Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Has anyone ever heard or seen anything about swapping a duramax turbo diesel into a 94 Chevy 2500? Not sure if it's even possible, but I'm seriously considering doing it. I inherited the truck from my dad when he passed away and he was the original owner. It now has 205k on it with the stock motor and drive train, and it's starting to have problems pulling my car trailer. I've looked at just buying a new duramax, but I've got a lot of spare time on my hands, and I figure IF it's possible, why not give it a shot. ;D The biggest factor for wanting to try it, is that I just picked up a 26' wells cargo car trailer, and this thing is f@#$*#$ heavy. The only other option I've looked at, is putting a charged 502 or 572 into it, but need torque more than power, so this is my dilemma. Gas or diesel? Any input would be great. :y

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

gas or diesel? go fist your fathers -------.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Diesel....duh.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

First off, my fathers deceased, so that's out of the realm of possibility, not to mention, the whole fornicating dead people, let alone family, isn't something that we do around here. But thanks for you input. ;)

But seriously, I'm not stupid, I know that the torque and horse power potential of the diesel is far greater than the gas, and is better for an everyday driver, but I can't find anyone that has actually done this swap. I've built and driven quite a few big blocks, and I can make some pretty good torque and horse power that way, but for an everyday driver, it's not really practical. The only reason I was considering going with a force inducted bb, was because of the lack of information about doing a duramax swap into a truck like mine. I could just go guy a newer duramax, but I want to do something different. So like I was asking before, has anyone actually heard of or seen this swap done? Or know of anyone that might do this type of thing, that I could talk to?

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

swap an older powerstroke in, add boost, and call it a day. cheap, fast, reliable, the hmt way

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

not a ford fan so much, and chevy's fist attempt at the diesel sucked, but I had thought at one point that maybe a cummins wouldn't be too bad, but their auto tranny's leave something to be desired though. I don't know though, any way I go, I don't see it being easy. Not too worried about fabricating mounts and drive lines and all, my family has a machine shop that can do all that, but mostly the wiring and electronics end of things is what has me worried. That's why I came on here. Seems to be a lot of helpful info here, and figured someone might have heard or seen some one that had tried or done this before.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

its been done read some diesel mags, ive seen duramax's in that era suburbans. Go with the 2nd gen duramax :y

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

That's what I've read, that the 2nd gen is what's best. I'll look into the swaps in suburbans. Thanks for the advise. :y

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Why the ---- is this posted here?

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

for simplicitys sake id say swap an older 12 valve cummins in. they are damn near bomb proof and can very easily be made to make the power especially if you have a pump shop near by. since you say your family owns a machine shop it wouldnt be that big of a deal to make it where a turbo 400 or a built 700r4 (notice the built part...and its the better of the two choices with the OD gear) would bolt up. bell housing adaptor and a custom flywheel slap it together... swaping a duramax in would not only be extremely expensive but incredibly hard. way too much wireing and idk if youve seen a duramax out of the truck but they arent exactly the smallest engines in the world and dwarf a BBC with everything bolted up to them.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

find an older cast iron 5spd from the old international school busses, good for 750 ft lbs, t34 is od, t35/36 are direct 5th, all with 7.2-6.5:1 first gear

trans's are about 180-220lbs, but ----, do you really want aluminum housed trans on a diesel?

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

every transmission from the early to mid 90s is aluminum housed what are u talking about? manual or auto as long as ur shits on point theres nothing to worry about?

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

cast iron will take much more abuse than aluminum.

ever wonder why anything over a 3500/f350 has cast iron trans's in the hd, manual lines? if he's gonna tow, ---- autotragics, manuals where its at. 4low gearing for first gear, thats what you need to move heavy ----

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Duralast pushrods? My friend works at autozone and if you buy enough parts you get a "powered by DURALAST" sticker

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

yeah, you get those when you buy Duralact gasket sets too. ---- Autozone, Im happy I dont work there anymore.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

most all newer manuals except the NV stuff is aluminum. all fords heavy trannys are and them damn ZFs are bad ass and give no problems. i understand what ur saying and not calling u a liar but here lately stuff seems to be leaning more towards the aluminum side of things untill u get out of light duty trucks. but heck even in bigger stuff, alisons are all aluminum now and granted they have a big cast center support but the case its self is. ive heard word of a new road ranger series from eaton thats aluminum. its on of those fancy ass auto shift manuals though so no worry about slaming gears anymore from over eager drivers

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Yeah, I have looked into doing the cummins swap myself. I was kind of surprised at how many people have done it. I've seen a lot more people doing it in the 3500's though. I don't know. The biggest reason for thinking about the duramax, was that my uncle owns a tow truck company and also has an impound yard, and he has a wrecked 04' in his yard right now, and I could probably get it for a hell of a deal. But the more I've read up, it sounds like the wiring and engine and drive train management ----, takes a whole lot more work and headache than I had anticipated. I think I'll do some more research this week though and then decide for sure which way to go. I know a buddy of mine has 700r4 in his shop and I have a turbo 400 in the back of the my garage, so maybe I'll research that route too. Thanks for all the advice thus far..Keep it coming. :y

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

find an older powerstroke that came turbo. some of the older ones did.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

um...all powerstrokes are turbo...? i think what yall are refering to is the old IDI 7.3 engines. the powerstroke came out in 95 i believe, befor that they were all just 7.3s. some came from the factory with a banks kit and there are some aftermarket banks sidewinder kits floating around that are way more bad ass that the factory ones and they still only have a little over 200 hp. cummins is still the best way to go hands down. they have a lot more power and parts are more plentiful. the best way to actually go about it is to find an engine sitting at a junk yard and get some good solid measurements on it. check pan clearance for all the front end stuff deck height and ESPECIALLY length! height and the pan isnt that big of a deal, cowl hoods and custom pans fix that fast. moving radiators in trucks or rebuilding firewalls is a bitch even more so when heat and ac will be kept... trust me...rangers and 460s dont get along well!

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

Yeah, for some reason I'm thinking a 460 might be a tight fit in that. :o

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

thats what i ment, the pre powerstroke 7.3 liters. you have to be carefull with those though. If you boost one you may run into cavitation. Which is simply bubbles eating away at your cylinder walls from the vibration. To be honest i am not even sure if these smaller diesels have cylinder packs or just a sleeve type. I am used to bigger cummins and cat engines.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

So, the more I look, it looks like there is quite a controversy between the 12v and 24v cummins? Apparently the lift pumps are prone to going bad and taking the injector pumps out too in the 24v, but the 12v has some of it's own demons, according to what I've read. Personally, I've really only heard good things about the 12v cummins.

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

you are correct sir. 24vs will cost u out the ass when that lift pump goes if you dont catch it, usually to the tune of about 1300 bucks. the good thing is it usualy doesnt happen very often and its very preventable with an electronic fuel pressure gauge mounted in the cab. there are companies that make a retro-fit kit for them. the 12vs are pretty quirky on injection timing and having their valves adjusted often in my expirences with them. they are super easy to make power with though, pull the governor off the back of the pump and shim that sum bitch and bam insto powero. the 12v has a lot less wiring...youve got like all of 5 needed wires going to the engine its self. a fuel shut off, intake heater, water in fuel, tach and thats about all you really need to pull off the engine. im still thowing my vote down for the 12v!

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

a good coolant additive like water wetter that makes that ---- really slick and some distilled water does away with cavitation in most anything. cases of that are few and far between anymore ive never seen it on a 7.3. if im not mistaken they are actually a full block like a 350

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

thats what i've heard. i come from international roots, ive seen my share of diesel swapped scouts and 1xx0D trucks. never seen a powerstroke, or if you prefer, IHC 7.3, take a beating and not live to tell about it. plus they sound sweet

Re: Duramax swap or charged BB
 

yes, add some form of a nitrite and the nitrite will create a film over the sleeves and prevent any corrosion.