Selling my 78 ford big block beauty to start a new project. not to good on feul...

my wish or maybe my dream im not sure is to put a Duramax into a 88-98 chev crewcab. but have no idea how to get her done.

i can get my hands on a 02-03 LBY with manual trans, all electronics and whatever i may need? axels etc. from my boss's son who rolled it last year with less then 20,000 km's on it. after he rolled it he just bought a new powerstroke, but my boss bought it back from icbc. so im going to make an offer since is been sittin in his yard for 2 years untouched. what should i offer him dont want to low ball him dont wanna over pay im sure he'll give it to me cheap thou.

next question what would be the shop rate on such a conversion? i know several people who have put cummins into 88-98 chevs and has set them 4-5 thousand back in labour, but this particular shop has done of 20 of those conversions and not one duramax conversion so will probly cost more im guessing... and no one else in my area has ethier.. and i dare not attempt it myself.

and my third question being, what can this setup handle? i know lots of people who have duramaxs but they are all alison trans. and i know with chip exaust intake what not they had to upgrade there trannys with the ats packages converters etc. can the manual handle more power or less? what do i need? are there tranny packs or clutch upgrades and what not for manuals? it will be used for towing 3-4 horses up and down lots of hills and i do want plenty of power plus and exaust brake. so give me a suggested set up? propane? pumps? chips? intakes? exaust?

so any tips, ideas, tricks or other random suggestions anything to help me get an idea of what this project will atke and how much it will cost and of course just how sweet it would be hit me back please:grd:

i dunno how to help... but i think you came to the right place... i'll be keeping an eye on this... looks like an interesting project.

good luck.

http://trucktrend.com/features/tech/163_0412_duramaxpart1/index.html

thx for the link two tone 6 months.. eeee but thats building a racing machine eh? i just need a stright up conversion would it really be that much guff? cause cummins into chev few days cant be that much differance i noticed the dodge intercooler and what not but there didnt seem to be much other modification it says moter mounts and what not went extremly quick?

wasting my time or can it be done at a reasonable price?

Im really thinking about putting a duramax in mine. Or rather my 98 body onto a wrecked Duramax....

yea how hard would it be to thorw a new body on.. i dont think here is any frame damage to this d-max ethier.. more or less work then a moter swap you figure?

you probley would just jave to change some body mounts. I really want to find out with my truck, but that will have to wait a year or two

Your going to have to mod. the transmission hump on the body as the allison is way bigger and most likely the front suspension as the duramax is alot heavier then the gas motor.

I have done some swaps in the past and using the whold duramax frame etc would be great. Changing floor humps, and body mount holes is not an overwhelming task. Be sure to measure for wheelbase, though extending or shorting the frame is not out of the question. Also, explore the different length of boxes available to see if you can get the perfect combination. My ideal truck would be a '72 chev with duramax power. Style and performance!

Jay

o hell yea 72 is the nutz, few of my buddies have them best looking truck by far but... crewcab...

o hell yea 72 is the nutz, few of my buddies have them best looking truck by far but... crewcab...

We almost did that. We went out to try to find some 72 chevys for our D-max and we could not find any that were a good deal. we got side tracked from out original plan, when out Camaro race duramax wasnt gonna work out, and when we couldnt find a good 55-57 Bel Air for it. Then we found somthing better! People still think we are crazy! they keep telling us its not gonna be fast. cant wait to go out and prove them wrong! Well other people look at my truck and then look at this one and they go :eek: .


What do you guys think?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/mr.zombie/Picture1.jpg

that is gonna be so freakin cool!