The Dakota Cadillac (68 K20 w/ Cummins)

[lowrollin70gmc]

This all started when I bought a 68 K20 after my first deployment with a 73 ToroFlow out of a 2.5T dump truck that ran okay but was impossible to find parts for and I'm not too sure about the starting ability in Fargo's winter weather.

So, an evil plan started in my head and I searched for a parts truck. After 3 months of looking for a 91.5-93 W250/W350. I bought a 91.5 Dodge W250 with the 12V intercooled 5.9 Cummins, Getrag 5spdm NP205 and Dana 60F/Dana 70U rear. Drove this as a work truck/driver for about 6 months, went to Afghanistan for 7 months and had days behind a machine gun or in a dozer cab thinking about what to do to my rig.

Here is the plan (okay, was the plan as it's already executed)

Have dodge pull the burb from SoCal to SoDak

Pull the engine/trans/ tcase and front axle out of the dodge and junk the rest

Clean up engine, attach new transmission and old t case

Put axle in 68 and make some motor/trans mounts and get it done!

It's all worked out so far, used 23 ft of 2x1x1/8 tubing and 14 ft of 2x2 angle and a whole mess of bolts, nuts, and welding wire. Only problem was air getting in the brakes over night and I didn't have time to troubleshoot and repair so I left it at my parent's house and took my 63 Chevy II back to Cali. I already miss the k20.

Pics within a few hours of the whole shebang (I do need some off of my parent's camera back in SoDak, so that may be later this week when I can get them out here in Cali)

[lowrollin70gmc]

Pics of truck before the swap





The harley, burb, chevy ii, and donor dodge all in one place last year!

[Maxxd07]

Im in, and LOVE the name.

[mosesburb]

That motor is so much cooler than a Cummins. Sucks that the parts are unobtanium. Did it have any power?? I realize it is naturally aspirated, but it is 478 inches of naturally aspirated motor.

[1985-GMC]

Cool burb! I look forward to seeing how you went about doing the swap.

What was the old t-case in the truck?

[lowrollin70gmc]

Alright, getting the motor out of the Dodge. Not too bad, ended up cutting the radiator support to pull the assembly out. Came out with everything attached, tranny and t case included! I hate chest pressing those so I take it out as a unit.




Motor with trans dropped (way easier out of the truck)


Cleaned up and painted red. I know Cummins is beige but I don't think that works with a silver truck and I can't do Chevy orange because it ain't a chevy motor and it can't stay black, so a nice red was chosen.


The 91.5 sitting outside on the trailer waiting for scrap but ended up being sold whole so it may live on in another truck. My neighbors loved me for the few days it was on there.

[Ackattack]

Very nice. Subscribed!

I have the same idea in my head, however slightly different way to execute it. I'm planning on buying a dodge 4x4 cummins truck and just putting the 'burb body on the dodge chassis. Unfortunatley for me (as far as building trucks go) I'm starting grad school in Feb. and have a second kid on the way (due in May) so it will be an idea until about 2014 when I start. Guess that give me time to save money and gather ideas/info. Unless of course, I wreck our '03 suburban at some point and go ahead and get a dodge truck (I'm kinda hoping I take out a deer with it )

[Dieselwrencher]

Awesome project and thanks for your service! My bro is in Afganiland right now behind a machine gun. And on the engine paint thing, these things look good what ever color!

[jbclassix]

Sweet project! Camp Pen looks familiar!

[FrankieD]

This should be good I think I will watch what you do. Thanks for your service! My son was in Kandahar for a short time USAF.

[DBear]

does your burb have a lift on it? I had seen a pic on the "show me your 4x4 burbs" thread, and you had put a skinny spare on the front.....I was wondering what size that tire was exactly and lift or no lift? this is gonna be a nice build...love the cummins swaps!

[lowrollin70gmc]

Old t-case was a Dana 23 divorced setup. I put it on my nova's floorboard and delivered it to Kansas on my way back to Cali for a guy that plays with NAPCOs.

I believe it's a 4" lift and the skinny was off an 80s K30, as the tires that were on it dry rotted and one blew about five holes through the sidewall while driving across base.

I now have 315/70/17 (35x12.5) Goodyear Duratracs on it after the conversion. I will be modifying the sheetmetal to run 37x12.5x16.5 Wrangler (HMMWV tires) as summer/mud tires.

A good example of skinny tires is the 255/85/16 that MosesBurb runs on his 72 cummins conversion also with 4" of lift.

I need to find more pictures of the conversion.

[lowrollin70gmc]

Here we go, I have more of the mounts I used but those are about 2000 miles away right now.


7 1/2 feet from balancer to yoke on np205



The Dodge D60F was installed and now the motor being dropped in to start fabrication of motor and trans mounts.


I had no stock front crossmember, only one welded in by the previous owner when he installed the Toroflow, so the once you can see here was cut out and replaced with two sticks of 1x2" tube.





Front end back on to start fitting the intercooler. 99 Ford F250 cooler, do not attempt this as this thing is huge and I had to modify it to clear both the frame rails and the hood latch. I'm still looking for a better way to do the hood latch, so stay tuned.



NV5600 shifter coming through the floor. I mounted the engine/trans/tcase very high compared to other conversions as I'm trying to get a flat belly to maximize the use as a hunting rig and minimize the lift. I had to trim and refabricate a floor crossmember to clear the rear output of the NP205 to give you an idea of how high everything is. I need to make a new trans tunnel cover, as this one is on it's third shifter location and those aluminum panels are old license plates flipped and screwed temporarily.

[lowrollin70gmc]

All buttoned up ready to rock and roll.




I will eventually make a new intake setup, but for now the stock dodge intake fits the new turbo. A water cooled S300 62/65/14 sits all pretty waiting to be played with. I disassembled it and painted the exhaust housing in POR15 manifold paint as well as the sandblasted exhaust manifold. Hopefully holds up to the heat. If not, nothing lost as it would have rusted anyways.




I'm running a 2nd Gen Dodge intake elbow, as it was free off a friends truck last year when he upgraded to a Banks elbow. Flows more than the stock 1st gen and I was able to sell my entire intercooler / charge air tubes / elbow to someone converting an non-intercooled 89 W250.




The first new toy for the old motor, this is from a Cat C7 application but should work well on here and I like that it's water cooled as it will live much, much longer. Also note 4" exhaust that does a pretty severe angle on exit from the turbo but I'm not too worried about restriction at my power levels (hopefully 300hp/700tq). It wasn't finish welded here, and I do need to wrap the first foot of downpipe as it is very close to the coolant lines for the vintage air unit. The exhaust drops outside the frame rails via a hole in the fender wells (already there from PO). and on back exiting behind the rear tire. I'm not sure on clearance to the tire at turned right, stuffed left but we'll see and I can bump stop to accommodate.




Look at this sexy beast, I even painted the faded bowtie to match the motor. (Sleep deprived at 2am in the garage.)





I have to finish up the wiring (layed temorarily so I can figure out where to crimp in weatherpack quick connects) and tidy up a few things. Plans also call for swapping in a late model 10.5 AAM 14bolt for it's disk brakes, parking brake, and increased width out back.

Unfortunately the brakes wouldn't stay bled so I had to leave it up in South Dakota and take my 63 Chevy II back to Cali. (Real rough life, huh?) But I'll be moving back in a few months, buying a house, and finishing up enough to get it to be a daily driver when snow makes necessary.

[Dieselwrencher]

Great work! It looks awesome! That stinks about your brakes!

[Average Joe]

Cool build! Thanks for posting more pics.

[1985-GMC]

Man you and MosesBurb have the coolest cummins burbs!

I like that you set the engine as high as possible for maximum clearance and minimum lift, I plan on doing the same thing along with 37" hummer tires with the fenders modified to fit.

What radiator is that? Are you going to make a dual intake horn for it?


http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/94...lumbing-3.html

[lowrollin70gmc]

No dual intake for me, I barely have enough room with the hydroboost for the 2nd gen Dodge intake elbow as it is. At my power levels I have nothing more to gain on the intake side aside from a larger filter.

And I hear you on 37s, I plan on getting some HMMWV tires for mine, the rims are actually in my closet right now. Took me a year to find a set of 16.5 x 9.75 steelies that weren't wagon wheels or 8 holes. And once I get some used tires I'll massage the body to look stock but clear the larger tires, only changes being 4" block pulled for a shackle flip.

The 205 sticks down about 2" right now, but I'm going to redrill the output flange on the NV5600 to clock up the case those 2" so I can run a large, flat skid plate between the frame rails.

Someday I'll be as cool as MosesBurb and do some fun adventures up on the prairie. His level of attention to detail is amazing and I've gotten quite a bit of ideas from him.

[jbclassix]

really looking forward to seeing how the burb turns out man!

[Dieselwrencher]

What's this I hear that the guy you purchased the NV5600 from got stiffed on $500 or something?

[lowrollin70gmc]

Over on diesel bombers he claims I paid him $1500 when I have paypal receipts for $2000 sent to him. He's just upset I gave the donor to get rebuilt vs sold to him for scrap.

[Dieselwrencher]

I see. Have you found any diesel emblems yet? I had some 6 359 ones made that look pretty cool.

[lowrollin70gmc]

Haven't found any emblems yet, thinking about a simple Cummins "C" above the bowtie 20 or marker light. Another possibility is to put it where the Banks sticker is on my cowl (I found it ironic to put that sticker on it when the ToroFlow was under the hood).

I might even run it without Cummins emblems as there are already 3 on each side; 4 wheel drive, bowtie 20, and custom on the door.

Also thought these ones were pretty cool too:

[FrankieD]

You could remove the 4 wheel drive badge's because that is obvious or just put it on the barn door.

[lowrollin70gmc]

All factory badges must stay, it's what makes having a K20 Burb so cool. I could do one on the back door, as the factory badge is long gone from there. The Cadillac tail lights are getting taken off as well, going with a modified factory taillight in the future.