Engine swap "Cummin" soon

The time has come for another engine swap in my '95 4 door 4x4.

The previous swap (SOHC/EEC-IV) isnt having problems, but the gas mileage is poor (15 MPG average over the past year).

Here's the patient (95 4 door 4x4):

And its soon to be replaced heart ('01 SOHC):

So, you may be saying to yourself, "oh boy, another 5.0l swap." The thought had crossed my mind. I have a 94 Cobra, that could use a bigger engine. Here's the 5.0 Cobra engine that could be used:

But this is my daily driver and needs to get good mileage. I work 35 miles from home. Thats 70 miles a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (2 weeks vacation) 17,500 miles a year just to get to work. Since I'm running the SOHC on the 95 EEC-IV computer, the higher compression requires me to run 93 octane.

Lets do some simple math:
20,000 miles
15 MPG
$3.75 a gallon (checked the price today on my way home)

Thats $5000 a year in fuel.


What can i swap in that makes power, get good mileage, and will last a few years you ask?

Thats right folks.... Its a Cummins 4bt!
An 84K mile,
105 HP,
265 ft-lb
3.9l turbo diesel.

She's a little rusty and the turbos got some play, but for $1200... not bad.

It also came with a Neon SRT4 intercooler and an aftermarket header.

She's clean inside!

 

[snoranger]

i have the trans temp and diff temp gauges in the AutoMeter Phantom's they are pretty cool looking and on the cheaper side of their price scale. very cool setup. glad to see your still makin progress, cant wait to see it when its all done

I like the Phantoms because they match the Sport trac cluster I have. They also match the white faced gauges that came stock in my Cobra. (That reminds me, I still have to pull the cluster back out and paint the tach red above 3200 rpms. )

I see your in PA, I'll be at Carlisle this Saturday, if your around you can see the gauge bezel.

The swap should begin to actually make some progress after this weekend. I hope to have it running for the Diesel Truckin Nationals at E-town on Sept 18th. That only gives me just over a month, I dont know if it will be enough time. I dont want to rush and half-a$$ it.

I pulled the bezel out and swapped in green LEDs, the regular bulbs with the little green condoms just werent cutting it!

 

[Ranger379]

ya i didnt like the idea of rubber over top of a hot lightbulb, so i got colored bulbs... incandecent, not led since they didnt have any in stock when i got them, but i do intend on getting blue LEDs for mine also... im sure they will look much better that way

ya, i know how it goes trying to get stuff built in a hurry...its not worth it, just take your time and do it right.. i built a race motor for my wheeler, and tried to hurry up and the end so i could go riding... and it almost cost me blowing up the motor, luckily i didnt do any damage, but i did learn to take my time and check and double check everything lol

 

[snoranger]

ya i didnt like the idea of rubber over top of a hot lightbulb, so i got colored bulbs... incandecent, not led since they didnt have any in stock when i got them, but i do intend on getting blue LEDs for mine also... im sure they will look much better that way

ya, i know how it goes trying to get stuff built in a hurry...its not worth it, just take your time and do it right.. i built a race motor for my wheeler, and tried to hurry up and the end so i could go riding... and it almost cost me blowing up the motor, luckily i didnt do any damage, but i did learn to take my time and check and double check everything lol

Ive ran the colored condoms over the bulbs for years, never had a problem except when I tried to remove it years down the road. My probelm was with the color, it wasnt green enough. The LEDs look great.


You dont have to tell me, I never rush stuff like this.

 

[offroader_69_me]

ok enough dash talk, just kidding it looks great!, on with the motor swap I would love to do this with my 91 what did the motor come out of?

 

[dkchrist]

Can I come hang out in your garage for a while? Just kidding...but seriously! Sweet build I will be watching closely

 

[snoranger]

ok enough dash talk, just kidding it looks great!, on with the motor swap I would love to do this with my 91 what did the motor come out of?

The dash is all part of the swap. I need the pyrometer because I'm turning the pump up and upping the boost. Gotta keep an eye on the EGTs or else .
Its MY build thread, and I can talk about whatever I want!:

The motor is out of an 80s step van (bread truck, Frito-lay, etc). I dont know for sure, I bought the engine already pulled.

Can I come hang out in your garage for a while? Just kidding...but seriously! Sweet build I will be watching closely

Anytime you (or anyone else) want to make the trip, your welcome to stop by.



I took the truck out to Carlisle today, 350miles round trip. Cruise control set at 75-80 depending on what road I was on 90% of the way. 15.42 MPG. How is it possible that I get the same mileage (within 1 MPG) whether I drive on the freeway or in town, beat on the truck or drive like grandma, drive fast or slow?

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

be sure to post a clip of ur cummins when its installed on the explorer

 

[blazin8556]

have you seen 4btswaps.com?

 

[snoranger]

have you seen 4btswaps.com?

Yup, been a member there for years.

 

[blazin8556]

ah. ok. just tried to sign up but i was denied. server was down or something.

 

[pitbulldell]

subs for the interesting swap

 

[snoranger]

Sorry, no update yet. I'll be working on this all weekend though.

On a side note, Has anyone tried 13" Cobra brakes on a 4x4? I know the 2wd guys do it, but i cant find anything on a 4x4. I've got a few spare part sitting around and I'm going to try it.

Spare parts I have sitting around:

1 pair of new 13" Cobra rotors
1 pair of new Cobra calipers
1 pair of new Cobra hoses with banjo bolts
1 set of '99 Cobra wheels (17x8)
1 set of 255/75-17 tires (almost new. I needed a little bit taller of a tire for the swap. Every step seems to snowball into something bigger!)

I pulled a wheel and rotor, tried the Cobra rotor on. It will fit with just the slightest mod to the center bore. (good thing i have a machine shop less then 100 yards from me!) So here we sit with the truck up in the air and a Cobra rotor on the hub. I just need to make a caliper mounting bracket and I'm set.

If anyone has a link to a 4x4 13" Cobra brake swap, chime in.

 

[snoranger]

I drilled out a few broken exhaust manifold bolt and heli-coiled them. Sandblasted and painted some more parts. I dropped the engine back in the frame and marked the oilpan for the cuts. I'll pop that off and cut it tomorrow. Once its cut, I can drop the engine all the way in and start making some motor mount brackets.

Gotta make her look pretty. (Ignore the black painted fuel filter, its a Fram filter that was on the engine when I got it. I wasnt going to have the pics tarnished by that ugly orange filter. There will be a nice white Donaldson filter on there when I drop it in for the last time.)

note to self--get more paint.

 

[snoranger]

Lets start with a little more eye-candy.

I got the oilpan cut and the motor dropped back in the chassis. (No pics of the pan yet, I'll take some when I pull it off and fix the gaping hole in it.) Looks like I have a lot of room.

 

[snoranger]

Lets look at the drivers side now.

Looks like I'll have plenty of room for the steering shaft and tons of room for motor mounts.

 

[Xeek]

im loving this. are you gonna paint the frame and all the suspension also? itd look so much better.

 

[snoranger]

im loving this. are you gonna paint the frame and all the suspension also? itd look so much better.

The rusty, ugly frame you see in the pics is not the frame I'm using. Thats just a mock-up frame. The truck its going in has a much nicer frame.

But yes, I will be painting it before the motor goes in.

 

[ghosttrain2]

Enjoying this build!

 

[snoranger]

I got some more new parts this week:
water pump
t-stat
exhaust manifold gaskets
front crank seal and wear sleeve
oil pan gasket
turbo oil feed line

I'm not at liberty to say how much I payed, Lets just say it was CHEAP for new actual Cummins parts.

I started making my alt and a/c brackets.

Alt is mounted and aligned. I'm using an Explorer 130 amp alt (it will be rebuilt and painted). I need to clean up the brackets a little bit and paint them.

I've got a 1/2" clearance at the closest point around the alternator.

The upper bracket is a simple piece of angle iron and flat stock welded into a u shape with nuts tacked inside. Yes the holes in the alt are drilled to 1/2". It made it easier.

The A/C compressor bracket took some more thought. So far its bolted under the vacuum pump with 3 bolts and one more in the front into the head. I still have to mount the compressor (sanden sd-7 series), cut the bracket to length, and brace the bottom.

Heres 2 more pics I took.

Mooktank header. (Mooktank is a guy on 4btswaps. He made a few of these headers a couple years back):

Last, but not least: The ZF S-542

 

[snoranger]

Fixed the last pic, now it looks more like a ZF.