Ok guys. I decided to start my own cummins conversion thread. I'll just give you the back ground of my project first. I was 7 years old when my dad bought our chevy 2500 with a 6.5l Turbo diesel new in 1993. We ran this truck for years and it never had any machanical issues. It was a solid truck. I bought it from my dad when I was 16 as my first truck and drove it till I was 19 when it blew an oil line and siezed up a few miles from home. It had 230,000 problem free miles. My dad wanted to just get another 6.5 to put in it but with just starting a new company and needing a truck bad and not having the time to fix the chevy, I convinced him to buy a 2006 cummins 6spd. We never got around to fixing the Chevy. Fast forward 5 years and our company has grown and we can now afford to spend some money on fixing the chevy "the right way". I took on the project myself since I have the room in my shop at home and my dad doesn't and so I found a 1996 Ram 3500 with an nv4500 in it for $3500. The donor had been in an accident and fixed very poorly but the motor must've been damaged and replaced because there was a 175 p-pump in the truck instead of the 215 that I thought it had. No big deal though. I planned for a few fueling mods anyway.
So, this is where I'm at, I've pulled the motor and tranny out of the Dodge and completely tore the motor down to the block and sent it out to get bored and honed. This is the game plan for the motor: .020 over marine pistons, .010 bearings, Colt Big Stick cam, Custom 5x12s, 0-plate, Tunnel ram, Byrds intake, 3pc exhaust mani, Mighty Diesel head bolts, Custom Borg Warner 64/65/14 s300, Valair 500 hp 13" clutch, Fluidamper, 60# valve springs, 4 gsk.
I'm gunna paint the motor to look like the ISX series motors. here are some pics of where I am.
I'm making my own cam gear retainer in the last pic. just finished threading the cam
It should be about a week and a half till I get the head and block back. Cant wait!! arty018:
Badmfron, I like your truck. A ford with a cummins is a good lookin truck with a good powertrain. I want to convert my buddies 04 powerstroke to a cummins. His has the ZF6 also. It's a good looking truck.
I've got a problem guys. even with 2 good batterys, the starter will only turn it over 180* when one of the pistons hits it's compression cycle, it stops dead in it's tracks. if I stop the starter and hit it again 2 sec later, it turn it through till another piston hits compression. Is it a weak starter? not enough lube on the cylinder walls? I was using jumper cables from my company powerstroke so I know there was a good charge cuz that motor fires right up.
Here is one of my thoughts.. can I pull the injectors to release the compression just so that I can crank it enough to build oil pressure? Then hopefully it will be easier for it to turn over. Any suggestions?
I checked my cam timing and it's right on. No water in the water jackets, no oil on top of the piston. I am starting to think it's the jumper cables I was using. I think they weren't allowing enough amps to the starter.
a friend of mine told me that after a rebuild on some of the cummins in their buses it takes 2 new batts plus a charger to get em started so i could just be not enough power still.
Well I was using the two battery's in the ford to run the starter with jumper cables. I'm going to try ditching the jumper cables for some heavy wire that way there is a solid connection instead of the jumper clamps.
Well I was using the two battery's in the ford to run the starter with jumper cables. I'm going to try ditching the jumper cables for some heavy wire that way there is a solid connection instead of the jumper clamps.
not enough huh? well that sucks. by jumper box died on me a little while ago so I thought that would be enough. Hmmm... so should I get like, 2 new batterys in parallel plus a jumper box or the ford while it's running maybe?
definitely go with 2 new batts wired in parallel. then id also go with hookin the ford up to it for even more power. u should at least be good on gettin it to crank after that.
Might be a dumb question, but if these things don't need dual batteries in parallel plus some to crank in the truck, why would they need it on a stand like this one is???
well mine is runnin on 1 batt atm and it'll crank fine but only for maybe 15 sec then it runs outta juice with a charger hooked i get maybe 30sec. but the reason for 2 is cause the compression of the fresh rebuild is higher an ur gonna need to be able to crank it a good bit to get fuel to it to start.
This is why I'm confused. I was starting the motor with two almost dead batterys in the truck before I pulled it apart, so why would I need a million amps to crank it over now? It is what it is, just curious I guess
Mine will start with one battery no problem. if you don't have really good cables that is probably your problem. it is almost impossible to find jumper cables that are heavy enough to crank a real engine these days without making them yourself. There is limited current flow through the clamps to start with and even 4 awg cable is boarder line at 10' long thats why the factory battery cables are 00 awg and still only about 6' long. The other possibility is that the starter has bad bushings.
Those would probably work, but like you said, I'm a little far. oh well. I'm gunna try pricing some 2 ga wire and another battery so that I can have 3 in parallel, and good solid connections. if that doesn't work, then 4 batterys..... then 5..... whatever it takes but I'm sure it won't need that much.
Ok, with two new batterys and some battery cable that a stole from the dodge donor truck, I got the motor to crank really strong. Sounded real healthy. I only had two crank it over twice for about 20 seconds each before I saw 30-35 psi of oil pressure. I let it cool the starter and then did another 2 cycles of 20 seconds cranking at 30-35 psi just so that I know it was able to pump oil all over the inside and through all the galleys. So, since I had no leaks, I'm going to rig up a fuel can with a supply and return hose so that this weekend I hopefully can prime up the fuel system and make some smoke. arty018:
I see. ok. Well, as an update for you all, I am currently trying to get it started. I get cylinder #1 to fire as it cranks over but it seems to take forever to get any of the others to fire. I'm letting the starter cool for the moment cuz I don't want to burn it up.
I unhooked the grid heater and used ether to start mine when I swapped in the Ppump. Took a few times to bleed enough air out to get the injectors firing.
Ether... thats a good idea. Would you recomend cracking #2 injector till fuel shows. then doing the same all the way back? Also, if number 1 fires, that means my timing is correct right? When I timed it, it all looked right according to the manual but would the fact that I bumped the timing 18* make it harder to start?
Deff. get your friend to swap in a cummins in his super duty.
Just make sure you don't sell him to strong on the idea till your truck is done, cause you'll never see him again. Unless it's done at your shop then you'll never get rid of him. haha!
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