I have a friend with a dilemma. He is a young man, who just graduated from high school. He has a 97 2500. The truck and engine are (were) in above average shape. He has installed DDP 90 horse injectors, a fuel plate (don't know which one), 4" exhaust, BHAF, and gauges. It is a 5 speed, with 4:10's. Recently, he installed a new lift pump; he started the truck, and it ran fine. He shut it down, and left it for the night. His family are pumpkin farmers, and the truck was parked for the night at one of their barns. He took another truck home, to get fuel in it. The next morning, he noticed that the front tire was parked on top of the cardboard that he had used the previous day to change the lift pump. The heater controls were changed, and a photo of his girlfriend was moved from the gauge cluster to the pillar. He started the truck up, and it ran so rough that it shook the truck, it belched out white smoke, and it leaked oil out of numerous orifices. Long story short, the engine was blown, with a hole through the #4 piston. I suspect that he had an injector issue, and the joyride did it in.
He has purchased a used engine to replace it, and it has been installed. It is out of a 94 auto truck, and has a 160 hp injection pump. I advised him that it would be easiest to change the pump and check for the KDP while the engine was out, but the mechanic doing the work didn't get it done. Thomas has the truck back now, and he is very disappointed- it doesn't run nearly as strong as it did. He has ordered a new set of injectors (the damage to the original engine hurt his DDP's), and wants to utilize his 215 injection pump. His question (for which I didn't have an answer) is what is the difference between the two pumps? Can he take the goodies out of his 215 and put them in the 160, without going to the trouble of changing out injection pumps?

 

You won't get the power out of the 160 pump that he has with the 215 pump with the mods he has done. When maxed out, they are pretty even. But for simple bolt in parts, the 215 responds much more to them. He'd be better off swapping pumps.

 

What are the differences inside the two pumps? Can he swap parts and make the 160 a 215?

 

No, they are too different.
You can get just as much power out of a 160 as a 215 by using bigger DVs.

 

180/215 has a better asymmetrical cam shaft. 160/175 uses a symmetrical anti-reversal cam. The former provides more fill time for the barrels. 215 has plungers that has an upper helix, which will retard timing based upon rack travel. Thats not really a benefit, mind you. 215 also has a lighter governor assembly than the other three pumps.