red's 12 valve conversion

[red]

well figure its time for me to actually start a build thread for this lol. in the process of swapping a 12 valve cummins into my 87 chevy crew cab long bed dually.

donor truck: 95 dodge ram 2500 4wd with an auto tranny. good running motor and decent driver other than the stock turbo being worn out and putting out a max of 7psi of boost with no load.

build truck: 87 chevy k30 4wd with a 454, sm465 and np205 t-case. pulls great and goes on almost all of the trails up here in northern utah, but want more power and better than single digit fuel economy which the 454 cant provide. sitting on a 6" lift and 35" tires. initial goal is 800ft/lbs of torque but eventually will go higher than that.


i'd have pics up but the memory card in my camera crashed and corrupted the files so i dont have any pictures from the process of pulling the motor out. so far i've removed the cummins along with the auto tranny and t-case and placed them on a engine stand that attaches to the motor mounts along with the bellhousing, similar to how cumminalong made his stand. the auto tranny and t-case are sold, planning to reuse my np205 and ordering a rebuilt nv4500 that has the 5th gear upgrade. need to decide on a clutch that can handle the planned power yet is still daily driveable.

pulled the head and the pan off of the block and it looks to me like the motor has been rebuilt at some point, way to clean and the clearance of everything i've checked so far are well within the manufactures specs so it looks to me like i lucked out with the purchase. was a great running motor i just pulled it apart to inspect the internals, figure since i have the motor on a stand right now that i might as well, and dont want to have internal engine issues within the next few years.

arp head studs are on the way right now, should be here in the next week. dont think i will do the fire rings yet because i will only be running a single turbo (aurora 3000) for now but when i upgrade to twin turbos i will need to do it then. swap is taking time because of work, sucks to be gone for 3 weeks before i have only 2-3 days to work on it then gone again.

 

[btfarm]

I'm in for the ride in this thread. Good luck with the build Red!

 

[ak diesel driver]

so are you state side for good?

 

[red]

from the deployment i got back from in mid august yes, however i keep going on TDY's (short term missions basicly) to different places stateside that keeps slowing me down.

parts i'm ordering while i'm on these TDY's are:
nv4500 (still searching)
clutch, thinking a centerforce dual friction
crossmember
input shaft for the np205 when i find out what the output spline is on the nv4500 because i will re-use my np205.

other things i will need are:
aurora 3000 turbo (duals later)
intercooler, late 90's ford superduty is the best option from what i've researched
ac compressor adapter mount

little picture of the truck from last weekend, quick trip up to forrest lake canyon by Lehi Utah, besides going camping we were fixing the fence that runs alongside the trail. part of the reason why i got the truck, does better offroad than i expected being as big as it is.

 

[Cumminalong]

Sweet!

Can't wait to see what ya do with this.

 

[red]

it wont be as powerful as yours cumminalong but should make respectable numbers.

headstuds arrived today, should have enough time to get those installed and the outside of the block/head cleaned up. the motor was decieving when i took a look at it initially haha. completely covered in grease and filthy, figured i was going to have to rebuild it. got the head and the pan off, took measurements and everything is about as tight as can be, also looks brand new inside the cylinders so i'm positive this thing has been rebuilt at some point. only internal issue i've found is that the top of the pistons had a fair amount of soot on them, probably caused by the old turbo being worn out. soot came off easily with a quick wipe of my finger with no scorch marks on the tops of the pistons.

 

[john65td]

diffently plan on using a double disc clutch with a sprung hub. i went with a single disc clutch and i regret it. my clutch is suppose to be rated at 450 hp and 1000hp it slips bad. im in the process of redoing my clutch now

 

[red]

any particular brand you would recommend for a clutch?

 

[Cumminalong]

it wont be as powerful as yours cumminalong but should make respectable numbers.

headstuds arrived today, should have enough time to get those installed and the outside of the block/head cleaned up. the motor was decieving when i took a look at it initially haha. completely covered in grease and filthy, figured i was going to have to rebuild it. got the head and the pan off, took measurements and everything is about as tight as can be, also looks brand new inside the cylinders so i'm positive this thing has been rebuilt at some point. only internal issue i've found is that the top of the pistons had a fair amount of soot on them, probably caused by the old turbo being worn out. soot came off easily with a quick wipe of my finger with no scorch marks on the tops of the pistons.

Ain't gotta be what mine is.....all it's gotta be is what YOU want.

It's like anything else brother, build it for yourself and nobody else, because there is always someone that is gonna hate on what or how you do it.

There is a always gonna be the "I woulda done it like this" of "You shoulda done this" crowd.....Yeah, but ya can't, won't and don't know how, so STFU and enjoy what I did.

As long as what you do to it is what you want, it doesn't matter what anyone else likes.

Let me know if there is anything you need and we'll get ya taken care of.

 

[tanman_2006]

Sounds like a good project! Subrcribed.

 

[red]

Ain't gotta be what mine is.....all it's gotta be is what YOU want.

It's like anything else brother, build it for yourself and nobody else, because there is always someone that is gonna hate on what or how you do it.

There is a always gonna be the "I woulda done it like this" of "You shoulda done this" crowd.....Yeah, but ya can't, won't and don't know how, so STFU and enjoy what I did.

As long as what you do to it is what you want, it doesn't matter what anyone else likes.

Let me know if there is anything you need and we'll get ya taken care of.

agree 100%, hence part of why i'm going with a 12 valve instead of the duramax i was considering. want a very simple and reliable, yet powerful truck that will go most places offroad and safely tow a good sized load.

i might get to do some work to it tomorrow but doubtfull, 1 more week at the range then i should start having time to work on this project in the evenings when i get off work, and wont have as insanely busy weekends either.

 

[red]

got an expensive list of parts ordered today, not easy to see that much money go away all at once lol but needed to happen.

-rebuilt nv4500 with the 5th gear upgrade (donor truck was an auto)
-south bend clutch and flywheel
-stage 3 injectors, 5x .014
-aurora 3000 turbo and exhaust manifold

still need to get the engine crossmember/mounts along with the 4k govener spring and the 29 spline input shaft for the transfer case but thats the last of the big ticket items i'll need. planning to begin the teardown of the dually this weekend.

 

[Pepperidge]

Man I sure would like an old EMP proof vehicle such as this...you know...for WHEN the SHTF...

 

[red]

even if the batteries get fried i can push start it, just wouldnt be the easiest thing haha.


got ahold of avalanche engineering for the crossmember today and got to discussing the project with them. lots of good information and very helpful. the input shaft for the t-case is the currently a questionable issue. some places i've read that i can change my np205 from a 32 spline input shaft to the 29 spline that the dodge nv4500 needs and its good, other places say it wont work. guess i'll find out when the trans gets here.



some of the stuff i do with this truck, this is one of the hardest trails it will see because i dont want to damage the body

and people say land yachts cant go offroad haha

 

[red]

have not made any progress on the truck teardown this weekend, did however get alot of the trash and scrap out of the shop though so there will be plenty of room for the land yacht once it enters the shop.

this is how it looked yesterday morning when we got started

got my hands on a trailer for 2 hours, farewell donor truck

 

[red]

how the shop looked later in the afternoon (pressurewashed the place)

closer picture of the motor as it was sitting, the head is now back on top because i'm in the process of cleaning the outside (was even nastier before, completely coated in grease)

dually is waiting to come into the shop until my backup truck has a new windshield so i can drive it for a few weeks without the cops giving me trouble.

 

[Cumminalong]

Gettin started is the hard part, ain't it.....

 

[red]

that it is, expecially when your about to tear apart your daily driver lol.



made progress today, got the valve covers cleaned up and the timing cover as well. also took care of the killer dowel pin and got the front end buttoned up.

 

[Cumminalong]

How many miles are on that motor?

Do yourself a favor.....

Order an upper and lower gasket set, main and rod bearings, main and head studs, swap the tappets for some common rail tappets, and get a new oil pump and water pump and that thing will be pretty much bullet proof.

No sense in not taking the motor apart and getting it right while you have it out and on the stand.

 

[red]

already ahead of you on the bearings and gaskets, pumps are in the plan just havent grabbed yet. not familiar with the tappets? head studs arrived a few days ago from ARP.


according to the odometer there was 208k miles, from everything i've seen and measured its been gone through pretty recently. obviously whoever tore it down before didnt clean the outside of the motor (grease was between 1/4-1/2" thick everywhere) but the inside was spotless with nearly new bearings, rings, and gaskets. the only 2 issues i've found motor related was the killer dowel pin was not covered (fixed now) and the stock turbo was shot.