question(s) for the Mechanics

I now a lot more about your truck than downloads. Those things are usually because of me.

 

That worked.

 

My feeling is that you should begin to learn how to work on your truck.

Since you are not in a hurry, I think you should pick the repairs that you think that you can do or that you would like to have a challenge to do.

Whatever repair you're going to do, start a thread on it. Ask how that repair is done and what tools are needed and what is the right way to do it. If you have any problems come back on and ask a question, someone will help you.

Having a truck is the best way to learn how to work on it.

Having an older truck, it would cost you a fortune if you took that to a garage for everything. Plus there's the pride Factor feeling good that you did it.

You may be limited if you don't have a garage or an air compressor or certain things, but there are plenty of things that you can do where you are without spending a fortune on tools.

And after you've done a few repairs yourself whatever you spend on tools is a great investment and you'll be way ahead of what it would have cost to pay someone to do it.

Not to mention that often times you take your truck somewhere and they either don't fix it right or they charge you some astronomical amount of money and even then they may not have fixed it right.

So that's my advice to you if you've got the grit to roll your sleeves up and get into it.

Like I said someone will be here to help you. You really just need a little guidance.

And man, let me tell you, you can't go wrong. You have the famous Cummins Big Cam!

 

Ah, my friend, the Cummins big cam is indeed very special.

The first big cam Cummins came out in 1976. That design was so spectacular, it continued right into the early 1990s.

And from there it was so spectacular that Cummins used the exact same block and made the n14 engine, the electronic version of the mechanical big cam until the year 2000.

The n14 is still highly regarded as one of the best electronic engines ever made.

However, with the big cam you have no electronics to cause you problems. I just read a post the other day where a guy had an electronic problem and spent $10,000 trying to fix it. This is very common that this happens. If you have an electronic problem, dig deep in your pocket because you're going to write a check for at least $5,000 to $10,000. And if you get into emission problems you might as well remortgage your house.

But that can never happen with the famous Cummins big cam! You could take the batteries out and Coast down a hill or have somebody pull you and that thing will start right up and run as long as it has fuel in it- even for weeks or months.

Electronic injectors are about $400. Injectors for the mighty big cam are $65. Multiply $400 x 6 and then pay someone to do the overhead and you could have rebuilt the big cam at least twice. They are very inexpensive and simple to work on.

Now the engine that you have is 300 horsepower. That engine has the identical same block heads and pump as a 400 or more horsepower big cam. So the point is that same engine can be rebuilt to 400 450 500 even 600 plus horsepower. You just need to know what parts to use and how to set it up. But it's the same engine.

I read a post on here that a guy said he spent $40,000 on a new engine. Think about that for a minute. $40,000! In some parts of the country you can probably buy a house for a little more than that.

Yet if you find that place in North Carolina, you can buy a brand new big cam engine for $11,000. Or you can buy the rebuild kit for somewhere between $1,000 and $1,200. Would you rather spend the $11,00 or would you prefer to spend the $40,000? And that guy might start that truck up and drive around the block and have to spend another $10,000 on electronic problems. Makes no sense to me, but I digress...

The big cam will do anything any other engine anywhere will do, except it will do it more reliably with less expense and all you need to fix it are some wrenches and screwdrivers. I have no desire to get a master's degree in electrical engineering to work on my truck.

Electronic engines are mechanical engines that have all kind of electronic junk put on top of them that only increase problems and expense and headaches. It's just more expense and more to break and more to fix.

The mighty big cam only needs fuel, air, and compression!

I get it. Not everyone can take an old truck and work it over, or transplant a big cam engine in place of the electronic one like I did.

But if you have the grit to make it into something good, when you are done you will have something that is absolutely spectacular.

So yes, the mighty big cam is very special indeed my friend.

Very special indeed!

 

I strongly disagree.
The N14 is a different block than the NTC and the first ones were mechanical. The NTC high and low flows also had different blocks. There were probably others as well but they were all 855 CID or 14L.
The early Big Cams had many similarities to the older small cams such as heads and and rocker boxes. Some of the small cams were 855s. The older engines had external fuel lines to the heads and less CID. I think there was a bridge engine between the external fuel lines and the 855s.
Cummins sold the rights for the small cam to Komatsu. Many many 220 or 230 Komatsu Cummins are still running all over the world. Komatsu made them their self and their emblem was cast in the block. A Cummins overhaul kit work perfect for them. I put a NTC 350 turbo out of a Freightliner in a Komatsu track hoe years ago.
So you way understated how many years that design was made. There are many more of them running than actual Cummins production records.
Thanks for the good post and pictures.

 

I realize there were changes as they went through the different series of big cams and n14s. I'm saying it's all built on that same 855 block. Those were variations on the original design.

So I have a big cam 3 and a big cam one. The blocks are the same as far as the Pistons and crankshaft and camshaft fitting, Etc. Now the big cam 3 has a different type of a mount for the fan that's pre-drilled. The big cam one fan mounts onto the water pump itself. I was actually able to use a fan mount and Fan from an n14 on the big cam 3. The oil cooler situation on the bc3 is a little bit different and the block is set up a little bit differently for that from the bc1. If you visually look at the two side-by-side the water jacket covers on the big cam 3 are in a little bit of a different position. From what I understand the big cam 4 is set up a little differently with the water manifold or something on that part of it is made just a little bit differently. But those are all small variations on the same block is the point I'm trying to make.

The same with an n14. If you set the blocks side-by-side there may be some small differences kind of like between my big cam 1 and big cam 3, and I think the crankshaft journals may be larger on the n14 and there may be some other small differences, but they're still built on that same design of that 855 big cam block. Same displacement, too. If you pulled out an n14 and put in a big cam it goes exactly in the same place because it's virtually the same block and engine- with changes occurring through the series models, from the very beginning to the end of the last electronic series.

You are right though. I hadn't thought about the small cam also being an 855 and it's also similar in design.

So the 855 does go back many more years than what I had said.

 

Nice engine picture, Dino!
Now that's a project.