1996 Silverado 6.5 Duramax swap

[THEFERMANATOR]

Once you remove the xmember you might be able to sit the motor lower in the rails to add more hood and firewall clearance.

Source Unknown

Hood clearance IS an issue, but firewall clearance is not an issue. Also if you go ahead and do the SFA, it will make putting the engine in ALOT easier. Getting the engine in around the front diff was not fun to say the least, and if you took out the IFS you could slide the engine back a good 2 inches making clearance for the radiator and intercooler a lot easier to obtain. The cross member for the torsion rods keeps you from moving the engine back very far, but if it wasn't for that you could go back with it.

 

[Nick 6.5]

hey ferm from looking at the position of the dmax in the engine bay of your burban, if the engine was set farther back roughly 2 or 3 inches and down 1-2 inches do u think it would clear LLY or later or aftermarket exhaust manifolds to the steering shaft?

 

[Nick 6.5]

so i got my new downpipe today. i bought the MBRP. it has a pretty beasty flange frm the turbo and a nice wide opening. i didnt like the diamond eye because it looked too restrictive at the flange side. all and all im really happy with the quality and welds on it. i was pretty scheptical bexcause of the price but im happy

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

hey ferm from looking at the position of the dmax in the engine bay of your burban, if the engine was set farther back roughly 2 or 3 inches and down 1-2 inches do u think it would clear LLY or later or aftermarket exhaust manifolds to the steering shaft?

To gain anymore steering shaft clearance would require modifications to the steering shaft. If you built a new crossmember you could make some changes to get some steering shaft clearance I'm sure. One BIG problem that would happen if you lowered the engine down would be if you had to pull the trans out you would have to pull the engine out with it. As is I barely had enough room to lay the starter forward to get to the torque converter bolts. If the engine was any lower getting the starter laid over and removing the torque converter bolts would be impossible.

And clearing a later engine is possible now, but it would require a custom intake to fit it.

 

[Nick 6.5]

So I finally figured out how to repost to this thread. I'm not sure if anyone is still interested but I am still building a Duramax swapped 88-98 Silverado. Though the platform has changed from the original start of this thread. The engine is now going into a crew cab short bed 2500. I decided that's what I really wanted the Duramax in. The original brown 6.5 Detroit truck has a 96 fuel injected Vortec 454 now. if anyone is still interested in this thread and would like to watch the progress let me know and I'll start posting.

 

[ak diesel driver]

post away with lots of pics

 

[Nick 6.5]

Alrighty then. Well the give a little info I'm building the truck from the ground up literally... I searched for 2 months to find a crew cab short bed. I finally found one. Then I bought a cab that was in great shape minus a little impact from the bed(it was rear ended). I'm not doing just a typical swap. I'm also doing a SAS Dana 60 swap. Because I'm doing that I wanted to get a transfercase that had fixed yokes front and rear. I had transfercase express built me a custom case. It's a ford nv271d tcase out of the f series superduty trucks. It is a stout case! I'll upload a few pics shortly

 

[Nick 6.5]

The first pics were after I got the frame just moch up and paint. The last was with the leaf spring and brackets all bolted up. I towed it out to a frame shop to have it straightened..

 

[btfarm]

Keep 'em coming...

 

[Nick 6.5]

The guys over at transfercase express are extremely knowledgeable and easy to talk to. There's 2 locations back easy in north Carolina I think and Oakland California. The way they delivered and built the case it's completely drop in ready just at fluids. For the guys with 02 and up trucks they build the case with clocking rings to clock it down slightly to clear the abs valve body. I'm.keeping mine level but its still cool they include it.

 

[Burning oil]

Very cool, love to see this build.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

What case is it, a 271?

 

[Nick 6.5]

So for anybody that is interested in doing an SAS swap on their 88-98 Tahoe/burban/Silverado; I highly suggest the off road design kit. The entire kit is completly bolt on. No welding or fabrication at all just drilling holes. It includes all the hardware needed to install it other than the springs and such. All hardware is grade 8 and Zink plated. The only downfall is they come bare metal. But I had all my brackets powdercoated for 100$ so it wasn't that bad. The pictures don't really do them justice.

 

[Nick 6.5]

Hey fern ya it's the ford nv271

 

[Nick 6.5]

So I got the engine moched up in the frame checking fitment. It's the first time I've been able to see how the engine mounts I built fit since I made them about a year ago. I can see how the front independent 4x4 axle would make this a huge pain in the ass. But since I'm doing an SAS All I had to do was cut the lower passenger side hanger off the frame and the engine dropped right in. It looks like it may be sitting a little high in comparison to the transmission level. I won't be able to check that till I get fenders, hood and core support tho. But its a relatively nice fit between the rails. I have a bunch of pics I took I'll post them in a few.

 

[Burning oil]

What part of CA you in?

 

[Nick 6.5]

 

[Nick 6.5]

I live in san Pedro. Southern cali if your not familiar with that

 

[Nick 6.5]

For springs I had alcan spring make me a set of custom leafs. At 830 shipped they were a bit steep in price but on the trail hopefully they will prove their worth. I got 5 inch springs. The bracket kit is a built in 3 inches so I should net 8 inches. Once the engine was is I was able to mess around a little and see how they flexed. Obviously withe the cab and bed it will be different but for now I'm very happy. The truck should have some amazing flex for a leaf sprung full size. Pics in a few

 

[Nick 6.5]

In the pictures its still not full articulation. The cherry picker was starting to flex and twist too much. I didn't want to risk breaking something. When I put the cab on with a fork lift I will flex it with the wheel on the forks. It will be more stable then. The last pic with the bumper just shows roughly how tall the truck will be.