84 Suburban; another cummins in a chevy

[rxm6]

Hi everyone,

I finally felt I had enough time (and money) and decided to take the plunge and convert over from the 6.2 to the 5.9 and, at the same time, go from auto to stick. So here are some pictures in case the internet needs more pictures of chevys with cummins' in them.

I wanted to show these pictures because this shows clearance with a Dodge Dana 60, off of a 93 Dodge, and the autoworld cross member. One thing I'm going to do is change the breather port to a 90 degree to provide more clearance for flexing. Also, as another note, what you're looking at is really a 5-inch lift. The tuffcountry springs are the HD 3500lb 4-inch springs plus the additional inch from the spring perches on the Dodge being 2 inch as opposed to GM's 1 inch. I really thought with the cummins there would be more sag, but as off now, its sitting a little higher than the 6.2. Although, I still have a transmission and a transfer case to install.

Another thing I have pictured below is my two rear front spring hangers. One of them isn't very happy and is mostly bent (passenger side). The Dodge 60's perches are .5 wider than GM's, but that's .25 inch difference for each mount to take up. Not that much, however, one bushing must be worse off than the other and so it failed. So those are getting replaced this week with heavier-duty ones from offroaddesign. Pictures later.

Also, on the list of things-I-still-need-to-do is extend the dodge shock perches to accommodate dual shocks. There are a few other things that need to be done to the front axle, but Ill post those when I get to them.

Driver side - how it should look:

Passenger side - how it shouldn't:

 

[bfdiesel]

Nice

 

[Scrib]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[rxm6]

today's work

Got the positions of my sending units finalized and tightened down. For the temperature gauge, I had a brass sleeve made in the same thread as the cummins temp unit and had the inside threaded to accept a GM unit. For the oil pressure sender, the cummins and GM threading is the same, but the GM was too close to the power steering pump, so I used a male/male from the block to a 45 degree female/female.

I was told that I would have to do a little surgery on the transmission tunnel to get the bell housing to fit. I opted out of beating it with a hammer pre-installation and decided instead to use a hydraulic jack to slowly bend the metal after the engine was installed. When I finally straightened the engine in the chassis, I did a test fit with the bellhousing and its tight, but it fit. That was with no alteration of the transmission tunnel except bending up the pinch weld below the firewall. However, I think that the bellhousing fitting might be a little misleading considering that I have no fly wheel or clutch to navigate around yet. Going to get those ordered up and reevaluate.

Another thing, I put up an image of my blazer floor and my suburban floor and there is a difference in the suburban floor.

Also, did a test fit of the radiator and shroud today. There is about 1-2 inches in between the clutch and the radiator. Also going to have to modify the radiator support to allow the dodge unit to sit down in the body more.

 

[jasonL_031]

looking good

 

[Rot Box]

Very nice! :coffeedrink:

 

[rxm6]

long day

I barely got anything done today. My whole day was consumed with the front rear hangers. It was an annoying and time consuming process. I only kept sane by reminding myself of where this truck will take me when it's complete.

As I showed above, the passenger side hanger bushing was shot. (When I pulled it out I found a good amount of rubber missing) It was causing the axle to dog-track to the passenger side. So I ordered some beefier bushings and assembly from offroaddesign. I started by taking a cutting wheel to as many of the rivets I could, but the brake lines and the frame got in the way and I was forced to chisel the 4 off. It was really time consuming and loud. After getting the original hanger assemblies off I had to enlarge the screw holes to accept the new bolt hardware. That was no problem and easy to do with a step-bit, but you also have to enlarge the hole in the frame that the assembly fits through. Maybe there is a tool for this, but I don't own it. All I had was a die-grinder and I took a while to make the hole larger and even all the way around. Once that was done, I could bolt the assembly to frame, install the new bushings and hanger hardware and re-install the springs.

After installation, I did a comparison shot again. Spring tension appears to be taken up a little more evenly, however, there "appears" to be a small amount of dog-track to the passenger side still. However, the hangers have taken away most of the offset. But, there is still a lot of tension on the passenger side; more tension then there should be. I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here. I did notice that the driver side front hanger is bent towards the passenger side slightly (pictured, but don't know that you can really tell). I'm going to try and straighten that front mount tomorrow with a porta-power, but I'm not sure how much it will help. Any ideas?

 

[rxm6]

update

Ok, spring offset finally solved. Somewhere in the 29 years this truck has been around, the truck was in a accident. The frame was straightened, but not completely. Really had to take off the bumper to see this. The bottom portion of the frame lip that the spring hanger is riveted to is bent down, thus pushing the hanger assembly up and twisting the spring.



Got my clutch master mounted as well. Because I originally had auto, this hole was where the cruise control wiring and vacuum were run. Removed the cruise control loom (drilled new hole in firewall for cruise) and mounted a Tndiesel clutch kit. Comes with a clutch master from a a mid 90's F350, an angled metal puck to put the master in line with the clutch pedal, and a slave for the transmission of your choice.





I purchased a 13'' flywheel and clutch that took a month a half to arrive (that's a whole other story in and of itself). Got everything installed. Installed the Getrag, which was pretty easy, relatively. I used my cutting wheel judiciously, but will probably expand the hole a little more to be able to install the transmission shift boot and shift lever. Installed the Chevy crossbrace and had to drill 2 new holes. However, with the big cummins and leaving room for a mechanical fan, the transmission mount was darn close to the 700r4 mount location. Pretty happy that everything was as close as it was. Also got the dodge np205 installed. What a pain. It was really difficult to do myself. At least the Chevy speedo cable plugs right into the dodge speedo drive. I get that at least.











Mounting my starter was a little bit of a pain. I used the AutoWorldMT motor mount and cross brace which is really nice and solid and brought my frame together. I was a little frustrated though that it interfered with the starter. I had to notch the mount out quite a bit with a grinder for the starter to fit and also have enough room for motor vibrations and the violent end-of-the-world shut down. I also had to notch and adjust the bottom front bracket of the alternator kit to get the alternator in the correct position. The brackets were hitting the tensioner. Also, the brackets did not push the alternator out far enough to be in line with the engine serp setup. This, together with notching the crossbrace, flustered me a little bit. I realize there will be some custom work in swapping a cummins into a chevy, but I paid what I paid to not have to think as much (I thought) about certain things. Maybe it's because I'm nearing completion or maybe it's because I have had so many minor roadblocks from finding an odd sized grade 8 bolt to having tools walk away from my toolbox. That being said, I think AutoWorld's stuff is stout and well built and, in reality, it would be impossible for them to build a kit that worked perfectly on my engine in my truck without them building on my engine. All in all, their customer service is excellent, I would buy from them again, and I'm probably just frustrated from reading all the awesome trips you guys are going on that I'm not enjoying as well.







Currently working on the transfer case shift and getting it aligned in the chevy shift hole and mounts for my "baby" intercooler. Pictures of that soon (hopefully).

 

[chilliwak]

Well first off, welcome to the site Rxm6 and I cant say that we can have too many Cummins Chevys here or anywhere else. Nice work you have done on your rig and its cool to follow your progress which you so completely detailed. I cant wait to see your beast up and running. Cheers, Chilli...

 

[rxm6]

almost there

First, Thanks Chilli.

Second, I was worried today that I had made a blunder. When I was taking out my 6.2, I cracked my a/c box. I completely forgot that I needed to replace it until I rediscovered the new a/c box cover in my pile of parts. The blunder was that there is a very small amount of space between the turbo housing and the a/c box. In fact, it was so tight, I managed to crack the old a/c lid in half trying to get it out. (There is a picture in the first post of the a/c box and turbo housing) I spent a good couple of hours shouting at the truck, pleading with the truck, and finally weeping slightly. I almost went to grab my wrenches and start taking apart the turbo housing. However, sometimes you just need to take a moment and relax. Get yourself into sorts and approach the problem fresh. I did end up figuring out a way to get it on. It wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it did get done and I rewarded myself with lunch.

Because I spent so much time being stupid and doing something I should have done when the engine was out, I didn't have much time to get a whole lot done. But, I did manage to finish a few little projects.

I hobbled together a contraption to delete my rear height sensing brake proportioning valve that was leaking very badly. I spent a lot of time researching this and the general consensus was that a lifted truck with larger and heavier tires and trucks with a lot of weight on them wouldn't need the proportioning valve and would benefit more from all the braking possible. I'm going to adjust the shoes a little loose at first and see how it feels and tighten them up if I need to.



Also installed my Fast Cooler pto thing. It's an aluminum housing with fins that bolts to the pto opening on the transmission (or transfer case) and adds an additional quart of oil capacity and supposedly cools the oil better. I don't know about the cooling thing, it isn't really why I bought it. The getrag is known to suffer from heat related stress and lubrication issues, so I mostly wanted a way of adding more oil to keep everything a little cooler. I mean, it is aluminum and the transmission is cast iron, so I'm sure it might provide some heat reduction benefits...maybe?



Worked on my transfer case shifter as well. I used the Dodge shift arm and turned it around on the mount. I also bent it more so that it would line up in the same location as the chevy shifter. I do plan on doing a twin stick setup at some point, but I'm in a bit of a hurry to get the truck done at this point. I need it by June 20th. Hurry, hurry. In the picture below, ignore the shifter knob bracket; it's just on there loose. The lower shift bracket is in the 2hi position in this picture with n and 4lo in front it. 4lo just engages before hitting the body.



Got my baby intercooler installed too. Now, before you laugh at it, consider this: the first gen dodge intercooler is about 1.5 inches thick and about 13 inches tall. The baby intercooler is 2.25 thick and 7.5 inches tall. That makes them about the same in dimensions. Also, the smaller dimensions of the intercooler will allow more cooler air to hit the condenser. I mounted it by cutting and folding the mounts for the dodge radiator at a 90 degree angle and using the dodge radiator rubber mounting pads. I got the mounts really tight, squeezing the intercooler pads. There is a little side to side movement, but I think the intercooler piping will take care of steadying the intercooler.



Finally, I did a little day dreaming. This engine was originally equipped with an automatic. Dodge, instead of using the radiator to cool the transmission, like chevy did, opted to use a heat exchanger. The transmission fluid was cooled by the coolant. I have removed the transmission lines, but didn't remove the heat exchanger. I didn't really want to re-engineer the coolant path. However, I think this presents me with an opportunity to install a hot water source on the truck. I've always had plans to add a lot of overland equipment, but the price and necessity, over other items, of installing a hot water system has always kept it on the back burner. I'm considering using the heat exchanger for hot water, but my question is; how would I control the water temperature. I'd hate to want to rinse myself off and scald myself in the process. Good idea, bad idea, thoughts?

 

[redthies]

I spent a good couple of hours shouting at the truck, pleading with the truck, and finally weeping slightly. Get yourself into BEER and approach the problem fresh.

Fixed it for you!

Your project looks to be going along nicely. Soon you'll be enjoying the 12v. Fun times ahead!

 

[bootlegger]

My apologies if I missed it, but I'm wondering what manual padals did you use?

 

[chilliwak]

I would really like to help you out on the heat exchanger thing but i really know nothing about them. There is a discussion on the site here about those kind of units. Maybe you can get some help there...

 

[rxm6]

Come hell or high water, I swear I'm going to start it this week.

So, I hated my brake contraption. There was too many joints and it leaked. The untold portion of my brake story is that I had taken that valve to a re-builder of brakes and antique brakes. He just dismissed me outright and said he couldn't get parts for the rebuild anymore. What it really sounded like to me is that he didn't want to do it. However, c'est la vie. He won't be earning my business again anytime soon. So, I decided to take the plunge and tear the thing apart to see if I could get the leaking to stop. What I found baffled me beyond belief. There are two o-rings preventing brake fluid from leaking out. Two. Here I thought that this magical device in the rear of the truck that had begun to leak required intricate surgery to repair. Two o-rings.

The second o-ring was a little difficult to replace. It sits below the spring seat and requires something fine to finagle it into position. I used dentist's tools.







Anyhow, re-installed and leak free. I have to stop being afraid of things on my truck.

Also, I've been working on an air intake solution. I'm a gigantic proponent of paper filters, especially for offroad purposes. So, I wanted to use a paper filter from day one, but had to spend time thinking about it to make it work. I originally thought about going with a 2nd gen cummins intake box with a flat style filter and it fit really well. The only problem was the 2nd gen intake hose wraps into a 160 degree turn and wanted to seat the box right where the a/c box is. I tried using the 1st gen intake tube, but the 1st gen intake is actually larger on the filter end and wouldn't fit. I then tried to make the 1st gen filter box work, but it is just too large to fit up on the fender. I finally made the choice to move the battery completely away from the passenger side. (It's now in a super nice Ford battery box on the frame, pics of that next time) This is the only picture I have of the intake, but will take more for next time as well as the relocation of the coolant overflow tank.





Started working on the exhaust to. 1st gen cummins downpipe is really tight and I'm glad I insulated everything in that general area. I had to also dimple the pipe so it could clear the rear spring hanger bolt. I don't know if it's enough. We'll see.

 

[rxm6]

My apologies if I missed it, but I'm wondering what manual padals did you use?

I used a 1985-1987 pickup or 1985-1991 SUV hydraulic clutch pedal assembly from a Chevrolet or GMC vehicle.