Darn my car didn't come with the instrument panel. I guess i'll just run without it

Darn that'd eliminate the nice looking tach in the truck. If in the future i decide i need to know how fast the engine's going I'll do that

I asked what that sensor was to see if it was worth adding to the adapter, it's not. The adapter will be made soon, my friend is headed back to school this week and he should have time to make it soon. I found the thickness of the adapter by taking the transmission plate off the new engine and measuring from where it mounts to where the flywheel mounts. I then measured the distance from where the flywheel mounted on the old engine to where the bell housing bolted to. I then added these two measurements together. There is a cut out in the adapter for the flywheel to sit so that the transmission will sit the same distance from it as it did on the ford engine. All that's left is changing the counter bore diameters for the bolts because i just guessed on them.

I'm going to try the cone. My friend is going to measure the taper on the back of the flywheel and then mill the cast marks away so it's a nice clean taper. Then machine a ring with the flywheel bolt pattern before cutting the measured taper into the inside of the ring. I think it should work fine, but if not I'll do what you said.

How should I wire the glow plug circuit? Hook all of them to the positive end of the relay. Ground the other terminal to the engine. Run the positive wire that controls the relay to my switch and then tap into the main power with the switch? I'd like the power to the switch to be turned off when the trucks off, so how do I find where to tap into the circuit that the key is controlling?

Take your multimeter and go trolling through the back of the dash until you find a circuit that's switched hot. The radio power would be a good candidate.

This would be one way to wire it, except use an 80 amp fuse and appropriately sized wires -



I used a pretty small switch for my activation circuit so I used a little Bosch relay just to be safe...probably overkill but better safe than sorry.

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

I think I said this before but it bears repeating: do NOT use a Ford starter solenoid, use the one that looks like it but is rated for continuous usage. The most common application is for snow plow actuators but a decent parts store should have them. They're used on all sorts of industrial stuff from wheelchair lifts to hydraulic booms on service trucks - not hard to find. The actual starter ones are only meant for short bursts of use (I've heard 15 seconds but I don't know if that's accurate). That doesn't mean that if you engage it for 16 seconds it'll melt but the solution is just a couple of $$ more and all you have to do is remember to ask for it. I've had mine on Mutt from the first start up and it works perfectly and every time. There have been times that I engaged it for fairly long periods on initial start up following draining the fuel system and no problems even then.

Other than that the above diagram looks great to me! As an FYI, I asked the guys at Advance for a HD 60 amp fuse and holder and they pulled it right off the shelf. Great big honking thing and the guy at the store said that kids use 'em for car stereo power amps so they stock them. Never blown mine.

Dan

Ok cool that's basically what I was picturing. Im ptobably midunderstanding you but youused a relay to protect your switch even though the point of the switch is to control the starter solenoid/relay? Or are you saying used a Bosch relay in stead of the starter solenoid?

You probably did say that and I forgot. Oh well if it does I'll get a new one, it was $5

I wasn't sure how many amps the solenoid coil draws, so I used the switch to activate the little Bosch cube relay that turns on the Ford solenoid.

I don't disagree with Dan that a continuous duty solenoid would be better, but let the record show that my junk yard Ford solenoid has been in the car for almost 110k miles and is still going strong (and being a junk yard unit, who knows how may cycles it had before I procured it. Of course 95% of my glows are 3-5 seconds and the longest I recall doing was 25 seconds, so that probably has something to do with it. YMMV

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Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

My Ford solenoid has been in service for ~22k miles. I do carry a spare as previous experience with Ford vehicles has shown this to be good practice, but I've never needed it. During the winter, for that 5am first start of the day, I may glow for 40+ seconds and I've also just plain forgotten and left it on for several minutes more than once. So far so good.

I wonder if the much reduced amp draw of the glow plugs vs. a starter on a big V8 contributes to longer life.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

A slight addition to the diagram posted - Someone on here (sorry I can't remember who) suggested that I add a dash light in addition to the glow plugs such that it glows when the plugs are glowing. Evidently, it is not unheard of for the solenoid to fail in the "ON" position such that the plugs glow constantly. I just put a small yellow LED lamp above my push button and it's sort of reassuring to see it light up when I push the button and go out when I release it (I use a starter-style push button). That would also help 'Yoda remember to turn his off! A minor refinement but easy enough to do as you wire the system.

Dan

The duty cycle would depend on current passing through the contacts and ability of the coil to not overheat when energized.

The Ford plastic solenoid will work for a glow plug system, 80's / 90's Ford diesels use them. ( both coil terminals are brought out but it is the same form factor. )

Older Dodge diesels use a lawn tractor solenoid for the intake air heater. ( United Technologies tends to make these, see pic. )

Continuous solenoids have a steel case. Look on the Cole-Hersee or Pollak web site for these solenoids and all sorts of other industrial strength electrical goodies. They likely have a duty cycle chart for intermittent duty stuff too. Some of the intermittent duty stuff may list a duty cycle but separate current carrying capability from solenoid energized time.

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Have an indicator light, still forgot the GP's. Added a buzzer.... I don't forget now, but it's darned annoying. I should mount the indicator where it's more obvious.

I did power my indicator from the output of the solenoid, leading to the GP's, rather than the switch in the cab, for easy verification that the solenoid is actually functioning.

I know you like to be able to turn on the switch and do other things while its warming....and with 40sec glows it kind of makes sense. I use a momentary switch so it's absolutely impossible to forget....of course with typical 3-5 sec glows I don't have time to do anything else

__________________
Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

Yup, different application and different setup.

With the new place and being able to park my truck inside, and a magnetic block heater, the days of 10 deg starts without block heat should be over.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

I put in the wiring except for the fuses and switch (none of the parts stores had inline fuse holders) but how I have it turning the key off won't effect them. One of you said to tap into the radio power wire so I pulled apart the dash and found a wire that says "connect to battery, 12v". Should I splice into that one or will that wire always be live?

There's also a wire that says turn on ACC+ which I think goes to the ignition. No combination of hooking the wires to a power supply is turning on my radio