6.7L Cummins conversion project

[mikracer]

^^^Sounds like a great plan! Can't wait to see this beast up and running!

[mgmetalworks]

After getting the frame back home...I don't think I'll be cutting this down. It is in really good condition and I can use it for a lot of different development projects.

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by mgmetalworks

It's been a month, about time for an update huh?


I know all of the electronics stuff is boring to you guys but I promise we're about to have some fun with the fabrication!

What? No way man, I look forward to your posts. I've learned a lot. I bet I'm not alone!

[JWA]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

What? No way man, I look forward to your posts. I've learned a lot. I bet I'm not alone!

Completely agree!

This thread shows a lot of enthusiasm not to mention what I think is tremendous persistence to make this project a reality. While some of it is far, far over my head and out of my field of knowledge its none the less fascinating watching as things unfold.

IOW some of us are almost emotionally invested by now----and not ashamed to say so!

[mgmetalworks]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!!! Much appreciated! I'm definitely committed to finishing this project so your investment won't go to waste.

Last week I started playing around with an Arduino microcontroller. For those who don't know, Arduinos are super cheap, easy to program microcontrollers used for all kinds of projects in the DIY/Maker world. Fortunately for car geeks, they can also be made to be CAN bus compatible. Anyways, I started down the path of setting up an Arduino to take the place of the Ford PCM and it looks like it will work.

The instrument panel cluster has only a few things "hardwired" into it (for a 2013 that is). Some of the indicator lamps are hardwired, the oil pressure sensor is hardwired, the brake pressure switch is hardwired, the fuel level sensor is hardwired, etc... The rest of it is data transferred in via CAN bus. So something like the water temperature gauge is actually driven by data coming from the PCM. The PCM is reading raw sensor data from the engine and then translating it into some gauge value that is sent to the IPC via a CAN packet.

Where does the Arduino fit in here? The Arduino can easily read the voltage changes coming from the water temp sensor. I've done this already with a simple bench top setup. You can then set it up to broadcast the data value via a user specified CAN format. From the Arduino side, this is pretty simple, the thing I still need to figure out though (on the Ford IPC side) is the message ID and the range of values the IPC will accept for the temp gauge. I have seen examples of this working in various vehicle makes so I know it can be done. The trick is to get it to do this temp gauge AND the several other things the PCM sends across the CAN bus. I'm just going to keep building up my program one thing at a time until I have it all working. So one Arduino should be able to handle the sensors/signals from the missing Ford PCM... for less than $75 in hardware. Awesome!

[mgmetalworks]

Some of you may be curious about the fuel system for this swap. It is actually going to be fairly easy compared to other things. I'll be using an aftermarket lift pump to supply the high pressure pump that then feeds the fuel rail. While everything is accessible, I'm doing all that I can to clean things up and simplify where possible. On a stock engine, there is a fuel filter housing on the left side of the block that houses the fuel filter, the WIF sensor (water in fuel) and a fuel heater. It isn't really necessary now with the aftermarket pump/filters and getting rid of it means opening up a lot of room on that side of the engine. Pretty easy to install the filter housing delete block with the engine sitting on a pallet in the shop....


This hunk of metal has to go...


All cleaned up after the install...


Just two simple connections at the engine for the fuel system. The lift pump is super simple too. The only challenging part of the this whole system will be getting the draw straw right in the tank. The parts sent with the lift pump are totally cheesy so I'll probably end up devising my own solution.

There is a provision for the WIF sensor in the new machined block but the fuel heater wiring will be re-purposed. How convenient that the wires are heavy gauge, direct link to the fuse panel with no splices in between and tied into the large ground bundle as well. Exactly what I needed for powering the Allison TCM and pretty close to the exact location I wanted to mount it. I love it when things work out like this!!

[mgmetalworks]

I'm getting really close to having the wiring for this swap sorted out. I've simplified the engine/transmission harness down to where there will be one large OEM connector to integrate into the van's harness. This is the connector that I've decided to incorporate into my swap...




It is a lever actuated 34 position sealed connector with mix of terminal sizes. It was actually part of the factory RAM truck/Cummins harness. It took a while to track down the right crimp terminals for this connector but I finally found them so I can now start re-building the engine harness. The van side of the harness will have to be redone somewhat in order to do this but what is a few hours of unwrapping and rewrapping that harness if I've already come this far?

[WhitH]

Awesome, keep it up! My wife just asked me what I was looking so intently at. I told her van stuff and I think I actually heard her eyes roll... No matter, I'm locked in and following closely.

[photographix]

I'm fascinated with the project, too! Keep it going!

Many moons ago, I had a friend that dropped a 289 into a Pinto. That was a walk in the park compared to this...he just had to figure out all the plumbing and mechanical connections...he didn't have to be a software engineer on top of it.

[mgmetalworks]

Like I've said before, I'm a little OCD about some things and wiring just happens to be the one area where sometimes I take it to the next level. You can't fault a guy for doing it right though, can you?

I have to add some sensors to the Cummins for the Ford electronics and today I finally got the parts to integrate them into the engine wiring. Now I admit, it did take some time to track down all of these individual components but the end result is just how I want it so the time spent doesn't really bother me. I can check it off the list and let my mind fixate on the next item on the list.

Some Ford sensors and some packages of goodies from Mouser Electronics.


The water temp sensor goes into a convenient port on the head. I ran two wires up through part of the existing Cummins engine harness and made this short extension leg for the sensor.


The other end of the wires terminate in a connector that mates up with the body harness (lower right of the pic).


The oil pressure sensor will be integrated in a similar way. The end result is a factory appearance and very little chance of having problems with these wires in the future.