Here is a quick run down on my conversion. Although the donor parts may not mean anything to you guys across the pond. I wanted my 3600 as my sole vehicle and daily driver so diesel it had to be. The engine came from a British ford Transit Van 1989. It's a 2500cc direct injection type with bosch pump fitted. You may think "ONLY 2500cc" but believe me it's plentyful. I then coupled this up to it's matching gearbox an MT75-5 speed manual. Then we shod the truck with 16 inch rims and 750 x16 tires. Which worked out to be a perfect combination for the Bison diff. The original gearbox cross member was cut out and made into a bolt in type though it was purely left in for strength as we needed to make another crossmember up to take the new gearbox also a bolt in type so as to aid gearbox removal if needed in the future. Then the Ford Transit open drive shaft was used almost completely exept for the rear u joint. The original chevy u joint was cut away (diff end) with 5 inches of shaft. Then we obtained a 4 inch diameter section of solid steel bar which was machined down at each end to provide an interference fit inside both ends of the two pieces of shaft we had, therefore acting like a bung, which was then seam welded and sent away for balancing. The Ford open drive shaft also had a centre carrying bearing which i had to make a cradle for to support it. This was a shame as if only the bearing was 10 inches further forward the bolt holes would of lined up exactly with the original. And basically that was the hard work done. Then just run a return pipe to the gas tank from the diesel pump. Get rid of the regulator as the new engine had one built in with its alternator. Run a wire from the alternator to the battery for charging. Run a wire from the igniton 'on' position to the diesel pump stop solenoid. Pretty much job done now. The result is perfect gear ratios. power delivery is spot on, and as for economy what can i say but 28 thru 32 miles per gallon. (Thats the best bit). I also had to then do a few electrical modifications so as to make the 6 volt fuel gauge work on a 12 volt system. This was horrifying, it cost me 53 cents for a voltage reducer for the gas gauge from the local auto electrical store. A bit fiddley to solder the wires to the legs but well worth the effort. And then the usual wire wound resistor to reduce the voltage to the heater motor $6.23.
So there it is guys just a brief run down on my conversion. The only thing that has proven a negative with this conversion is that i now need to do a little soundproofing in the cab. But at that mileage per gallon whats a bit of noise (lol).
Hope you enjoyed reading my experience. Any questions feel free to ask.
Best wishes from the UK, and thanks for a wonderful website.
Kind regards to all,
Tim
