6.5 to cummins conversion?
 

Hi I have a 95 6.5 td and I was wondering how hard it would be to convert it to a 5.9 cummins out of a 94-98 dodge. Will my 4l80e tranny bolt up? How much and how hard is it to rewire everything? Jus wondering if it would be possible bc theres only so much power you can make in a 6.5.

I've done it. Used the dodge 47RH instead, more cost effective that way IMO unless you want to shell out $800 for standalone controller, $800 for a adapter, $250 for starter plus getting it built to handle the torque better. I saved myself the $2K+ and stayed with the 47RH. It's not hard to rewire if you have automotive electrical knowledge. There are diagrams all over that tell what needs to go where to keep all your gauges working in the GM cluster. I went all mechanical with everything and took out probably 20lbs of excess wiring.

check out autoworldmt.com and if ya got myspace add me I've got a lot of pics on there.

ok so the 94-98 12 valves are all mechanical???

yup. Got any interest in going to a manual trans?

Well jus bc of cost I think i'm gonna jus boost up my 6.5 a lil and get my truck paid off this summer then I might tackle the cummns conversion next summer when i dont have a truck payment every month

Don't "Juice" it too much.. Mine turned into a 9cylinder that way......

By the way, if you haven't done something like this before, whatever you figure it will cost for a conversion, double it, then triple the amount of time then you'll be in the ballpark...

x2 it always winds up that way

ok lol i'll keep that in mind. I still think i'd rather buy the controller and bolt up kit for my transmission jus so i dont have to mess with different drive shafts. Would any one happen to have the dimensions of the cummins engine... if it's to long i could always run electric fans???

How much do you think i could get a used 5.9 for??? I'm pretty confident I could find one bc I know a few ppl around here that own shops.

and my last question is will i have problems with my suspension?? Ive read that the cummins is a few hundred pounds more than the 6.5?? is this true??

The engine alone is 1200lbs. It depends what you find for a donor truck/engine. I got a complete wrecked dodge truck for $1000, everything I needed was good and everything I didnt was bad..worked out great and everything ran...driveshafts aren't hard, takes a competent machinist about 20-30mins to change the inputs and shorten if need be. Suspension will be up to you, I am personally not worrying about it and just cranking the torsion bars for now. My thinking is, if you can stick a big ole plow out in front of a truck with a 6.5 in it, why cant you just put a few hundred more pounds of engine in? You can either modify the front to take a clutch fan but electric fans will fit much nicer, with pusher fans being the best for clearance. There are a lot of people that don't even run with any fans and it works, as long as your not hauling big loads or sitting in traffic for hours you'll be fine without. There is a great diagram on 4btswaps.com on dimensions of a 6BTA.