5.7L Vortec ->6.5L Turbo Diesel swap?

Hello gentlemen! This is my first post with this site! However I am a member of other chevy forums as well, seeing how I have a 97 K1500 Suburban I figured that this site might be more fitting than any of the others!

My question to you guys is, has anyone every tried to swap a 6.5 TD into a 5.7 bay before? And seeing how my truck is a 1500 I would assume that the front end suspension would have to be beefed up? Just throwing it out there wondering if its possible?

I searched around for a while before posting and couldn't find any write-up's on it....

Thanks!

Anything is possible with enough money...and a welder. But the 6.5 TD isn't that desirable of an engine. So my question is why?

personally id say its not worth it from all that i have heard about the 6.5s, and from the few i have been around. It would fit, there would be a few slight modifications that need to be doen obivously. I know they came as a factory option in the trucks, but i think those were the heavy halfs.
It would be a neat swap, but you wont gain anything other then maybe a little bit better mpgs, but unless its modded, you won't get any more power or reliability.

I'd say that if you want a diesel, a Dmax or 6BT swap may be what you're looking for. The Dmax is going to be more expensive, but can be setup to run your factory gauges and will be a "all GM" swap. The 6BT could be slightly cheaper as far as initial outlay of cash goes, but will require a lot more fab work. In the end, if you can't do your own fab work, there may not be a clear cut winner.

SAATR said:

I'd say that if you want a diesel, a Dmax or 6BT swap may be what you're looking for. The Dmax is going to be more expensive, but can be setup to run your factory gauges and will be a "all GM" swap. The 6BT could be slightly cheaper as far as initial outlay of cash goes, but will require a lot more fab work. In the end, if you can't do your own fab work, there may not be a clear cut winner.

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Yea I figured that the 6.5 was a dog but would be more compatible with our trucks due to its use in their bloodlines....I would love a Cummins but the mods would become too great to handle, so I suppose a Dmax is the way to go.....I'm just wondering how deep into the front-end suspension one would have to go in order to handle the extra weight of a diesel motor?

I think your problem would be making the drivetrain handle the extra torque of a diesel engine, to include the differentials. You may be better off doing a heavy half/light three quarter ton suspension swap to help it handle the power and weight.

Having owned a 6.5 I would never recommend the motor to anyone but if you wanted to do it you have some work ahead of you but leave the welder and torch in the shop cause this one is a bolt in deal. the 6.5 weighs in at 728 pounds dry, fully assembled big block is lighter by I wanna say around 100 pounds. Your stock suspension won't really appreciate you doing it but it will take it. The motor mounts will bolt up as they sit, just buy some 6.5 mounts from the parts house. Your best bet as far as a donor motor is going to be a 94 or earlier mechanical injection motor. This is gonna save you alot of work on the wiring side. You can make the mechanical injection engines run with power and fuel but they do still have an ecm that I would recommend having that controls stuff like cold start and A/C idle kicker aswell as lift pump control. It also gets rid of the stupid PMD or FSD, call it what you want. You are going to need to change the fuel tank and the fuel lines. As far as your instrument cluster goes, I don't think you have to change it or the wiring inside the dash but you are going to have to change just about all the wiring under the hood. Best bet on this, get a donor rig or find an untouched 94 with mechanical injection out in the JY and rip it to shreds. Honestly if mileage is what you're after, the 6.5 aint the ticket. In my 3/4 ton extended cab long bed 95 with a 4L80E, 15 was the best I got and it was chipped with injectors and such...on a fresh motor. The DMax is a very enticing swap, there is a guy that put one in his 95 3/4 ton burb and is getting 21 hway but a really big **** eatin grin when he puts his foot down. The 4BT Cummins and 700R4 combo is seeing around 26 but not much power. the 12 valve cummins is the cheaper out the door package but as mentioned before, get ready to do some fabrication. a 10 bolt won't last behind anything but the 4BT cummins and that's because it doesn't produce any more torque than a 350, it just makes it way more efficiently. You need to swap in at least a SF14 Bolt. That's what one guy has in his 88 1/2 ton 4x4 that has a Duramax in. He races it and runs really nice numbers.

The DMax has my vote...that's what I plan on putting in my 93 1/2 ton burb. You will be pleased to know that the front end won't ask anything from you no matter what diesel you go with. I've been reading up alot on the swap over the past few months and have a friend that salvages chevy's so once I get the money you can guess what power plant I'm buyin.

SAATR said:

I think your problem would be making the drivetrain handle the extra torque of a diesel engine, to include the differentials. You may be better off doing a heavy half/light three quarter ton suspension swap to help it handle the power and weight.

Click to expand...

WOW, you're absolutely right....This is what happens when you post on an empty brain! hahaha I think a good ole 14 bolt rear would do the trick with a dana 60 front, no? Would a Dmax allison tranny slip under there?

All this said I don't really think that the OBD-II would be able to run properly with a completely new setup like this would it? Or can a reprogramming of the computer really go that far?

Kadams87 said:

Having owned a 6.5 I would never recommend the motor to anyone but if you wanted to do it you have some work ahead of you but leave the welder and torch in the shop cause this one is a bolt in deal. the 6.5 weighs in at 728 pounds dry, fully assembled big block is lighter by I wanna say around 100 pounds. Your stock suspension won't really appreciate you doing it but it will take it. The motor mounts will bolt up as they sit, just buy some 6.5 mounts from the parts house. Your best bet as far as a donor motor is going to be a 94 or earlier mechanical injection motor. This is gonna save you alot of work on the wiring side. You can make the mechanical injection engines run with power and fuel but they do still have an ecm that I would recommend having that controls stuff like cold start and A/C idle kicker aswell as lift pump control. It also gets rid of the stupid PMD or FSD, call it what you want. You are going to need to change the fuel tank and the fuel lines. As far as your instrument cluster goes, I don't think you have to change it or the wiring inside the dash but you are going to have to change just about all the wiring under the hood. Best bet on this, get a donor rig or find an untouched 94 with mechanical injection out in the JY and rip it to shreds. Honestly if mileage is what you're after, the 6.5 aint the ticket. In my 3/4 ton extended cab long bed 95 with a 4L80E, 15 was the best I got and it was chipped with injectors and such...on a fresh motor. The DMax is a very enticing swap, there is a guy that put one in his 95 3/4 ton burb and is getting 21 hway but a really big **** eatin grin when he puts his foot down. The 4BT Cummins and 700R4 combo is seeing around 26 but not much power. the 12 valve cummins is the cheaper out the door package but as mentioned before, get ready to do some fabrication.

The DMax has my vote...that's what I plan on putting in my 93 1/2 ton burb. You will be pleased to know that the front end won't ask anything from you no matter what diesel you go with. I've been reading up alot on the swap over the past few months and have a friend that salvages chevy's so once I get the money you can guess what power plant I'm buyin.

Click to expand...

We've concluded that the Dmax is the way to go for sure

97SubMan said:

WOW, you're absolutely right....This is what happens when you post on an empty brain! hahaha I think a good ole 14 bolt rear would do the trick with a dana 60 front, no? Would a Dmax allison tranny slip under there?

All this said I don't really think that the OBD-II would be able to run properly with a completely new setup like this would it? Or can a reprogramming of the computer really go that far?

Click to expand...

Those will handle the torque and weight all right. For the PCM, you'll need one out of a donor truck (preferably the one you're getting your motor and trans from) and have it tuned to remove VATS and any emissions coding that may be present. I'm sure the wiring diagrams are available to wire up your truck's existing harness to run the factory gauges. I couldn't tell you about the Allison fitting under a GMT400, though I'm sure a little research (or just a BFH) will solve that issue.