Hey guys, I was thinking of putting a 5.9L cummins in my 79 F250 camper special. And was wondering if any of you guys have done this yourself, or if youve done something similar, and if/how I should reinforce my frame and such.
thanks
I am in the middle of building a 5.9 for my 77 CC. I hope to install it this winter. I bought a 96 Dodge 4x4 that needed some work and stripped it. I got most of the purchase $ back from the parts I sold off.
Do a search on the internet and you'll find quite a few swaps that have already been completed.
drews_79_ford welcome to (FTE) Seems to me if you look around I recall someone doing the same project as yours a couple of years ago.. And enjoy your stay here at FTE for the greatest place for Fords and friends.
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You don't have to reinforce the frame, only do some relatively minor notching (I think there may be a photo of a 6BT/79 F250 4x4 swap on the fordcummins website). You'll regret it if you don't swap in the Cummins, it is the perfect motor for our old Fords, so long as you swap in some form of overdrive or are running mucho-tall rubber. Did you consider the 4BT "bread truck" engine? Works great in my F100 2wd.
I still have the rolling frame from the 96 Dodge Ram I stripped out I may just swap the CC body onto that. Everything will bolt up except the body and I'll have a Dana 80R and 60F with shift on the fly 4x4! Should be pretty cool even though it'll be a Dord/Fodge combo.
drews_79, check out my gallery, quite a bit of info/pics of doing this swap into a 1978 F250 4x4 Crew Cab. Mine was a 4x4 - so I had to drop the front crossmember by about 3". No frame reinforcing needed, mine at least was boxed up there already. Yours likely is as well. I have 2100 miles on mine now, getting 19-21mpg in a 1 ton truck (F350 D60's front/rear), using the NV4500 5spd and 3.54 gears. Like others have said, buy the entire truck dodge truck, take the engine/intercooler/tranny, and part the truck out over time to cover the cost.
I'm working on iti now. I've got the cab and fenders mounted, I just need to finish up the interior and finish the engine, mount the trans, wiring, steering, fuel, .................
We've had quite a bit of snow and ice lately so it's been slow going outside. I have some pics somewhere if I could figure out how to post them. Looks pretty good. I may be able to make the Ford box fit without looking too bad too. Frame is only about 3" longer than the Ford.
I am very interested in how it turns out. I have a 79 crewcab short bed and have purchased a 98 x-cab long bed for the motor. I am now thinking about just putting my ford body on that frame. I was just going to move the rear axle forward to make the wheel bases the same. Any pictures would be great. I also am not going to start until the snow lets up. Utah I guess you have to expect a little snow.
I decided to go with the cummins because I found a good deal on a whole truck and im not sure the year but its non intercooled. I found a place to get motor mounts so now I have to figure out how to mount the transmision (727 auto) and was wondering how you guys mounted yours and also if I have to move the t-case mount back and will my t-case (np205) bolt up to the 727.
thanks
Last edited by drews_79_ford : 01-06-2008 at 11:50 PM.
I ordered a mounting kit from fordcummins so im goin to pull the motor out of the donor truck this weekend and ill start posting pics when I start putting things together.
drews_79_ford welcome to (FTE) Seems to me if you look around I recall someone doing the same project as yours a couple of years ago..
