Brambles

Hi guys, long time dodge owner but mostly 1981-1986 trucks, Had a 2003 Crew cab Cummins 6spd for 4-5 years but sold that. Miss the crew cab something fierce

I managed to find myself a 1980 Crew cab and am undecided on weather to put a cummins into it or just a gasser. It has no motor in it now, just bought it this summer. Thought I"d put this question up on here cause you guys seem to definitly have experiance with this topic.

I've been searching forums a lot and it seems like most guys are using the 81-85 crew cabs, perhaps the older ones are harder to find??? not sure.

Are there any major hurdles involved with the older trucks, some talk about firewalls and Rad supports. I would like A/C, and it seems like that is another hurdle as well with the older firewall.

Any help would be great.


Here's some info about the truck, Cause I know someone is gonna ask...... I know I would.

1980 Crew cab 4x4 short box W200 Custom
Originally 360 4bbl Np435/NP205
Dana 60 Front and Rear w/ 4.10 gears and LTD slip
Dual fuel tanks
Radio Delete, interesting option

The quick and dirty of the trucks life is this....

Leased by Imperial Oil when the truck was new, guessing mid 1979 or whenever the new model year came out. It was operated in a Mine in Northern B.C until sometime in 1981 when there was a mechanical failure. I was told the engine cracked, the motor is gone and they possibly damaged the input shaft on the tranny cause its missing and the trans is seized. The country was rugged and remote where this mine was, a 10 hour bushroad from the nearest Highway.
Imperial Oil sold the mine to a couple of guys and all the assets.
There the truck sat for nearly 30 years in the tool shed of the mine until 3 years ago a guy who was friends with one of the Owners bought the truck and towed it back to the Hwy and home.
Shortly after that, the part owner of the mine died in a mining accident.


I found out about this truck this spring and made plans to go see it in the Summer when I was near the seller. He wasn't actively selling so time wasn't an issue.

I purchased the truck and the seller dropped it off using his 1983 Cummins Crew cab to pull it home for me. Quite the site seeing that caravan go through town. I had friends phone me telling me what they just seen, they almost didn't believe me when I told them... "Yeah thats my new truck"

In the roughly 2 years that the truck was used at the mine they managed to rack up a whopping 17,947 kms......11,152 miles for our USA friends. But MAN those were some hard Kilometers.

The only rust is were the paint was scratched or dented, just surface stains mostly, but she's got some dents on her. Nothing that can't be fixed with my unispotter and some bodywork but makes her look rough.

I'll post up some pics......cause I know someone is gonna ask....I know I would.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer in answering my questions.

Brambles

jogl

Wow, sweet find!

Since you have to go to the trouble of putting in a motor anyways it would be crazy not to put in a Cummins, I think.

I have been watching for a truck like that one for five years.

Congratulations,
JP.

deanhinsley1963

Of course put a cummins in it!!!! slick it up a little and it will be sweet!!!!

KD93

Looks to me like you've got a very solid foundation to build one sweet truck. The interior looks about as mint as you're going to find anywhere. As I'm sure you've observed, you'll find plenty of help and advise here. Like the others have said, if you can find a good engine to go in there, you'd be crazy not to drop a Cummins in.

ppiggppenn

What an opportunity! I'd tend to go nuts with Cummins, 6spd, 2spd diff (locking of course), killer body/paint, super sound system, I needn't go on as I'm obviously addressing the choir here, ...

KD93

I'd like to do that to the truck I've got now, let alone a new one! Unfortunately I lack the 2 essentials; funds and time.

raggmann

Same story here.
That's why I'm thinking of selling my '82 Crew Cab D3500 "donor" truck.

Brambles

Well the kicker is, I have a 1986 Ram 4x4 that has a 6" lift in and a built 360. One option is to use the lift and engine out of the '86 and put it in the '80 Crew.

The '86 is worth more in parts to me then selling it outright, The lift alone is only 6 months old and cost $1700, the engine cost me almost $7000 by the time I was done the build and the install. If I was to sell the truck I'd probably only get $3000 or so.

I suppose the other option is to just sell the '86 for whatever I can get, take a bath and put the money towards a diesel truck as a donor.

Can anyone answer the question about the issues using the '80 and older trucks regarding firewall and Rad support issues for the cummins swap?


Thanks guys

thrashingcows

Brambles...where in BC are you? I'm a BC guy as well.

The only problem I know of for the fire wall is sometimes the pinch weld, where the firewall and tranny tunnel meet, might need some massaging. Also the dash/gauges and wiring will be a bit of a chore if you plan to keep the 80 dash...I would. The wiring where it passes through the firewall, bulkhead connector area, will need to adjusted if you use the donor wiring...but cut the piece from the donor truck and weld it in on the crew.

The rad support might be an issue if you go with a 91-93 intercooled truck and you want to run the intercoler and such. The easiest motor swap would be a 89/90 non-intercooled set-up. Since these also do not run any PCM, just a 12V wire to the FSS and it should fire.

I think the reason most guys go with the 81-85 is that you can swap the dashes and wiring straight across from the donor truck.

Brambles

I'm in the Kootenay Region of B.C.

Intercooled vs Non-intercooled, what is the main advantage with an intercooler? Can you still get some good reliable upgraded HP with a Non intercooled Cummins?

I remember someone once said to me the non intercooled ones get the best mileage but not sure if thats correct or not.

Thanks for the help

wannadiesel

You can always add an intercooler to a non-intercooled engine. Find a good running engine at a fair price and use it.

An intercooler will help you make more "workable" HP.

The non-intercooled engines have bigger injectors, so they respond better to simple pump tweaks.

johny5

Nice looking start .
You can use the rad support from a newer /donor truck and inter cooler and grill.

thrashingcows

Johny5...you should have a link to your build thread in your sig....you did a great job documenting the buildup of your crewcab.


Here's a link...

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...b-t230012.html

Brambles

Pardon my ignorance.......I haven't had much hands on experiance tinkering with the various years of cummins engines. So a few questions to clarify!

So the 91-93 have a PCM? I thought everything up to 98 1/2 was completely mechanical, after that the electronics started taking over?

Can I run a 91-93 engine without an intercooler?

Pulled Engines are fairly common, but they don't always come with all the parts necessary to complete an installation, Might actually make the install a lot trickier if you just have an engine plopped down in front of you and no idea what parts you need to add to get the whole system up and running. Thats my only hesitation on buying a motor already pulled from a truck.

Buying a cheap complete truck usually nets you with an engine that has more mileage on the clock then normally I'd want. Hate to put an engine that has 500,000 kms on it in a truck that has 18,000kms

Thanks again