Hi all, I have a 1985 P-35 box van or (bread van). It has a Chevy 6.2 L diesel engine and i am thinking of changing it to a Cummins or Power stroke Diesel Are they interchangeable?? or is there adapter plates or do I have to change the transmission?? The van is geared real low and winds out at 55 MPH. It has a whole wood shop of tools inside and I use it all the time. It gets 11 MPG on a good day. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanx.............S-J

 

To change a 6.2 to a Cummins is going to take a trans and fair amount of work. To go to a powerstroke would take even more. The 6.2 should do better than 11 mpgs. The 83 6.2 I have has always done in the mid 20's.

 

Thanks 2Muchjunk's, I guess I will stick to the 6.2. My van is a large and long one, 23' long with a 16 foot box and 8' wide. It was an old haz-mat truck for the town of Standish. The springs in the rear are HUGE. I loaded the back with all the lumber for a 16'x32' pressure treated deck and it didn't even know it. It also has all the tools to do just about any job relateing to home building and most of the hardware. I thought I may bring it to a gravel pit to weigh it to see how much cargo I'm carrying. I would like to see if I could get better fuel economy. Any ideas?? short of unloading it.???

Thanks. Joe

 

turbo it , open up the exhaust system , do something with air intake and filter

also old injectors and lot miles on IP will hurt fuel

 

thanks to those who posted comment on "no fuel from the IP sorted it and banging on all 8 had water in fuel sorted all that but would not start so stripped out stop solonoid and IP filter mesh got fuel out of IP sorted 1 thing left PMD but its mounted on a sink in the bumper aaar father in law put on diesel fired blow heater infront of truck in our shop to keep him warm what height is it and what was it pointing at the bumper and near enough fried it the extension leads still good and saved my #9 resistor so all is well in the mad house and a very appolagetic father in law

 

My van has 130000 mi. On it starts great first try, even when cold.I am not very familiar with the 6.2 yet but I'm sure I will be by the time I make it how I want it. What is the ball park cost for parts to do as you suggest? ie turbo, exhaust, intake filter system.
Thanks. SJ

 

You should be able to get a used turbo manifolds and intake off a 6.5 for a few hundred dollars. It will bolt to the 6.2 the only problem you might run into is the injectors are taller on a 6.2 which could cause clearance problems on the right side of the engine. You can put 6.5 injectors in your 6.2. To be honest with the load you have I wouldn't expect it to do great on fuel. You should still be able to get a little better out of it and if you cant do it with a 6.2 your probably not going to get any better out of it.

 

if it tops out at 55 you could put more efficient gears in the diff. wont accelerate as quick though. im betting for a big van it pulls pretty good with the gears in it