DieselWag current status and project plans

[DieselSJ]

I wanted to start a new thread and cover the current plans and work on the DieselWag.

In mid-2010, the injection pump went out. Up to that point, I had put about 60K miles on it. I think I racked up 40K miles in the last 18 months that it was running. I drove it A LOT. Plans were to park it and do some long awaited updates while the pump was being rebuilt. Well, right around that same time I ended up filing for divorce and everything came to a screeching halt. Between moving, divorce hearings, custody battle, a couple job changes and taking on a full time parenting role, DieselWag just sat and collected dust. I moved in with my fiancee onto her 5 acre spread (oh, I could fill this place with Jeep projects!!). My only problem was no garage. About 2 years ago, things settled enough that I actually got the pump removed and sent it out for a rebuild. Ex-hag must have been watching because she chose that time to go for another custody battle, so again project on the back burner. Got through that, got a couple major house renovations done, and now time to work on the DieselWag again. During all of this, I moved my folks to AZ and bought them a house about 5 miles from me. A few weekends ago, we got his garage all cleaned out, got all my tools moved over there, and got the DieselWag towed and dropped in the garage. Finally! A place to work!! Now I can run over there in the evenings after the kids are in bed and work for a few hours. I am excited to get onto this again.

Pulled out of the weeds, waiting for the tow truck.



Parts loaded up - 208, new intake, timing covers, cam/injection pump gears, ...

[thechier86]

Very cool, man. Glad to see you working on this again. I like the de-wooded look, too.
I'll be doing that to mine as well, since the woodgrain kit costs more than my jeep did.
I really want to go diesel with my waggy, just hope I can afford to.

[DieselSJ]

One thing it is getting, or was planning to get was the wood back on. In hindsight, when I had the bodywork done, I should have had them fill the rivet holes. So I'm kinda stuck at this point unless I want to drive around with ab bunch of rivet holes. Well, sort of stuck. Through my travels, I have become friends with the owner of a company that does vehicle wraps and he said he has a couple ideas.

[joe]

Love the 6.2/5 swap and the plain vanilla white body. IMHO regardless of color, they all look better w/o the packing crate. OK. Im certifiably bent but If'n your goal is "just gotta have stickers" I'd check with your new found sticker seller if they have a door size generic bar code decal.

[DieselSJ]

Actually been thinking maybe an old school southwest 70's style stripe. I should be able to cover the holes with that.

[TrenchFoot]

Which intake tophat is that? Is that off an ATS turbo setup or is that a stock GM 6.5TD plenum? I'm used to seeing the Banks plenum on 6.2s.

[hookedup50]

Looks like peninsular top to me. What leafsprings did you use up front? I have a few other questions such as motor mount fab, but will look through the archives. I'm slowly getting my 6.5 parts out of Jersey and back to Ma where the wag lives. Good luck on the project.

[DieselSJ]

Hookedup50 got it - it is a Peninsular hat. One of those items that "I should have done it that way in the first place". Scrapping the Hummer intake because the bolts for the hat are 90 degrees off from the truck version, and it has the early 6.2 2-bolt pattern instead of the 6.5 6-bolt setup. This will be much cleaner when I am done.

Mounts are Advance Adapters SB/BB Chevy units. The 6.2/6.5 has the exact same mounting locations and bellhousing pattern as the SB/BB gassers.

Suspension right now is stock. It sits level, but it could use a little more spring rate in the front. Plans call for a 4" lift and 265/75/16's.

[DieselSJ]

It is interesting going back through my old threads. It made me remember that I had purchased a rebuild kit for that 208. I have absolutely no idea where it would be though - I have been through all of my parts boxes and it cannot be found. It was good that I posted so much back then because I'm remembering things that I wanted to do (and things that I'm thinking what in the heck was I thinking when I did that...lol).

So, in no particular order, here is the list of the major items that are going to get done -

- 208 rebuilt and installed
- Just picked up a 14-bolt semi-float rear - will have it narrowed, new R&P and some type of traction adder
- Install rebuilt injection pump
- Rebuild injectors with new nozzles and set pop pressure to the high end of the spec.
- Having the gear drive and injection pump gears coated with an anti-friction coating
- Still debating on having the rockers and rocker shafts also coated, or biting the bullet and installing roller rocker$.
- New carpet
- New headliner
- Lift + Tires, but that will probably be later. However, I don't want to pay for gears twice so if I gear it for bigger tires, then I'll do the lift now.
- Truck intake and rework the plumbing between turbo and intake.
- Some tweaks to the turbo, probably just a different impeller wheel. If I can't get it to perform the way I think it should, then a HX-35 will get swapped in. The HX-35 has way more aftermarket support and can really be finely tuned for an application. Though a quick search shows much more aftermarket support for the TE06H than when I first installed it.
- More soundproofing when I do the carpet and headliner.
- Replacement seatbelts, including install shoulder belts in the rear.
- Attempt my custom steering column project - I hate having the column shifter on there when I am using a floor shifter.
- A/C and heat. I went through 3 (or 4?) AZ summers with out A/C. And winters without heat. Done with that.
- Come up with a good dual battery setup
- Install the DMAX airbox

That should just about cover the big stuff. Plus there are a handful of other minor stuff - gauges that need to be installed, relocate the fuel filters, transfer case shifter, front driveshaft, wheel bearing back, manual hub install, etc...

I'll post pics as I go along. Looks like my old hosting provider went belly-up, so a lot of my old build pics aren't available. I'll try to get time to post up some of my old pics.

[hookedup50]

Thats a cool build planned. You got me itching to start my swap, but getting way to cold around here. Good luck and watching this thread.

[Gadzooks2]

You'll be surprised how much more of your own stuff you can get done when you quit going to all those races Sparky!

Trust me, I know!

[thechier86]

Mark, will you post a couple of pics of your fuel filter and water separator? I'm curious about how to mount them out of harm's way, since I intend to do some pretty hardcore wheeling with mine...
By the way, my 6.5td tow pig developed a misfire on the 3 hour trip to come pick up the waggy... gotta figure that out, and I'm sure it's gonna be expensive. Haha. I swapped a mechanical pump onto it a few years ago because it was under water during a flood and that killed everything electronic on the truck. If I can't figure it out, I'll probably pm you.
Happy thanksgiving!

[Fleg]

Mark, just save yourself a lot of time and headache and sell it to me.

[DieselSJ]

You'll be surprised how much more of your own stuff you can get done when you quit going to all those races Sparky!

Trust me, I know!

So you coming to Henderson?

[DieselSJ]

Status update. Got the rest of the parts out of the shed and moved over. Spent a few hours cleaning the black widows out of it. Took some measurements on the 14-bolt and started making some notes about what I needed to do to prep it.