1989 Suburban "V Rig" Gets Cummins Power

[Dieselwrencher]

This is a customer's of mine's truck. It used to be a City of LA Power and Water truck and is rust free. It has a 6" lift on 35's with custom diamond plate here and there. The NP205 in it let go and he had been wanting to upgrade this thing for a while. He mows lawns and is a full time fire fighter. He had a 02 F-350 7.3 DRW super duty, but sold it to get away from the Ia DOT regulations for commercial use. He sold the 350 and TH400 from this burb, and purchased a 92 Dodge for a donor. we're using the engine, transfer case, and axles from the dodge for this. We're using a 47RH and we're rebuilding it as well. Here's some pics.



Engine before pressure washing



Engine in burb for mock up





Right now I'm building the engine cross member and engine mounts. I will be using 1st gen dodge style, and using 2 per side. Let the fun begin!

[Dieselwrencher]

The start of an engine mount





I have the intercooler out being widened and the new aluminum radiator needs to have bigger inlet and outlet installed in the tanks.

[Mattman2010]

Working fast on it man! Take pictures of the mounts. I want to see how you plan on doing thr two per side. That's what you told me to do so I'd like to see how you accomplishment that!
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[v30crewcab]

Have you tried using the chevy mounts? thats whats in mine, been working great for 6 years. I've busted the square older dodge ones in my scout with a 4bt!
what happened to the 205?
looks like fun.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

Have you tried using the chevy mounts? thats whats in mine, been working great for 6 years. I've busted the square older dodge ones in my scout with a 4bt!
what happened to the 205?
looks like fun.

I doubt you'd break them if you get the poly ones. They're a lot stronger. The 205 input broke. It'll be fun when it's running again.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Mattman2010

Working fast on it man! Take pictures of the mounts. I want to see how you plan on doing thr two per side. That's what you told me to do so I'd like to see how you accomplishment that!
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I'll take pics for you. They are going to look something like this when done.

[Cherub]

man im digging that big yellow suburban.... i wish my garge would hold mine.

[Mattman2010]

Those mounts look pretty stout. Looking forward to your take on how you do it!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Mattman2010

Those mounts look pretty stout. Looking forward to your take on how you do it!

Those mounts are what I build for ford super dutys.

Here is some cross member planning. I will build this out of 1/4" steel, and it will be a boxed in unit.

[Mattman2010]

Looks like a good plan. Do you just have the motor setting on jack stands in there? It also looks like your going to have to do something with the water inlet? It looks like the frame is in the way.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Mattman2010

Looks like a good plan. Do you just have the motor setting on jack stands in there? It also looks like your going to have to do something with the water inlet? It looks like the frame is in the way.

Yes, the engine is sitting on stands, and the trans is sitting on the trans cross member. I haven't decided yet what i'm going to do for the water inlet, but yeah, it's not going to work right now.

[v30crewcab]

must have it pretty low. I'm using that same water inlet on mine.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

must have it pretty low. I'm using that same water inlet on mine.

Yep, it's real low. Trying to keep u-joint angles and center of gravity lower. I might raise the engine up a little bit so I don't have to modify that inlet, but this truck has a weird firewall to floor flange. I had to cut 1.5" out of it and weld it back together to get the engine that far back. I've never seen one like it. I wish I would have taken pics before I cut it.

[Dieselwrencher]

I brought the engine up a little bit, and have been working on the engine cross member. It shouldn't be long now.

This is what your work area will start to look like when you do one of these.










The cross member will bolt in and will be fully boxed. It is made from 1/4" steel. The brackets in the frame are 1/4" as well. I doubt it will go any where.

[Mattman2010]

Looking good. How exactly are you bolting the cross member to the frame? It looks like you have ] shapes on the end of the cross member to go around the frame [?

PS: when are you bringing a trailer and picking up me and my truck and all its parts?

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Mattman2010

Looking good. How exactly are you bolting the cross member to the frame? It looks like you have ] shapes on the end of the cross member to go around the frame [?

PS: when are you bringing a trailer and picking up me and my truck and all its parts?

Yes, I made [ pieces that the RH side slips in the frame, and on the LH side it sits on top of the frame rail flanges. These will be bolted to the frame, and then the cross member will bolt to these.

On the PS, probably when you are on 2 feet and not back on a bucket behind things with 4 legs.

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Yes, I made [ pieces that the RH side slips in the frame, and on the LH side it sits on top of the frame rail flanges. These will be bolted to the frame, and then the cross member will bolt to these.

That makes sense. I guess you moved the engine up just enough for the water inlet to be used? I just went back and looked at pictures you sent me of my motor and noticed that its water inlet goes down. so I could probably set mine down in the frame a little lower?

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

On the PS, probably when you are on 2 feet and not back on a bucket behind things with 4 legs.

... I dont even know how to respond to this.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by Mattman2010

That makes sense. I guess you moved the engine up just enough for the water inlet to be used? I just went back and looked at pictures you sent me of my motor and noticed that its water inlet goes down. so I could probably set mine down in the frame a little lower?

... I dont even know how to respond to this.

Yes you can, or you can change the inlet as well.

And

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

This is what your work area will start to look like when you do one of these.

this is what my work area looks like when i am doing something like that





try ballistic for some DOM. they will do the machining for you in house i think if you call them and tell them what you want. i almost ordered the 7/8"-18 taps for my truck but i haven't got to the steering yet and i have not decided against Hiems anyhow. i wouldnt let that drag link out on the street. that is a heavy truck with a heavy engine and there will be a lot of shear force on the relatively small weld area. not to mention that the TRE is almost bottomed and any additional force from that hitting bottom will fatigue the weld area as well as try to pull the joint apart.

[spudz]

sweet!!! I want a cummins powered chevy truck.. Seems you are ALWAYS swapping a cummins in something lol. I am gonna load up my 87 crew cab, a dodge for parts and drop off at your place... You should have it done in about 3 days seeing how fast you move lol.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by spudz

sweet!!! I want a cummins powered chevy truck.. Seems you are ALWAYS swapping a cummins in something lol. I am gonna load up my 87 crew cab, a dodge for parts and drop off at your place... You should have it done in about 3 days seeing how fast you move lol.

3 weeks, yeah, IDK about that. I tell you what, these chevys make me love the 86 up fords. The fords you don't have to build a cross member like this.

[Dieselwrencher]

I've been working on this project, and making head way. I got the LH mount tacked together, and put the radiator support back on to make sure everthing still cleared. I removed the engine, and am now drilling holes in the cross member, and welding it up. I decided to go with a single mount on each side instead of two. I recently spoke with 2 old customers that I did conversions in 93-97 K30's, and they both wished their mounts weren't so rigid. They like that it's nearly solid, but don't like the entire truck shaking at idle. So, I decided to use one per side since this truck will more than likely see over 450hp, and the owner will daily drive it.




I ran out of wire, so I couldn't finish welding it up. Next thing is to get the axles out of the donor truck and get them ready for this.

[greguw]

Looks great buddy , you may want to add a little more support to the front steering box area while the engine is out . There is a a lot of stress on those thin C channel frames .
The push pull steering dose not work very well with GM's 4x4 design ... 2wd works fine .
Looks like a nice conversion , I have the 1990 cummins build over in the Blazer / Sub section .

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by greguw

Looks great buddy , you may want to add a little more support to the front steering box area while the engine is out . There is a a lot of stress on those thin C channel frames .
The push pull steering dose not work very well with GM's 4x4 design ... 2wd works fine .
Looks like a nice conversion , I have the 1990 cummins build over in the Blazer / Sub section .

Thanks Greg. I was thinking the same thing on that area. I need to at least add a brace in there. I followed your burb build and it turned out awesome!

[greguw]

Looks great Dieselwrencher ... I used a aluminum intercooler out of a 2000 ford powerstroke , I cut and angled the inlet and outlet seems to work fine . I have seen guys use the 1st and 2nd gen intercoolers and that works fine also .