Long story short, I have a '89 Cummins installed in my 79 F250. My NV4500 took a dump so I am buying a '94 wrecked truck for the transmission. Both engines have about the same mileage (300K). The wrecked truck has a rebuilt transmission/5th gear nut fix two years ago. Nothing done to the engine. Is there any advantage to the '94 engine over my '89?

 

The 94 has a P7100 injector pump( these are better, easier to get more power out of) and the 89 has a ve pump. Dont know alot about 12v's but you probably can just swap the pumps.

 

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as a pump swap. Timing covers and other things have to be swapped too.

The '89 was a non-intercooled 12valve with the VE pump. The '94 does have the P7100 pump and those are considered a higher horsepower pump than the VE but either can be made to produce respectable power. Depends on your needs.

Do you need/want more power? Either one needs to have the KDP fix so no advantage there.

 

I think it would come down to the easy of working on it..

the 89 non I/C will be easier to work on yourself.. with less things to make fit..

the 94.. you need to make the I/C fit in grill area, the P Pump will give you a little more power.. but you need to make it fit under hood..

the 79 grill on the ford will not let a Intercooler just slide in.. you will need to modify the grill for I/C to fit.

 

It sounds like it is a toss up on engine choice. My initial plans were to just take the transmission, but I started wondering if one engine was better than the other. I'm not overly worried about power. Something about being 50 that takes away the need for speed. I have been told that adding the intercooler will help on a hot day so I might do a radiator/intercooler install and just leave the 89 engine alone.

Any guess what a '94 engine (300K miles), axles and transfer case is worth? The cab is toast but some of the other parts may be salvageable.