Hello! I have always liked Fords since I bought a highboy as a teenager (still have that truck). As life worked out anytime I needed a newer truck the best deals I could find were Dodge Cummins trucks. My family has grown to the point where we need 4 real doors. I had a 6.7 Dodge crew for a short time and loved some things about it, but even though it was fully deleted there was always something needing attention that took the truck out of action for a week or cost a few grand or both. I sold that dodge and want to go back to the simple joy of a mild 12 valve and a stick. I have never, ever been let down by a 12 valve.

Yesterday craigslist hit me with a deal I couldn't refuse and I bought two superduty crewcabs for $700. One is a V10 5 speed 99 with 110K on it, a 6" and 37's that was side swiped at very high speed destroying the bed, rear frame and rear axle. The other is a super clean 2004 6.0 auto truck that is mostly parted out after the 6.0 did it's thing. Just a bare cab, frame, rear axle and wiring harness left on the '04, but it was a super nice clean truck.

My plan is to put all the 99 body and interior parts into the gutted '04 and use the triton pattern ZF5 with the 97 12 valve out of my current daily driver dodge. I will cut the manual tunnel hump out of the 99 and weld it into the 04. I ordered up a new metal 6.0 intercooler. I also bought a gallon of valspar Kubota orange tractor enamel to spray the truck one color and I'm getting quotes on a new Bradford Built work bed (if I can get one under $2K I will buy instead of building my own copy). I am going to use DCS mounts and make everything else myself.

What I do not have figured out yet is-

Is it better to use the 6.0 wiring or the V10 wiring? I would think the V10 would be easier since it has the cable cruise control I need and is setup for the manual trans already.

I would like to run 4" exhaust with a muffler. would a kit for a 6.0 or a 7.3 work better for the cummins? Is one any better suited?

Thanks for any advice/criticism!

 

Nobody has any experience with this on this forum? I looked at the engine swap forum, the 6.0 forum and the general superduty forum, but this seemed like the best fit considering there are other Cummins swap threads here.

Dodge has used over 2 million Cummins engines in their trucks. Of those engines i would estimate 15-20% have been installed into 6.0 trucks. That's reality. Embrace it!

 

I'm sure ,and others would agree, that your 15-20% figure is just a symptom of your grandiose delusions that there are that many cummminnz replacing 6.0s.

That's reality. Embrace it!
Hence, the lack of response and again, That's reality. Embrace it!

 

The number of parts sold to support replacing 6.0's is where my numbers are based. Not an exaggeration.

Why would it bother you if I replaced a 6.0 with a Cummins in my truck?

 

Update:
I've been able to work on this project a total of 2 days in the past few months. In that time I swapped the good '04 frame under the 99 cab/front end. I'm using all the 99 wiring. It is much simpler than the 04 powerstroke stuff. I bought a 99 and an 04 wiring manual to compare them.

I've gone back and forth on the color. I planned to go Kubota Orange, but it's a pretty big commitment. The dark green of the current crewcab has grown on me some, but you can definitely tell it's nearly 20 year old paint now. I think it needs to be orange and hopefully it will be a straightforward repaint.

I got real up close with a few different Bradford work beds and they are not made very well. The bumper pull hitch is a joke and they are not finished as well as the manufacturer claims. I will be building my own bed.

I also bought another 12 valve Cummins from a 2005 Komatsu excavator for $900. This one has low hours, a VE pump and 16.5:1 open bowl pistons. I think it will get a 3800 gov spring, 7 blade HX35 and 330 HP marine nozzles (under $400 in parts). This F-350 will be my DD and tow pig. I have a soft spot for VE pumps and "Fomatsu" has a nice ring to it.

I also picked up a pretty decent lifted '99 F-350 4x4 supercab with a scattered V10 for $700. I'm going to install the 110K mile V10 that came out of the wrecked crewcab and sell it to pay for the project.

 

nice! Any pics?

 

I have had a very big year so far with my business and this project has been delayed and delayed some more.

Instead of finishing this big project I decided to just buy a solid superduty crew cab.

I bought an '03 F-350 in real nice overall condition with the fancy all power interior. It has the 6.0 and ZF6. Totally stock.

I'll be honest, I have only driven the ZF6 behind Cummins engines and fell head over heals in love with that transmission. All the 6.0 trucks I have bought and fixed or parted have been 5R110's.

This thing is horrible. If I was buying a new truck when the 6.0's were new I would have laughed and walked away after a test drive of a ZF6 truck. This thing has zero *****. It's downright dangerous to pull out into traffic from a stop. It will light the tires up after 10 MPH, but it has some kind of power limiting going on under 10 MPH and has less off-idle torque than a small block gas engine. Below 1300 RPM it has nothing.

I try to drive it like a 12 valve truck and it's pathetic. This truck only weighs 7200 empty and it feels like it weighs twice that with all the turbo noise and shifting at 2500++ RPM BS just to get it to move. I was hoping I could just live with this truck and it would last me a year or more. I don't think I can handle it.

I've driven sticks my entire life and can't fathom how this engine can make a really great truck feel horrible.

 

Life really happens sometimes lol! I'm finally getting back into this project and had to find what site it was I started this at.

I've done a few Cummins swaps in the interim, but still just driving this six oh.

I have gotten used to the 6.0. I don't like it, but I do hate it less mainly for the reason that I haven't succeeded in blowing it up yet.

I think the secret to 6.0 longevity is not to give a flying F about it. I have never changed the oil. It looked BAD when I bought the truck 60K miles ago at 290,000. These engines get really loud, shaky and lose power when you run them 10 quarts low on oil.

Impressively, My trailer brakes stopped working on a heavy downgrade around 25,000 gross so I threw it in 2nd and tached her up to 5000++ and boy did that do the trick. slowed the truck right down. I thought for sure she was going to scatter so I could put the 12 valve in, but nope. didn't even flinch.

The EBP sensor got finicky and I found a good temporary fix to get it working again was to run down the freeway in 2nd gear at whatever it does like 4000ish for a mile or so. Then it'll start making boost again. I did that for awhile before I realized a scattered 6.4 I had on the floor has the same damn sensor in it. No way I was going to spend $100 on a new sensor for this turd.

A couple months ago I was loading up at an auction and got a surprise offer from the company to take a bunch more really good stuff for free. So I loaded every nook and cranny of this '03 and my 8x20 equipment trailer until I literally could fit no more. I scaled out at 29,500 pounds and set off at a powerstroke pace (frustratingly slow) home. I found the small hills I didn't notice before were really epic with some weight behind the six oh. The other neat thing I discovered was the electric fan clutch wires broke off at sometime in the past so I had no fan. I really, really have a deep hate for that engine so I held it down up a 4-5 mile grade and, yep, the temp gauge really does work! It goes all the way past the red and once all the water is gone from the block the POS lost a lot of power, but kept on going in 2nd gear at 2000 RPM. I pulled off at a rest area with the temp gauge still pegged out (probably 30 minutes of driving that way). I figured I'd shut it off and call for a friend to come rescue me. As soon as I let off the throttle in the parking space it died and when I popped the hood just that horrible steam cracking noise from deep down inside. I filled a bucket with water and filled it up (trying not to get scalded by the steam geyser it created). The water wasn't going in the oil and it started right up after filled up.

I had some synthetic rope in the toolbox so I wrapped a bunch of it around the waterpump shaft and tied the fan blade solid. It took a few frustrating tries to get it to hold (it would shred the rope past 2000 RPM the first few tries). I finally got it to hold and hit the road again. It was such a mix of emotions with deeply hating the engine, but I almost teared up thinking about the horrible hell I just put this POS through and yet, it was pulling just as strong (or not) as it ever did.

So it's still going in spite of literally zero maintenance and the worst imaginable treatment. The degass bottle exploded and I never fixed it. It just runs a couple gallons low unless I tow real heavy with it.

Somehow, the engine with the worst track record for reliability has refused to die. It's bone stock. No upgrades whatsoever. Did just have injectors done and a FICM before I bought it.

It'll still come out for a Cummins, but I want to put the block in front of my shop and plant flowers in it or something to memorialize it's accomplishments.

 

You at least deserve the award for the biggest troll known to mankind...

 

Who put salt in your douche?

 

Seriously?

That whole last post is absurd in terms of what you said you did to that 6.0 - if it's a joke, say so.

 

Absurd how? There's no joke. Maybe the joke is my timeframe to complete this project, but I honestly don't understand what you're point is. So what if I beat the hell out of it and it hasn't died yet? Killing it is my goal- You understand that right? What's the fun in pulling out a working engine? If it's rods are hanging out the pan or there's at least a good story to how it went out with a bang it makes life a lot more interesting.

I think it's absurd that people change 3 gallons of oil and use factory filters every 3k miles.

I could go on, but I don't think it will be productive. I do what I do and I'm not an idiot. My position in the automotive food chain is probably not where you think it is. I'm not an "end user" as much as a weakness locator and you end up benefiting from that.

 

Figured a long term update was in order.

17K miles on the 12 valve since I wrapped it up 20 months ago. Initially the new 12 valve I put together didn't run right. It was hard to figure out for a few hundred miles and the fuel mileage and power was bad, about 12 MPG. I figured out the timing advance was stuck in the VE pump. Got that fixed and it was exactly what I hoped for. It weighs about 8200 with me in it and a new Bradford steel flatbed on the back. I have Cooper STT pro 285's on powdercoated stock steel wheels. My normal mixed driving it gets just under 20 MPG hand calculated. On a recent 600 mile trip it got just over 22 MPG. I have towed around 14K behind the truck numerous times now and it does that with ease.

I used the 6.0 radiator. I removed the degass bottle and bracket. I added a coolant fill next to the radiator on the passenger side. I didn't like any of the existing engine mounts on the market so I made my own to use the 6.0 rubber isolators. I used the low rear exhaust manifold with an HE351 turbo. I built the 4" exhaust using a turbo flange and a full turbo-back kit from Flowpro. I built my own accessory mounts and I'm running the 7.3 AC compressor and the 7.3 AC hoses fit perfect. I used the original 6.0 alternator. I moved the transmission back 2-5/8". Engine fits really nice there. For radiator hoses, I used a first gen dodge Cummins hose on top and for the lower hose I found the Ford F-800 Cummins lower hose fit perfectly.

I'm not finished with the air filter housing. I have some ideas, but haven't tried them yet. I'm running a 4BT power steering pump and it works well, but I don't like the way it's clocked so I think I'm going to make my own PS adapter and also incorporate the 6.0 CPS into it.

I haven't had good luck with the electronic signal converters to make the PCM work so I plan to make a mechanical solution to fix that. It might be something simple, but the Dodge CPS is a poor quality sensor that's hard to get. I don't want my truck stuck using some obscure dodge part so I think I will go back to the Ford CPS.

With the 12 valve around 300HP it feels about the same during full throttle acceleration as the stock 6.0 did, but the drivability is much better with a stickshift. The Cummins likes lower RPM. it likes to shift 6th at 40 MPH and will pull instantly even when lugged. I'm running 5x.013 155 degree injectors in open bowl pistons with about 16 degrees initial timing. This is a VE engine, not a P-pump BTW. I like the VE's for fuel economy. Have always got a couple MPG's better with a VE and they light a larger turbo with a lot less fuel than a P-pump.

 

Is Seafoam good to use or not? I was running a 5.9L 12-valve cummins in my 1972 F250 high boy
I am having significant blow by as well. SHould I rebuild or scrap the 12-valve for a 7.7L