got my headliner in, not a fun job at all. Good thing they are reasonably cheap cos eventually I am going to buy another one if I can't live with that little crease I managed in one corner!

I'll get some new pics for my next update.

[xpickup]

DieselRat, this weather stinks. I can hardly what for the snow tomorrow! I can not wait for spring and the warmer weather. That stinks you lost power for so long. We were only out for 14 hrs and I back fed the house with my generator so it was not too bad. Truck is looking great. Keep up the great job.


Shannon