'98 12Vinto a '00 chevy 1-Ton dually

[tanman_2006]

What radiator, ac condenser, and intercooler are you using?

I am using a 01 Dmax core set up I found next time I go to install an innercooler but am looking for better/other ideas. I just cobbled together the things that customers brought me for their rigs.

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

I am using the original radiator ... I dont even have to move it at all ... I am using the '98 dodge cummins after cooler and I am going to order an a/c condensor from an after market supplier through the diesel shop that I used to work at ... you can them almost any dimensions .... I am going to get one that is 12" X36"X1" thick ... that is the width of the charge air cooler (36) and 12" is the most that I can cut out of my hoodlatch support without losing integrity ... My charge air cooler is recesssed into the core support to just clear the front of the radiator ... and with the single headlights I have no clearance problems at all ....
With my 91 CC dually I had to install the air cooler with the ports at the bottom ... this required some modification to the inner fender well on the driverside and also I had to cut the back of my turn/marker light and move the plug and light over about 3" to clear the air cooler ... If you have the side by side headlamp or the one piece composite headlight system this would work on the '88-'00 chevy as well ...

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

Well I got my bell housing in this week and it will enable me to bolt the chevy tranny to the cummins engine .... I have an oil pan coming from flea bay and I have already bought the oilpan gasket and the front cover gasket to do the KDP repair before the install ...
I am going to use an early 80's Kenworth style motor mount from the rear of the engine as my engine mounts .... I am going to fabricate the arms from the block to the frame from scratch ... I should only have to redrill the holes in the frame for the rear crossmember to set the trans back about four inches .... and cut out the hole for the shifter .... I will then cover the top of the floor hump with a piece of polished aluminum diamond plate to make the floorboard look good .... I have already cut the intake port on the engine off to change the angle of the intake to match the tubes from the cooler with the ports at the top instead of the bottom ...
All in all I believe this will be the simplest transplant that I have done yet ... and yet the tightest fit yet ... I will have about a 1/4 inch at the back of the engine to the firewall and about 1.5 " between the fan and the radiator ... I will have just enough room tho slide in a four core radiator once the money isnt quite so tight ... Also I am going to run the powersteering cooler through the radiator ports for the auto tranny and eliminate the oil cooler up in the grill
Does anyone know which wires on the '00 chevy the tach gets its signal from ... I havent been able to find this out yet .. I believe it is from the distributor plug .. but not sure on this ... any input appreciated ...
thanx

 

[tanman_2006]

I always did the swap on a dual light truck, never thought of having more space on a single lamp/wt grill.

Not sure where the tach on gassers is from, 6.5's are from the alt and diesel and gasser alts are interchangeable other than the pulley size.

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

I dont see any Cummins engines listed in any of your vehicles ...
do you have any pics of some of your transplsplant projects .....

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

Well its been a while since I updated my progress ... the tranny has caused quite a few unexpected problems ... the chevy and dodge trans are completely different .... First of all the input shaft has a lower ratio to the counter shaft than dodge does ... the dodge uses a 22 tooth input shaft gear and a 38 tooth counter shaft gear ... the GM uses a 20 and 39 combo .. the reverse gear on the mainshaft is quite larger in the GM tranny and the location and width of the idler is different ... so when I tried to install the input shaft the gear was too big ... so I bought the dodge countershaft ... now the 3rd gear tooth mesh is wrong and the reverse mainshaft will not clear the countershaft due to the countershaft gear for reverse being extended all the way to the rear bearing ... so now I am having the brand new countershaft mechined to clear the reverse gear on the mainshaft ...
It is going to work but it is taking a lot more work and a whole lot more money than I first planned on spending on it ... all in all I guess I will have about a grand in the tranny conversion ... but the upside is that I will have a full gear overdrive when I get done instead of just a half gear over ... this should give me a huge benefit in fuel economy ... I am thinking that I should get close to 30 MPG with this truck ..
I have the Killer dowel pin taken care of and have installed the new oil pan ... I also have made the modifications to the intake tubes as well .... the air inlet to the engine only took three tries to get it right ... Its a good thing that I can weld aluminum myself ... cuz this would get mighty expensive having it done in a machine shop each time .... I also had to cut a wedge out of the turbo elbow comming off the intake side and make it just a bit short of 90*... still waiting on the tranny to get done .... luckily I have a friend that does tranny work and he is doing it just for the learning expierence .... mixing Dodge and GM NV4500 components .... hopefully by next weekend I will have this thing driveable ....

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Although it sounds like it's been more "transmission intensive" than you expected, seems like a really cool swap.

I'm definitely interested in seeing the finished install and pending highway mileage

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

OK .. here is the skinny on the tranny modifications .... first of all I was told that the dodge input shaft( a $200 Kit) would fit right into the GM version of the trannie ... not so ... the GM uses a 20 tooth input gear and a 39 tooth countershaft gear ... the dodge version uses a 22/38 tooth configuration ... so I bought a new countershaft for the dodge ... I then ran into the 3rd gear being a different ratio ... so I bought a new 3rd gear for the mainshaft ....$68... then the reverse idler is located on a different plane and has a different ratio ... but has the same tooth configuration on the countershaft .. but the mainshaft gear wont clear the dodge veersion as the gear is elongated to the rear support bearing ... so I am still trying to find someone that can turn down the part of the gear that is not used in the GM versiion so as to clear the reverse gear on the mainshaft ...
hopefully this will be the last hiccup and we can geet the trannie finished ... but still waiting the machine work as of now ...

I am thinking about redoing my air cooler installation in the radiator support to put the tubes back at the bottom like the dodge came out with to make more room at the upper portion of the engine compartment to put the batteries in ...

I will try to have more updates soon ....