Old School Engine Discussion - Small Cam Cummins Driveability

To be fair I'm a weekend warrior now with the trucking. I've been around trucks all my life. By trade I'm a refrigeration guy but also pulled on the side. I spent time in the military for about 7 yrs and after my discharge I'll say my 359 I pulled out the weeds saved my life. I did run locally full time for about 3 years. Bounced around to a few jobs after that and landed a govt job on Ft bragg as a refrigeration tech.

 

Does it make any sense to do a engine swap? Buy a good older truck with a drivetrain we want, put it in the Pete and then drop the old small cam in the doner to either keep as a backup or sell as a cheepo farmer grain hauler? Or just scrap the doner truck and sell the engine after the transplant?

Engine installs we can handle. Engine internals will require experience we do not yet have.

Keeping parts trucks around runs afoul of the domestic authorities. She does not want me to start a junkyard. Running stuff is a whole different situation.

John

 

well,that'd be a good question for kevin rutherford...

 

i was kidding!

that all depends on what you wanna do. if you are gonna run the truck a lot,yeah i think it makes sense.

 

Junkyard? Nah.. Build a shop large and high enough for it.

 

Not quite correct..

That spring is there so when the Throttle to the Fully open position the Spring should have just a bit of pressure on It & you're not putting undue Pressure on the Throttle shaft in the Fuel Pump.

 

Yep, that's the spring. What happens if that spring is not strong enough, like if it broke and someone changed it out to a hardware store one that is too light? Would it then not hold enough pressure to throttle shaft and allow the engine to not get full fuel from the governor?

 

There were factory 400 HP small cams and you could have one. Why spend big bucks for 30 more HP? I have read where installing a Cat radiator and air to air set up can really help them but never done it.
The jump "Semi" retired talks about puts you in a whole different class. The problem with that is then you are overpowering all of the drive live except the rears. It would probably work fine with a good operator but a asphalt cowboy may not make a week.
Putting the old stuff in the doner to sell it wound probably cost three times what you could sell it for.
Just my opinion, like your truck, good luck.

 

oh,i missed the part about putting the old motor in the donor. no,i wouldn't waste effort and time doing that.

 

what buttons in the pump