Re: V8 vs. Diesel vs. Stock


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Posted by CGarbee on Saturday, March 12, 2005 at 11:47PM :

In Reply to: V8 vs. Diesel vs. Stock posted by Brad on Friday, March 11, 2005 at 6:19PM :

A proper conversion to either a V8 or diesel includes a bit more than just the engine. You also have to include an upgrade to the brakes and you really should go through the rest of the truck to make sure that it is safe at the increased speeds (axles, steering, frame mounts, springs, tires, etc.). If you just rebuild it to stock, you really need to go through everything as well, but you can go back completely stock and be safe as long as you realize that you are running an outstanding design that was specified for a different purpose than most everthing on the road with you...

A rebuild of the stock engine has been quoted by others on this forum in the past to be around $2k. Depending on what else you have to rebuild/replace to make a solid safe truck, you could have a few thousand more in the project...

A good takeout Cummins 4BT will run about $2.5k, but you will have to change the gears, add OD, or taller tires (two of the three at least) to make proper use of the diesel's rpm/torque curve. My conversions run about $12k by the time I go completely through one. Keep in mind that I use previously enjoyed engines, if you use a new engine from Cummins you will increase costs by about $8k since it's hard to get a new engine from them for less than $10k...

Gas V8 can be had really innexpensively and the higher rpm allows you to retain the gearing, transmission, and tires while still having a good performer, but the mileage isn't as good as a diesel. Figure costs to be between a stock truck and a diesel depending quite a bit on how you configure it and how you source parts... I also think that folks with the smallblocks break axles more that folks with any other powerplant since they tend to wind up the engines more, but I have no solid survey numbers...

A stock truck is a wonderful thing. A V8 repower is nice. A diesel repower is a real working marvel... IMHO.





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