Arctic Offroad Forums

Okay, someday I'd like to do this, so I thought I'd throw this out there.

I found this place. http://www.autoworldmt.com They specialize in Cummin's repowers. They did a 91 Burb last year and it went very well. They do everything including a good trans swap for $15K up to $22K if you want the latest 24V etc.

I'd have to swap a 14FF in the rear to hold the power, but it's tempting. However, after talking to them this morning, I'm thinking this is something that if the 6.2L gives me any more guff, I could probably do myself. Just not for a little while until the checking account is healthier. I did a little searching and can find an early 12V that's all mechanical like my 6.2L so it would be a simple as far as electronics go swap.

I called a few places listed on car-part.com and found several good 91-93 donors that would include NV4500 5-speeds and a passenger side drop NP205 for a little over $3K. Again, out of the cards now, but definitely a thought for the future. After talking to the Auto World folks in Montana, they said that the 91 Burb is an excellent choice as it's one of the vehicles that didn't require sheet metal work to get the motor into. They said they could sell me the mounts and brackets to get everything to mount up, and the rest would be fairly easy. Although they highly recommended I find a better rear end as the 10-bolt wouldn't hold up long to the 5.9L. I agreed on that point. The only other concern they had was that the 5.9L weighs about three hundred pounds more than the 6.2L, so they recommended a set of front air bags like the ones I installed in the rear to help offset the added weight and keep the ride height appropriate.

Again, this is probably something I wouldn't do for quite awhile, but now after looking into it more, wish I would've put my rebuild money into this instead of the 6.2L's I worked on for the last several months.

Oh well, lessons learned. Hopefully someone else can utilize some of this info if I don't.

Diesels are I/M exempt, so putting a diesel in any vehicle will still make it legal for year round use.

After pricing a Banks turbo, I am thinking of going with a 5.9 re-power also. Like you said, donor vehicle prices aren't too bad. I had got some info from Autoworld also. Here's a forum for cummins conversions http://www.cummins-conversion.com/phpBB/...48b447a25a

Kelly he is in CA. Depending on where he is at they have emmissions on dielses.

Mark don't get the nv4500. If you are going the the trouble of putting a cummins in it get the nv5500 6 speed. Trust me it's worth it and not hardly any more expensive. Also don't count out the early 24 valve's. They are a simple motor. And if you do some looking on places like diesel truck resource and tdr you can find the motor, tranny and such without having to full with the whole vehicle. I found a 12 v here in wv for $500 with 60,000 miles on it and it's already been worked over. It can be cheaper than what you think.

Yeah, that's cheaper than my cheap Turbo I found for the 6.2L.

I doubt this will happen before I head back to AK, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

BTW, in CA, Diesels are exempt from emissions forever, and no one ever checks to verify if a Diesel motor is still under the hood. Diesels did have to pass emissions in Tucson, Arizona though.

I am currently sitting on a NV5600 six speed. I had it tore down and checked out and reassembled with new bearings and seals. Dynatrac left me hanging on the adapter kit so I've been hanging on to it in case I came across a good deal on a Cummins or someone who needs it. I've been talking to a guy in Anchorage who may buy it at the end of the month.

12 valve cummins are great engines, a few have been reported to have gone over a millon miles, there was one that was even verified by the turbo diesel register. This one was an 89 and it was used to deliver new travel trailers from the factory in Indiana to locations all over the lower 48.

The only thing to fix while it is out is the KDP otherwise known as "Killer Dowel Pin", basically a dowel pin in the timing cover whose hole was machined to mmuch from the factory. In some cases the lin falls out and gets into the timing gears (there is no chain) and can eat up the teeth and bust the timing cover. Do a google search for cummins KDP.

It also has features such as a deep skirt block, meaning the block extends below the centerline of the crank, one reason it weighs so much more than a 6.2L. If a 6.2 had that feature, cracked blocks would not happen!

And my favorite comparison of all time, the 6.2, 7.3 and cummins rod comparison:



I personally would love to install a 4 banger Cummins diesel in the Hummer and turn it up. More power than the 6.2, easy to turn up, and the 4BT will weigh about the same and give better mileage. the truck pullers and diesel drag racers use two and three turbos to cram 75+ PSI down these engines and they live, they do tend to spit out thier cranks at about 125 PSI though. What an amazing engine, one racer who was using twin turbos, nitrous and propane in his was quoted as saying "you could feed this engine hand grenades and it would live".

I will get by on 6.2's for now because they are cheap, but good cores are already getting scarce.

There are many who have done chevy swaps, there is a swap forum over at http://www.turbodieselregister.com/forum...nversions/

I love my cummins .. what a power house .. of course after driving my yota's for so long i had no idea what i was missing ..

now im looking for a mid 90's cummins truck and build into a buggy ..

Take the engine and put it into something decent. Its too bad that Dodge is the one that has it's hands on the Cummins, it's got the worst bodies and interiors of the big three.

Don't get the transmission that comes with the pre-'94 rigs. It wasn't the NV4500. It's a Getrag 5 speed that, from what I understand, will only hold up if you overfill it by a quart. Most have probably already been built once or twice if they don't currently need it.

I also have an NV5600, though I'd say mine's only good for a rebuild. It's yours if you want it. I'm only into it a couple hours of time. At the time we thought it was an NV4500 we could use.

Also, if you did get a Cummins, what would be the problem with a driver's drop axle? Last I knew, Kevin's got a Dana 44 that should work...

At the moment, I'm not headed back to AK anytime soon.

Trying to sell my rig there so I can build one here. Lots of ideas, and I may look around tomorrow.

However, if the 6.2L gives me more problems, I may have to upgrade.

Ooh, that's right. Forgot about that *minor* detail.

It's all good, I'll get back up there, someday.