dodge to chevy
 

As title says, and I would like to put a 6.7 block and 5.9 head ? or? into a 97 chevy p-30 motor home chassis with an Alison? transmission. It now has a 454 w/ banks exhaust . It makes good power at low speeds but anything over 55 mph and it has to rev way to much and the gas mileage[tapdshut] you know. I know it can be done but i also know i need some help. Any comments,help lines, laughs,whatever. Best ,Ray

Dont complicate things. Find a good stock or lightly modified engine and enjoy.
You dont want to have an issue in the sticks and try to find custom parts to fix it. Make it so you can use off the shelf parts and something that most places can repair or your vacation may be spent in a hotel. Just my two cents.
I have been guilty of not following the KISS principle too many times.

It's easy to get more power out of that big block. If you lack the knowledge take it to a reputable mechanic and give him a wish list of what you want.

I doubt VERY seriously you would save any money at all, no matter how long you keep that RV, considering the cost to buy what you would need and the time/labor to do it.

Its not about saving money,tho that is good. I really need to know what is available and what i need to do this,mounts, brackets,and the rest as i find no listing for the parts needed. thanks,Ray

No dough good advice, any year engines i should avoid? thanks,Ray

Which Allison? Of it is the older AT545, should be easy enough to find a 12V and Allison from a school bus. I wouldn't bother with any fancy stuff like a 6.7/5.9 hybrid because as others have said, too hard to get parts/make it all work right. A 12V 5.9 with VERY slight pump mods will twist your chassis like a pretzel, and you can buy complete school busses dirt cheap. Look at Destroked or Autoworld for mount packages, pretty sure they didn't change the P30 chassis from the 67-91 era......

Thank you all for your reply's ,Pat,are you serious about the tq the 12v 5.9 will make? The 454 is making about 400 ft lbs as it is,I know the diesel makes a lot of power but twist the frame power?[duhhh]wow,Ray

Even the "old and slow" VE pumped 5.9s are throwing down 800-1K Torque........

Seriously, look for a School Bus.

Note, that is a pretty well sorted out VE...... P-Pumped would be much easier.

I've been thinking about doing a similar conversion. I definatly would do a P-pump motor, way more potential than a VE.

I'm torn on what tranny to use. It MUST have an OD. Not sure if those older busses with the allisons had OD or not.

Using a dodge tranny is attractive to me as I do lots of back woods camping. Installing a tranny with a t-case would be a simple way to gain low range. Down the road maybe I would even look into making it 4wd. Plus parts would be easier to source for a Dodge tranny than the allison........

Or you could always use the Eaton 6 speed complete with the SAE2 bellhousing and 14" clutch, I think they have finally worked out a way to do a married TC to it.

A FSO6406 would be just the checkers........... Allison gets expensive for not only the trans, but the controller........:o