Just bought my cummins donor vehicle

[gwbaker]

Pictures of progress this weekend, I promise

[outofcontrol]

I have been waiting for this for 2yrs now. so much talk, and someone is actually going to do it. I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Take too many pictures. Every time I do a project like this I always end up not having enough pictures. I have about 200 questions, but here's just a few:

1.Are you in Virginia? Why did you go all the way to Phx for tranny work? Something special?
2.What aftermarket Tq converter are you using?
3.Did you rebuild the donor motor? How many miles? How much?
4.Are you going to turn up the power on the motor? (1991= 190hp?)
5.Do you have a gas genset? What are the plans there?
6.Are you using the old power steering/brake booster set up?
7.Do you have ideas for cruise control?
8.Where are you going to put the cold air charge cooler (intercooler)?
9.Are the gauges on the dash going to work?
10.Have you fitted the doghouse yet? Any clearance issues so far?

That's only 10 questions, but it will get me started.

take your time answering me, I hope you have time to entertain us all, but I'm sure there's a ton of fans of what you're doing.

-Kevin

[JimGolden]

Really cool project. But, I have one of the same questions as Kevin. Do you think the '91 Cummins will have enough power as-is? Or are you going to hot rod it? My dad has a '99 Ram with the Cummins. I think his is rated at like 215 or 230hp or so with about 420 ft-lbs. He's pulling a Holiday Rambler 5er and it's not powerful enough. My '04 has 305hp and 555 ft-lbs and it's a night and day difference. Are you going to upgrade the turbo? I know you can do a lot to those Cummins to really ramp them up. A friend of mine has a 12V engine in his '99, but he's modified it and is making about the same power as my newer 24v one. And he didn't get radical. Just curious. That's a big ol' motorhome you have. Cool project though. Keep up the great work!

[Road Ruler]

gw, sounds like a plan....sounds like fun. I have done a number of swaps in my day but never worked with a diesel.

A pal once took a cat engine out of a bulldozer and stuffed it in a Burb. It worked out and he used it to pull a large TT south for many years.

[outofcontrol]

Actually I think the 91 intercooled is powerful enough, I was just curious about the upgrades because they are so easy/tempting. He's going for plain efficiency - and the 91 is great for that. "enough power" is a subjective requirement. I drove a garbage truck for 8 years with a 92 cummins and every day it was 25-26,000 lbs gross to the dump and 55 was the max, but it would get there.
-Kevin

[JimGolden]

I was looking at "Diesel Power" magazine. I liked the '03 Cummins they featured that made 700hp and 1400 ft-lbs of torque.

That is getting close to "enough" power!

[outofcontrol]

Easily the best rag about diesels out there. I love how they do stories about older diesels too, not just about selling bolt on crap for the guy who buys a new truck every year. I read that mag cover to cover. I think 1400 ft-lbs would twist my coach like a beer can. Maybe it would do wheelies!
My only other concern about the 1st gen Cummins is the noise. my 454 is so quiet, but with some abatement and 14mpg, I could probably handle the added noise.

Can't wait to see some pictures and hear some stories! gwbaker

BTW, the last big discussion about doing this kind of swap was HERE.
-Kevin

[JimGolden]

I saw a 4-door long bed Ram in that magazine recently that was running 10 second quarter miles at over 120mph. That's pretty impressive!

How cool would it be to have the big polished silver bullet doing burnouts

[outofcontrol]

I saw a street Dodge that "looked" stock (except for the two 6" stacks coming out of the bed) doing mid 8s at Spokane Raceway last summer. When he was spooling up the motor to launch he fogged the whole area with 50ft tall plooms of black smoke shooting straight up. I had never seen anything like it. it sounded more like a plane taking off than a dragster. he had slicks on, but his stockers were in the bed of the truck.

[ScrapIrony-2]

It would probably be a lot easier to convert the gen to propane...
mike

[N2XBW]

I have a 454 in my MoHo. It does pretty well with 27' of Excella to move, but the diesel sure is an exciting idea. I'm waiting for photos and details with "baited breath"! [Wow does that smell!]
John / N2XBW in frosty Norfolk NY [N44,46.4842' / W75. 0.3357']

[gwbaker]

OK here are some pics of the 454 coming out

[gwbaker]

Cummins on the way in, had to take the head off for clearance

[vswingfield]

The cylinder bores on the Cummins look really good. Looking forward to your progress.