Future Cummins Project: crewcab sweptline

[essat784]

So im sorta new to this group, and i usually fish around reading people's posts.

This is my truck:


what it looks like now:



First of all let me just state that im in NO way financially able or do i have the time to do this now, but i wanna put a cummins 12 valve (or something) into my truck someday.

Its a 1967 Dodge D-200 Crewcab converted to 4x4 and with a ’71 360 engine swapped in, 71 engine/electrical parts, a Dana 44 front axle with front disk brakes, and an NP-435 4spd tranny.

Im a wannabe gear-head, but im mechanically inclined and ive been able to fix every problem ive had with my truck with little or no help.

So, when i finally get the resources to do this, what all will i have to do? Will i have enough room in my engine compartment, and i REALLY wanna keep my NP-435 in there even if it means using an adapter plate. Probably stupid, but i wanna get a gear vendor of some type for the NP435 so ill have enough gear ratios for the diesel. I dunno, im just in love with that 4-spd and im pretty sure its the original transmission.

[essat784]

Im thinking, that when i have the money - to just buy a running 1st generation Ram pickup 4x4 wither 3/4 ton or 1ton cummins and swap out the engine/components and the axles.

through on the cummins diesel forum - someone was sayin that cummin's have been known to blow up a regular dana 70, and this one guy was telling me a beefed up dana 60 with 35spline axle shafts would be better, or to just get a dana 80...

what do u you guys think?

i also wanna run it in veggie oil...but ill worry about that myself....

[MountainMoparRobin]

There are a couple of Cummins swaps here and you don't have to swap the front ends, just sit the cummins in

[mopardwh]

Holy crap! Do you chase tornado's or something in that beast?

[RH62]

that thing is very MAD MAX.... way cool!

[essat784]

There are a couple of Cummins swaps here and you don't have to swap the front ends, just sit the cummins in

yeah someone finally posted a cummins sweptline on the diesel forum. thats nice to know, but im not surprised becuase i know that some of the the d400's and whatnot could be ordered with a Perkins 6cly diesel

I just wanna talk to these ppl who've done this before and look at all their pictures. I love gas engines, but a truck that gets 7mpg on a good day isnt too fun to drive around all the time.

[RH62]

how many miles per gallon would a diesel get? i drove by a gas station that had diesel for sale at $4.99 a gallon! regular was $4.03....

[dirtrider]

Was that truck a prop in the movie "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome"?



That would be an awesome truck to use for a slide in camper with the Crew/long bed combo. Even better with a Cummins.

Good luck!

[PowerMan]

Was that truck on Sacramento Craigslist a while back? Looks familiar. Cool truck though!

Power Man

[OregonDodgeboy]

As far as the diesel engine swap, it's been done. There are many options out there, depending upon what you want out of it. If you don't do lots of heavy hauling/towing, a 4cyl diesel may be the ticket. There is a 4cyl cousin to the Dodge motor, called a 4bt (the other is a 6bt). Used alot in FedEx and UPS vans for years, as well as other similar trucks. There is also the Isuzu cousin, the most popular being the 4bd. Equal power, yet smoother and quieter. Found in the Isuzu medium sized box delivery trucks, the NPR being the most popular model designation. These 4 cyl engines I bring up are used in vehicles with GVW's of up to 20,000 lbs. So it should be no problem for them to move that truck around, even if you do some hauling/towing.

In contrast to gasoline engines, the diesel is typically around 40% more fuel efficient. And by design, it thrives when it's worked. So in heavier vehicles it's the ticket, as it's efficiency is not affected by load. Plus, when idling, a gas engine still needs that 14.7 to 1 air/fuel ratio to run, where a diesel runs lean at around 150 to 1 (IIRC). In a typical 12 liter big rig engine making, say, 450hp, it will typically burn a gallon of fuel in an hour at idle. Try that with a 12 liter gas engine, if you can find one. Go check out http://www.4btswaps.com for more on 4cyl diesels.

As for your truck, kinda has a military look to it, Mad Max aside. Have you thought of how you are going to repair the area where the rear window was hacked out?

[essat784]

as for the guy who asked about my gas mileage - a new or newer 4x4 cummins diesel pickup gets around 17-18 mpg. and thats for a 7500 lb truck. my truck with the cummins will be more like 8000 and will be less areodynamic so im figuring like 16 mpg. but that wont be a problem because i heard that 12 valve cummins make an excellent canidate for Straight Veggie Oil (SVO) conversions. as soon as i drop in the diesel id be buying the conversion kit.

To the guy who asked about mad max, im pretty sure it wasnt used in any movies, yet i wouldnt be surprised. It started its life a 2WD water rescue truck, then was bought by some CRAZY guy who converted it and put all that strange *#%^ on it. Then the truck was abandoned for a few days, towed, put in lien sale, bought by a total dumb dumb,

Guy asking about sacramento craigslist: yeah. the guy who bought the beast from lien sale was trying to sell it after he popped a tire. thats how i came accorss and it took me 6 months to FINALLY get the truck off him. for the interesting price of $700...

i just cant see myself dropping in a 4 banger diesel. I want a freakin 12 valve, so i have the excuse to box the frame and swap out the driveshafts and axles to make it a 1-ton truck.

the back window looks a lot worse in that picture than it really is. i coveredit up with trash bags in the winter cuz i wasnt driving it then. All it needs is the glass window, and the weatherstripping. i like not having a window though - easy access. hopefully no one in their right mind would try to steal *#%^ from a truck that looks THAT crazy!

[440SCOUT]

it wouldnt be that bad lookin if you lost all of the crap thats bolted on it...
i have a 70 crewcab d-200 it was a navy truck,it is getting the 4wd conversion too. i just mounted the 67 imperial 440, but i would like to swap to a diesel someday also .

[essat784]

lol id love to have a big block in my truck and go around racing ppl in their honda civics and slow @#% mustangs. but with the price of gas these days, id cringe every time i hit the gas pedal of that truck. And its not like my 360 gets good mileage. Its supposed to get around 7mpg - with a 440 id probably get 4 - or less cuz i probably couldnt keep my foot off it... :)

im a fan of weird *#%^. im so pissed that the guy i bought the truck from had stripped half the weird crap off of it. It was such a better truch with it still had the chair in the roof. If it didnt have all that crap, i probably wouldnt have bought it. I probably would have ended up buying a chevy truck. It was this CRAZY @#% truck that turned me into a mopar man. Every part of that truck is special to me.

but apparantly is DOES have chevy parts on it! Well the front dana 44 is from a late 70's 3/4 ton chevy truck. WEIRD! im thinking that the next crewcab chevy truck i see at pick n pull - im gonna steal that back seat. cuz the truck hasnt had a real back seat in like 30 years - and the chrystler minivan seat i got in the back it too fuckin small and too high off the ground...but those chevy seats...mmmm comfy!

[440SCOUT]

i was told that the front and rear seats are the same on these trucks..? but im not to sure about that..
i have had a lot of big block powered mopars and have never gotten below 8mpg even towing.. but you are right if you have your foot on it constantly you probably wont get anything for mileage.(i guess i never check my mileage when i am driving like that,i probably dont want to know lol)

[OregonDodgeboy]

I used to get a constant 12 out of my 66, and I drove it every day. But that was a while ago. The best thing I did was to drive by an old-school vacuum gauge I had on the dash. Driving normally, I'd keep the needle in the yellow as little as possible. During normal take-offs I'd gradually open the throttle and that helped alot. I still do that, as it's the best for economy and works well with the engine too. I was running an old wore out 500 cfm Edelbrock AFB Economizer carb on it. I have heard that if I had swapped on my Rodchester intake and ran a Q-jet from a 454 that I'd gain mpg. Mainly because of the small primaries. Never tried it though. But with gas being what it is now, even the 25-28 I get with my Benzo seems low.

[Cageman]

I have a cummins 12 valve in my swept, I get 24 empty doin 80 on the interstate, and pulling 12000 lbs, it will get 14, Pulling my 16 foot trailer and race car, doing 80, it gets 17-20, depending on wind, and it is always windy here it seems.
It was a lot of work, but I have put 27000 miles on it so far, been to Cali, Arizona twice, PA and just made a 1400 mile round trip to Wisconson and it got me 24.3 miles per gallon, I have a 57 gallon tank and I never had to stop the whole trip for fuel, that was sweet. That right there was worth it.
Look for my posts I had on here, I did it a couple years ago.

[SuperBee383]

That truck would look awesome on 5 ton rockwells, 57" R2's, an with a cummins 12valve P pump motor with an allison tranny conversion. :shock:


I'm just dreaming.

By far my favorite power wagon.

I have a 77 M880. I'm getting ready to drop a 440 in it and paint it desert sand.