Project 67 GMC custom 6.5 turbo diesel

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by mal68ibu

Thats pretty sweet. My buddy wanted me to find a pair of old chevrolet scripted valve covers so he could cut the chevrolet out and graft it onto the drivers side valve cover for me, but that would have stretched my patience too much. I really wanted it to be chevy orange RIGHT NOW!!! I'll post more pics once I get the rest of the stuff bolted on and once I start tearing apart my truck.

Can't wait to see it!

[mal68ibu]

Ok so its getting really close to D day. I'm actually trying to drop the motor this weekend. My stud girdle kit was delayed, but they took care of me and shipped it expediated on their dime. I got my waterpump (from SSdiesel supply) bolted up, started bolting up the accessories, painted the exhaust manifolds, got a D-max clutch fan for it (from ssdiesel supply), and backed the truck into its hole and pulled the front clip. For you guys east of the Rockies this should make you jealous. I unbolted everything with a 1/4 drive, 3/8 drive ratchet, hand wrenches, and a screwdriver. Had the bumper and clip off it in about an hour, to hour and a half. So the engine with everything on it needs to be sold. The power brake system needs to be sold and I need to pull the entire heater out of the truck. I'll cut a peice to cover and bolt up to the firewall to cover the heater holes, I'll install a cable driven throttle, and intall a full hydroboost system for the brakes. So here's the pics.

[67_C-30]

Subscribed! When I get back from vacation, I'm going to be putting mine in. It is on the stand, assembled and ready to put in. I've pretty decided to intercool mine as well to help with towing, so I'll have to plumb that also.

[67_C-30]

What are your plans for the radiator?

[mal68ibu]

I'm going to run a stock 4 core and see how that does. I'm going to run an external oil cooler, that I grabbed from the 93 donor truck. I was thinking about pulling the stone guard out and and building an air scoop so that it pushes air up, that way I can lay the trans and engine oil coolers down flat, and blow air UP through them, as the intercooler is going to take up some real estate behind the grill.

[jimmydean]

Awesome color, I was looking to paint my 6.2L classic orange as well. I should have my motor on the stand on Saturday with any luck.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by mal68ibu

I'm going to run a stock 4 core and see how that does. I'm going to run an external oil cooler, that I grabbed from the 93 donor truck. I was thinking about pulling the stone guard out and and building an air scoop so that it pushes air up, that way I can lay the trans and engine oil coolers down flat, and blow air UP through them, as the intercooler is going to take up some real estate behind the grill.

I was thinking of trying the same, but I'm not sure its going to be enough while towing. I have new radaitor for a 82-87 Diesel C30, but it will take a lot of fabrication to the radiator support to make it fit. I've had several trucks ith the engines, and they end to get warm towing. Your '97 - up cooling upgrades and d-max fan may be enough to make it work though. I may have to do that to mine also.

[mal68ibu]

Yesterday sucked! The easiest thing I did was strip the engine, trans, heater, and vac brakes from the truck. After that it was down hill. I got the main girdle kit and instead of receiving 6 12MM arp washers, I got 4 and 2 10MM arp washers. Needless to say those things are hard as hell, so 2 hours and 4 drill bits later, I had an extra pair of 12MM washers. I would have just waited for them to send me the right crap but I'm trying to get the engine and trans in the truck Saturday. So waiting for the extra stuff to come down from Canada was not an option. Does anyone need this 350? It comes with everything attached to it except the wiring harness, and trans!!!! I even have a set of headers and exhaust systme that I'm no longer in need of. Friday I'll be yanking the original throttle out of the truck and blowing some new holes in the firewall for the cable throttle, bolting up the oil pan, and exhaust manifolds and getting ready to drop the drive train back in.

[mal68ibu]

Ok so people have aparantly found some money they couldnt spend on vacation but could on ebay because I got really busy again, and this project took a back seat. The engine has been "sitting" in its new home for about 2 weeks or so now. I found the factory small block towers and small block mounts were not going to work. I swiped a pair of towers and mounts from a 73-87 truck and those are really close. I have to hack up the frame to make the engine sit down in the cradle but f'it I'm going to weld the towers to the frame and x-member anyways. I figure if this doesnt work out I'm going to have a fit and part the truck out. With the procedes from that I can put a pretty nice big block in my chevelle. Anyways this is where I'm at and just as soon as things start to go my way again I'm sure I'll put a smile back on. Looks kinda neat sitting there tho.

[67_C-30]

What was keep the small block towers and mounts from working?

[mal68ibu]

Manufactured some free time this week to cut and grind what needed to be (and then some) and get the engine nestled into its new home. Sorta. Everything is marked and the engine is resting there, but I need to pull it back out and have the towers welded down. I'll detail pics of my ugly cutting/hacking job on the frame and after everything is welded in and what I had to clearance on the th400 and maybe the frame to get the crossover tube to fit. Factory heat shields are a definate no-no on this project. No room for the studs or the tin. Hopefully I'll have the 6.5 in its final resting place pretty soon. Pics to follow.

[67_C-30]

Thanks! I appreciate the heads up on the SBC mounts. I'll post better pics when I get it back in, but the BBC mounts put raise it enough that the heatshields and would actually fit. I have the studded manifold bolts, and they are nearly an inch away from the frame. Your mounts may be stronger. How will the 67-71 mount hold up? - that may be another story. We'll see...

[mal68ibu]

Ok so its been a damn long while since I've posted some updates. Engine and trans are finally mounted in their final resting place. I have my intercooler and piping kit in hand, and the core bolted back to the front so I can mock up mounts and create some new holes for pipes. I started playing around with exhaust ideas and come to the conclusion that i'm going to have to modify the 93 down tube and run on the outside of the frame rail. This will force me to cut my inner fender and fab up somthing to fill the hole if necissary. I also have the hydro boost bolted up and only have a few issues to clear up there. I also need to determine if I need to shave my duramax fan as its damn close to the very front x-member on the frame, or shave the x-member. So far things have started moving along again and my buddy thinks we should be ready to fire it up in a few weeks to make sure the engine runs. I'm thinking that if we fire it in January, I'm doing good. I should have some new pics of engine mounts, hydroboost and other up soon.

[Spray-Bomb]

I would shave my X-member before I even touched that fan

Hope it all goes well

I noticed that you used studs to bolt your head down, thats a really good upgrade on these things
That with the intercooler & the 97 cooling system, should make this thing a pretty darn good engine & last a while

BTW, love the VW bus

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by mal68ibu

Ok so its been a damn long while since I've posted some updates. Engine and trans are finally mounted in their final resting place. I have my intercooler and piping kit in hand, and the core bolted back to the front so I can mock up mounts and create some new holes for pipes. I started playing around with exhaust ideas and come to the conclusion that i'm going to have to modify the 93 down tube and run on the outside of the frame rail. This will force me to cut my inner fender and fab up somthing to fill the hole if necissary. I also have the hydro boost bolted up and only have a few issues to clear up there. I also need to determine if I need to shave my duramax fan as its damn close to the very front x-member on the frame, or shave the x-member. So far things have started moving along again and my buddy thinks we should be ready to fire it up in a few weeks to make sure the engine runs. I'm thinking that if we fire it in January, I'm doing good. I should have some new pics of engine mounts, hydroboost and other up soon.

Yeah, I figured out that exhaust problem myself! I did give me a good excuse to fab up a full 4" exhaust system!

[thirdstreettito]

Updates?

[mal68ibu]

So I've put together consecutive weeks of working on this thing. One day a week totally devoted to getting this on the road.............so I don't get frustrated with the project, and ebay it one part at a time. So I got the core all hacked up for the intercooler last week and make up some brackets for it. This week I installed the intercooler. We fabbed up some pipes for it and piped the whole thing out. Heres some pics.

[mal68ibu]

Two more.

[Spray-Bomb]

Sweet

[Hart_Rod]

Way cool......!

[Skirkpat]

Pretty Nice.

[Ackattack]

nice build. Gives me some good info for when I do my diesel swap.

I'm planning on a 'burb with a diesel after I get my 68 swb done.

[mal68ibu]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

nice build. Gives me some good info for when I do my diesel swap.

I'm planning on a 'burb with a diesel after I get my 68 swb done.

LOL I'm rushing this so that I can take my 71 burb out of service. I'm over not having a pick up bed. I seriously considered cutting the roof off a few weeks ago. But cooler heads prevailed.

[mal68ibu]

Found myself a 95 3500HD with a 3 year old 6.5 and a one year old auto in it yesterday. Dirt cheap. I need a new money tree so I can put the extra 3/4 ton cab and title I have on that frame, or hack up my suburban and make me a crew cab. I wonder if the CHP would give me hell for swapping most of the body, tags and pink onto that frame and keeping it registered as a passenger car? That would be cheap to reg and insure. Has anyone out there figured out how to make days 48hrs long yet? My worthless 2 cents for the day......back to work.

[mal68ibu]

Today we got alot of running around and a little work done. Pushed the truck into the shop so we could fit the finished fuel tank to the bed and mark for the mounts to be welded on. The fuel tank is a 11/44 gal split. It 44 gallons of veggie oil and 11 gallons of diesel. Each side will be its own fuel system. Each side of the tank is separate and has its own sending unit witch will be controled by the fuel switch. The tank is all aluminum and doesnt weigh much or take up much space. We have the glow plug relay mounted on the firewall and have most of the wiring hooked up. We replaced alot of the original harness from an 86 6.2 with new wiring. To keep the wiring away from the exhaust and manifold I just pulled the wires down and ran a self tapper through a loop to the frame. Since I'm not running a stock heater we are going to fab up a panel for the heater control area to mount the fuel system switches. Since I'm not using the speaker grate I think I'm going to mount my gagues on top inbetween the defrost vents. I got new batteries today and I saved all the cables from the 93 donor truck to run two batteries. Yes that is a factory drivers side battery tray. So far we a really close on a concept for the "ram air" air intake box and element. We have some good ideas to run the coolant system, and parts are on the way to finish the fuels systems. Here are a few pics to inspect. I mocked up the grill just for fun so I could see how the intercooler looked behind it.
Adam