Hey fellas, whats up? I'm a new member from jersey. I have a1998 c6500 chevy, gas 366 engine, 4 door, flat bed. Its a good running truck, that's easy to work on. My truck has 100000 miles. I wanted to run it for another 50-60000 miles then sell it or convert it to diesel. Does anyone know what the cost is to change my truck to a
duramax or cat diesel?

 

I do not know if I am in time or not, but destroked.com has a great line of products from what I have heard and should be a good place to start with your conversion. I know this is not the exact info you needed, but I was told that for an early 90's ford dually 12 valve conversion would cost me about 3-6 grand for labor, about 3 grand worth of parts from destroked, and about 2-3 grand for a donor vehicle. Hope this helped!

 

Julie... not claiming to be an expert in any way... but from all I've heard and read... be VERY careful when choosing a Caterpillar... I hear the 3126 7.2L has a lot of problems... It was a factory offering in your chassis, along with the DuraMax... I would go with the Duramax. They are fairly easy to find... VDOT here has newer Silverados that they auction off sometimes, they usually are diesels, mostly 98-up Duramax these days, and some of them have been wrecked, so you can get them way cheap. Just my $0.02... Hate to see someone pick a problem motor for a swap. Can anyone confirm or deny the rumors about the 3126?

 

Didnt they have 3208's in those? There a bullet proof motor

 

I'm not sure the 3208 was an option in 1998, though I'm not the expert here. I've only seen it in MDTs as late as 1990. Still, that's a very viable option. I know it was available in the older Louisville (Ford chassis), even some International S and Ford L-series chassis school buses had them. Shouldn't be hard to put it into a GM chassis. Question though, just out of curiosity: Isn't the 3208's injection system oil-fired (HEUI)?

 

Anomaly, the 3126 cat is only as problematic as any other motor as far as my experience. The main common issues I have seen with them are cam sensors ( like the 7.3 ford) oil leaks (like any 12v or 24v cummins) and fuel/HEUI system problems. Im sure there are more that im forgetting but its been 5 years since ive worked on one. They are not the most powerful (in a MDT ex. 330 peterbuilt, f650) but that is all dependant on pcm programming as they are HEUI. For conversion sake the 12v is the way to go, much simpler, no electronics. My old man has an 04 f650 with the 3126 in it (gutless) & he beats the $**t out of it daily and has never had any issues with it other than cam sensor and oil leaking front cover...

 

+1 on the 12v but make sure you check out local emissions stuff first. what trans would you use in whatever engine choice you make?

 

Also, you will have to talk it over with your insurance agent. Talk to him or her and see how hard it would be to transfer your title from a gasoline to a diesel. If you do this conversion and hit a snag, the bombers will be happy to help any way we can. If you do this conversion, post LOTS of pics! It might save you a few headaches! Good luck to ya, and tell us how it goes!