A-Fuso's RCSB 6.0 Build

[a-fuso]

Coming together nicely.

For color-wise you could have the OEM white paint custom made into a tri-coat pearl white :corny:

I would love to have painted it silver, but the bed has already been painted from the previous owner and has nothing wrong with it, except its a few shades off from the cab. So I'm hoping the paint shop can match the color on the bed pretty damn close.

One of the reasons I dislike white trucks is because the clear fades over time and makes matching the paint real hard when you do have to respray something later on.

 

[a-fuso]

Finally got some solid work in on the truck, back half is nearing completion now.

Went to the junk yard and got the factory plug for the truck's wiring harness so I can plug into the lights on the bed, shortened the harness to the correct length and soldered that plug on. Cleaned up all the wiring and stuck it back into looming, leaving the 7 wires for the trailer plug out since I haven't wired that yet. Soldered the broken wires back together from my bumper light harness.

Got the frame mounts made to bolt on the bumper, it fits great, but sits about a half inch to low, so I am going to fix the bumper brackets later on.

Image is of the original axle after I pulled it from the truck, before disassembly.

Found a used rear axle off craigslist, 3.73 limited slip, seller said it had about 77k miles on it, been sitting outside for some time, but overall not bad, came with leaf springs still bolted on too. Went and picked it up last week, then tore it apart the next day and found some stuck rotors I ended up pulling off, and one bad axle seal. Pulled the hubs off, changed both axle seals right away, swapped the backing plates from the original axle so my original parking brake cables would fit. Also cut off the mounting pads and moved them in for the c&c frame width, and welded them back into place. I pulled the axle out from under the truck and set it up in the yard to pull the springs out too.

Ended up making my own leaf pack for it since the c&c springs were just way too stiff. Used the f250 springs from my axle I bought, and bolted on the factory f350 overload spacer and top leaf, then hung the springs back under the frame, pulled out my cribbing and rolled the axle back into place. We moved the truck over by the drain and pressured washed everything that night, then I taped up the ends of the brake lines, breather, ebrake cables, and studs and started spraying the frame Sunday afternoon. Semi-gloss black for a nice clean look. I wouldn't normally paint everything assembled like this, but since it's staying stock, and I'm trying to speed up the process I chose to do it all together.

Today I touched up a few spots I sprayed a little light, threw the shortened driveshaft in for the first time and bolted it into place, and pulled the rotors back off so I can get them turned at the brake shop tomorrow. Will also be buying new rear brake pads.

Left until the rear half is finished includes: shortening the brake line under the cab and reinstalling it, bleeding the brakes, reseal the diff cover and fill with fluid, reinstall the fuel tank, cut a new filler neck into the front of the tank so I can hook it up to fill from the gas door in the bed. I hope to have it driving before this weekend, but we will see. Had a tractor loose the transmission hydraulic pump on Saturday, so my Dad and I split it apart today.

 

[a-fuso]

So I took the cut off wheel to my perfectly good fuel tank yesterday and cut out the fill neck. Then moved it to a new hole in the front of the tank.

I did this so I can have the shortest distance possible to connect the filler up to the door in the bed. I'm hoping there will be enough height/distance that it will still fill like a stock pickup.

Welded in the filler neck, and welded the patch back in the rear. Then cleaned all the remaining fuel out of the tank and removed the dust and particles that got in during welding. Gave the tank a quick paint job and will be installing it for the final time this morning.

This is where the filler originally was, in the back left side. I chose to leave the breather in the same location since the front of the tank was not wide enough for both.

Here's the finished tank too, pressure tested it quick before painting and made sure I had no leaks in my welds.

 

[BigBlue02HD]

Damn! Just saw this build......

Nice job man! :thumbsup:

 

[James Pate]

Completely forgot about the photoshop I did lol. Build looks good

 

[a-fuso]

Got a lot of updates, been slacking on here, but not on the truck.

Got all the rear frame finished up, fuel tank installed, brake line shortened, flared, and brakes bled, new pads and turned the rotors in the rear, bolted up the B&W gooseneck and 2" receiver hitch, and took it for a test drive, everything seems to work okay the little I drove it. Then bolted the bed on, and bought an 08 bumper for it. Hooked up the filler neck to the factory door in the bed with two sections of rubber fill neck hose and a 90* steel elbow

How I slotted the front cross member so the fuel tank would slide ahead far enough to clear the back of the frame, and added a new place for the brake line since it hit the tank skid plate then.

Once the back was complete, I started to tear down the front to remove the engine, getting to the really expensive part of this build now....

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Somewhere in between I cleared the headlights, and cut out my own clear reflectors since I don't like painted ones.

Onto the engine pics, this 6.0 lived up to the name six-leaker very well...

Entire side of the block, frame and oil pan was solid crusty and fresh oil.
Top of the engine valley, oil cooler and hpop cover were all coated in oil.

Engine pics

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I disassembled all the engine myself, and I have never seen an engine as oily as this one. Safe to say a full rebuild and all new gaskets was in order if I ever wanted this thing to be right.

Also decided to clean up the engine bay, paint it all gloss black, and install the lift while it was easy to access. Pulled the axle out from under the truck, pulled the cover, resealed it and put in fresh oil, then changed the axle dust seals, hub seals, balljoints, and regreased everything in the hubs, reinstalled my warn locking hubs, and painted everything black again.

Now the latest news, I visited the machine shop that's doing the engine. He told me the bottom end all checks out fine, so he will be honing the cylinders, line hone the crank bearings, polish the crank, and put new rings on the original pistons, as well as new rod, main and cam bearings. Bad news, the heads were toast. Numerous cracks in the exhaust valve seats revealed by magnfluxing, some almost 3/4" long, all valve guides are worn, and the heads are warped. So we elected to order new heads rather than spend a ton trying to repair and rebuild the originals. I should have the engine back in 2-3 more weeks. I also installed new front fenders since these pictures were taken, and picked up a new driver's side door I will be hanging tomorrow. Then the truck will be ready for it's engine when that is done. Interior is complete too minus a new headliner.

 

[BOO5TED]

Holy crap this gonna be nice.

 

[a-fuso]

Started assembly last weekend. Block had cylinders honed, line honed crank journals, crankshaft polished and block surfaced decked/trued up. New reman heads, new bearings, rings, original pistons and rods. All new master seal kit, ford head gaskets, ARP studs. New lifters and 6.4 pushrods from ford, new lifter trays. Reusing the original hpop, injectors and turbo for now. Will continue assembly this weekend and hope to have it back in the truck this week too. Still have to sort out the wiring harness and basically clean and re-loom the entire thing because it's coated in oil.


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[j.mo]

Hnnnnnngg. do mine! Who'd you have do all the work? What are you in that thing!? All that dough and no bpd oil cooler??
I'm hoping the heads on the cc aren't fucked. There was a god damn edge tuner on it when I got it. Which pretty much tells me my fate. Truck is low mile though so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll go with UCF heads If I go down that road. What heads did you go with?

 

[marc]

looks sick bruh, going to look sweet when its done.

are you planning on doing any go fast ?

 

[j.mo]

Needs barder/kc turbo 68mm and 225/100 injectors

 

[a-fuso]

Hnnnnnngg. do mine! Who'd you have do all the work? What are you in that thing!? All that dough and no bpd oil cooler??
I'm hoping the heads on the cc aren't fucked. There was a god damn edge tuner on it when I got it. Which pretty much tells me my fate. Truck is low mile though so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll go with UCF heads If I go down that road. What heads did you go with?

I had the local machine shop do the block and he ordered me the heads through his supplier, along with all the gaskets and bearings. I got a new stock oil cooler. Trying to keep this a budget build and really just want to get the truck up and running again. If I decide to keep it long term then it may get injectors/turbo/ bpd oil cooler later on. Im in it about 5k already with just machine work and parts. Myself doing all the assembly labor. Can't imagine what the bill would be for an engine rebuild at a shop.


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[a-fuso]

looks sick bruh, going to look sweet when its done.

are you planning on doing any go fast ?

No go fast right now other than a tuner after the engine gets broken in a little. Im thinking the shortbed and weight reduction should give me a little advantage over all the crew cabs tho.


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[j.mo]

Holy fuck

 

[marc]

No go fast right now other than a tuner after the engine gets broken in a little. Im thinking the shortbed and weight reduction should give me a little advantage over all the crew cabs tho.


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So will a turbo and some good tuning


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[a-fuso]

Holy fuck

Yeah these 6.0's are not cheap to rebuild, and there's so many little o-rings and gaskets it all adds up fast. New turbo- $1500, Injectors- $800 to rebuild mine larger, $BPD oil cooler relocate- $1500, HPOP- $450...... That's another $4250 right there on top of the basic long block.

 

[j.mo]

I know. These fuckers add up quick. I was preparing myself for a rebuild when my lpop went out. Said nope I'll buy a 80-100k long block vs a rebuild. Or take my losses and get another truck lol. Luckily that never came. I've had great luck with these trucks the crew cab is #5 for me but I've never gone balls deep into a rebuild like that

 

[a-fuso]

Ive done lots of reading since I got this truck and it seems like more of the issues people had with these came from poor repairs or incomplete repairs, not necessarily a bad design. Good example is my 03 truck here ran fine, had turbos and injectors changed and was well maintained. It didn't have issues until the last owner threw a tuner on a high mileage engine and drove it like he stole it every day

Making more progress now, installed new standpipes and flex tubes, the injectors, oil rails and valve covers. Rebuilt the oil cooler and installed the front cover with new water pump. Also cleaned and bead blasted the exhaust manifolds and painted with high temp paint, installed with new stainless bolts.

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[BigBlue02HD]

Nice work man! Attention to all the little details.... :thumbsup:

 

[racer36]

great work man, making me wish id got a 6blow. lol