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96 12v into a SD

6K views 16 replies 4 participants last post by  jdinevens 
#1 ·
so my journey begins, i'm hoping to chronicle my struggle as this will be my first attempt at a real auto project. so if you've got something to add, don't be a jackass as i probably dont know. this will be a muli-part story hopefully ending up with a somewhat self sufficient truck camper, i sold my BMW m3 6spd



beautiful car just not practical at all and i'm 6'3" so i hardly fit into it. growing up my parents had a 7.3 excursion so i fell in love with fords and diesel. we towed a 33' jayco so i fell in love with the outdoors, having joined the army has only furthered that passion. my jeep





a little NC beach action

so i've decided to make a truck camper of sorts, this it the beginning of that build which will probably take a while due to work but i should have a nice lull the next couple of months. anyway, initially i wanted to do a cummins into an X because of how cheap a X gasser is but do to some special requirements its got to be a truck. anyway i'm not to that part of the build yet lets talk about the donor and removing the engine for a bit. i picked up a 96 2wd 2500 5.9 for 4k



engine ran pretty good, cold starts were rough and the fuel shut off solenoid was temperamental. the transmission however was crap, that's ok i'd like a rowboat when i'm done anyway i'm thinking a zf-6 as it is lighter, cheaper and seems to be more reliable from my internet searching, we'll see i guess.

anyway like i said this is my first real serious auto project so i'd like to hit on some of the struggles i've had in the hope that someone with similar problems can get a solid answer, or at least one that kinda works. so i was lucky, i inherited a FSM for the dodge as part of the sale





dis-assembly of the truck was pretty straight forward when in question just remove more bolts. the 6(?) transmission bolts were kind of a pain in the a@@ especially the top 2. for the one on the passenger side, just keep removing stuff near it until you can access it from the top. the one on the driver side i had to use a clever combination of universal joints and extensions, it was gangster. there are 6(?) bolts mounting the torque adapter onto the flywheel, there is a roundish service cover on the engine side of the trans adapter with two bolts, remove this cover and you can feel the bolts on the flywheel, use a breaker bar to turn the torque adapter and put your finger in the service hole to feel for the bolts. if you get a light just right you can see them between the flywheel and the trans adapter from the side.

as for removing the engine, some have said it can be removed without taking the valve covers off of cylinder 5 and 6 and leaving the oil pan on, good luck. i put the engine on the hoist, removed the engine mount bolts from the engine couldn't get it out, removed the oil pan and made some serious progress, then i removed the engine mounts all together because they kept getting hung up and she came right out.



getting it onto the stand was another fun challenge, the legs of the hoist and stand will not fit inside each other, awesome. anyway i took the flywheel, trans adapter and rear main seal off, mounted the stand plate to the engine than slid the engine stand onto the plate, so now i have an 1100 lb engine with the engine stand dangling from my engine hoist, this smells of safety. to get all of the wheels on the ground i began lowering and twisting it so eventually the legs of both of them kind of formed an L. Great success!



the rotors are on there to make me feel better not because it necessarily needs it. that is a harbor freight stand so hopefully i'm not waking up in the middle of the night to loud crashing noises, we'll see, there didn't seem to be a lot of options available in that weight range plus a buffer zone and my price range.

anyway today i started removing stuff, picked up some lunch baggies to keep track of what goes where. did a little shopping on the internet, i'd like to get this as close to a new engine as possible so new water pump, oil pump, etc. its looking like 1100 or so for new accessories.


question, this automatic transmission oil cooler, how is that different than the transmission cooler in front of the intercooler? its cooled by coolant, as opposed to air cooled, both seemed to have the same trans fluid in them, just wondering why two coolers, and will i need to keep it for a zf-6, reason i ask is i know it has an internal pump.
 
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#4 ·
had an hour or so and took the oppertunity to get a little more done, almost down to just the block and head. in hindsight i really should have taken the truck to a carwash there is a pretty thick combination of mud and oil caked onto the passenger side of the block. i was also kind of bummed because of all the buildup behind the oil cooler where the coolant sits, hopefully the machine shop can square me away.







the parts pile gets bigger and bigger, you can kind of see the axles i have set aside for the jeep =)



i also ran by tractor supply and picked up some of their parts cleaner, its called psc 1000 and is by the sandblaster and parts cleaner bins. i'm thinking its real similar to what the army has in their gun cleaning bins. we'll see hopefully it does the trick.
 
#5 ·
i had another hour or so and got some more stuff off, i wanted to get the injection pump gear off but looks like i'll need to order the special gear puller. the nut that holds it on was really on there i'm thinking a little more than the books 122 ft/lbs i had the 1/2 breaker bar and a 3/4 wrench on the end of that, i was more worried about the engine stand than the engine itself. also the books says its a 22mm nut, its more like a 28 or 29 i had a 1 3/16 nut and it worked, was a little sloppy but it worked, when i put it back on i'll get the right size. i got the rockers and the tappets out, no big worries there.





 
#6 ·
Lookin good! Have you found a Super Duty?
 
#7 ·
not yet, i've been searching pretty hard, though i'm looking for the white unicorn it seems. either f250 or f350 CCSB 6spd 7.3, with the fold down center counsel and not priced over 8k, i'm trying hard to keep this from balooning out of control, though it probably will. this is the setup i'm after because i'd like to make the swap as easy as possible when you start going from gas to diesel or auto to manual or 2wd to 4wd things seem to get crazy, i'm not after crazy i'm after simple...ish =)... there have been a few that have everything just a bit on the expensive side and usually really far away, maybe i'll have to bite that bullet, we'll see i'm not to that part of the project yet.

I did order a bunch of stuff from pure diesel power and rock auto, 4k gsk, 60lb springs, #10 fuel plate w/ boost elbow, water pump, oil pump, lift pump, a/c compressor, injector puller, the injection pump gear puller. i'm hoping to get some decent power but still get 18 mpg when i'm done again we'll see.
 
#8 ·
Retourque headbolts, change injectors. 10 plate and 3k kit was too much for Me.
 
#10 ·
The 96-97 5 SPd trucks already rev to 2750 so, the 3k gsk didn't do much and was $ and a pain to install and adjust. I put in the 10 plate and slid it back so I would only make 35 psi with stock turbo. Higher than that and you leave the efficiency map and cylinder pressure goes up to high and you might have head gasket issues. Injectors need to be changed anyways and are cheap and easy to do. I would go that route first. I towed a lot with it and had enough power and it had good drivability. I had low fuel pressure so I changed lift pump and put a Tork technology overflow valve on. This is just my opinion and experience. Head gaskets aren't that bad to do but the $600 could be better spent. Have fun!!
 
#11 ·
hmm good points, i've heard everybody claim they get huge gains with injectors, but i'm betting thats because they add new injectors to a motor with 100k miles on them. either way maybe i'll look at some new stock or 50hp injectors something minimal. i also think that i'll put the motor back together and then add one mod at a time to give me time to tune and adjust for each mod, i deal with computers for most of my job and nothing is harder than trying to diagnose multiple problems at once.

still waiting on parts!!! hopefully tomorrow i get the tools in so i can continue the teardown. got my a/c compressor in today though, yea rock auto.
 
#12 ·
PROGRESS!!!


well i got some of the parts in from pure diesel power and rock auto, most importantly i got the tools in to take the injection pump gear off which let me get mostly done, just the pistons and crankshaft left to take out. i was really disappointed in my head gasket, there was a lot of build up on the gasket kind of near the exhaust on the head side. the cylinders look good though i can see the cross hatch in most of them really well except for #5













it seems like the picture shows more metal shavings than there was, i didnt really notice any but apparently the flash found some, most of the pistons look like this. i forgot to get pictures before i flipped it over so i'll get some more when i take the pistons out.

 
#13 ·
more stuff done as of last weekend, finally got it completely disassembled. we had a short day today so i got it all dropped off at the machinist he seems to think we can re-use the pistons, we'll see. there was a good bit of visible cross hatch left over so he's probably right. on thing, after dropping it off and being able to compare it to other engines, holy crap this thing really is pretty big...







 
#14 ·
small update, i've gotten all the parts back from the machine shop, things are looking nice and shiny. they essentially cleaned and re-honed the block, polished the camshaft and crankshaft. pressure checked and magnifluxed the head, along with putting the 60lb springs on. i've got my rebuild kit on order along with new stock head studs, i'm not planning on doing anything over what the stock bolts can handle so why spend the money on the ARP or a-1 bolts. also i have my injectors at another shop getting tested and cleaned. so hopefully within a week or so i'll have all the parts and be ready to for the fun part of putting this mess back together.

i still haven't gotten a Ford yet, i've seen a few in my price range but they are usually a northern truck so rusty or too far away. i really want to keep the swap as simple as possible but i'm considering getting an auto so i can put a fresh 6spd in, which is going to equal more dollars....we'll see i guess.
 
#15 ·
If you want a good clean truck check out trucks from Arizona. My brother bought one there and with 200,000 miles it looks new underneath. Too many Canucks live there now so the price might be higher but a truck which has spent it's life out there might be worth the flight and diesel to get it home.
 
#16 ·
Nice work.

Don't forget to tab the KDP.

Also are you looking for a Superduty with a 7.3? Those are harder to find cheap you might be better off finding a 6.0l those are everywhere. the 7.3l is worth fixing the 6.0 is just expensive to keep fixing.
 
#17 ·
wow its been a bit since i've updated anything, so i've got the engine partly together right now but i had to leave the country on buisness so the project is a at bit of a standstill. i've got the crank, pistons and cam in it however when i went to put the rear main seal on i wasn't being as careful as i should have been and snapped a bolt i guess the torq wrench clicked and i didn't hear/feel it. anyway i got the bolt out thank god, but it was just in time for me to leave the country. before i left i did find a Ford, i've got a 2003 7.3 6spd CCSB. i payed a bit more than my initial price range but i think it will run strong for a while and its in overall good shape. i think rather than get rid of a perceftly good engine i will just have that one rebuilt and put the 5.9 in something else we'll see i guess. doesnt change the fact i wanted to get my hands into a 5.9, that just means there will be another project in the works...we'll see when i get back.
 
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