Hey Everyone,

I have a 2000 7.3 liter Powerstroke and plan on putting it in place of the blown 6.5 liter in my 1994 Silverado 2500. Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of such an idea? I know I will be causing a serious conflict for even thinking of such a conversion, but I bought this truck rather inexpensively due to the severity of the motor problems and it had an exceptionally clean body and interior, so I feel it was a good buy.

Seeing as I already have three Cummins powered trucks, I really wasn’t interested in owning a fourth. My reasoning is this; while the Cummins is great for towing, the strong internals make for a rather heavy rotating assembly that is not meant to be spun faster by means of a governor spring kit. Which I would then feel guilty for, since its early failure would have been the result of operating the motor out of its rpm range. The Powerstroke, on the other hand, is not as strong of an engine but has a much greater rpm range than the Cummins, so in a truck that will do little towing but be tossed around on the street the Powerstroke seems as if it would be the right engine to use with the right performance modifications.

And yes, I understand that this is not a simple drop and go installation. Wiring, time, money, blood, sweat, tears and all the rest still need to be done.


Thanks
Andrew P

 

Here is a few Lincolns out of my pocket...

First off, welcome aboard! Secondly, I know little about the diesel so have a pinch of salt ready. Seems to me, if you do undertake this, you will need the wiring and associated engine controls from the Ford donor to make the motor/trans happy in their new home. Strip everything from the firewall forward on the GM and replace with donor parts. I would even take that down to the crossmembers. You may have issues with the front suspension differences though. If you ask me, a crate GM would cost as much if not less in said time, money, blood, sweat, tears and all the rest (to include beer).

--Mike

 

the 4L80 i have already has a stand alone computer so the tranny should be fine. but my problem is spending 3,000 on a incomplete gm crate motor. the 6.5's are trash anyway so i would like to steer away from using one. im getting the underhood wiring harness, under dash harness, and engine ecu so i should be ok on that.
we'll see what happens...
Andrew P

 

That sounds like a pretty cool setup! I have seen a lot of Cummins conversions, but not hardly any Powerstroke conversions. A stroker in a Chevy sounds cool. What about weight differences?? You may not have to do any suspension mods. I'm not sure what the weights of each of the engines are, or how much they differ. Oil pan clearance is another thing that comes to mind. When you do this conversion, make sure you take pictures of this project.

 

Have you thought about how you are going to connect the engine and tranny?

 

NascarNut - Well I was hoping that advanced adapters can hook me up with one.

ahkmn - thanks for the support. That’s my thinking exactly, everyone and his brother swaps in a Cummins. But why? Yeah they are strong motors but they aren’t fast. I enjoy a challenge especially if people say it can’t be done, or people consider me crazy for it. I don’t know maybe I’m just weird, but I like to be the black sheep.<O</O

Just a side note... you ford guys are so much more supportive than the Chevy guys. I posted the same topic on fullsizechevy.com and got a whole bunch of ignorant responses to the tune of... "How could you put that ford crap under the hood of your Chevy??" ...needless to say I stopped checking the responses on that forum. I am a American truck guy not a ford, not a Chevy, not a dodge. I own all three. I was raised in my dads 88 Chevy which changed to a non turbo 94 f350 dump, now he has a 98 ram. If anything I have realized all the trucks have their problems so you can’t be so protective of your manufacturer.

But since I like to cause controversy, I believe that the International Harvesters are probably the best vehicles ever made... ha-ha.

Anyway well see what happens on this conversion. I just got the powerstroke home and pulled the 6.5 out of the Chevy last weekend. With any luck the amount of electronic components necessary wont be overwhelming. I am hoping that this truck doesn’t end up like some of my other past projects and collect pollen on my driveway.

Andrew P

 

I just have to say this is a cool project. As much as I dont like the powerstrokes too much ( Bias for my work with Cummins for 2 years. ) I do have to say though, Cummins can be fast.. Banks has made sure of that. But good luck on that project..

 

Yeah, but the 6.5 and 6.2 GM diesels were the crappiest diesels ever made. No they were second. The converted to diesel 350 was the worst.

 

Sounds like an interesting project Stroked Silverado. I'd love to see pics of it once you get it done.

Finally, a chevy done up right.

 

I've had a similar idea but I want to take a 7.3 and put it in a 03 or 04 Silverado did you ever finish this project

 

Given that Stroked Silverado only ever posted on FTE 3 times, all in this thread, and all in 2004, I doubt he'll respond.

 

he has not logged on in over 9 years so i really doubt you will get an answer

 

how about you did you do this conversion ? I have a 2000 turbo 7.3 and I want to put it in my 2004 z71

 

See post 12. Old Josh there was one and done, so I doubt you'll get an answer.

 

I have a similar project in the works, but don’t expect an update for at least 5 years as it’s the easier part of my project, but I will be putting a lightly modified (nothing with the suck squeeze system) 6.0 ford powerstroke diesel into a GM vehicle that will have a 2001-2010 GMC Sierra or Chevy Silverado frame or two holding it up, this will be a road going vehicle too so nothing too sketchy, if you want more details ask.