The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Diesel switchout

anyone ever switched a six with maybe a cummins straight six? any one no anything about it i would like to know thanks
Hudson

uuhh no but have install a few detroits and perkins diesels just got make motor mounts and beef front springs a bit to compensate for the heaver diesels.

Cummins is a great choice. I feel another "Dodge bolt" topic developing here.

my50trk
I have a 24 valve cummins in a 98 Drudge. Great motor.
Anything can be done if you set your mind to it. There was a saying in the Marines.......... "Saying you can't means you won't".
As bullfoot would tell you get your torch out and cut this and weld this to this and add this to this by cutting off "a: and moveing it to "b"......LOL
As bullfoot said... beef up the springs also to comp for the weight..... Good luck

My50trk-I'm not a diesel guy, but darn that would be COOL!! In addition to what de bullfoot and Woodhick said, one other line comes to mind..."THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CUBIC $" Best of luck if you try this. Keep us all posted.

Wannabe

I have a 91 cummins in a 72 one ton.I had to move firewall,and cut out part of the top of frame on right side for a/c compressor.I used the 5 speed with o/d and had to cut out the center of floor and welded in the section from the Dodge for the trans to clear as the Dodge trans is taller. We had a little problem with U joints hitting the floor when you hit a bump but was able to shim it up and took care of that.I used the Dr.Performance kit on the engine and it runs real strong with 20 to 21 mpg on the road. I have 75k on it now and it will put you to sleep at 70 mph on the freeway. But as you already know you can buy a new one with diesel engine for less money than you will have in this one but it's cool to drive one. Good luck

this is what happens puting in a diesel and not having to alter de firewall no problem worked for these guys
[img]http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL50/487368/650730/7292551.jpg[/img]

50, I plan on installing the 6.2 and 4sp OD trannie from my old 84 van into the 41 truck. But I am going to use a newer 3/4 ton Chevy frame. This combo in the van averaged 23.5 MPG. In the truck with a heavier frame, gears and all it won't be that good. But still a lot better than the 292 I could use. You should have plenty of power with the Cummins. Mike

my50trk

A friend of mine here swapped the 261 for a mercedes 352/366 and a 4 spd. It was done for fuel economy porpouses of course, and the guy was not likely to use the lowly and vibrant perkins 4-236/Q20B normally used in the chevy pickups here. Well, I used this car a lot with him( a brazilian built suburban, named Veraneio) the performance was astonishing, the truck was really fast, the near 200horses engine is about the same size of a Cummins B - 5.9l, smaller than the **** 6600 L6 diesel, a li'l bigger than a Perkins 6-354/357/358. The car also got a li'l nose heavy, but some stiffer springs held it pretty well.
Just to give You a fair idea, it did 0-60 below 10sec, around 16.5sec 1/4 mile, topped 120mph.
Milleage around 18mpg. The engine used a turbo.

the 6 cylinder turbo perkins that came in the bale retrever wagons was a peppy critter and not that heavy fit good in the 55 studebaker 3/4 ton pickup looked el natraual that i did for a farmer freind of mine

Bullfoot,

What 6 turbo perkins is this? Here we use to have the 6-340(well kwon for it's long long timing chain), the 6-354, many imported from canada, and this model always came with a bronze timing gear, and the later 6-357 and 6-358 models. Equipped the chevy trucks here for a while. Not heavy by diesel standards, somewhat smaller than its competitors, but somewhat famous for breaking crankshafts.

heres a e-mail i just sent to my50trk

hiya hudson
manomano yer makin me work de 2 usable brain cells i got left lol.

and it waz at least 20 years ago on the last perkins 6 i installed in the ol studebaker pickup.

but it was a clean installation humm i thinks the perkins 6 turbo engine and 4 spd trans combo waz out of a "New Holland" bale retrever wagon it bought out of a farm equipment salvage yard in phoenix az check on your local new holland farm equipment dealers pick there brains make them demo a perkins powered bale wagon for you. hey fun flyin thru de hay feilds scoopin up bales of hay at full throttle.

i have installed detroits 2 stroke 3-71/4-71/53/6v-53s in pickups but i personaly would not want one in my pickup to big & heavy & bulky & noisey but had a lot of power had to keep them reved up. well i do like the 6v-53 with a turbo.

but the 4 stroke perkins was pretty smooth for a diesel. stay in touch with me and de stovebolt page bet we can work it out

e-mail me any time [email protected] i'll call around when i gets a break.
seeya bye jerry oops bullfoot in oreygun http://bullfoot.bravepages.com/

don't remember the cubes or hp or model of de perkins been too long ago and they have updated the perkins a bunch since then.

most of the crank breaking problem was caused by violent down sifting

You might want to check out this site... they have a discussion board and one of the areas is "Diesel Conversions".

Diesel Central

Also, check out this guy's pix of a John Deere 4039 in a '59 Furd half-tonner: Dan Miller\'s

My guess is that this would turn into a much more expensive proposition than you would first think. Anyone have any idea what a late model Cummins or Powerstroke goes for in a salvage yard (many $k I'm sure)?

---> Bill

they run from 1k up depends on how new and what condition they are in it will be expensive but worth it i think
Hudson

i emailed perkins and they were not much if any help in this they have no new engines that are EPA compliant dont even get me started on that

well perkins was not very helpful they have no new engines that are EPA compliant, dont even get me started there. They heve some old ones but he said they would be hard to find (oh boy) And it might be hard to find a tranny so if anone nows where to find a New Holland hay baler (bullfoot took his out of one) that the engine is salvageble in. I have been lookin and dang it is hard to find this stuff. Or for that matter any place to find used perkins with trannys or without i would like to know post here or email me @ [email protected] thanks
Hudson

Just for kicks, I did a search for a late-model Powerstroke engine from a web-based salvage yard network. The lowest I found was $4500, and the highest was $7500.

Don't know what you could get for $1000, but I would think it would be worn out. Even a core engine would bring a grand, I would think.

On a positive note, there seems to be plenty of them out there. I found two or three within a reasonably short distance of my home.

I didn't run any searches for Dodge/Cummins diesels but I suspect they are comparable to the Powerstroke.

I doubt if that included the computer(s?) and all of the wiring harness and other gizmos needed to make the diesel operate.

Plus you will need a transmission, so there is another potential big-ticket item.

You might be able to buy a wrecked truck "on the hoof", so to speak, and strip what you need and part out the rest, possibly saving some money.

Contrast that with a new big-block Chevy 502 "high torque" towing crate (gasoline) motor for about the same money as the low end salvage yard price ($4500).

You pays yer money and takes yer choice. Fun to think about, though! Good luck if you decide to tackle it.

---> Bill

Speaking of the Perkins diesels, I have driven an ex-Frito-Lay step van with a 4 cylinder Perkins (F-L buys them with Chevy 350's and then swaps them out when the 350 is worn out, keeping the Turbo 400 automatic).

Good torque but geez, that thing is slow to accelerate. On the big end, 58 mph tops. And incredibly noisy, although the van has no sound absorbing material for sure.

A six might be a better choice. I think Chrysler used to put Perkins diesels in some of their medium duty trucks back in the seventies.

Aren't Perkins diesels made in England?

---> Bill