I have towed with the 460 for 30 years and have always been satisfied with it. It’s no diesel but it’s paid for and the reinvestment at this point in life wouldn’t be worth it. I have tried several things through the years to make improvements in torque. Different exhaust systems were tried, RV cam, roller rockers, MSD ignition, Double roller timing chain (straight up timing worked best), also the 750cfm Edelbrock turned out to be the best carburetor option for me. But the most improvement was the installation of manly oversized s/s racing valves and a thorough port and polish job on the heads.

I think if I were going to do it again I would just do a good stock rebuild with major work on the heads, add a decent carburetor and exhaust system. This would give you a reliable tow vehicle with plenty of torque for most towing needs.

 

jarrodfeldt. what kind of rigs would I look for this setup in.. sounds really interesting...but never heard of a cummins bolted to a c-6.. Were they a 5.9 cummins?

 

I was referanceing an article from bronco driver magazine september oct 2008. On page 32 the mag states "starting in the 80's, fleets that had gasoline delivery vans started to repower there vans with cummins repower kits. these kits came set up to drop in with no modifications. if the van originally had a for gasoline motor the cummins kit would come set up for a ford transmition, clutch throttle cable power steering, ect. for our aplication we wanted to use a ford zf 5 speed, so we bought a motor that had a t-19 behind it and it was a simple bolt-up to the zf." This hole issue was varry informative about doing a dissile swap and getting a little more out of the motor. in another artical the put a 7.3 into a classic bronco. Any one that dont know there is not alot of room between the frame wells on these old fords. so putting one into a full size truck would be alot easyer. As far as the truck that the cummins came from it did not say. In did say that it was used to replace older motors in deliver trucks and the mottor was an 84 so the truck had to have been older than that. I am personaly a manual transmition guy so I would rather have nv 4500 from a dodge than an automatic. The friend who put the 5.9 into the 55 chevy just stayed with that. there is also a newer dodge six speed that a friend had in his dualy that was pretty nice when it came to towing. Ok so I went back and did a little more research and bolting it to a manual tranny would be simple wrench turning. the bell housing and the like can be found in one of these donor trucks, but for your C-6 fordcumummins makes a bracket that will bolt the two together. they claim you will also need a new torque converter. There web site is Fordcummins.com I would just buy a truck with a trany and transfer case so all I would have to do is unbolt it from the old and bolt it to the new. I went on another furom and they said buying the 24 valve cummins is fairly cheap from blue bird busses from up north. they say the motors outlast the body rust. Again I am not trying to sell anyone on any idea, just something to thank about.

 

My biggest problem is going to be funds available
We just found out my wife is pregnant(yes we are happy) so I may be lucky to keep this one running

My main concern with going diesel is the repair side of it I do all my own mechanic work and know nothing about them

 

Those era 460 were some of the worst so far as dumbing down for emissions compliance. 7.5 to 1 static c/r = lack of torque !!!

Simple bolt ons are the first place to start:

Properly curved duraspark distributor is the first step
Headers with a good exhaust system
Performer aluminum intake and 750 carb.

When building a new long block:

KB 206 pistons with your large chamber heads, one piece valves and budget port work will net about 8.5 to 9 to 1 static c/r.
Cam upgrade to 2.13 / 219 voodoo with early timing set.


This type of combo can easily make 400 HP and over 500 pounds of torque. It is pretty easy to accomplish and you can use stock rocker arms.

This will be a night a day diffference between the 225 385 rating on the oem configuration 460.

I have done literally dozens of these.

 

thank you very much sir

 

[quote=jarrodfeldt;7503963]I was referanceing an article from bronco driver magazine september oct 2008. On page 32 the mag states "starting in the 80's, fleets that had gasoline delivery vans started to repower there vans with cummins repower kits. these kits came set up to drop in with no modifications. if the van originally had a for gasoline motor the cummins kit would come set up for a ford transmition, clutch throttle cable power steering, ect. for our aplication we wanted to use a ford zf 5 speed, so we bought a motor that had a t-19 behind it and it was a simple bolt-up to the zf." This hole issue was varry informative about doing a dissile swap and getting a little more out of the motor. in another artical the put a 7.3 into a classic bronco. Any one that dont know there is not alot of room between the frame wells on these old fords. so putting one into a full size truck would be alot easyer. As far as the truck that the cummins came from it did not say. In did say that it was used to replace older motors in deliver trucks and the mottor was an 84 so the truck had to have been older than that. I am personaly a manual transmition guy so I would rather have nv 4500 from a dodge than an automatic. The friend who put the 5.9 into the 55 chevy just stayed with that. there is also a newer dodge six speed that a friend had in his dualy that was pretty nice when it came to towing. Ok so I went back and did a little more research and bolting it to a manual tranny would be simple wrench turning. the bell housing and the like can be found in one of these donor trucks, but for your C-6 fordcumummins makes a bracket that will bolt the two together. they claim you will also need a new torque converter. There web site is Fordcummins.com I would just buy a truck with a trany and transfer case so all I would have to do is unbolt it from the old and bolt it to the new. I went on another furom and they said buying the 24 valve cummins is fairly cheap from blue bird busses from up north. they say the motors outlast the body rust. Again I am not trying to sell anyone on any idea, just something to thank about.[/quote Thanks for the information.. yes an old school bus would be the ticket.. have a freind here who is the shop foreman at school bus garage, they have buses with the cummins 8.3 with an allison 6 speed, they get about 1,000.00 when they trade them off because no one wants the bus carcass.. seems like a good deal to me..

 

I have worked with allison transmitions before and you realy have to go out of your way to mess one of them up. That would be an awsome combo to get for a $1000

 

Yeah it would be a good deal.. He is hoping they replace the one bus next season due to structural problems. They running gear is excelent. His maintance program is the best.If gets a 98 on a Washington state patrol inspection he is ticked, usually gets 100.no drips or leaks on anything and I mean none.Plus the busses have heated electric mirrors single post mt. think there is lots of goodies on this rig to make use of. drop down chains etc.

 

the scrap metal from the left over pices should be wearth a couple hudred dolars, At one point you could get $200 for a small car at the scrap metal place.

 

yeah it would if i chop it up. guess scrap yards don't like busses cause they take up too much room, no real wt. and little demand for parts. might be fun to tackle with loader.or turn loose the fire dept. with extrication tools!

 

I'll just jump in here to say CONGRATS on the coming baby. And, good luck with your engine dilema.

 

Well the diesel stuff sound really nice but my problem is they seem to really start to have serious engine issues around 70,000 miles. I've had many ford diesels and 2 dodges and it seem 70,000mi is the magic number for diesels in my experience. New engine is around 15,000$ to 17,000 installed,OUCH! Diesels are nice but if you have problems its expensive. I do think the dodge cummins is the better in diesel world in truck world for durability, cast iron engine. The aluminum diesels just killed my income to much down time. My best service truck have been gasoline engines so far. They didn't pull as hard but they always seem to stay running and make me money!! never had a diesel make it over 130,000mile without engine change! Injector issues on all my diesel engine failures. I use mine to make money but I have a 460 truck to back up all my diesels when they go down. Average cost to run a diesel over the years is around $30,000 or more to keep on the road or more during its lifespan in 130,000 miles. The $30,000 didn't include fuel cost also. Diesel average around 10 to 13 miles to the gallon in my truck world. The worst diesel is the 6.0 ford diesel. I know their are diesel that kick butt but never seen one in my world. If you run a diesel be prepared to spend money or be able to repair yourself. The new oils and fuels are changing for the worse and not helping our situation. Sorry I'm down on this subject but just spent 6000.00 on my dodge last week to keep on the road, ouch. If you know gassers I would stick with what you know and keep tuned up. Diesel are a good thing to know but expensive.

 

130,000 miles for a desil is just starting to get broke in. With regular maintanance they should easily go twice that long. When I was growing up my father had an 80's model that we put over 300,000 miles on. Only changeing the injecter pump ever 80-100 thousand miles or so. For the truck we had to change the rear axle once but that was it for major reapiars. Both the motor and transmition were unstopable. While the newer modgaler motors can run a long ways, I have never had any of the older gas motors go to far over 100,000 miles without being replaced. the older cummins are pretty simple to work on, You just have to go down a trouble shooting checklist. Is it getting fuel, if the answer is yes, then it should be running. Where as a gas engine you also have to wary about geting spark. This is the first time I have heard a gas motor be compared to disel with some one favoring a gas motor so I realy dont know what to say.