I am putting a 24 valve cummins in my 1994 GMC K3500 crew cab, I finally got started on the swap, I started about two weeks ago, it is going to be a slower process than I would like cause I only have Saturday and a couple evenings to work on it each week. But here are some starting pics with everything getting pulled out, tonight I started bolting motor mounts in so I will have pics of those tomorrow hopefully. As far as changes made so far I have changed my mind on the transmission and I am now using a built dodge 47rh instead of the 4L80E, and I am also going to use one of frozen boosts water to air intercoolers. Other than that everything is going along good.

should make a nice ride. keep us posted

I wanted so much to do the same conversion, but ended up with another 6.5 motor in mine. The Cummins has so much more potential, but even in stock form is a great engine.

Jake

don't feel bad jake i am bring back to life a 85 suburban and i wanted to go with the 4bt. just couldn't justify it. picked up a 85 chev pu with less than 30k on a gm crate 6.5 for a grand and drove it home . just finishing up the motor work. but i am always reading and watching the cummins movement. i have a 93 dodge cummins farm pu. (body is cheapo dodge as always)

I am pretty excited to get it in there, I have an Airdog 165 I'm going to run for the fuel system then run a Quadzilla Adrenaline on it so it should crank out some pretty good power, later on maybe injectors and a turbo. I will keep this thread up to date as I go.

Been making progress, its slow only a couple hours a week, but getting there. I will have some new pics up soon. One question though, I am going to use my GM radiator and a few people say it will over cool the cummins, is this true? What do ya think?

i think it will be a no issue kind of thing most the early conversion i have seen all ran the gm radiator and as long as you run a thermostat should be just fine. if you don't mind what part of the country you in?

It will over-cool ther engine, so plan on a winter front.

I am in Idaho Falls Idaho. I was thinking a winter front also. Then if I use the bigger radiator then while towing during the summer heat it should keep the Cummins pretty cool.

Is there any transfer case guru's on here? I am trying to figure out how to keep my abs and speed sensor of the back of my transfer case, but keep the front of the dodge transfer case so it bolts up and has the right input shaft for the tranny. I have both the Dodge and GM 241 transfer cases torn apart and now I am stuck.....any help is appreciated.

if you look at my sig you will see the 96 suburban which I used my original t-case with the 47rh. I made a call to blumenthal in OK and I believe I spoke with rodney and he sent me a input shaft for my t-case but splines that fit the 47rh trans. I believe I have one bolt hole that does not line up on the trans mating surface, but has never bothered me in over 100k and that includes 4 wheel drive launches and the such. I currently have three out there running the same way with no probs to date.

That is great!!!!! I was hoping someone would have an answer for me. Can you PM me either the number for this place or more info about them so I can give them a call. Thanks so much.

I know of a guy on 4btswaps.com that made a t-case using the dodge front and chevy rear halves. Seems like he said it was a major headache though.....

why not machine a tone ring that attaches to the slip yoke and use a GM speed sensor? Josh, can you post a picture of the one I built?

No problem.
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu360/eodtommy/Chummins/VSSMount1.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu360/eodtommy/Chummins/VSSMount.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu360/eodtommy/Chummins/VSSMount2.jpg

Isn't there an ABS sensor in the transfer case too though? I am working on just trying to put the dodge input shaft in the GM transfer case, but its not working out so well.

Yes, most have the VSS tone ring in the Transfer Case. That truck is 2WD right now. I have an NP271 I'm putting an Allison input in soon.

So if I used that part that you put pics up of I would be set? Use the dodge transfer case and then just put that on the output?

So if I used that part that you put pics up of I would be set? Use the dodge transfer case and then just put that on the output?

I would assume you can do that. Check the tooth count between the GM and Dodge cases.

Remove the tone ring from the Dodge t-case. Have another tone ring machined that has the correct tooth count, 40 teeth IIRC. If the Dodge tone ring has an I.D. spline, have the teeth machined off and make a press on tone ring.

So....... screamin can you machine one of these for me?

So....... screamin can you machine one of these for me?
Sure, just need the tone ring from the Dodge transfercase.

K I am sending you a PM

Here is the latest update.....
The pics below are the new motor mounts mounted to the side of the block, then a pic of the alternator relocated to the top of the motor and the throttle cables all relocated under the intake, and a pic of the A/C compressor mounted on the motor. Also a pic of the double sided pulley that mounts to the water pump and has grooves on both sides to run the cummins stuff and the GM accessories.

Here's the pics

Everything has been going well so far, just slow moving. I have the truck and the motor all ready to go so hopefully this weekend I can get it set into place and get wiring!! Then I will get the tranny mounted up and I am still working on the transfer case but got it figured out; just building it right now. I used sound deadener on the firewall, it made it look better and should help some with the noise. I also got the Airdog plumbed to both tanks, I have just a "t" in line right now between the tanks, but I am having a valve made so that I can still switch between the tanks. Here is a photobucket link to the rest of the pics: http://s910.photobucket.com/albums/ac304/extremesounds13/

I only see one problem, take the convertor off of the motor and install it in the tranny before you mount it up. If you install it with the convertor on the motor you stand a big chance of messing up the front pump seal and possibly the front pump itself. Just givin you a heads up, good luck on the install...

Thats good to know, is there any way to do it with the TC bolted to the engine or do you have to install it in the tranny first?

Thats good to know, is there any way to do it with the TC bolted to the engine or do you have to install it in the tranny first?

Have to install it on the tranny first..... gotta spin it to make sure it engages with the pump and seats all the way.....

just to ad 2cents worth. when trans and motor are bolted together if the torque converter is seated in the front pump of trans right the torque converter will still turn with fingers . you will have a small gap between torque converter and flex plate. do not force things together.

So maybe I am over thinking this but I am getting the cummins all wired up and for the coolant temp sensor I just unscrewed the cummins sensor and installed my GM one in its place and the GM wiring of course plugs right in...simple problem solved for coolant temp sensor, I did the same thing with the oil pressure sender. But now I sit here tonight wondering if the Cummins ECM needs to see those readings, cause most of the wiring from the sensors run right into the ECM; and now I have unplugged them and put the GM sensors and wiring in there place, So does the ECM need to see the coolant temp and oil pressure?

Figured out the sensors but: Here it is guys help me out:confused013: Last night I tried to fire up my cummins conversion its a 2000 24 valve in a 1994 GMC, I primed the airdog and then cracked the #1 injector line until I got good fuel then I went to number two and got nothing and got nothing on 3,4, or 5. Then I cracked number six and it had good fuel flow, I kept bleeding the other injectors and I was working on number 3 and it all the sudden spurted fuel and the engine tried to fire, so I tightened it up and tried starting it and it fired right up, ran real smooth:shock: I was stoked so I let it run for about a minute so I could check for fuel leaks and then shut it off. I went to restart it again and had nothing, so I cracked the injector lines again and had good fuel at 1 and 6 and nothing at 2,3,4,and 5. So I spent the next four hours trying to get fuel to those injectors and never did, and the engine never tried to fire again. I tried it again this morning and same situation, any ideas????

Bad VP44?

Thats what I thought at first but after some digging through old posts and found one just like my post and someone suggested resetting the APPS sensor, so I found a link that told how to do that and the truck fired right up!!! So now I got the motor all in and wired, got all the gauges figured out, and it runs!! Now on to the tranny and t-case.

:cool:

Thats what I thought at first but after some digging through old posts and found one just like my post and someone suggested resetting the APPS sensor, so I found a link that told how to do that and the truck fired right up!!! So now I got the motor all in and wired, got all the gauges figured out, and it runs!! Now on to the tranny and t-case.

Congratulations.

cool project

Thanks guys I am getting really anxious to get finished so I can drive it, especially now that it runs!!

Sweet project. I love the Cummings engines, tons of potential.

Sweet project. I love the Cummings engines, tons of potential.

Sorry but this is a pet peeve of mine....... There's NO "G" in CUMMINS!!!!!

Sorry about that.

Awesome project looking forward to updates.

The motor is in and running, got the transmission in yesterday, hope to have the t case and drive lines done this week. I have all the factory gauges working so far(haven't got to do speedo yet till I get t case in) got the heater plumbed and working, plumbed the A/C, will have to charge it to see it it works though. I also got the power steering working and got the radiator hooked to the cummins. I also got the airdog all installed. I hope to be done soon, I will have pics up shortly.

Awesome build. I have a 1998 3500 CC single wheel I want to do this to. How about more pics! LOL.

Here is some new pics....:D

Looking pretty awesome!

No intercooler?

It just not on yet, I am going to use one from a company called frozen boost. Its a water to air inter-cooler its like 90 percent more efficient than an air to air inter-cooler and its much smaller. I just have to set in in place and plumb all the piping.

Im going to put a Cummins in my 87 dually soon. I was leaning toward a 12v, but found a running 24v truck for a decent price. How bad was the wiring? Thats bout the only reason I was leaning toward the 12V.

Well I do wiring for a living so it was a snap! Even easier than I anticipated. I had it wired and cranking over in just over and hour. I am pretty sure I could walk some one through it and make it pretty simple. I even removed the whole PCM computer system from my truck once I had the cummins up and running and all the gauges working.

Well I do wiring for a living so it was a snap! Even easier than I anticipated. I had it wired and cranking over in just over and hour. I am pretty sure I could walk some one through it and make it pretty simple. I even removed the whole PCM computer system from my truck once I had the cummins up and running and all the gauges working.

Guess Ill look into that 24v more then. Thanks

Feel free to give me a shout if you need any help on the wiring.

It just not on yet, I am going to use one from a company called frozen boost. Its a water to air inter-cooler its like 90 percent more efficient than an air to air inter-cooler and its much smaller. I just have to set in in place and plumb all the piping.


How big of a water tank are you going to have? And how are you going to keep the water cold? I want to do this conversion for towing purposes, I would think a air to air would be better for this. Looks awesome, when do think it might be done?

Feel free to give me a shout if you need any help on the wiring.

It's still going to be alil bit. Thanks

How big of a water tank are you going to have? And how are you going to keep the water cold? I want to do this conversion for towing purposes, I would think a air to air would be better for this. Looks awesome, when do think it might be done?

I did this conversion for towing purposes to and the water to air is just much more efficient at keeping the air cool, and it doesn't sit an intercooler in front of your radiator to block air flow to it, making the engine run warmer when towing. I am not sure if I can post this link here but here is the link to the frozen boost system I am using. http://www.frozenboost.com/product_info.php?cPath=216&products_id=1006&osCsid=3762803538c722c55c72fb0086a48f6c I am using a different intercooler than the one pictured cause I just wanted a straight through design.

So it has it's own rad. for the intercooler water. I still think you would need a pretty big water tank. 10-15 gal. Are you going to mount that stuff in the bed?

No I will mount the radiator and fan set up under the truck, although I do have my water meth tank in the bed, so It wouldn't be a big deal. They say with just the capacity the system holds and circulating it through the radiator and using the fan to cool it, it will stay around ambient temps without a bigger tank.

No I will mount the radiator and fan set up under the truck, although I do have my water meth tank in the bed, so It wouldn't be a big deal. They say with just the capacity the system holds and circulating it through the radiator and using the fan to cool it, it will stay around ambient temps without a bigger tank.


That's surprising that the water will stay that cold. Do you have a way of knowing what the temp of the water is, maybe some type of gauge or sensor? What are you towing? Should be nice to tow with when your done with it.

I was finally able to get some work done last night on it, got the t case in, it was work to get it in there, I had to cut a pretty big chunk out of the torsion bar cross member, that was a gnarly situation! Tomorrow I will work on the cross member and drive lines, might start working on the linkages too.

It's been forever since an update, sorry guys! Anyway the transfer case and torsion cross member ended up being the biggest pain of the whole swap, after numerous attempts with no good results I ended up putting a 4" tough country lift on the truck so I could drop the torsions and cross member to clear the transfer case and that worked sweet, just wish I would of done it a month sooner! I had custom drive lines made about 8 inches shorter on the rear and 8 longer on the front. Now I am in the process of lowering the carrier bearing cross member so there is not such a steep angle to the rear diff. I have drove the truck about ten miles so far and it seems amazing, I have been driving it then doing a few things, then drive it and do some more. I should have the truck totally done in a couple weeks. I didn't update this thread as much as I should have, I have a ton more info about the swap, I'll try to get it on here or if anyone has questions or comments let me know. Oh ya and I'll have new pics soon!!!!

Wow, you sure are going to have one hell of a truck when you are all done. Thanks for the write up and I am looking forward to seeing the completed truck.

So I am finishing some odds and ends on my truck that I did the cummins swap in and I am working on the speedometer. I removed the PCM when I did the swap cause it was not needed and everything I have done so far has worked but I hadn't done the speedo yet. Anyway I finally got the harness hooked up and plugged into the speed sensor on the back of the transfer case and when I drove the truck I have no speedo. My question is there were three wires two brown and one brown with white stripe that ran from the VSSB to the PCM would those three wires cause my speedo or VSSB not to work? Off the wiring diagrams I have from what I can tell those wires just tell the computer whats going on so I don't understand why it wouldn't work without those. Any help is appreciated Thanks.

Here is some new pics....:D


i wish i had time to read all of it but i looked threw the pictures. did you have to modify the firewall any?????

not really, just the tunnel where the bell housing sits, it just had to be hammered up about two inches, not to bad though cause I had hear horror stories about people having to just beat the piss out of there firewall to get the cummins to fit!

thanks for the quick reply i hope i get to do my swap this winter. i broke the crank in mine the begining of this month.

im jelous of this swap. Im debating about doin it with my 93 3500 but it would have a dash and everything from a 350 gas insted of diesel. where are you located at i would love to see the swap in person

Your more than welcome to come see it, but I am in Idaho Falls Idaho so it might be a bit of a drive. I need to update this thread with the completed pics, I have been driving the truck for a couple weeks now and it is sweeeeeeeet!!!

you lucky ass lol. ive been quoted 10,000 to do the swap and they supply the parts. ****in blows lol.


how much money do u have in this. and how many hours total from start to driving.

way way way to many hours!!!!! As far as doing it I think I am right around 8500 but that is with buying the engine and building the tranny! I was originally hoping to do the swap in three months it ended up taking me seven.... but most the time it was evenings and weekends, if I would of done it all the time, everyday, I think a month tops, if that, would be feasible

thanks for the info man.

bumping the thread cause I wanna see pics of the completed project :) might end up doing the same only with an older chevy body

No offense but a vp44 injected 24v cummins is nothing to get exited about, they realy don't live up to the cummins name like the 12v or the common rails do. I had a friend with a tuned up one, it was notably slower then most gas vehicles, but it did get reasonable fuel mileage. he traded it in on a duramax eventually. he got fed up after having to deal with all the typical lift pump/transmission problems they have.

good luck.

No offense but a vp44 injected 24v cummins is nothing to get exited about, they realy don't live up to the cummins name like the 12v or the common rails do. I had a friend with a tuned up one, it was notably slower then most gas vehicles, but it did get reasonable fuel mileage. he traded it in on a duramax eventually. he got fed up after having to deal with all the typical lift pump/transmission problems they have.

good luck.

Well I am excited about it, cause it is a HUGE difference over the 6.5, now that i have been driving the truck for about four months I really love it, great gas mileage and tons of power, in fact in a head to head race my buddy with his 04 duramax,(that has a programmer and about 3000 dollars in banks parts:rolleyes:) I beat him every time no matter how far the distance, and when it comes to pulling I fly by him up hill like he is in reverse!!:eek: I will never have lift pump and trans issues cause when I built the truck I used an airdog 165 and I built the tranny:D
On another note I will try and get updated pics and info up here to update the thread.

Well I am excited about it, cause it is a HUGE difference over the 6.5, now that i have been driving the truck for about four months I really love it, great gas mileage and tons of power, in fact in a head to head race my buddy with his 04 duramax,(that has a programmer and about 3000 dollars in banks parts:rolleyes:) I beat him every time no matter how far the distance, and when it comes to pulling I fly by him up hill like he is in reverse!!:eek: I will never have lift pump and trans issues cause when I built the truck I used an airdog 165 and I built the tranny:D
On another note I will try and get updated pics and info up here to update the thread.

I think its an awesome build. Now you want to put one in my avalanche? :D

Very cool. Cant wait to see! If i could have redone my build i would have a 12v in there.

what ever blows your skirt up i guess!

I think its an awesome build. Now you want to put one in my avalanche? :D

Sure I'll throw one in your avalanche, get it up here:)

Hows the pictures cumming Along?

post up some of those pictures as soon as you can, I am very curious to see how your project is

Sure I'll throw one in your avalanche, get it up here:)

Hmm, where do you live? I'll be deploying in a few months anyway.

Idaho Falls Idaho.
I am trying to get some good info put together and get some pics, its been a while since I finished it, I have been driving it for quite a while and it is awesome!!!

I'd love to see the pics. Heck, I'd love to put a diesel engine in my avalanche. I love the truck but hat that every time I think about putting a trailer on it I loose at least 5mpg.

Conversion is going to be sweet when its done! Want to see videos!

I love conversions. I admire your skills.

wow this thread has came a long way. shows people are interested in quality. hope you are enjoying your ride. my old 85 suburban is waiting for paint.

I love conversions. I admire your skills.

Thanks, are you the same jkidd from the cummins forum, I would assume so. If so I got my airdog and tunnel ram from you:D

Pics pics pics!!!!

Updates?

Do you have the cruise control working in your truck? That's the one thing I want to do with my swap, haven't gotten around to it yet. Still trying to figure it out.