New Member from Washington State - Cummins Powered 96 Suburban

[96k1500]

Welcome to the site. A few questions, how difficult was the wiring for this swap and also how difficult was the plumbing?

 

[Crummins]

Welcome to the site. A few questions, how difficult was the wiring for this swap and also how difficult was the plumbing?

Plumbing? Like the intercooler plumbing or the radiator / heater?

Wiring was the thing that took the longest but wasn't that hard at all. I made the mistake of doing it after I dropped in the engine which made it that much harder to work around. Basically, I marked everything when I took it off. Once I determined what I needed and what I didn't (most I didn't), I cut the connectors off, pulled the wires all the way back to the computer (I had thought about just clipping them in the loom and leaving them but down the road if I ever had a wiring issue I may be chasing wires that don't do anything).

I removed most of the transmission wiring since the trans runs off of a controller now but left the speed sensors for the controller and used those wires to feed back to the computer. With that done, the computer would see road speed and the speedo and cruise control would work.

Basically I took my time and once I was done I put the looms back on, electrical taped everything and tested everything.

All the engine needed was 12V on power and it will start (I used the factory stater wires) and when power from that wire is gone, it turns off. It is pretty simple.


When I was done with the wiring, I only make 3 mistakes. First, when I started the truck, the ABS light and the Airbag light stayed on. It made me sick to my stomach as I thought I was going to spend the next 3 months figuring it out. Turns out, there was a factory wire that split into 4 branches. It was a key on branch. I used that wire to power the pump so the engine would run and I eliminated the rest of them. One of those branches was key-on power to one of the computer plugs. Once I figured that out, it worked fine.

Next, I had to add a tach signal to the computer. I had one for the tach (the tach doesn't run through the computer) so I just split that wire and ran it to the computer. The computer has to see RPM to run the A/C.

The last mistake was when it was done, the temp gauge wouldn't work so I swapped out the new temp sender for the old one and it still wouldn't work. On this, I used the wrong sensor. I had used the sensor that the computer uses to see engine temp. I swapped out the senders and ran the correct wire and it works great now. On the 2nd engine pic, you can see a stray green wire going near the valve covers towards the front of the engine. That is the water temp wire. There is another spot (very rearward on the head) that Dodge used for the water temp sending unit. I will relocate it back there when I find some time and feel like having antifreeze drip on me.

 

[96k1500]

I was meaning fuel lines

 

[Crummins]

I was meaning fuel lines

The fuel lines would have been easy as I could have just used the stock lines. The larger one for the inlet and the smaller for the return.

To simplify my conversion, I went with an AirDog Kit that comes with its own draw straw that I just drilled a hole in the tank and installed it. It uses 1/2" line that goes to the pump and then to the engine. I used one of the stock lines for the Cummins return line. (the Air Dog has it's own return that goes into the fuel filler neck)

 

[Solid94]

Really? Maybe I should check into that then. I'd love our body style SAS and diesel. Lol and I have the first part

 

[Crummins]

Really? Maybe I should check into that then. I'd love our body style SAS and diesel. Lol and I have the first part

You're halfway way there!!

 

[Solid94]

so now i just need to check into what hoops ill have to jump through for cali