71 chevy swap

Hey all, wondering what the difficulty would be to swap a cummuins 4bt into a 71 shortbed chevy. My father in law might be ditching his and I smell a project! I can imagine the mileage I could get from that set up and still look cool doing it:rockwoot: What would be the major difficulty in getting this done? I think motor and tranny mount.....any input would be great seeing as I have never tackled a swap before, but there is a first time for everything:evil

the 6 cylinder would be way cooler, thats my future project truck, im unsure on 4x4 or 2x4 though.

Other than the engine mounts, you can purchase every part needed "Off the shelf". Should be a very easy one as swaps go.

Yeah I thought about the 6er but for now the 4 would be cheaper. Hey, you guys know what tranny they run behind those things, or do they have adapters to run 727 or later 47 or 48re?

Most of the time the 6bta is cheaper tobuy and find.I have a 93 5.9 in my 72 chevy and don.t have all that much in it and getting great mpg have a NV4500 Lightduty and 3.08 rear gears.My is 2wd
Dale

you can run the th400 like the bread trucks did. the 4bt isn't that bad b/c if the truck is a 2wd the biggest hurdle is the front crossmember clearing the trans pan. w/ the 4bt you shoudl clear it no problem.

I didn't have any trouble with the front crossmemberI had the 400 and a nash overdrive in it for a while my wife like driving the truck alot better with the Auto in itI might some day have it rebuilt and put it back in for her(maybe)I like the stick better.

Dale

Hey dale, could I see some pics of your 72? What kind of mileage are you seeing?

2wpuller said:

I didn't have any trouble with the front crossmemberI had the 400 and a nash overdrive in it for a while my wife like driving the truck alot better with the Auto in itI might some day have it rebuilt and put it back in for her(maybe)I like the stick better.

Dale

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really? got any pics? i have a buddy that is putting one in his 68 panel truck and i've seen people have had problems w/ that x member.

Go to the 2nd page of Diesel Converions and it is the 12 thread down pic are there.
fuel pmg I run of of a TomTom GPS I was cheaper for wright now to have a speedo and odomitor last week my wive drove it to work intown all week on the week end we took it to St.Louis got back and topped the tank off put in 5.2 gallons that was from a week ago friday to this saturday. that milage came out too be 28.3 there was only 112.7 miles hwy 35.09Running in ton and litting (GG) warm up.
Dale

nice! very clean. what did you use for motor mounts?

Was there any angle issue when trying to get the motor in ie, stock motor mount location or tilting it to make it fit. I assume you picked the earlier 5.9 due to less wiring to worry about.

I picked the 93 motor only because that is what we had laying around at the time.The P pump motors only need 3 wires if you use a cable for the fuel pump shut off you don't need any to run the motor.The first gen. motor mounts are the easest to adapt to close to the chevy mounts had to build perches off the crossmember.Had to flaten the cab seam in the trany tunnel so we could raise the tail shaft up to get the rite angle.It was tight to get it in but after she fell in position had good clerance from the oilpan and the crossmember took a peice of board 1"thick put between the oilpan and member let it rest on the board motor was level made the mount on the crossmember and took out the board setled down alittle was just rite.I have about 3/4 to 1" of clerance between the fan and the radiator.I want to get some pictures of the underneath so I can post them it would be alot easer than typing.I did take out the crossmember that is under the bellhousing.The radiator is the stock one for the truck and in the factory location.As you can see by the pictures that I didn't do any butchering to the heater box.

Dale

Yeah man, the pics look great and besides the noise of the diesel it would be a total sleeper! You cant beat that mileage that you are getting to! Could you explain a little more about the fuel pump cable shut off, not sure what that is about. Thanks.

You can replace the fuel selinoid on the P pump with a pull cable to kill the fuel and there is a lever on the VE pump you can put one also if the selonoid goes out.the truck seems to pull harder with the 3.08 gears.

Dale