1969 C10 6.5 diesel swap
 

Well this is my first post to this forum so i figured id start with a build thread. Ive owned my 69c10 for about 5 years now and its been the recipient of one leftover 350 after annother.. So in mid parts collection for an ls swap i came across an entire 6.5 td dropout from a medium duty chassi moving truck for the price of $free.99... After considering the pros and cons i sold the ls stuff and started rebuilding the diesel, im not green when it comes to diesels (im a certified cummins engine and powergen tech) but this was my first personal diesel buld and first diesel vehicle. The biggest reason i wanted to do diesel is i wanted mpg... As i work at a potato chip factory i have unlimited supply o free veggy oil and once My diesel swap is complete i will be doing a wvo conversion as well. Due to living in Arizona i am not fearful of the "cold oil" hazards of most WVO systems because the temperatures average 90+ most of the year.. Moving right along as of today 2014/6/29 i have the engine bay prepped, engine in and tested. I converted to a db2 type pump due to the harness i received with the swap was a little worse for wear... The build consists of .030 over mahle pistons, reman heads (mine were all cracked between the two valve seats) new timing chain, new cam and the marine style upper intake. The turbo has been rebuilt by turbo and electric in phx, the db2 pump is a reman from rock auto , new injectors from Canada, and new fuel lines from ssdiesel, pictures will follow shortly

s984.photobucket.com/user/jameskilcer/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image-6.jpg.html]Attachment 32178[/URL]
....Short block.....
Attachment 32179
... Long block +.....
Attachment 32180
Engine bay cleaned up a bit,
Attachment 32181
Clearance issues with the CPP tubular small block mounts,
Attachment 32182
Engine fit fine but the exhaust sat on the frame rails/mounts. I fabricated my own mounts using the tublear mounts to make a set of jigs and raise the mount point 1"
Attachment 32183
As you can see..... Tons of room...

Well i pulled a no-no... I was installing the trans myself lying in the dirt... And i used the bellhousing bolts to pull the trans to the engine... Diddent go so well for the trans... Broke an ear off the bellhousing (this is why it is an illadvised practice) but i diddent have a choice as im doing this all alone in less than ideal conditions... That happend last night and i just called it for the day... Today im going to pull it back off and tig weld it back ok... After all the yahoos out there who say JB weld works im not too worried about tig welding the bellhousing... Its the upper ear next to the alignment dowel so it will be prty sturdy as it is... Btw its a 4l80e i got on craigslist... So the damn thing could be F-ed anyways... We shall see.. Only time will tell

I welded the trans ear back on (not jb weld) it was my first time welding cast aluminum so it diddent look too purdy but i will hold just fine. Ordered my trans controller today. Im using the fast/tci unit (same thing different sticker) the main reason i went with that unit was it comes with the harness unlike the msd unit, and is 190 cheaper.

:tu: Looking good!

nice looking work... i have done alot of 6.2 and 6.5 engine conversions.. so i know you will be happy as long as you remember they are just a small low cost diesel and do great if not abused..:)

Thats the plan... Its a 1/2 ton so no 3 axle toy haulers for me... Haha biggest thing ill be towing is a little trailler with a johnboat... Or maby a car dolly... Its just the factory gm8 and ill be keeping the boost round 12 tops... I cant wait till i can try out a WVO system... Working at a chip factory getting free oil is no problem... If i can fuel it for next to nothing that would be Awesome... Anyways doing the wiring today and got my tci trans controller in today... More picts to follow...

Schweet! :tu:

So it's been a while but here's the news... Changed the 12 bolt to 3.08 with posi. Got the 4l80 all set up shifts good, set the injection timing to 8* got the ac almost all done... (Just waiting on the lines) I've been driving it daily for months now and it's been running great.. Took a 500mi road trip with it... Only issues so far is a few leaks that are persistent... All the talk about these things being gutless isent true... I think everyone just needs to remember they are not 6bt's, power strokes and dmax's... I'm yet to tow much with it but then again the trucks not really ment for heavy tows... I could see being disappointed with it in a 2500 or 3500.. But only if you were towning a lot... It has the same power as the 350 I had in it before... And it gets up and moves the truck even with the 3.08s... I won't be winning any races but it sure isent gutless...I've been running a lot of used motor/hydraulic oil thru it to suppliment my fuel and no issues... Pictures to soon follow

Glad to hear you have that rig running and kudos to you for getting the A/C working you wont be disappointed, I just resealed and vacuumed/recharged along with a new drier and orifice tube to my system last weekend along with a new drier and orifice tube.

Oh and IMO a A/C has no effect on the fuel mileage that I have noticed.

Better late than never i guess. So heres a video of the truck (from months ago)
https://youtu.be/DKH9OufI5Ng

And an update: im having cooling system woes. The truck if run on the highway at 70+ mph in 100+ heat it gets up to 230. I have ruled out head gaskets and over fueling. Im suspicious that my 3.08 rear gears and 4th gear in the 4l80 are putting too much load on the engine on the highway and that coupled with a cooling fan setup that only pushes 2300 cfm its not keeping up with the heat load. I am currently reserching 4-6000 cfm fans that are oem clutch fan replacements for newer trucks but due to slight radiator size differences i have to be careful on what i get. Especially when they cost 600 dollars

I had another 93 with 3.08s in it and electric fans with the wore out clutch fan and it would heat up like yours I put the Duramax fan clutch in it and problem solved. just my 2 cents:hellox:

Thats the kind of feed back i was hopin for! Im debating putting 3.50 gears in it with the fan, or just the fan. I got 20 mpg on my last trip from phoenix to yuma so idk if i want to change my gears.

Nice job James :jump:

If you think trans is causing extra heat issue why not add on a trans cooler, I run one with electric T Stat control to turn on the fan on the cooler at 180F return temp to trans rated for 25K loads, I pull up to 18K with mine from time to time.

I also suggest getting away from electric fans and going back to stock the OEM fan arrangement with later model high flow water pump actually moves more air than electric fans do.

GM sold the the 6.5 turbo with 3.08 gears in C1500s and 4L80E auto trans so if you are overheating you may need to look elsewhere,

What radiator do you have in it, and are you running with an AC core in it also?

What stats do you have in it, which stat housing ?

Just went to the video on you tube good looking swap, some of my earlier questions are answered, what kind of boost you running, I see you have a TM on the turbo, do you know what your IAT is ? sucking in hot underhood air adds to the heat load.

4L80 ??? how are you controlling the trans shifting with a stand alone computer?

Im running a 99 waterpump, with dual thermoatat housings with 195 thermostats with a three row aluminum radiator out of the 69. As soon as it went below 100 outside (last week) the engine takes a lot more load before heating up. I have the probe installed for the egt guage but havent goten to hooking up the gague. I dont suspect the trans to be my problem. I suspect it to be a egt problem caused by overloading it. Im running 12 lbs as of now.. as for the trans im using a FAST controller.

Do you process the veggie oil before burning it?

Everybody that I have heard of that ran unprocessed veggie oil had issues after a while.

If the oil is processed into bio-diesel and a good job is done, I've never heard of an issue

WVO/Waste fluids not my top tier of fuel additives operative word being waste, not as big an issue with the Mech Ips, has been VERY PROBLEMATIC with electronic IP over the years, might be a player might not, even with heating/straining/settling, (only way to run waste oils IMO) you still aren't impacting the chemistry of crap in waste oils that are now acidic or alkaline that is managed when used a feed stock when blended as Bio-D.

Because we are at low psi fuel systems (relatively) 3K or so as MFI vs 20K psi in common rail we can tolerate it better.

James IAT (intake air temp/charge air) was my question if you had monitoring capability, EGT also good info need to get that connected sooner than later, since this is an older you won't have an IAT sensor but can be added to your intake manifold so you know charge air temp, the hot air induction you have in photo would be improved with enclosing as a cold air. 12+ psi boost with the GM-X series turbos is where things get 'interesting" the turbo at those boost pressures gets really inefficient add in a high T2 (ambient temp) day and your charge air to engine out of the turbo runs 250F+ in electronic monitored engines 285F IAT sets a defuel on the IP to 55mm max fuel rate that does not code or let you know and also resets when you shut down until you hit that condition again. High IAT =high engine temps & reduced power output

Your mechanical IP & turbo can hit these limits but will not act upon them as no "brain/PCM" to limit operations/fuel rates, complicating this also is the waste gated GM-X turbos are very inefficient at higher boost levels on magnitude of 2x drive back-pressure to boost pressure achieved when I had my GM-8s on mine (best of the GM turbos, GM5s less efficient than the 8s) I recorded 45-50 psi drive pressure for 22 psi boost and only way to keep the IAT in check was with a IC between engine and turbo.

Have since retired the GM turbos and the IC in both my 6.5s for something in the 6.5 community known as A Team Turbo A-Team Turbo | , some have opted for HX 35/40 turbos which are better than GM turbos still operating wastegated that has some tradeoffs , ATTs also have tradeoffs ALL TURBOS HAVE TRADEOFFs just need to define goal at onset and select options from there.

From my personal experience and a few that have tried both we like the performance ATT gives, some detractors say otherwise I won't rehash that here, it has been done elsewhere under not as objective mindsets as should be applied to the discussion.

The only issue I have with the A Team Turbo and the only reason I do not have one, is the made in china factor. It just bugs me.

I have a guy down the road with a like new HX35 vacuum operated off a dodge now I know the down pipe is different than my spring operated WG mine is factory from 1993 will this bolt up? and can I just do a TM? I have plans to at least do a boost gauge at that time?

That is a tough one to get around as nearly everything on the shelves these days has either Chinese parts or assembly content, straight economics until our "leaders" and I use that term VERY GENEROUSLY do something about tax and trade disparity of US content goods then made in China is the only way one can compete products these days.

HX35s have been adapted HX40s seem to be a better performer for most but the 35 is better than the GM turbo, requires some manifold adapting work and downpipe work, you could fab a TM but you will want to be fully gauged for sure so you are setting the WG to operate for making boost but not be fully closed all time putting you in an overboost/high back pressure situation.

The one plus the ATT kits come with, they are virtually plug and play ready to install kits, and the owner of the company fully disassembles each turbo prior to shipping out and does a final QA on them deburrs any excess casting metal etc. so the quality isn't in issue coming from China other than someones political decision to not support made in China which is fine to each their own>

One last note on HXs verify it is genuine Holsett a LOT of CKO (Chinese Knock Off) "new aftermarket" turbos out there some good some not so good buyer beware.

I have a buddy that makes locomotive heads. He has had to outsource to China but hates it. It's a fact of life right now. But I participate as little as possible. I am just curious how much more the turbos would cost made in the USA or Canada.

When Ugly Sticks
started being made in China, they didn't get any cheaper

Nobody will make them for the 6.5 as they are obsolete vehicles, even starting to dry up overseas, so you now have to find a turbo from something else that has high enough volume in another application that makes them a viable possibility, that is how the "big housing" ATT happened by accident, original supplier stated shipping big housing turbos, because they stopped making the smaller housings for a while, without telling anybody they were doing that.

Big housings are ok just a surprise to Dennis when it happened and those really became an option for something like a big pusher, or low geared vehicle pulling big loads.

Your Delphi, AC DELCO, Bosh parts, GE, Whirlpool etc. also assembled in China/Mexico etc. didn't get any cheaper either that brand logo on the part box or the sticker is what drives the price, regardless of the manufacturing cost to the parent company, does your buddies price go down on locomotive repair with those made in China heads??? My guess would be no.

Problem these days damn hard to find true made in USA anything, with all the trade tariffs, and EPA and EHS, OSHA, etc. (alphabet agencies & "union scale" involved) that non USA manufacturers don't have to contend with it won't get any better.

Off soap box now going into way off topic here.


My apologies to the OP

Tim

Look awesome. And your camaro to :P I have an Iroc-Z :P

I love it! Nice job.