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c-6 swap possibilities?

Ron17571

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Location
arizona
I am curious if any smaller diesel(4 cylinders) has been adapted to work with a c-6 transmission? I really don't want to swap in any stick shifts, my knees are not what they used to be. My 460 while very powerful is just not going to cut it into the future. My truck is a 4wd also. No, I don't want to buy another truck. Any help is appreciated.
 
Welcome Ron!
If you list your truck in the signature line, it helps for all the future posts and questions.
I don’t remember off hand, but have a cousin in Utah that did his f250. I will try contacting him and let you know but he usually takes a couple days to get back to me, or anyone for that matter. If we could still have beepers, thats what he’d use. Haha

What power range Are you after? What uses? Put put trail rigs are easier, freeway driving needs more and towing a hig honkin boat/rv is a whole nother level.

The new 4 cyl cummins comes to mind, but so does an empty wallet- haha
 
I’m sure you could get a adapter plate made for the bell housing for any engine that you decide to go with. I don’t know how expensive that would be but it is a option for you
 
I tried listing my truck info in the signature line. Not sure if it worked. I have looked and no adapter plate for mounting anything to a c-6 so far. Maybe a larger ford diesel would be the easier swap.
 
Spoke to my cousin. He used a caterpillar engine and custom made an adapter plate. Said it was 160 hp and 350 torque. Turned out to be just to weak. He tried bigger turbo and more fuel, when it blew up shortly after, he just went 6.9 idi with a moderate turbo and db2 with wmi and making his own fuel to make it cheap to run.
Sorry no good results there for ya.

Yes the signature line worked:)
 
Keep the 460. It's cheap, (Gas cheaper than diesel) you can't beat the "howl" from it and the truck is set up for it: Literally KISS. Time to wring some power out of the 460 and there are many ways to do so for far less coin than a diesel swap will cost. Then you can spend some serious cash to get power out of a diesel.

DB2 oh, that's a pocket change $1200.00 injection pump. Followed by a $550 set of injectors. Followed by another diesel engine the DB2's failure took out completely. Yeah SCRAP METAL not a core... Anything happens with a diesel it's usually catastrophic and very expensive to recover from. Adding power to a diesel can better the odds to give you shrapnel impacted into the pavement aka hot oily scrap metal that used to be and may no longer resemble an engine. Sure your odds are better than ours with Ford IDI offering, but, surplus military engines give us a cost advantage...

So you got to get a diesel engine $, get all the adapters $, make it all play nice $time$, realize the transmission really isn't going to fing take diesel torque on what the 3rd $$rebuild$$, and when you are retired some point a shop working on Frankenstein is a problem for your limited income after your health won't let you turn your own wrenches. Fun things like all the hose clamps (16 on injectors alone) leaking on AZ heat dry rot hoses, swapping fuel filters, priming the fuel system after running out of fuel are high of the list of s#it retired people don't want to fk with anymore. Especially retired equipment fleet managers/mechanics that no longer own a specific hot rod 6.5TD burb.

Hope this clears the road ahead up for you a bit no matter what you decide.

Good used diesel trucks command the price they do because the above conversion is already done and is a known known.

@Will L. the new Cummins 4 banger crate engine is underpowered vs. a 460.
R2.8 Turbo Diesel
https://www.cummins.com/engines/repower
 
Keep the 460. It's cheap, (Gas cheaper than diesel) you can't beat the "howl" from it and the truck is set up for it: Literally KISS. Time to wring some power out of the 460 and there are many ways to do so for far less coin than a diesel swap will cost. Then you can spend some serious cash to get power out of a diesel.

DB2 oh, that's a pocket change $1200.00 injection pump. Followed by a $550 set of injectors. Followed by another diesel engine the DB2's failure took out completely. Yeah SCRAP METAL not a core... Anything happens with a diesel it's usually catastrophic and very expensive to recover from. Adding power to a diesel can better the odds to give you shrapnel impacted into the pavement aka hot oily scrap metal that used to be and may no longer resemble an engine. Sure your odds are better than ours with Ford IDI offering, but, surplus military engines give us a cost advantage...

So you got to get a diesel engine $, get all the adapters $, make it all play nice $time$, realize the transmission really isn't going to fing take diesel torque on what the 3rd $$rebuild$$, and when you are retired some point a shop working on Frankenstein is a problem for your limited income after your health won't let you turn your own wrenches. Fun things like all the hose clamps (16 on injectors alone) leaking on AZ heat dry rot hoses, swapping fuel filters, priming the fuel system after running out of fuel are high of the list of s#it retired people don't want to fk with anymore. Especially retired equipment fleet managers/mechanics that no longer own a specific hot rod 6.5TD burb.

Hope this clears the road ahead up for you a bit no matter what you decide.

Good used diesel trucks command the price they do because the above conversion is already done and is a known known.

@Will L. the new Cummins 4 banger crate engine is underpowered vs. a 460.
R2.8 Turbo Diesel
https://www.cummins.com/engines/repower
That all is something I have been debating and thinking on the last few days. For the cost and hassle of the swap. I could buy a lot of gasoline. Yeah, I owned a big rig for a few years, Thousand dollar you to death is what they do. Trucking was my expensive hobby. Detroit 60 series set at 425 hp, I don't remember the torque, but hauling 45000 pounds was no problem. It took a steep grade to make me slow down and downshift. I averaged 6.4 MPG My fuel bill was around forty grand a year.
 
Ah the Ddec and Ddec2. I miss them. Ok, missing over. Haha
I liked the rest of the series60.

What about spending part of the same money to modify the 460 and make it more efficient? Add a turbo, better fuel
Injection and intake, improve the ignition system- BUT lower the power output to where you would have been happy with the theoretical 4 banger.
 
I actually am getting ready to build a fresh engine with a camshaft that will work with the computer. This will be good enough. The diesel was more like a fantasy when you look at the price tag.
 
I'm a diesel nut but a good running big block whether Ford or Chevy is hard to beat. Plus you already have it.

Now if pulling at altitude is an issue either a turbo or supercharger will solve that. A smallish turbo pushing about 8 psi on a built 460 would be a beast. You'd pass everything but a gas station. But it would pull like crazy.
 
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