Resto 59 ford F100 - tdi

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion

Well lets start this thread with a story to explain why I am doing what I am doing.
In 1962 my parents loaded the family into a 1959 Ford pickup with a piggyback camper and headed west from MN to WA to attend the world’s fair. I was 6 years old (that is me in the picture with my sister) and remember the trip like it was yesterday. Most of you are thinking, ok, so we went on family vacations too, that’s not a story for tdiclub. The story here is about the truck, it was unlike any other on the road. My father had replaced the v8 with a 4 cyl. Ford tractor engine. It could have been the first Diesel pickup on the road in the US. I know that ford produced a Perkins diesel pickup in 1959 but only in Argentina. If anyone knows of an earlier US production model I would love to know. That engine was not like the high speed diesels of today and to make it roadable he put together a 9 speed manual transmission to make the 500-2050 rpm range usable. Needless to say he was the only one who could drive it. Well in 1962 the only place you could purchase diesel fuel were truck stops so every time we stopped for fuel it was an adventure. First you had to get someone to come out and put fuel in the truck, there were no self-serve stations then. No one wanted to leave the station and mostly gestured for us to move on by waving out the door. If someone came out on their own, without my father going in to get them, they informed us that “they don’t make diesel pickup trucks” I don’t remember a single time that my father didn’t have to open the hood to prove it was a diesel before they would put fuel in the tank. Now once the hood was open EVERYONE in the station had to come over and look and see, after slaps on the back and explanations and stories and 40 minutes we were on our way again. My brother and I always laughed and wondered if it was going to happen at the next stop. It always did.
That truck would really smoke going up the mountains to the point people would pull up and inform us that the truck was smoking and we should pull over. My father would wave, say thank you and we would all laugh and keep on heading west.
I lost my father a few years ago and wanted to create this truck as a tribute to him. I hope it honors his creativity, ability and willingness to take on anything. In his words “If GOD didn’t make it, together you and I can make it better than the first guy.” So Dad, this one is for you.


Here is a picture of the truck we are starting with. It is a rust free Texas truck (I hate rust) that I found where the original owner lost interest in the project. Needless to say he spent lots of money on the body work. The current engine is a 350 chevy, a terrible choice for an old ford pickup but makes it easy to ditch. The truck weighs in at 3100 lbs, 100 lbs lighter than my ’03 wagon. The wagon pulls like a tractor and I plan on using the same mods for the f100 as I have on my wagon. (larger turbo, injectors, down pipe 11mm pump, lift pump, RC 4 tune) I am using an automatic transmission to make it a good cruiser,



Stay tuned. Work is underway and I will update every few days.
 
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turbobrick240

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Nov 18, 2014
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maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
That's a beautiful story. Your dad must have been quite a guy. My father did nearly the opposite and made a tractor from an old pickup when my parents first moved to Maine and started farming. Looks like you found a beaut. to work with- can't wait to see how it progresses!
 

Mikkijayne

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Nov 10, 2007
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Devon, UK
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Audi S8
9 speed manual? :eek: Was that from a semi-truck or along those lines?

Great back story. Very interested to see how this one turns out :)

3100lbs is about the same weight as a B5 A4 Quattro and those move along just fine with a TDI.
 

turbobrick240

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Nov 18, 2014
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maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Probably two 3 speeds bolted together. That's how my father did his jitterbug.
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
He actually connected the engine to the output shaft of a 3spd. transmission then that transmissions input to the input side of an additional 3 spd. This let him increase the effective engine speed over actual output. He had both shift levers in the cab and I don't know what sequence he went thru to actually shift up thru the gears but I think you understand what he did.
 
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turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
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Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
And if you put both in reverse it actually gave a 10th ultra low forward speed.
 

CF-FZD

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Jul 4, 2016
Location
Barrie, ON
TDI
03 Jetta
Gordon, cool only truck. You may have seen my F100 project on here, mine is a 66' but I don't have a cool back story like yours. Are you just doing an engine swap or suspension as well. I did a crown vic swap on mine and it was relatively straightforward.

Mine was 3800lbs with the Ford 352FE and twin I beam. I hope mine is less then 3500 when complete with the modern suspension, ALH and Toyota 5 speed.

I look forward to seeing the progress
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
Thanks. First is the drive train. I will be pushing the engine and transmission forward to allow me to move the firewall forward. The 59 has a very short cab and I literally can't drive it the way it is. I am looking to move the firewall 10", install a new column and new seating. I am 6'6" 290# so need the space. Good luck with yours, keep in touch we can help each other.
 

r90sKirk

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Joined
Oct 21, 2003
Location
CedarTuckey, Michigan
TDI
All TDI's - No gassers! Luxo-Tourer = 13 Passat (hands down, the nicest car we've ever owned), Most fun = MK4 Golf
Gordo,

You already know I absolutely love the story behind this project and I can't think of a better guy that could make this project a reality.

(side note) , Gordy lives about 1.5 miles away from me, so I get to see/hear about any progress in a more timely fashion.

Proud to have a you as a friend Gordy, and I'll live vicariously thru you while you motor on!

Keep up the great work!

Kirk
 

dogdots

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Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Location
Kansas City
TDI
None
Both this one from Gordon and the 66 from the other thread are super cool. My father bought a new 68 F100 when I was born in late 67 and still has it. Over 700k miles through the original 360 and C6, then 240 with 3 on the tree, and when I took it over in the mid 80's I installed a rolller motor 302/AOD. I gave the truck back to my dad in the late 80's when my 62 Nova was complete with the L82, and he drove it daily until it was totalled by an idiot running a stop sign in the late 90's.

Dad ("Old Dude" to all that know him) has amassed the parts to put old blue back together and his new shop is almost finished so its finally going to happen after 20 years waiting. In the mean time I bought him a 68 Ranger with a 360 and a 2003 ALH/5 speed Jetta wagon to get around in. I also bought myself a 70 Ranger that is pristine and plan to do a refresh on it concurrent with dad's old blue resurrection.

I sure do love the classic F series trucks. I'll be watching these threads intently.
 

2many diesels

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Mar 20, 2011
Location
Nor Cal
TDI
rabbit pickup 1z swap Audi A4 Quattro ALH. 02 Beetle TDI. 99 Golf TDI. 03 Wagon TDI. 914 Porsche ALH t
Great story and cool project. Do you have any recollection of what the fuel consumption was?
Back in the 70's I worked for a company called Hone Manufacturing. We built overdrive transmissions. We had a steady clientele of guys swapping perkins and mitsubushi diesels into there pickups. The were gear bound at 55, needed a little more. Remember them telling me they would purchase diesel for 17 cents per gallon. There were some cool rigs in the group.
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
2many diesels.. I was told that that trip cost about $34.00 in fuel. The Sinclair "DINO" truckstops sold diesel for 16.9 cents per gallon. So it was about 20mpg to run that 4000 mile trip.
 
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Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
1.9zook. Yes I want to get that fuel tank out of the cab for many reasons, one being room. I can't imagine having 20 gallons of fuel in the cab with me. For that matter I wouldn't let my children ride over the cab in that camper either. Looking out that flimsy front window as we drove across the country doesn't sound safe at all but that is where we were most of the trip.
 

r90sKirk

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Oct 21, 2003
Location
CedarTuckey, Michigan
TDI
All TDI's - No gassers! Luxo-Tourer = 13 Passat (hands down, the nicest car we've ever owned), Most fun = MK4 Golf
1.9zook. Yes I want to get that fuel tank out of the cab for many reasons, one being room. I can't imagine having 20 gallons of fuel in the cab with me. For that matter I wouldn't let my children ride over the cab in that camper either. Looking out that flimsy front window as we drove across the country doesn't sound safe at all but that is where we were most of the trip.
Besides that - it might "startle the children"
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
So i have the engine and transmission figured out for the build. I decided to use the aw4 2wd transmission from a Jeep Cherokee. We have some experience with this transmission and talking to the tcm so it was an easy choice. It is a nice compact 4spd. overdrive transmission. I know they can run warm so I have a good transmission cooling system planned. The truck has allot of frontal area to use. The engine shown is just a surrogate for the final engine to allow me to build engine mounts and fit it into the bay.




So now to finish up the adapter design, clean them up and put em together.
 
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Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
The bell-housing adapter and crankshaft adapters are designed and verified. I found some data online but not all of it, I did have to take a couple parts to the CMM to get good data. The lower jeep bell housing and the tdi oil pan bolt patterns were nowhere to be found. A good friend with a CMM and an hour and we are good to go.
When i thought I was close I plotted out the adapters full scale and glued them to some cardstock for verification. I know this is not perfect but i was only looking for gross error. The template checked against the transmission and engine perfect so it is time to start programming.




The red outline in the drawing shows the alh block and bolt pattern. the white outline is the aw4. To get the aw4 starter to fit i had to rotate the engine an additional 10 degrees from the factory VW position. The extra clearance to the left of the starter is to get to the torque converter bolts at a 9.1" dia., It just makes it,. I will have a straight shot to each of the bolts prior to attaching the starter. As a side benefit rotating the engine another 10 deg. will help get the air conditioning compressor up higher and out of the way of the suspension.



Here it the final design for the bell housing adapter. I needed to start with a .750" plate of aluminum to get the spacing of the torque converter, crank shaft adapter and bell housing adapter to all work together. The plate i found was a nice piece of jig plate already qualified on both surfaces for parallelism and thickness.

The center area is completely cut thru. the middle section is stepped in .350" for bolt head clearance. I could have counter bored for each individual bolt head but thought it looked nicer to step the complete surface in. On this particular drawing i made notes of hole size to use during the cnc milling process for verification of bores and drill sizes. Now for some programming and start throwing chips.

It is great to have friends. One of my best friends owns a shop where they build machines. Not only that, he lets me play with his toys like lasers, cnc Mills, lathes, CMM's, welders, etc. This part of the job is easier that I deserve.



So here is the design of the crank shaft adapter. i was shocked and pleased to find out that the pilot hole in the alh crank is the same size as the pilot stub on the front of the aw4 torque converter. so i really just needed to adapt for the two bolt patterns and space it away from the engine to match up with the bell housing adapter. I used a nice drop of 12L14 steel to allow for some great machining. I will use socket head cap screws to bolt the adapter to the alh and standard aw4 flex plate bolts to attache the flex plate to the adapter. Correction (actually 1/2" -20 tap not 7/16" as it said on the print above.)

Stay tuned. Should have parts this week.
 
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2many diesels

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Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Location
Nor Cal
TDI
rabbit pickup 1z swap Audi A4 Quattro ALH. 02 Beetle TDI. 99 Golf TDI. 03 Wagon TDI. 914 Porsche ALH t
What are you doing for a converter? What stahl speed are you going to use.
I started a Cherokee project with a MB om617. Planned on using the AW4. I scrapped the project though due to clearance issues between the oil pan and front diff,
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
The factory converter has a stall of of 1500 to 2000 rpm. i think with the torque band of the tuned alh that should be ok. if i have any issues with it i can move to a stage 2 of about 2500 but i think that will be to high. ultimate drivability won't be known until i get it all together.

Luckily i don' have any clearance issues with my drive-train and engine. On my oil pan i am looking at using one of the pans with the steel bottom and modifying that bottom to make the sump more level. i want to keep 5 quarts of oil in the pan but not let the crankshaft splash in it. I will also probably move the pickup 10 degrees and since i reoriented the engine i will add some pan baffles to keep the oil at the pickup during acceleration or just move the pickup to the back of the pan.

The engine i have for fit-up will probably not be my final engine. I am looking at a new build with ported head, cam, rebuilding the block, bearings, rods, pistons, oil pump etc. but that may happen next winter. Once spring boating season gets to Michigan this project may sit while we enjoy the big lake.
 

nokivasara

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Jan 25, 2008
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Sweden @ Lat 61N
TDI
Tiguan 4-motion, Golf mk7
What a cool truck your dad had! I suspect he had other MacGyvery stuff going on too?
The gear box setup got me confused, wouldn't the second gear box lower the RPM of the output shaft?
Would that lead to a need for a very tall gearing on the rear axle to be able to get up to 40-50mph or whatever speeds it got up to?

Also, the more I think about the gearing the more confused I get, would 1st gear in the first gearbox and 3rd gear in the second give the same total reduction as if they were reversed, ie 3rd in first and 1st in second box?
If that's correct, pairing two 3-speed boxes gives 9 forward gears (+ the super low R+R forward gear) but 3 of them will be with the same gearing, resulting in a 6-speed box? :confused::confused::confused:

Anyway, really nice to see projects like this, especially with such a great link to your dads truck!


EDIT: Oh nevermind the rear axle gearing, if the 3rd gear is a direct drive (1:1) then selecting 3/3 will give the same ratio as only having one gearbox in 3rd gear. Of course...
 
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Nozzleman

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May 30, 2014
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About 15 miles from Venus
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2002 Ford Ranger ALH
I rode thousands of miles in the cabover section of the camper looking out as we traveled. Most fun was Florida and the endless miles bump bump on the ocean wave surface of I-10. And my sister barfing.

X2 on the Crown Vic front end. Also consider snagging the rear end. Late '04 went to 31 spline axles that don't suffer axle bearing erosion. And the width matches the track width of the front. Bonus if you get an old police car.
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
Making the adapters on the CNC mill was fun and they turned out great.




Here are a few in process pictures of milling the bell housing adapter and the final part ready to be bolted between the engine and transmission.





As you can see the adapter uses both locating sleeves in the transmission and both of the sleeves on the ALH block. Alignment should be perfect. The .75" displacement of the bell housing adapter was compensated for by the crank shaft adapter. The transmission sees the same interface as from and original 4L inline 6 Jeep. torque converter to flex plate to transmission is the same as factory.





Above is the finished crankshaft adapter bolted up to the engine.



Crankshaft adapter with flexplate bolted to ALH.
The designs have become reality.



Now to clean everything up, bolt them together and put some paint on it. Glad the weekend is coming.

Stay tuned.
 
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Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion


Engine and transmission went together great. They were both filthy so a nice clean up and paint job will keep me clean while i continue the fitting into the f100.

Here is the engine in FORD blue (as a tribute to the original) 1962 conversion. I bolted some accessories to the block to make sure i addressed them while fabricating motor mounts. They will all be cleaned up or replaced in the future.


Here it is in the truck. i am moving the engine forward as far as possible so i can move the firewall forward about 8".
The engine fits great in the frame, no problem with the original turbo position or any of the accessories.



I am using the stock vw radiator, condenser and cooling fans. There will be 2" between to cooling fans and the front of the engine.



The engine is in position and parallel to the rear axle input angle. Started working on motor mounts so hope to have them done this week.
 

turbobrick240

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Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Looking good. Nice work on the adapter plate!
 

Gordon Peterson

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Location
Rockford MI
TDI
1959 Ford F100 TDI ALH conversion
OK. TIME TO SLOW DOWN. In the process of working out the new steering box location I realized that it will not give me stable steering geometry. I guess it is now time to put the P71 Crown vic suspension under the front. As long as i am changing the front may as well update the rear as well. Time to take off the straight axle and springs and get ready for the new front end. I think it is also wise to wait on the engine mounts until I get the suspension finished.

On the positive side it will sure drive and handle better. ;)
 

greengeeker

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Feb 8, 2006
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Cambridge, MN
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2002 Jetta GLS
Here it is in the truck. i am moving the engine forward as far as possible so i can move the firewall forward about 8".
The engine fits great in the frame, no problem with the original turbo position or any of the accessories.
I should hope so! Man that is a big engine bay. For contrast....I'm working on a project with a buddy sticking a 514ci BBF into a 62 unibody.
 
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