My friend has a 1st gen 12 valve cummins and was wondering if he could convert a 1500 into a diesel. he has the motor and trans and wondered how much work it would involve and if it would be worth it? I figured maybe a new computer but what else? I dont know if this is in the right forum or not but just wanting some suggestions. thanks

 

What year truck does he want to put the diesel into?

 

4BT all the way.

 

a 2nd gen. idk what exact year body style like mine tho. What is 4bt?

 

its a smaller cummins, 4 banger i think, put it in and do a couple little mods and it will haul some ***, not a lot of horse power but a sh** load of torque and you can get up to 25mpg or a lil more, at least in a first gen dakota not sure about the ram

 

Cummins 12V engines where known as 6bt's there is a very similar 4 cylinder version known as the 4bt. The advantage of the 4bt is that it is "only" about 750 lbs so the front suspension does not have to be as heavy duty. It also produced less torque than the 6bt so the drive train does not need to be as heavy duty. Suggesting the 4bt was pointless as the guy already has a 6bt.

What year is the truck that he wants to but the 6bt into?

Is the 6bt aftercooled?

What tranny does the 6bt have with it? A727, A518, or Getrag?

 

I will have to find all this out from him. So what are we looking at getting in to? Aside switching motor and trans out? computer? rear end? possibly front suspension? any thing else?

 

Answer my questions and I can go into it further. You may not need to swap trannies. You will have lots of electrical issues if the truck is 98 or newer.

Front suspension will need to be upgraded to handle the weight.

Your friend does know that the 1st gen VE pumped Cummins will not make power like the P7100 pumped engines right? They are only rated at 160 hp and 400 lb-ft from the factory.

 

A 12 Valve would not be very good idea if you dont like chasing down electrical gremlins. Just the thought of getting it to run using the PCM and all that crap is crazy.

I've always dreamed of putting a 4BT in a S-10. For some reason, I think that is cool.

 

I just found out the donor truck is a late 80's 88 or 89. we have a whole truck to take the parts off of. so we just need to know what we need to transfer. only problem is the diesel is a 2wd and 1500 is 4wd. I heard that the diesel will bolt up to a 360 transmission so I was thinking maybe a PATC behind it if I couldnt use the original trans out of the diesel.