I have a 1997 3500 hd dump truck. a couple of weeks ago the engine let loose. I have been looking for a replacement online I found a 1995 g body van with trany problems . It has a 6.5 and the owner claims 88k It is about a 12 hr drive one way. Will this engine work? It is $1350 for the whole van and seems like a good deel to me. what do you guys think?

The long block from the van will work. The van has a completely different turbo set-up which I wouldn't use in a pickup. The center mounted turbo is a real pain and requires more room than you probably have available.

What kind of shape is the van engine in? I would go for it, as long as it doesn't use much oil or ANY water. Realize of course that it will probably need injectors. This is a good time to do that job too. I'd also replace all of the glow plugs, if you budget allows.

Jake

Pay another member here $50 or something to go do the health tests on the engine before you commit to the effort of driving 12 hours each way (plus presumably a trailer, etc etc) to go get it.

And yes, I agree, replacing injectors and glows makes total sense when the engine is out, so budget that in. It isn't going to ever get easier then when the engine is on a stand.

Is your engine rebuildable? I took my engine out myself and total cost to rebuild it at the machine shop was $1500. I took it upon myself to buy new heads, rebuilt injectors, new glow plugs etc so the cost went up but like I said only $1500 for the rebuild and of course I only needed new pistons. The machine shop reused my crank, cam, and roller lifters... and installed .030 over pistons.

Just out of curiosity, what happened to it that it only needed pistons?

I bought it with blown head gasket and it sat approx. 5 years and cylinder 7 filled with antifreeze and was all pitted to hell and the valves were toast for that cylinder. It only needed pistons due to needing .030 pistons to clean up the cylinder pitting. Engine only had 40,000 miles on it hence the good bottom end. The machine shop just polished the crank and cam and installed new bearings and timing chain and oil pump etc. and she was good to go (I hope since i haven't fired her up yet).

hi a g van engine will not work unless you swap the cyl heads drill &tap the turbo oil & drain block the cyl heads have a diff intake bolt angle the turbo is bolted to the block

hi a g van engine will not work unless you swap the cyl heads drill &tap the turbo oil & drain block the cyl heads have a diff intake bolt angle the turbo is bolted to the block

a van engine only has different intake bolt angles on the heads if it is a turbo motor, the non turbo engine uses the same heads as a turbo truck but has non turbo precups, the turbo oil is already in the block just need to remove the plug, and the drain is just a cover that gets swapped.

I'm doing the same thing your looking at doing if you need any input or pictures just send me a private message.

Chris