I am thinking of buying a truck soon, and I was wandering what would be a better candidate for a 12 valve conversion.

Here is what I have found:A 95 ford dually crew cab that losts it's powerstroke for the guys other truck when that one blew. It still has a well shifting manual transmission in it. It is a 4WD with a good body minus a few farm dents and dings (which is fine with me), and he wants $1200. I do not know if that is firm on the price or not. It has 21X,XXX miles on it.

I also found a 95 Chevy crew cab dually running with a 4wd manual as well, but it had a 6.5 diesel in it that went kaput on him. This one is in about the same condition (not great, but not terrible). Its motor is also gone, but it still has its tranny that he says still shifts fine. It has 19X,XXX miles on it. He wants $1500 OBO or trade for guy stuff. (I would prefer to just buy it in cash)

I also found a 96 Dodge 3/4 ton diesel that has no title (meaning i can only buy it for parts), but he wants $1200 for the truck as is with a smoked transmission, or a grand for the motor alone. Obviously, buying it as a whole seems like a better deal because I can sell off the remaining parts and get most of my money back for it. It is a 4wd auto that is missing it's rearend, dash, instrument cluster, front fenders, grille, front bumper, radiator, and it's rearend, but it still has everything else including a VERY straight body that would be easy to sell along with a good interior. It looks like it might be a good donor vehicle.

So here are my questions: Which of these would be cheaper to convert, and most reliable? We have had good luck with the transmissions of both of these year range trucks, but neither of them have had a cummins. Which one would require more beefing up of the transmission? I like both of the trucks judging by the pic, but I want to be careful.

My next door neighbor is a VERY good diesel mechanic that has worked on my brothers 12 valve a few times, and he always does a good job. That part is out of the way, and I know that I will need to buy a tranny adapter plate, wiring adapters, etc.
Both of these trucks are within 100 miles of me, so I can drive there if I decide which is better. I just want to study up on this before I use all that fuel going down there. I am sure I have left out a thousand things, and I will answer as many questions as I can.

 

The Ford seems to be a more common conversion, If I were gonna do a Chevy I'd have to do a solid axle swap up front.

 

anyone else?

 

check out Page 9






a chevy frome te 90's would be cool

 

this is kind of a shitty idea, but dodge put the vin number on the door not the cab for some reason, so you "could" get away with that... i say do the ford or buy the dodge and swap a cab with a title on it.

 

I would rather not, because I went out there yesterday and someone bought the entire front end minus the bumpstops. I also found the fuel tank in the bed of it, my brother bought its tailgate for his truck, and ALL of the dash, instrument panel, etc, was gone. Al that is left is a smoked auto tranny, a motor minus the pulleys, air filter box, and a few other things, the interiors seats and carpet, hood, cab, and bed. It is missing WAY too many parts to be put on the road again. just buying a stripped cab from him with the title is 750 bucks, plus a couple grand for a tranny, at least another grand to buy front end if I'm lucky, a rearend is atleast another $500, plus a driveshaft for a couple hundred, and the cost of cleaning and installing that fuel tank, and buying the instrument panel, dash, entertainment system, steering assembly that went with the front end when it sold, and a few other things I probably forgot. for what I would spend getting it road ready, I could probably do the conversion into a ferd or a chevy. It has enough parts for a conversion donor vehicle left on it, but not enough to get it road ready at a reasonable cost.

Sorry for the long post. Anyone else have ideas or input?

 

i say do the ford then. so does that make a dodge a dummins?

 

Well, that is pretty clever, not sure how that would look on a bumper sticker though. I think that should be added to Diesel Bombers somehow, but the "dummins" part was that dodge never made a body that would last as long as its engines. About 90 percent of the time, the Dodge bodys rust away or fall apart WAAYYY before the motors ever do. Not to mention the paint durability quality that was shotty at best. Over all, the old Dodges were good, they just needed a few bugs worked out just like any other truck.

Does anyone know bout how many hours would it take to do this conversion? I would like to know how long it would take my mechanic to do this and what I should expect to pay him. If I supply the donor truck and all the necessary adapters, parts, etc., what would I be looking at here?

 

Hey man do the ford conversion the OBS bodystyles 92-97 are solid. The hour question is hard to say i have over a hundred hours in my conversion but i have a 24v and rebuilt my entire engine so that adds time. With it being a 12v it will be fairly simple and many people on here to help you out when you hit a snag. Hitting the firewall back 2 inches is fairly easy, most fabrication is the intercooler mounts, piping, its way easier if you have the industrial 12v ex manifold that drops below the 4th and 5th cylinders to do the exhaust.Not really sure how the dual tanks work with the manual lift pump if the stock power stroke lines provide enough volume. Im sure someone can answer that with a definite answer.You will have to braise the dodge power steering fitting to the ford line. Vacuum hooks right up. If you get autoworld mounts you will have to trim a little bit off the driver side mount to fit the power steering line between there its a tight 90 degree turn. Youll have to make waterlines for your radiator and get a manual gas pedal from a 92-97 ford gas truck. You can pm me if you have any questions man.Also use the dodge fan,fan clutch, and mounting the ac compressor is up to you on my 24v it fits above my injectionpump before the intake manifold. Not sure if it will fit right there on a 12v. Good Luck man.

 

If you are talking about the fuel lines and dual fuel tanks in the ferd, would it be better to just put in the dodge ones? Also, why do I need a manual pedal from a gasser? I am positive you have a reason for these things and you have more experience than I do.