M715 Adventure Rig

[Rusty burbin]

I made a little progress last night. After getting into contact with Advance Adapters, I realized that I lost part of the instructions and I did need to drill some new holes. So I drilled holes and the adapter mounts up perfectly! Now I just need a new gasket to replace the one I ruined when I removed the adapter from the Tcase.

That looks like a 205 figure 8 gasket. Am I right?

 

[joe.schigel]

That looks like a 205 figure 8 gasket. Am I right?

you are correct! I ordered a new one from advance. Talked to Steve and he was incredibly knowledgeable and we talked about EJS for a while. It just makes me want to get out there more next year. Seems like there might be 4-5 715s that are going to try to make it out there next year.

 

[Rusty burbin]

you are correct! I ordered a new one from advance. Talked to Steve and he was incredibly knowledgeable and we talked about EJS for a while. It just makes me want to get out there more next year. Seems like there might be 4-5 715s that are going to try to make it out there next year.

That's awesome! I'm hoping to get there too. I've never been to Moab and during EJS they also have the "full size invasion"... I'm loosely planning on going as part of their thing since I don't have a jeep.

 

[joe.schigel]

That's awesome! I'm hoping to get there too. I've never been to Moab and during EJS they also have the "full size invasion"... I'm loosely planning on going as part of their thing since I don't have a jeep.

yeah, I want to do the full size invasion as well since a 715 is a fullsize. I've got a lot ahead of me before then but I should be able to do it. I have the friends, the time, and at least some of the money to make it happen. haha

 

[joe.schigel]

Made some progress this weekend on the truck. After marking everywhere that was causing interference problems, I "massaged" the firewall back.

It's the first time I've ever done this sort of think so hopefully I can smooth it out a bit as I go. Worst case scenario, no one else but me will really notice because it's behind the engine and in the footwell. On the plus side, there's almost enough room for the engine now! I now have better clearance above the tie rods, more room for the steering and there's still plenty of room for the intake once it's installed.

scotch brite pad for intake manifold height.

I also removed the factory trans and tcase crossmember mounts to make room for new ones and space for the future exhaust.

Speaking of, I got my new to me OE headers for the V10. I want to send them out to be ceramic coated so they look a little nicer.

Hopefully only one more test fit before fab work starts. I've got a lot of things vying for my time over the next two weeks (including actual work and the Detroit Gambler500) so hopefully I can continue to make some progress.

 

[joe.schigel]

After a slow couple of weeks without much free time, I was finally able to make a little progress on the truck. I messaged the firewall back a bit more and it looks like the engine will fit!

I will even be able to reuse my old heater core! The brake booster that I got out of a Wagoneer, not so much. I'm going to need a smaller diameter booster (I know hydroboost is an option, but it's too expensive for my taste). Everything else looks like it will fit! It's cool to see the whole powertrain in the truck for the first time. I cannot wait to drive this thing again! I really hope I can get it on the road by this fall.

The NP205 just looks at home up in there!

Plenty of room on the passenger side. It's a little tight by the cylinder head and exhaust but the engine is tilted a bit. should be better once it's straightened out.

Just enough room

The driver's side is more clutter but it should all still fit without any interference issues. I'll just have to fab the mount a little differently for that side.

 

[joe.schigel]

For memorial day weekend, my parents came into town and my dad helped me with the truck. We made a lot of progress on the engine and trans mounts but there's still a lot left to do. This is the first time doing this for both of us and we're learning a lot. My goal is to have them all finish welded this weekend and maybe painted. After that, I need to paint a bit more of the underbody, add some heat shielding to the firewall and belly of the cab, and then paint the front clip inside before reinstalling it. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find time during the week to work on it. I really hope I can get it to a drivable state by the fall.

Got the engine strapped in the front to locate it horizontally

cardboard mock-ups. every fabri-cobbler's best friend

Tac'd in passenger side engine mount

Driver's side engine mount

Dad helping out. He's never done any metal working of any kind so it's all a big learning experience for him

trans and tcase located

Both crossmembers in

finish welding started on the driver's side engine mount. it will be getting some gussets later to improve the lateral stiffness

 

[joe.schigel]

I was able to make some more progress today and got the engine mounts finished! I've added bracing everywhere I figure appropriate and I hope they can resist movement enough. They may not be pretty, but they should work. Plus this was my first time making mounts. One may be more intricate than it needed to be. I think I was just having a good time welding . I'll either spray paint them or dip them in paint this weekend.

 

[joe.schigel]

Made some decent progress this weekend but I wish I could've done more. We tarted by painting all of the mounts and cross-members and I think they turned out really nice. We then pulled the powertrain for what was hopefully the last time. While it was out, I added back a gasket between the Tcase and trans that I had forgotten. We also welded on the frame reinforcement plates and painted them. I started to install heat shielding but I didn't order enough to finish the cab...

so I've ordered more and it will get here Tuesday. In the meantime, we elected to clean and organize the garage. It needed it in a bad way. So at least now it's a pleasant place to work again.

the painted mounts and cross-members all in a pile, ready for install

The firewall heat shielding. I'm still going to add more to the right but this was what I could do with what I had. You can also see the frame reinforcement plates.

Next week, I'd like to finish install the heat shield material, paint the inside of the front end clip, and reinstall the powertrain. Then I can shift focus to the axles and engine systems (brakes, steering, fuel, coolant/heater, A/C, wiring).

Also, my bed top tent came in

! Granted, it's just going to sit in it's box until I'm ready. But it was steeply discounted so no I have it.

 

[Willys_2014]

Fantastic build.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[joe.schigel]

I was able to sneak in a bit more work today on the truck since parts came in! The heat shielding ins mostly finished (I ran out of tape) and I got parts to begin making the bed top tent rack.

It's going to be pretty simple. Two 1" & 1/4 bars across the bed with feet that bolt together in 4 places. I went with steel because I figured it would be a little stronger than aluminum and the bars may as well be cantilever. Staticlly, eash bar will take ~250lbs spread across two mount points (I figure the tent + gear + 2 people ~500lbs) and dynamically 75lbs each bar dynamically (when it's just the tent driving). I hope it's ok. Worst case scenario, I have to revisit it.

 

[joe.schigel]

It finally happened! We were able to to install the V10 for hopefully the final time! It's sitting on it's own mounts and it looks good so far! It's bee at least 9 months building to this point. To say I'm excited about it would be an understatement. I can't believe how relatively easy it went in! I guess when you mock it up a couple times, it makes everything easier.

The only thing that I can see that's going to be a problem is the front driveline angles. the front output for the tcase has a slight up tilt to it and the front axle has a pretty significant tilt upwards. I may be able to work with some crazy double-cardon joint drive shaft but I may have to re-angle the front axle. And that would mess with the steering. I'll figure it out eventually.
Next up is to cobble together a fuel system, wire the engine, and test fire it to make sure it works! while I'm doing that, I'll send my headers out to get cleaned up and ceramic coated. I think EJS 2020 is within reach now!

And to add to my excitement, my rear axle locker came in yesterday as well!

 

[58-fc170]

Just grab a hydro boost from the junk yard. Mine was only $30 including the master cylinder.

As for the front drive line angle unless you are using 4x4 on the road at speed a little steeper angle shouldn't hurt, or just do what chevy did for decades and use the double cardon joint.

The rigs looking good.

 

[joe.schigel]

Just grab a hydro boost from the junk yard. Mine was only $30 including the master cylinder.

As for the front drive line angle unless you are using 4x4 on the road at speed a little steeper angle shouldn't hurt, or just do what chevy did for decades and use the double cardon joint.

The rigs looking good.

what did you get a hydro-boost out of? I think my Wagoneer booster is going to fit. but we'll find out. I was definitely thinking of putting a double cardone joint in the front if I can. I'm not sure they make those with 1410 ujoints though. If not, I'll just do a normal drive shaft and only use 4x4 off road.

 

[joe.schigel]

Ok, weekend summary time! After going back out to the garage Saturday morning and being pleasantly surprised by the engine still being in the truck, I decided to try to get it to a point where I can test fire it. This will require putting on the intake, hooking up all of the electrical bits, plumbing a fuel system, and figuring out what exactly the computer needs to see.

It started out easy enough. I installed the upper intake manifold and draped the engine wring harness over it. Everything was plugging in easy enough and looking good. But when I brought over the rest of the harness, my head just started to spin. I’m note great at wiring and the last time I did a whole car, I let the smoke out a couple times… So I sat and stared at it for a while to figure out my way forward. I think it will be best to go through all of my diagrams and schematics to determine which wire is which and label them all. There’s a lot in the dodge harness that I don’t need (it’s lights really) but I do need the gauges, sensors, sending units, etc.

After determining that that was going to take a lot of work, I shifted gears to the fuel tank. My thought was to graft the top of the Dodge tank onto the 715 tank so I can use exactly what the V10 is expecting. I had assumed there would be a lot of flat surface area on the Dodge tank around the fuel system drop-in. There was not. After I was done cutting away everything, there’s not a lot left. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do it now. I’m going to ask some people at work. Maybe they’ll have a good idea for a way forward.

the donor tank

top removed

guesstimating placement

and all that's left after trimming...

When that roadblock surfaced, I changed gears again to redoing the heater box. It was pretty humid yesterday so the paint may not have come out the best, but it looks better. I gave it a new, non-leaking, heater core and slapped it back together. When I went to put it back on the truck, I found out that it interferes with the coil packs. So now I’m fabricating a mount to move them forward 2”. If it’s not one thing it’s another right?

painting all of the heater box pieces

reassembled. Not too shabby!

And the coil pack interference

starting to modify my spare bracket to move the coil packs 2" forward

So hopefully I’ll at least get my coil packs relocated today/tomorrow and I can start sorting all of the wires. I’ll worry about the fuel tank later.

 

[58-fc170]

I pulled my hydro boost out of a wrecked duramax.
Some 2500 and 3500 gas trucks have hydro boost as well.

 

[joe.schigel]

I was able to get my ignition coil pack relocation done and painted yesterday. I think it came out pretty good.

As far as wiring everything up, I've been thinking about it and talking it over with my friends and co-workers. The harness that came with the engine (the one in the pics) is only a partial harness. It's the engine harness, PCM/ECM, and front half of the body harness. Instead of starting there and adding a lot of wires, I've decided to remove the full harness from the donor truck in my driveway. I drove that truck before I bought it so I know it works (minus the knocking engine that goes through coolant like it's its job). I'm labeling every connector as I remove it and hopefully once it's out, I can roughly put it into the 715 to test fire the engine! After that, I'll run the harness and remove what systems I don't need. I still want to keep the 715 body harness intact since it works and doesn't need anything at the moment. I'll have to make changes for gauges, radios, extra lights, wipers, different A/C, and remove ABS systems, Cruise Control, etc. Hopefully this all goes smoothly.

 

[joe.schigel]

I was able to remove the wiring harness from the donor 2500 yesterday. It only took about 3 days... My hands are beat up from the IP metal and everything hurts from contorting into strange positions, but it's out! And now I can hook it all up and see if I can't get the engine to fire for a few seconds. I might put the fuel module in a 5gal bucket with some gas for the test fire. But I'm not sure how safe that would be...

the 2nd engine harness

IP harness, gauge cluster, and rear harness

blurry pic of the front harness and power distribution block.

and what's left of the unsuspecting dodge IP

 

[joe.schigel]

I was able to make decent progress this weekend with the wiring and fuel system. When I put the 2500's harness on the engine, I quickly discovered most of the connectors were different. There were the same number of pins, same color wires, just different shaped connectors. I think it's because the engine is from a '95 truck and the harness is from an '01. I switched the coil packs and injectors on the engine but I had to splice some of the old connectors onto the newer harness.

splicing the new harness together

I plugged it all in and it's all looking good so far. I key'd on the power and the 2500's gauge cluster lit up and showed the warnings that I expected. Next is to test ignition, then see if it will burn with starting fluid, then a full on gas test. My started motor should come in today so hopefully I can get a test fire done!

harness temporarily installed onto the engine with my controls at the front.

I also started the process of modifying my fuel tank. I was terrified to cut it since these tanks are pretty hard to come by. Luckily, it all went well and it should work for me! I cut a ~5.5" opening for the dodge fuel module and drilled holes for mounting screws.

cutting the hole

setting the screw positions

A piece of fuel-resistant rubber is sandwiched between the fuel module flange and the tank. I applied copious amounts of fuel resistant sealant to the rubber, flange, and exterior. It should keep the gas in.

test fit

The module itself had to be lengthened ~1.75". My measurements put the bottom of the module ~2" from the bottom of the tank. After extending the module and securing it with some screws, I estimate it's ~.25" from the bottom now.

lengthening the module

In an ideal world, it would be making contact, but at least this way, I'll be able to utilize more of the tank's capacity.

all sealed

 

[joe.schigel]

I got a little more done with the fuel tank last night. Since it has a giant new hole in the top, I figured this was the perfect excuse to clean it out. I had had rusty fuel problems a couple years ago when I first started driving the truck so I'd like to avoid a repeat of that. Luckly, it's all surface rust and I was able to clean off everything I could reach. I used some CLR, a lot of water, and a scotch-brite pad. Aside from the other side of the baffle where I can't reach, it cleaned up pretty well! Now I just need to clean and paint the exterior.

Before:

After!