68 Bronco
 

hi everyone. I am new here and am trying to learn about diesel engines. I have a 68 bronco that my dad left me and i want to build a tough durable daily driver out of it. I am going to convert it to diesel, but I am having a hard time determining what engines are the best alternative for my application. I have concidered the 4bt, but I am concerned about the weight and you have to notch the frame to make it fit ( I am also having a hard time finding one). I have a friend that has a three cylnder perkins non turbo that he will sell for $500. The engine was mounted to a generator and is complete form the radiator to the starter. We can't find out any info on the engine. there is only one set of numbers on the block and I can't find a match to anything to tell me the actual size of the engine. also what would it take to turbo the engine. does anyone have any other ideas for a smaller and lighter engine other than the 4bt, but with a comparable amount of power? I appreciate anyones input on this. I can not find anyone in my area that knows anything about diesels to give me any ideas on this. Everyone I talk to just ask me why I would want to convert to diesel and then try to tell to but a 7.3 in it.

thanks
shayne burnham

Welcome to DB Shayne. Id say go with the 4bt swap into the bronco, its an excellent swap and turns out to be a good match for the bronco. There are other smaller engines but i would try to swap one in.

perkins motors are great engines, they wil lrun forever but for ease of parts and ability to work on, get a 4BT.....

Just put a 7.3 in it... :poak:

He wants to make a out of it. why would he throw in a paper weight? :poak:

If I do the 4bt do you guys have any ideas where to dig one up other thatn delivery vans. I can't seem to find any of them around this area that people want to get rid of.

you can pick up a commercial vehicle/truck trader(auto trader makes this mag.) and look in the back section where they sell miscellaneous item such as motors, transmission, axles etc. They can be picked up at a Gas station, typically one with a mini mart inside like a new valero or sumthin. and take a looksie.

I had a '68 Bronco back in the day. What shape is this truck in? Old Broncos are considered collector items now.It is best (and probably cheaper)to restore it back to original. You would make a killing!

hrmm... what ever gave you the idea that the 7.3 is a paperweight?

The 7.3 is one of the most reliable diesel engines (along with the 12v cummins I think, or 24v?? I can't remember) out there for light trucks....


but, I would say resto it if you are wanting to make it worth a lotta $$$ -- those things are getting very rare in good shape and people want a mint for them around here...

but the auto trader is a good idea if you are searching for parts also..

go to dovebid.com and look for their next transportation auction lots of cheap to me 4bt. be careful some came with chev turbo 400 and some came with ford sticks . the ford ones go cheaper and could have the right adapter.

the ford ones are going to have the NP435, 4 speed manual transmission, you want that tranny, its probably one of the strongest pick-up transmissions ever built......and if you dont want it, im sure someone out there doing a cummins swap into a old 79 ford would buy it......

the reason for not restoring it is this belonged to my dad and he wanted to make a trail truck out of it. I am going to do that since he has passed away and i want to build it the way he would have. i would not even think about selling it. the truck has already been cut up for hunting, and has wrong trany and transfercase for restoration. since i will be driving it everyday i want it to be reliable, get good fuel mileage, and go any where i want it to go being highway, LA swamps, TENN mountain trails, or roads in MS.

This guy used a 4bt backed by a NV4500 if that's any help to you.

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/featur...nco/index.html

Try www.craigshelper.com. Add the states you want to search in and what you want to search for. You should be able to find a 4bt somewhere.

I completely understand why you want to build the truck this way and we'll help however we can. Good luck. :up2:

http://craigshelper.com/results.php?...rch+Craigslist

I set it up to search a bunch of states around you. there seems to be a bunch in MO for sale.

7.3 - :U:

go with the cummins 3.9. i put one in a dodge 1500 getting about 33mpg. Cummins is one of the most reliable engine around, will out run a 7.3 any day. Don't know of any 7.3 with a 1,000,000 miles but I do know of a cummins with a 1,000,000 miles. It will also get better mpg then the 7.3. You can also find them on ebay (cummins 3.9) or cores4u.com.

4:53 detroit might work also

what does a 4:53 detroit come in and what kind of trans options would i have?

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i googled 4:53 and 3:53 detroits and they weight 1300 and 1000 pounds. that is very heavy. I don't know if I want that kind of weight. any comments out there about that amount of weight. pro's and con's. I know it would give it a little more a$$ for pulling but would the rear end get too light? or is the bronco short enough that the weight would be distributed enough not to make a difference?

i dunno, i'm a boat guy so i see a bunch of them in boats. they are fairly easy to get parts for. and you can get quite a bit of power out of them. a guy around here had one in a lobster boat. went 25knts in a 35 boat.. that pretty good for a boat that size.

a big block chevy is around 600 lbs
whats the average weight of any 4 cyl diesel?

i think if you want a diesel you might want to prepare for some added weigh on the front end.

i see you thinking of 3 cyl engine. remember there is no replacement for displacement

4 cyl cummins weighs about 780 pounds.

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I didn't build my front end up and I havn't had any problems yet.

jake what did you do for a conversion?

4bt
 

I have been following at www.pirate4x4.com where a guy is putting one (cummins 4bt) in a jeep tj w/a nv4500 trans. his issues are it has to ride low in the frame and the oil pan would possibly contact trail obstacles. Do a google search I found rebuilt w/warranty 4bt for $3595.00, might take some driving, but the right used one is out there for $1500-$2500 imho.

I wanta stretch my 01 TJ to a wb of 112" and put a 4bt in it with my HP D60 and 5:38 gears and lockers fr and rr it should be unstoppable:U:

I used an auto trans out of a 91 dodge with a cummins in it, used adapter plate from same truck. Made my own motor mounts. My 3.9 cummins was intercooled so I used the intercooler out of a 94 to 2002 dodge, used a raditor out of a 2500 or 3500 94 to 2002 dodge. Put it in a 94 2wd dodge 1500. Used the powersteering of the 1500, vacuum pump off of chevy 6.5 (just what I had), AC off of 1500.

I found my cummins. I will bee purchasing a 90 model p30 lays potato chip truck with a 3.9 and a 4 speed trany for $1800. I am very excited about this. the guy walked into the parts place that i work part time at and was looking for a clutch. I talked him right out of the truck. it has about 220,000 on the engine but it runs and it is a turbo.

whoo hoo ya!!!!!!

hahaha, good find!
glad to see you're building the thing to drive, too; sure you could restore it and sell it for a bunch of cash but then all you have is a small pile of cash...build the thing up and drive it and you've got trailworthy classic steel that gets 30mpg and has a lot of significance with the family background...that's worth way more than a few thousand dollar profit!!!

If it was me I would pull it apart and have the rotating assembly balanced throwing in new rings and bearings. It will make it a lot smoother running little engine and then you know it will last forever. That is my personal opinion because the little 3.9s seem to not be balanced that well.

since it's going to be outa the truck that'd be a really good idea. these things do rattle a bit rough...a few hundred bucks to balance and get new bearings would make that thing even more bulletproof...wait, is making a cummins more bulletproof like wearing two bulletproof vests instead of one??

You will be suprised at how much smoother and quieter those little engines are when they are ballanced well. Also helps if you turn up the power. Its really good if you can find one with an inline pump instead of a rotary pump.

that '90 model should be a rotary pump as far as I know... D&C, what do you have against the VE?:poak: haha, wish I had my p-pump 2nd gen instead of my VE 1st, oh well, it's cheaper and gets the job done well!

there's plenty of power and fun to be had with the rotary :U:

I have nothing against the VE pump especially since I'm looking for a 89-93 cummins engine. Those little rotary pumps are really limited thought from what I have been told.

burnham, any progress on acquiring the engine or anything?

Lots of info on Pirate4x4.Com - The largest off roading website in the world. and ClassicBroncos.com: Early Bronco Community for 66-77 Ford Bronco about this swap

68I've seen a 4BT in a '68 before and if i remember correctly, it had a nine inch, dana 44 and 25+ city mpg and still made 400hp