Cummins/auto in a newer body suburban 2000+ Anyone done it? Opinions?

[GOT-Torque]

I think this would be the ideal setup. The wife wants a newer suburban to replace our 1995. I want to keep it a diesel but they don't make them anymore (not to mention I would never buy another 6. 5L diesel again :{ ). I absolutely love everything about my dodge truck (see sig). I would love to see examples of or opinions on swapping a cummins into this style of suburban (year 2000 or newer). It would obviously be a 3/4 ton suburban, and since it will mainly be the wifes vehicle it would have to be an automatic. No switches, etc for engaging overdrive or lockup convertor as I have read on here, it would need to function as if it came that way from the factory.



What would be the easiest? A 12V with an auto? I suppose the newer engine would probably be better as far as noise levels go inside the sub (this would be more wife friendly), however it would be the most expensive route.



Opinions?

 

[autoworld]

we have done a few subs, this would make a nice rig, generally we use the manual trans but i understand her wanting an automatic! most certainly the new ones are quiet, but as you say, you are talking expense. find a donor with engine/auto trans and get everything-12v easier to deal with in the wiring/electronics along with less expense - if you are skilled in that area, its not so bad to do the newer ones. doing this yourself? plan on a couple hundred hours of time - motor mounts, brackets avail along with advice.

dawna

 

[GOT-Torque]

Well I've done quite a bit of research and came up with a list of all the parts (and ballpark prices) to do the project. I plan on doing it myself since I love this sort of a challenge. I've decided if I'm going to go thru this much work and have such a one of a kind vehicle, I want to do it once and do it right. My choice is made up on using a newer cummins. The wiring shouldn't be too bad, after all maybe I can get some use out of my "Electrical Engineering" degree :-laf



I've also found out that a used Excursion limited 4x4 with a V10 gas hog can be had pretty cheap right now. Around 10k and you can get one with around 80,000 miles. These use the same trannys as the powerstrokes came with (ford 4R100) so I'm trying to find out if I could do a swap into one of those and use the entire ford drivetrain (trans, transfer case, etc). I just started another post about it.



The ford would be bigger, have a real axle under the front, wouldn't require a body lift, I think could reuse the ford radiator, a ford powerstroke intercooler would bolt right in, no major modifications to any cross members due to no IFS, comes with a 44 gallon fuel tank standard, and did I mention bigger? We've got 4 kids now and soon to be 5 so bigger is definately better in our case.