Completed 2008 Fummins swap build thread

Builds are never completed, atleast for me as I'm never happy and always changing things. But I figured I'd try to add some diesel content to this place and maybe help somebody out who's thinking about the same swap. Im far from an expert, but do all my own work with the capabilities I have. I'll do this thread in segments as my time and attention span allows. All questions, comments, criticism is more than welcome.

So I was always jonsing to do a fummins build,i could never justify a newer Cummins because I don't pull a lot but when I do it's usually heavy. And even if I had something new I'd still be tinkering with it also which Is fine, but is usually more $$$. I wanted to do an 08-10 because the interiors are updated, they have most of the creature comforts the newer trucks have, and I think they look the best. I have heard newer than a 2010 is possible to swap now but is a lot of work with the canbus, along with the 6.7s are a lot better motor so there few and far between to find for a good deal. Enough of the bs here goes.

So I was just getting ready to break ground for my shop and a 2008 showed up on marketplace with a bad knock. The timing was terrible because I was just building my shop, and I knew it would be awhile until I could start the swap but I bought it anyways as it was a Texas truck and had only been in Ohio for two years.

Here she is as I got it. Specs are 180k, lariat, 6 inch rough country lift,some sweet bro wheels, a 6.4 that ran fine but had a bad knock and a 5r110 that was supposedly just rebuilt.

So it took me a year to finish the interior of my shop by myself, but I planned to have the fummins swap as my first big project in there. Once I lifted the cab I found out the po was honest about the trans, I called the name of the company wrote on top of the bell and they sent me the work order for the trans. I ended up trading for this bad boy plus a set of snap on picks, and a large snap on metric wrench set.

Being a one man band, I really wanted an overhead I beam in the shop. I showed up to buy a 34' 10x10 5/8 web h beam for 300 bucks. The guy had a whole pile of I beams he wanted rid of and if I could fit it on my trailer, to take it them all for 300.im eternally grateful as I was now able to build my 15x36 bridge crane and once wood comes down ill have a deck over top of it for storage. I use this thing on a daily basis, it's first big job was to lift the 6.4 out which I ended up selling for 1500. The 6.4s are worth good money even with a rod knock as long as there's no holes in the block.

I bought an 01 sport 2wd gen from the original owner who meticulously mainted it for 5250 bucks. I drove it for 4-5 years and then parted it out to make some cash back for the fummins. I couldn't beleive how fast this thing was stripped down and sold, I was thinking it would take a year but I bet in less than a month 90% of it was gone. I also made a lot more on it than anticipated, not that I used it wisely of course it went into add ons for the fummins. I used the motor which had 252k on it. I had previously bought a ppump swap cheap and was waiting for a good time to use it, the time was now. The pump got sent to Seth which he turned into his stage 3,i would of used the oem cam but really wanted a mechanical fuel pump as I hear a lot of whore stories about people losing fass, or airdogs. So I went with Hamiltons 178 cam and pdd hotrod mechanical lift pump. The ford oem fuel lines are 1/2 ID all the way back to the pickup tube in the tank so I just put compression fittings on the supply and return line up by the motor and utilized the factory stainless lines.

I’m hooked! Keep the info coming, I love build threads!

Sweet. For some reason I kept thinking your Cummins / Allison was going into a Dodge

Once the cab was off and motor and frame was out shit kinda got out of hand. The og plan was to just motor/trans swap, put the factory suspension back on that all came with the truck, and drive it. Well a friend was restoring an old quad cab square body and said he just had his frame sandblasted for a cheap price. Had the guy come out and give me a quote and he was out there blasting the next day. Like I said the truck was from Texas, it was actually a TDOT truck and it's the first truck I've ever seen that the passenger seat is worn more than the drivers. It seems strange to me that a TDOT truck was ordererd as a lariat so I'm assuming it was a boss man's truck. Anyways the frame didn't really need sandblasted but the truck had been drove in Ohio during the winter so I had him do the frame and bottom of the cab.

JWhite said:

Sweet. For some reason I kept thinking your Cummins / Allison was going into a Dodge

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Spoiler alert

I used rustoleum hammered oil based enamel thinned with xylene to paint the frame and bottom of the cab. Hindsight I wished I woulda spent some more money and went acrylic enamel but sometimes you learn the hard way,this was already an extra curricular activity that I shouldn't of been spending on anyways. it's held up fine and the truck isn't drove in the salt.plus it's covered in woolwax.

I hadn't made my mind up on a transmission yet. I love my 47re for rippin around but when it comes to towing heavy the 3rd gear to OD jump sucks. I don't tow a lot but when I do it's heavy so I really wanted a 6 speed. Nobody at the time could make the 5r110 work well behind the Cummins from what I had read, they could make it good for either towing, daily driving, or spirited driving but not all of the above. (now there are a bunch of guys that claim they made the 5r110 work well) So I found a deal on a compete ZF6 swap out of an 08 Superduty for 1500. There's a guy by the name of Mike Fuchs on Facebook that makes adapter plates and that's who I went with for the transmission adapter plate. You use a nv5600 flywheel and bore out the center for a ZF6 pilot bearing which is straight beef compared to the wittle nv5600 needle bearing. The ZF6 altogether is straight beef. I think there the most underrated manual out there which worked out great for me because there cheap.but the internals are all huge, and they have an oil pump for cooling. What makes the nv5600 so sought after is beyond me compared to the zf6. Anyways being straight beef means it doesn't fit well, the ZF6 trucks actually came with a bigger floorboard than the 5r110 trucks. Luckily I cut the one out of the swap truck I got mine from. Even with that bigger doghouse though the downpipe has about half a **** hair on each side of it. And boy is it a bitch to stab by yourself. Anyways I went with the cheapest ceramic clutch rock auto had for sale, it was made by Sachs and I swear I think it was like 100 bucks lmao.but honestly with a 62 phatshaft, Seth's stage 3 and westons 6x13s I never got it to slip. Never got it to slip taking off either, what a pain in the ass driving in traffic with.I never go cheap but I figured I'd give it a shot and I really didn't want a slow shifting dual disc that cost a shit load. Plus I had 6 speed auto plans for the next winter project

Double hoist came in clutch for setting my angle on the engine. I now have a festoon with a 1 ton main and 800ib auxiliary that are both electric so no more dragging a cord around or using the chain fall. These motor mounts I made up are just mockup stuff but they were pretty simple to make and came out good,i re used the ford isolators. It's amazing how well these motors fit in the ford's. I have enough room to put my whole first inbetween the back side of the head and the cab, the valve cover pulls off without fighting the firewall, and I have tons of room inbetween the fan and radiator.

:clap:I am drooling over this setup! Awesome project and great attention to detail. I wish I had the time to do another swap and do it to the level of yours. Your truck with a dually rear end and flatbed would be perfect for my needs. Great job! :clap:

On the topic of trans tunnels, I helped a friend swap his 7.3 from auto to manual about 10 years ago and I was very surprised Ford made two different sized tunnels.

Very nice!! Keep the information and pictures coming!

Meyers Farms said:

:clap:I am drooling over this setup! Awesome project and great attention to detail. I wish I had the time to do another swap and do it to the level of yours. Your truck with a dually rear end and flatbed would be perfect for my needs. Great job! :clap:

On the topic of trans tunnels, I helped a friend swap his 7.3 from auto to manual about 10 years ago and I was very surprised Ford made two different sized tunnels.

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Appreciate the kind words, yeah I never would've guessed they put two differant ones either. But buddy let me tell ya the zf6 ain't going in without it lol.

So I ended up going with Seth's stage 3 pump. I made my own ppump/to block bracket up as when I bought the swap it didn't come with it. I also made my own bracket it up that let's you bolt the 24v throttle assembly up to the ppump so that you can utilize the 24v throttle cable and return spring. I know there is some places that make them but it wasn't exactly what I wanted and this came out pretty good for what I had in the shop equipment wise at the time. FYI if I didn't have this donor truck I would have went common rail,and still may someday. I thought at the time it would be cheaper to go this route but in the long run I don't really think it was at all considering the cost of the ppump swap, plus having Seth build it etc etc. It all adds up quick.

Motor going in for good now, I ended up going with the Keating tappet cover since I would lose my timing case breather from the ppump swap. The jury is still out in it, it has loosened up a couple of times on me and I loose a lot more oil out of my blowby tube than I care for. The trucks got the factory suspension back under it, why it has the funny car stance idk. I just put the oem blocks back under it originally. I had to pull the blocks so the springs are sitting on the axle itself and add a 2.5 leveling kit up front to get it to sit level.

Is that a atlas hoist? What's its weight rating l and how do you like it?

Nice clean build so far. To bad it's taking so long to get done. oke:

Cowboys4Christ said:

Is that a atlas hoist? What's its weight rating l and how do you like it?

Nice clean build so far. To bad it's taking so long to get done. oke:

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Yeah atlas 10k,i wanna say the model is pv10? Ive used it a lot and really like it, only complaint is I wish it went a couple of inches higher but in order to get that from atlas you have to run the cables on the floor and have that cover plate over them,ive worked on lifts like that and they're a real pain to use a trans jack on etc. 99 percent of the time it goes high enough for me and I'm 6'1. Lol sorry, been busy. I'll add some now

This kinda gives you an idea on how much room is in the engine bay. Im running one battery thats just standard size and I mounted it on the frame rail so I have even more room. I have the timing set at 26 on this thing and she does get cranky starting below 40 but I've never had an issue getting it to start yet.Twins are the goal one day but I'm waiting until I have a tig. The ford intercooler piping works fine it just needs modified, use 023 wire if you have it. 035 takes more heat than the thin pipe will handle. I had to use a intake horn off a industrial Cummins assuming it was out of a schoolbus, luckily we have a huge semi wrecking yard about 5 mins from the house that has all kinds of goods like that.

I found this fan hub on rockauto, don't remember the part number but I can look it up. The 01 Cummins is on the right and new on the left obviously. This will gain you some clearance if you need it instead of buying the high priced first gen clutch bracket. I used the 6.4 downpipe and modified it to fit, it has to be perfect with the zf6 or your gonna hear it rubbing. Here's the ford pedal I modified to pull the 24v cable for the ppump. Not the prettiest thing ever but it's under the dash and I'm running out of patience at this point. The goal was to get this thing on the road by the time the salt was washed off and were getting close.