Somone school me on diesals real quick

[Torch]

I think the 4bt might even be heavier duty than the 5.9
I've read there are 2 cummins six cylinders for pickups and medium duty trucks
the 5.9 has cast in place cylinders and lighter castings while the 6nt has removable liners ans heavier castings for commercial duty.

These cummins motors are designed off the perkins 654 diesel which can still be found rather cheeply in old combines and tractors.
they require a harmonic balancer to work in a vehicle without breaking the crank.
international put them in some grain trucks with 5 speeds behind them
They get 30 mpg or better in stock trim but are noisy and slow
They will respond to turbo and injection work just like a cummins pickup engine but unlike a cummins they have removable cylinder liners. rebuilding one you swap out cylinder packs instead of having the block all remachined

 

[Torch]

Where's the Like button ?

You can use a 4BT Cummins that's from a delivery van. (bread truck) (Hostess Twinkie truck)
These aren't as smooth running as a 6BT but are great little engines.
A friend of mine put one in a 29 Chevy sedan and got 41 miles to the gallon with it.

 

[8literbeater]

I used to have a 6.2 turbo with a 4L80E. The best it got was 11 mpg, empty.
I was driving down the road one day and something major went kablooey and it died. My brother was driving ahead of me, so we pulled over and hooked up a strap and towed it the rest of the way home. I sold it without even lifting the hood.

 

[jmattsen]

well that makes everything quite a bit more complicated. you wouldnt happen to know of any rescources where i can get specs on things like belhouse and engine bolt patterns would you?

any chance you know if a cummins or duramax engine bolts nicely on to a dodge or chevy 5 speed tranny?

again, you have been beyond helpful. the fact that you remember all this information alone is impressive


****... maybe il just try to track down a diesel 5speed that auctually goes with the the engine, thats gonna be soooooo much more difficult



EDIT: at a glance, the cummins 5.9 looks like a reasonable starting point, but ive also done 0 research on it sofar

 

[Torch]

The duramax should have the usual chevy bell housing pattern. don't hold me to it.

The cummins have an adapter. a block plate that a bell bolts to.
There are a ton of stock and aftermarket adapters available to mate a cummins to ford chevy or dodge bell housing.
Even to an SAE #2 which is what the Allison 545 transmission has
most of the medium duty diesels and trannies have an sae#2 setup in commercial applications...
except the step vans which used a conventional Ford or Chevy bell with old style 4 speeds, turbo 400's, 4l80's and even the NV4500

One drawback of the 7.3- the oil cooler log on the driver's side won't let you just drop it into a Chevy pickup truck chassis. the chassis is too narrow at the front suspension.

 

[Torch]

11 mpg you might have had 4:56 gears or had your injector turned out too high.
I put a naturally aspirated 1982 6.2 in an 86 c30 with a th400 and 4:11's. it was a 55 mph truck but it still got 18 mpg towing.
I could have run the truck faster but at 55 i was at the peak of my advance and to go faster would have been accomplished by dumping more fuel to the engine.
They are governed at about 3500 or 3600 but between the sweet spot and peak rpm is a wasting fuel.
peak advance is the sweet spot.

 

[Torch]

Another issue with the IDI indirect injected diesels running the Stanadyne pump

your mechanical fuel pump (lift pump) is an integral part of the fuel pump governing system
As the engine speeds up, the mechanical pump puts out increasing pressure.
The pressure from the lift pump modulates a device in the governor of the injection pump which is also modulated by centrifugal force
The balance between lift pump pressure and governor speed determines the fuel rate set by the governor.

if your lift pump is getting weak the engine will not run right. it will chug and miss as if the injection pump or injector(s) are going out

If you have too much pressure at the lift pump as when it has been replaced with the wrong pump- the engine will run too rich

If you bypass the lift pump and use an electric fuel pump on an IDI diesel designed and tuned for a lift pump it's going to run extremely rich and waste fuel

Black smoke is money out the tailpipe. it means the fuel is too rich or the turbo can't keep up with enough air. Too rich and it will melt the pistons or burn the valves.

I know the farm boys like it when they are out playing big rig but it's not the proper way or even the best performing way to tune a diesel

 

[Torch]

If the spring or elastic in the stanadyne injection pump goes bad, the pump will overload the engine on fuel and melt a piston.

There is something related to not power washing an engine running a stanadyne pump as water gets in somewhere causing the pump to fail in full rich mode.
I don't remember what it was exactly you would have to do some digging on google.
but i do remember how fast the engine melted the pistons after I left the car wash

 

[Torch]

never use starting fluid on a diesel with a pre warmer or glow plugs
I've used a little (just a little) with the glow plugs disabled but your dancing with breaking a head bolt or loosing a gasket
Avoid using it on any IDI diesel as it is hard on the prechamber cups and IDI engines run more compression than direct injected turbo engines.

if you ever do use starting fluid- never right down the gullet!
just a little spritz onto the air filter to help give it a little pop... to help the diesel ignite. Not to try to run on the stuff.

 

[Torch]

Alot of the Chevy or ford diesels you see for sale that don't run and crank over too easy have had catastrophic damage.
When my injection pumps went out and burned the pistons i junked mine
A lot of guys just throw them on craigslist and say they don't know what happened.
If the guy put another diesel back in after he pulled the one he is selling it's liekly to be more than just needing an injection pump or he would have put one on instead of pulling the whole engine.

 

[Torch]

You have to keep up the additives in your antifreeze.
Diesels require nitrates in the antifreeze to prevent porosity.
Porosity is when the sonic blast from the cylinder firing "rings" the cylinder.
the shock wave causes nitrogen in the water to separate and the bubbles bore holes into the cylinders.

Top line diesel engine manufacturers don't put in oversize pistons. They prefer to re-sleeve the bore back to std. so they don't have warranty issues from porosity.

 

[Torch]

When something goes wrong in a diesel often it can be catastrophic
They are not as forgiving as a gas engine
But they are fun to geek around with.
it's a whole different animal.