Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Hey guys, I have a 69 chevy K20 4x4 with a 350 and a 4spd in it. I love the truck, but want it to be a daily driver that gets much better mileage than it currently does. I have always wanted to do a diesel conversion on one of these trucks but want to stay away from the larger, heavier cummins conversion that I have seen done. So.......I began a search for a chevy 6.2 diesel to swap in as my research seems to show me that is is pretty much a bolt in swap for the 350 and hardly weighs any more but seems to get between 18-22 mpg. Also, the price is usually right for these motors as a lot of people don't seem to like them due to their lack of horsepower. I don't want the truck to be a race car I just want a really cool commuter that I can still go hunting and haul my stuff around in. I recently found an 83 chevy k20 diesel 4x4 with the 6.2 and a 4spd auto that is not currently running. The owner is a kid who bought the truck and wanted to do a project and hop up the motor. He took the top end apart and lost interest apparently and now the truck is sitting in a shop with the intake manifold and the valve covers off but in nearly running condition. The truck also has an 8" or so all spring lift, a Banks Turbo kit and a lot of other aftermarket mods. He only wants $1500 for it and I want to run down and buy it tomorrow, the wife thinks I'm crazy. I know it's a great deal and could part it out for way more than that if needed, but my plan is to steal all the diesel parts I need out of that truck and swap my 350 into it and then sell it and recover my initial investment and then some. What do you think? Opinions from others who have done similar projects would be appreciated. Thanks.:metal:

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

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I can't help you with your project but this will get your thread back to the top...

LockDoc

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I have a 1971 K20 with a 6.2 turbo diesel conversion. I love it. I didn't do the conversion. Original owner had it converted in the early 80's. So far, it's been great. Mine has a ranger overdrive and 4 speed manual trans.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I think that would be a great score.

Having to play devil's advocate here...I know you want to stay away from a "heavy" Cummins, but what about a 4BT Cummins? It's only a 4-banger (3.9L), but it would still haul your truck around pretty well, and should be lighter than a 6BT (5.9L).

My father-in-law is going to put a 4BT in a Jeep Scrambler he has one of these days. They are both sitting in his shop right now.

I think the 6.2 would be a good swap though. I think they are starting to come around and be more appreciated than they used to be.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Question is how did it run before he took it apart? It gets pretty expensive to rebuild it.
Otherwise it might be cool

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

The 4bt cummins sounded interesting and I looked into it for a while but the cost and all the conversion issues scared me away. I know it's possible but it's not nearly the bolt on swap the 6.2 should be. I made an offer on the 83 and the kid accepted it so I should be picking it up Monday. That way I can just swap everything from the 83 into the 69 and hopefully have a daily driver that is not only badass but gets 20+mpg.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I had[still have the truck now it is a 5.3 w a 4l60 E but it is sitting up] a 89 6.2 1/2 ton Silverado lwb chevy. I rebuilt it as a wreck in 1990 and it had 100,000 miles when I built it [rebuilt the wreck to be clear] and then drove the truck another 170 before setting it up and not driving it much anymore. After it sat for a long while I sold quite a few of the others I was driving the truck was brought out kinda as a spare when everything else had been sold the injection pump would not pick up. So instead of doing a tune up at 279000 miles I pulled the motor out and ended my run with the beloved 6.2 diesel truck. I used it to pull my wrecks from the sales quite a large distance sometimes several times weekly and at that time I was heavy into racing and also used it to pull my racecar [spelled backwards still spell racecar] all over the region. I never went into the motor deeper than the water pump , but Iwould say check the rubber real good on the balancer ,they tend to go bad. The turbo stuff will help you out on power a bunch and I think you will love it. When I first started driving mine I would get well into the 20's in mpg's but my cousin had a swb 83 model that would get 30 every time he would check it so it will help out on the fact that the diesel fuel is a little higher than gas. and if you have a friend at you local airport get more friendly with him and see if he can get you some jet a. It is like kerosene [witch is like diesel number 1 except cleaner] I burn it in my diesel heaters at my body shop and also had run some in my old truck. When I could put it in the truck if I left it running while I pumped it in I could hear the motor change tune amd would stop smoking almost at once, and the power went up and good bit. Jim

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Thanks for the story on your old 6.2. I always hear bad things from F&%$ guys about the 6.2 but it seems if you talk to people who have actually had a 6.2 they all really liked them for reliability and economy. Everyone knows they don't have the most horsepower, but I'm not looking for horsepower. The 6.2 will have plenty of torque to tow what I need to tow and if I need to tow anything really heavy I will just have to suck it up and drive the Duramax!!!:devil:

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Maybe they are talking about the Ford 6.2. :lol: There was a guy around here that was selling alot of military surplus and had a few 6.2 crate engines that were basicaly new old stock. Also a buddy of mine had a 92 Chevy with the 6.2 and it had well over 300,000 miles when the odometer quit working and then he still drove it for years.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Sounds like an awesome swap going on, be sure to start a build thread, because we like watching and encouraging ones that tackle projects like such. :)

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

You sure it wasn't a 6.5? They are basically the same motor has the 6.2 with only small changes, to except a factory installed turbo. I also had a friend that had a 92 with a 6.5 is was a good pulling truck. It wasn't a race truck but it didn't back down either.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Going to pick up the donor truck tomorrow morning. Will start a build thread once I get going, until then I hope a couple of pictures will suffice. Will be my first motor swap adventure so I'm sure there will be a lot of head scratching, frustration and possibly some late night beer drinking, but isn't that what life's all about.........Be prepared for lots of questions on my end.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Here is the 69 that I am planning on putting the 6.2 and automatic into. I know the wheelbase dimensions are about 4.5" different on the two trucks so a body swap probably wouldn't work out, just curious if they were the same or really close if that would be a easier route to just put the 69 body on the 83 chassis?

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I owned a 94 K2500....it was a 6.5 not a 6.2. If I remember they were putting the 6.5 in as early as 88 or 89.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Don't know if you did a search or not but Tommy would be worth talking to.
Here is a link to his 71 K10 Suburban 6.2/700R4 build.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=425168

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

My friends 92 was a half ton extended cab 4x4. It was a 6.2 auto. Another buddy of mine has a 93 k2500 extended cab long box. It has the 6.5 turbo in it.

I would keep the 69 on its original chassis and just do the drive train swap.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Thanks for the link, didn't see that one yet. Also, I think I will keep the 69 on it's original chassis and just swap the powertrain. Do like the look of the lift on the 83 though, all spring and pretty tall, maybe too tall for the 69. Need to check what axle is on the front of the 83, if it's a dana 60 it's getting swapped as well, need to check gear ratios though. Picked up the 83 this morning, what a PITA. The trailer was a tilt deck rental and was not a good idea, the truck barely fit and I lost the hood on the freeway.:waah: Hopefully I can go get it from the highway department tomorrow as I saw them picking it up when I turned around to go get it. :lol: Just glad nobody got hurt. At least the truck is in my shop now.

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

From the pics I'd say the front diff isn't a 60 as the center of the hub usually will fill the chrome center cap. Had a buddy in high school with a 6.2 that he put a turbo on. Haha the thing actually hauled until it threw 3 rods out the side of the block. Gm techs said the motor would not handle anything over 1 to 1.5 lbs of boost. My buddy was putting 12lbs to his. He jimmy rigged a turbo off an old skidded on his :metal:

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

Thanks for the advice on the boost. The truck has a banks turbo on it that is obviously aftermarket. I don't know how it was setup before I got it so I will make sure to get a boost gauge and keep it LOW. Looks like I may be out of luck with the lost hood, called the highway department and they have it but it was run over before they picked it up. Oh well, not like there aren't plenty of chevy hoods in the junkyard. :lol:

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I had a 81 Chevy duelly with a 6.2 that had over 300,000 when I sold it and the only problem was the glowplug relay. I now have a 83 Chevy 4x4 3/4 ton Suburban that has 6.2 and the fuel pump was out when I got it and have had no problems with it. Ive heard that 6.2 and 6.5 love fresh oil. If you dont change the oil regular than you will spin a bearing. Hasnt happend to me just what I heard. Mabey is hasnt happened to me because I change me oil. If the glow plug relay goes out DONT BUY ANOTHER they are expensive. Take a old Ford style starter relay and run a momentary swith inside the cab to activate the relay your self. Turn on the key, hold the switch for 7-15 seconds depending on the temp, and crank er up. Ive thought about the same conversion on my 67 but really like the lope of a healty small block through Flowmasters :metal:

Re: Good Deal? Or Great Deal?
 

I'd swap the axles, becasue the 84 will have disc brakes the 69 should have drums. Otherwise the 84 K20 has a 14 bolt ff rear an 8 lug 10 bolt front, which is about as strong as a d44 but the disc brakes are the big advantage.