1971 K5 gets an oil burner

[Bino]

Motor Swap:
Linky

When I get around to doing the bodywork and such I'll post all of that in this forum...

[OldCreek]

Nice.

What do you think about your gearing ratio with that 4bt?

[Bino]

I actually think it's perfect. Very drivable in town, gives a good cruising RPM at freeway speeds, and I still have the granny low 1st that I could use, I always just start in 2nd. The stock turbo does not spool very well off the bottom end, it needs a smaller turbine outlet and I think it would be very ideal. Granted, I have a completely different turbo that will solve that problem, but just a smaller outlet exhaust housing would do the trick.

Overall I'm very impressed with the setup. I don't have the intercooler on it at the moment so it's probably around 110hp, 325ft-lbs. It's very nice to drive, I doubt it's any slower than the 350 I yanked out of it... well... maybe a little on the top end

[OldCreek]

Originally Posted by Bino

Motor Swap:
Linky

When I get around to doing the bodywork and such I'll post all of that in this forum...

There are plenty of body work threads....I like seeing the actual conversion stuff!!! (I've got a 6bt in the works, myself!)

Is that an o.d. transmission? And, why did you choose that set up? What did it take to bolt it to the 4bt, i.e. adapter?

[Bino]

Yes, the ZF is an OD transmission. Basically the same thing as an NV4500, but made by ZF for Ford. This is effectively the same transmission that is run behind the Navistar Powerstrokes. The only difference being, mine was found behind a small block gas motor, so therefore it has a small block Ford bell housing, instead of the big block bell housing as would be used behind the 460 and the Powerstroke. But otherwise, my understanding is everything else is basically the same.

So, the reason I went with this setup. The 4BT in the bread vans came with basically a Ford adapter, or a GM adapter. For whatever reason, the GM adapters cock the motor to one side by like 10 degrees. I didn't want to go to all the trouble of doing a conversion, and have the motor sitting off to one side by some odd angle. Also, I'd read that the NV4500 has composite syncro's, which make them less than ideal for use in a diesel application. There are tons of upgrades for the NV4500 to make it a happy diesel transmission... but I don't want to drop $5K on a diesel prepped NV4500... I bought my ZF used for $600. Granted, the 4BT would probably not have grenaded an NV4500, but that gets back to the angled adapter thing. The Ford adapters leave the motor perfectly vertical relative to the transmission.

You can purchase a straight GM adapter for around $800, not including flywheel, starter, etc. I purchased all my necessary Ford adapters for $500 with starter, flywheel, etc.

Now... I'm totally NOT a blue-oval guy. So I justify my transmission by pointing out that ZF is the manufacturer that GM currently uses for the 6spd found behind the Duramax...

So, a 4BT is identical to a 6BT minus 2 cylinders. So whatever adapters work for a 4BT also work for a 6BT, same for the front dress. You might check 4btswaps classifieds if you're looking for some adapters. There's always some For Sale.

[OldCreek]

Cool. I wasn't aware there were ford tranny's/adapters behind the 4bt. Maybe I did but wasn't listening... I am a member of 4btswaps, also.
I'm sticking to an auto tranny...still making up my mind of a 4l80e, 47rh, or... I would prefer to keep a np205 out back but might consider an atlas. Paying for adapters bugs me.

[Bino]

Well... the other nice kicker is that I sold my GM adapters for $500... So I basically traded my adapters straight across (but to different people)...

[Jtrux]

That's awesome, I really appreciate that kind of custom work, good job.