Possible donor for conversion

[Crash_AF]

I found a 97 Ram 2500 CC 4x2 Cummins 5 Speed with 61K at one of the yards here today. It took a hard lick in the drivers side front (sheared off the A-arm on the drivers side) which bent/cracked the drivers side mount but missed the intercooler and radiator. Anyways, he's saying that I can have the engine/transmission and anything else off the truck under the hood to make my conversion work for $4000. He's basically going to give me the truck to take home and strip and return when I get what I need out of it.



How expensive is it going to be for me to replace that cracked/broken mount?



What is on the drivers side fenderwell that I would need to make the engine run? It's all gone...



I'm doing this conversion on a 4x4, should I take the transmission or leave it with the truck (he'll knock $1000 off the price)



Should I take the hydroboost brakes and try to convert or should I swap the PS pump for a PS/Vac pump?



I'm sure I'll have more questions before I decide what I want to do, but this is a good start.



Later,

Joe

 

[w-cummins]

might help to know what it's going into



William... .

 

[Crash_AF]

Sorry, brain fart....

I'm going to try to put it in a 79 F-250 Supercab 4x4.



Later,

Joe

 

[Brian R]

I would say that taking home the whole truck and bringing back the remains is a good idea. That is what I have done on most of the engine conversions I have done (four). It is so nice having little parts for which you would otherwise have to return to the junk yard. I have found that it is virtually impossible to anticipate all the necessary parts until you get to the very end of the conversion.

 

[w-cummins]

I agree with Brian bring the whole thing home. There will be tons of little things you are going to need... like the hydro clutch cyl etc... The NV4500 to your transfer case may be a larger problem. I just converted the NV 4500 that I got with my 1998. 5 ISB from 2 wheel to 4. You have to replace the main shaft in the transmission. I used a conversion kit from Advanced adapters to mate it to a np205. By the time I purchased the kit, main shaft, 5th gear, and other goodies ( $50/gal oil) to make it go I was into it over $500 in parts and quite a few hrs of my labor ( you could rebuild the transmission in about the same time it takes you to change the main shaft!) (BTW the AA kit did get rid of the bad 5 gear lock nut and replaced it with a collar that you would have to rip the main shaft in 2 to damage). If you by chance have a divorced 205 in your ford you would be in real cheap! Now if you go to some other trany, ( say ford 5 speed ) your going to have to change out parts of the clutch too, and come up with a different flywheel cover and bellhousing ( Cummins sells one for the ZF ford trany)



William

 

[Scot]

I would look real hard at the block and make sure it is not fractured around the mount.

 

[agoldbach]

cracked mount

This is kind of hard to do with the engine still in the truck, but I would rent or buy a magnaflux kit to check for cracks radiating out from the mount. cast iron will propagate cracks pretty quick with repeated thermal expansion/contraction. These magnaflux thingies are really easy to use too, you plug them in to a 110v power source, align the electromagnet pads across the questionable area buzz it while spraying florescent dye all over. The really cool part is when you shine a uv lamp on it, the dye which was drawn into the otherwise invisible cracks glows like a firefly on a summer night! (fun at college parties too... ) The other option is similar, except a little less accurate. It's called a liquid penetrant test, or LPT. There are two spray cans, one a dye, the other a developer. after spraying on and wiping off excess dye, the developer is sprayed on over it. The dye bleeds through the otherwise white developer, allowing you to easily see small cracks and pinholes. It may be more useful in your case because it's cheap, relatively accurate, and you don't need to lug around 100' of extension cord to power an electromagnet. Hopefully it'll check out OK for you! good luck!

 

[Scot]

We used to use a similar product called Zyglo(?) to inspect airplane cranks. You sprayed the red part on and then a white part. The cracks would appear as red hairlines.