project rust bucket

[881ton]

This is what I had wanted to put in this truck from the beginning... 6BT Cummins. this wasn't planned because I wanted to keep the budget reasonably low. Until I found a complete 1993 Dodge W350 on craigslist. Turns out the frame was really bad so the guy wanted it gone. truck only had 42,000 miles on it. I figured it had at least 142,000 considering the age. Truck came w/ a 9' fisher plow. Asking price was $3800.00 I gave him 3000.00 cash and dragged it home.

[881ton]

Cleaned up the cummins changed some fuel lines. fixed the KDP (killer dowel pin) and ordered a new oil pan as it was very rusty.

[881ton]

I bought the x-member and engine mounts from Tennessee Diesel and I am very glad I did. This makes a cummins conversion a piece of cake. All the math is done there is no guessing at all. And best of all no cutting the firewall The money you spend on this kit is well worth it.

[881ton]

Driveline is in and body is painted. Not in that order, I did all the paint first. The color is cabernet red, Nason single stage urethane.

[881ton]

4" diamond eye downpipe fits perfectly. this is designed for a first gen dodge ctd. makes the turbo look tiny.

[881ton]

plenty of room no need to cut the cross member. sorry about the picture quality, my phone is junk.

[881ton]

mocking up the second gen dodge intercooler.

[881ton]

After a lot of trial and error, ( and cutting up a perfectly good core support) I decided to install the intercooler upside down as it is in this pic. This doesn't work on trucks with the quad headlight setup. I wanted to go with quads but scrapped it so I could run the larger intercooler.didnt have to cut up the core support too much, a little trimming of holes that were already there.

[brimc]

You have really got my attention now. Wow.
With the engine sitting that high, and not needing to cut the front cross member, will there be enough clearance without a body lift to the hood? Also what is that setup you have for the double front shocks? I like it. Keep the updates coming, this is going to be one nice truck!

[881ton]

Installed the trans cooler and spin on filter. This is going to plow snow and carry a sander, so I want to try to keep the trans as cool as possible. The cooler is made by DERALE and has an electric fan on the top of it. I will be putting a thermal switch in-line along with a trans temp gauge. Took some time fabbing the brackets, but I think it fits pretty well and is supported pretty good. If you look to the right of the spin on filter, you can see how deep the trans pan is. After filling the converter, I believe I put 14 qts in it to fill the trans.

[881ton]

Thanks Brian for the compliments. to answer your questions: yes there is enough clearance without the need for a body lift. plenty of room all around. you can fit your hand between the back of the cylinder head and fire wall as well. Tennessee diesel designed this to work without a need for a lift kit, suspension or body lift. I learned about this on 4btswaps.com nice rugged motor mounts crossmember is the same way. once the factory xmember is taken out the crossmember mounts utilize the factory holes. real easy install without all the trial & error.

The dual shock setup is from skyjacker, I don't remember the PN. if you go on their website you can find it .

If you look at this pic it will give you a better idea as to how the cummins actually sits in the truck.

[881ton]

a little bling for the truck

[881ton]

Quick shot of the interior. not quite finished but its close. I ended up buying a seat from an 03 Silverado. it was a chore getting it to work. headroom is a little less than what I would like but, the seat was in real nice shape and was only $250.00. I wasn't going to cut the floor to lower them so I will live with the lack of headroom. I manged to save the factory decal from the original drivers door (heat gun from inside door to soften adhesive then carefully removed it) I did this b/c it looks more original and the decal is 25 yrs old.
I just thought it was a cool detail but most people won't even notice it.

[881ton]

Another interior shot.

[Greenlee]

Wow, nice work! However, I think you made it too nice to be a plow truck!

[bojak]

Are you really going to plow snowy, sandy, and salty roads with this truck? Buy a beater with the money you get from selling me this truck. I promise the only salt near it will be on my grits. Looks awesome, great work.

[881ton]

Thanks guys ! Sorry to say she is going to plow snow and haul a sander. I do commercial snow plowing in the winter. I need to have a good solid truck to do this b/c I cant afford the downtime. I had looked at newer trucks but they were out of my price range. also, for what I would have to spend to fix the problems with them it would not have been cost effective. I will be the only driver this truck has, so she will be treated well. When all is finished this will cost half the price of a new truck and have the look of a classic. Whatever happens to it I can fix it. I assure you this truck won't end up in a scrapyard if I can help it.

[881ton]

25 gallon blazer tank installed and sub-frame for dump body.

[881ton]

Rugby 2-3 yd dump body ready for paint.

[881ton]

dump body and cummins flaps

[Liddy71]

Job well done looks nice

[madcow75]

Kind of hard to tell in picture but you cut the frame for the filller kneck. Did you renforce it? Looks weak there.

[881ton]

Thank you I appreciate it.

[brimc]

Originally Posted by madcow75

Kind of hard to tell in picture but you cut the frame for the filller kneck. Did you renforce it? Looks weak there.

Looks like the sub frame. Not main frame?
Awesome job and I agree, 1/2 the price of a new one and twice the truck for sure! That is really going the suck having to drive that truck everyday instead of having it sit away covered in storage for 6 months of the year.

[881ton]

Madcow,
The area where the fuel fiil is was notched on the side of the subrame from the co. that makes it. because I used the blazer tank the fiiler neck on the tank was a little high, so rather than cut the tank and risk it leaking, I opted to cut the subframe. I added 3/16" gussets on both sides of the cut out. If I had seen that picture I would have thought the same thing.