So I'm going to be buying a 1983 W350 in the near future. 360, Four speed manual, Crew cab short box with locked Dana 60 up front and what I think is a locked Dana 70 in the rear (Someone tell me yes or no please.)

The truck has been sitting for a while, so I don't know if the 360 is going to be in the best condition when (if) I get it running.

In case it doesn't, my friend has a Cummins sitting in his back yard that has a rusted out body and a bent frame, but a running Diesel. How much work to swap the engine over?

I'm assuming that the whole fuel system will be changed over, along with motor mounts. Is the transmission bellhousing the same though? And will the Transmission be strong enough?

Thanks for the help.

 

There is a lot involved in this. I haven't done the swap myself, but there are differences in the frame and stuff between the 2 engines. The 360 block weighs somewhere around 300 pounds, the deisel is over 1000 pounds. The trannys are different, I think.

 

why would there be differences in a one-ton frame? I could see motor mounts being different.

As for the suspension, it does not move; I'm sure it'll hold another 700lbs without a problem.

 

iirc the cummins uses the big block bellhousing, so no, it's not going to bolt right up. The 4 speed is a strong tranny, so if you're running stock power levels you are probably going to be ok, but if you start throwing a lot more power at it you may need to beef it up. If your rear axle isn't a D60 then it's probably the 70.

Get the whole truck so you can steal whatever parts you need for the swap, it's the only way to do it.

 

the CUMMINS powered trucks have a 5000 LB rated FRONT AXLE!!!

GASERS HAVE A 3000LB FRONT AXLE!!!

BIG DIFFERENCE

torque from the cummins is 400 ft/lbs for the first gens. whats a stock gas for a 1st gen?

not tryin to mock yaz or be a *****, just basic physics were used when designing for the CUMMINS engine.

 

These trucks are so overbuilt that the torque difference between the 360 and a CTD isn't going to matter. Yeah, it's 150 lb-ft more, but to quote Garfield, big fat hairy deal. My ram was at 350+ lb-ft when I got rid of it, and it wasn't twisting the axles out from under it by any means.

 

I didn't know that you could get a bigger axle than a Dana 60.

Thanks for the imput guys. So right now, I'm looking at a Engine, mounts, tranny, fuel system, and some wiring, right?