Perkins T6.354.4 swap to Chevy C30 with brownie

[Isaac Ristow]

Going to look at this Perkins T6.354.4 on a 73 1 ton chev frame with a 5 speed OD Clark trans (model 280VO11) and a 3 speed Spicer brownie box (model 5831) Engine is a reman and supposed to run very well its also a late dot4 engine with the kinda rare Bosch VE pump instead of the usual Lucas CAV pump that's normally equipped on a 6.354 Perkins. My goal is going to be put engine trans and brownie box in my 85 chev C30 that is a original 6.2 truck and for what I use it for normally grossing over 23-24K lb. combined the 6.2 isn't cutting it even with the 6.5 turbo on it. I've been told a better turbo and some more fuel on the Perkins I'll be roughly 220-250hp and 550-600ft.lb. Also the Clark has a OD of .80:1 and the Spicer has a .73:1 OD so double OD will mean good freeway RPM and also be able to split gears with the Spicer for towing. I'll attach some pictures

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[Isaac Ristow]

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[portlandareae2]

love the looks of that thing, and the setup should be fun.

 

[Isaac Ristow]

Well Saturday I picked up the perkins/chassis. The engine was originally in a ford that got T boned and totaled so the guy I got it from bought it 40~ years ago and was building a custom crew cab chevy with a sleeper to put on the chassis then the 6.9 idi came out he lost interest and bought a idi lol and the perkins sat ever since but he did fire it up a few times a year every year to keep it running. This is in fact a dot4 perkins and they came out in 1978 so it musta been put in a 79 or 80 ford he also told me it has less than 20k miles on it and I totally believe him this engine looks brand new inside and out I've never seen one more clean just purrs so smooth and quiet too nothing like a rattle trap ***********

 

[Booyah45828]

Sounds like a cool swap! You gonna keep us updated?

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

+1 on cool swap. Subscribed

 

[Isaac Ristow]

Definitely going to keep this thread updated. I'm stoaked about this swap I've always wanted to do a crazy swap such as this that was never intended to be a pickup engine these perkins were mainly fitted to Massey Ferguson tractors generators irrigation pumps new Holland combines and some oliver tractors. Plenty of people have put them in pickups but its not very common. This one having a factory bosch VE pump is pretty damn rare like I said. These 6 cylinder perkins are a dry sleeve engine and they are insanely quiet and smooth I'll have plenty of video once it's up and going

 

[Isaac Ristow]

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[Isaac Ristow]

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[Isaac Ristow]

A progress update! Decided to splice frames together had my fab guy do it and he double framed it at the splice too agreed its stronger than factory in that spot. I got a HX35W from a buddy with a 12cm turbine housing I'm putting on so that it's not backwards like the original turbo was and should be a good upgrade. Up next will be mounting the Spicer brownie box in my frame making a shifter for it and dropping the cab on hopefully work on that brownie tonight. I'll obviously have to get the brownie to rear axle driveshaft shortened up too. Perkins already has a GM square body wiring harness on it should just plug right into the firewall.

 

[portlandareae2]

Looking and sounding good!! hopefully ready to run and PULL soon!!!

 

[Isaac Ristow]

Cab is on, had to raise the cab 4 inches to clear hood and bellhousing. I've swapped in mechanical clutch pedals and got that working perfectly. Of course the 1980 chevy wiring harness on the engine didn't fit my 85 bulk head plug so I swapped plugs. Got the radiator mounted in it's a ford radiator a early v8 gas bullnose it's a 4 core I'm sure I'll be going to a champion radiator soon enough. The ford radiator had to be used because gm runs the inlet and outlet at opposite corners, the ford radiator fit width wise in the stock gm radiator hold down bolt holes but the ford radiator came up 2.5 inches short so I bolted a couple 2.5" square tubes under the mounting spots then put rubber on them for the radiator to sit on. I did have it fired up the other night with the key everything was working there still needs the turbo once I get a wastegate actuator for the hx35w.

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[IDIoit]

nice! subscribed

 

[asmith]

its looking good. In that picture you cant even tell the cab came up that far. Looks pretty normal. I was thinking the other day small body lift on my truck in theory should give me some more room to work with around the back of the engine and especially the down pipe.
did lifting it that much cause any issues with wires, cables, or the shifter?

 

[Isaac Ristow]

its looking good. In that picture you cant even tell the cab came up that far. Looks pretty normal. I was thinking the other day small body lift on my truck in theory should give me some more room to work with around the back of the engine and especially the down pipe.
did lifting it that much cause any issues with wires, cables, or the shifter?

4 inches and the steering shaft is about maxed out for angle it has the stupid rag joint. I'm going to look around and see if I can find a u joint upgrade steering shaft. As for wiring didn't bother any of it and for a automatic trans you would need to modify the shifting linkage. On mine the clutch is now mechanical I had to extend the rod that comes out of the cab. My manual transmission is still right under the cab that was partial reason for the body lift I'm going to make custom shifters anyway. The problem is the perkins sits very high in the frame because it has a massive oil cooler on the side of the block and it's very close to the bottom of the frame rail otherwise if that was gone the engine could drop 4 inches or so. I also had to remove the rubber and insulation section directly behind the engine on the firewall as the engine is very close to the firewall. The cab does look very normal in the picture it will look better once I put my aluminum wheels back on with the slightly taller tires.