I have a 2006 ram3500 with the commonrail cummins, the engine was seized/dusted when I bought it. With the price of a used commonrail and the problems with the injectors has me spooked off this engine. My question is, can you put a 95 12 valve or a 2000-2002 24 valve in this truck and get all the gauges working or should I just take a chance on the commonrail.

 

could you do it... possibly but by the time it was done it would cost nearly as much as a used engine. besides spend a couple hundred bucks extra to get one with a warranty. by the time you bought a good 12valve and then paid for installation, adapters for sensors, rerouted hoses for coolers, then spend hours redoing wiring you could have a decent cr. Im a dodge cummins master tech for a living and I would charge a couple grand or more to make it happen on the side. I think your best bet is to stick with the cr. When / if you did convert it I think the 12valve would be significantly less valuable in that truck. also if you were traveling somewhere and something happened, many parts wouldn't be readily available because they would have been modified or altered to fit or specially ordered. my penny penny

 

Yea I could get a long block with a good warranty but the turbo is eat up from the dust and the injectors didnt come with the engine when I bought the truck, so I'm looking at 1600+ for inj. and 500-1000 for a turbo in addition to the 4000 cost of the long block. I can do all the install myself, just didnt know about the wireing for the gauges, tach, speedo, ect

 

Unless you need it for work or a daily driver why don't you pull the engine and build it your self. It sounds like a great hotrod project you can build it they way you want it. Take the turbo to a shop and have it rebuilt instead of buying a new one or get one off of Craigslist and the injectors as well. YouTube the diesel stop he can show you how ex it is to build it.

 

local guy put a 12v out of a school bus in is 06 2500 about a year ago, definatly not an under taking for the faint of heart, he built the 12v to an extreme level but he had a ton of money in it and last I knew he still didn't have any working gauges.