hey im a ford newbie and am a huge cummins fan and have owned a cummins for quite some time but i have been considering putting a cummins in the 79 ford super cab 3/4 ton that i recently picked up...it has 4:10 gearing so i am wondering what tranny i should run......should i look for a 5 speed overdrive tranny or should i scrap the whole idea...lemme know...
thanks

 

Check out this site: fordcummins.com - Increase Horsepower with Ford Cummins Diesel conversion kits. They seem to have a handle on this type of project.

 

Personally I'd steer clear of their stuff.

As for the swap - welcome to the club. There are a LOT of us doing this swap as it really makes sense. Head on down to the motor swap forum here and check out the threads.

As for your original question - what size tires do you plan on running? I am putting a 94 cummins 12v in my 74 crew and have a NV4500 (5 speed manual) tranny to go behind it. I am running 315/75r16 (35") tires and I think I'm going with a 4.10 ratio in my axles. If that ratio is too short I will go to 3.73's.

It all depends on what you want to do with the truck.

 

I definetly wouldn't scrap the idea. I'm in the middle of doing a cummins swap on my 77 F-250. I've got the motor installed and so far it hasn't been that difficult. I have a ways to go yet but the hardest part is done and like I said it wasn't that hard just take your time and think evreything through.

Personally I'm a big fan of manual transmissions and would at least go with and overdrive auto.

 

ChaseTruck754, whats wrong with their stuff? Just wondering cause I'd like to a cummins swap in a future project.

And where is the best place to get stuff?

 

To me it's overpriced for what it is. I haven't personally bought any of their products, but from the pics I've seen I can build much better parts for much less...

I have also seen a few negative responses from others around here and over at www.cumminsforum.com

People seem to be happy with the stuff from Destroked.com But again I saw pics of one of their sets of "motor mounts" (for a cummins into 04 ford I think) and to me that seemed like a whole lot of $$ for 3 pieces of 3/16" or so steel MIG welded together. Look at their motor mounts (ford-cummins or de-stroked) and then look at the ones I made in my thread and you will see what I mean

 

I'll check that out, my fabrication skills are pretty amateur, so I'll prolly need to study up or get someone to help me.

 

When I was planning my swap, I tried to contact FordCummins and could not get them to call me back. I assumed they didn't want to sell me any parts so I ended up building my own. Look at Scot and jnorby's gallery. They have both done excelent write ups on this swap. If it hadn't been for them I'd still be trying to get every thing working.

If you do this swap, here are a few things I strongly recommend, and one thing I learned the expensive and hard way.
1) Start with a whole donor truck. It will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in time and all of the small parts you will need.
2) Use Ford oil and temp sending units in the Cummins engine and wire into the Ford gauges.
3) Use the dodge alternator and dodge voltage regulator. If you have the whole donor truck you already have these parts and you don't have to re-invent the wheel building brackets and pullys to make the Ford parts work.
4) This I learned the hard way. If you use a Ford NP205 and NV4500 combo, GET A DOUBLE LIP SEAL for the front of your transfer case. I put all new seals in my transfer case before I assembled it, but used the standard seal. The standard seal will keep oil in the transfer case but will not keep the transmission oil out. Oil from my transmission over filled my transfer case. The transfer case was perfectly happy, but the transmission hated life and died. I installed another transmission and when checking my transfer case oil level I found where the oil went that should have been in the trany.

 

well i picked up a nv 4500 today for 150.......i know i know......i bought it as a core for a rebuilt or im gonna buy the upgraded input shaft that is broken on it......anyhow......im thinking of moving on this idea......for the money i can buy another cummins truck for 5-6k or i can build one and make it the way i want it in a sweet old body style ford.....if you can think of any start posting up potholes and problems with this build so i can alot money for them
thanks
-jake

 

I'm not finished with my conversion yet but so far I have $1900 into my conversion. That is what I paid for the donor truck. The only conversion related expense I will have from here is getting the drive shafts cut to length. I also have yet to sell any parts from my donor. I hope to get an honest $1,000 back from the the good body parts and the dana 80 rear axle. I'm expecting my conversion costs to be around $1200 when all is said and done.

 

Any chance we can get you to build a couple of sets for purchase? I'm not trusting my fab skills.

 

Good points. As for this one - I would assume you used a married 205 then? I'm just shortening the shaft a bit for my divorced 205


Out of a chevy, or one from behind a dodge? I can't remember what all is different in the 2, but I think there's a little more than just the input shaft. Make sure to ask a GOOD tranny guy.


Probably. I have been asked before and said I would. The only thing is my mounts only work for a 4wd and they will make you have to modify the front x-member/frame area if you want to run A/C (see my thread). Also, my mounts make it so I have to pull the entire engine to change the clutch, as without cutting off the rear engine x-member I can't get the bellhousing off the back of the block. Tranny has to come out through the bottom, then motor out...


Good deal. I bought my donor truck for $1800, drove it for 6 months plus and sold quite a bit off of it. Now that I bought a different motor (bought a 94 cummins, P-pump motor when I got my NV4500) I have a bit more in it...

 

I would look at it like this though. The p-pump motor and nv4500 are a better combo than the rotary pump and auto you had before plus you should be able to parts those out for at least the $1800 you have into it.

 

Ed Zachary.... 727 is already gone. The VE pump motor is sitting here "just in case" until I get the P-pumper rolling. I KNOW the VE pump motor works/runs. The P-pump motor on the other had I took some guys word for, and from what I have seen so far with other parts of our transaction that word ain't worth much

 

I used the Ford NP205 and an Advance Adapter kit to marry the NP205 to the NV4500 my donor had. I paid $1200 for my donor, and was able to sell over $600 in parts when I was done. I sold my 460 for $500 and the Ford 4 speed trany for $50. Other than the adapter, I doubt I have over a couple hundred tied up in my truck. When the trany died, I paid $1500 for a '94 donor that had the cab smashed in by a jack-knifed trailer. I pulled the trany and a bed mounted fuel tank full of fuel from the truck and sold it to a guy for $1700. If I had more room to keep my treasures, I would have kept the '94 for a future crew cab engine swap. I just have to find the crew cab first.

Another lesson learned...if using the Advance Adapter kit, spring for the extra $40 and buy the linkage kit as well. It wasn't that hard to make but I spent a full day building/fitting/testing that I could have put to better use on other parts of my install.