454 to Diesel Swap

[BowtieBrody]

Wasn't there a group of diesel tuners back in the late 90s/Early 2001s who dumped a decent amount of money into making a highly-modified 6.5 just as good as a stock 7.3 Powerstroke or 24 Valve Cummins?

 

[skylark]

Both Banks and Heath diesel did.

 

[someotherguy]

Wasn't there a group of diesel tuners back in the late 90s/Early 2001s who dumped a decent amount of money into making a highly-modified 6.5 just as good as a stock 7.3 Powerstroke or 24 Valve Cummins?

Depends on what you mean by "as good as" - I doubt they matched the power level, but they absolutely, in no way whatsoever, could match the reliability/durability of a 7.3 Powerstroke or a 5.9 Cummins - both of which (with a few small gotchas) are engines with a proven track record. The 6.5 has far too many weaknesses to withstand much power increase. The blocks are weak, the cranks are weak, hell the balancer is weak. The head-to-block sealing is weak. These engines crack main bearing webbings in the block, blow head gaskets, break cranks, and before they cost you the ultimate price like that they tend to eat PMD's for lunch and generally keep you keeping the parts suppliers in business.

They're slow, weak, and wholly unreliable in comparison to practically any other popular light truck diesel. The only thing they have going for them is they got good MPG for the era. They get really good MPG sitting dead in the driveway, too.

Richard

 

[skylark]

The only thing they have going for them is they got good MPG for the era. They get really good MPG sitting dead in the driveway, too.

Richard

I haven't fill the tank since November 2014!

 

[Ironhead]

Body swapping looks like the way to go if you have the skills. I have a neighbour who built a truck using a GM frame, a Cummins engine from a 90s Dodge, and then put a 37 Ford Cab Over body on the front. He then built an aluminum deck for the thing, and has been driving it for years. Since he's moving, I should go snap of photo of it. Cool to look at, and sounds mean as hell.

 

[ZachT]

Body swapping looks like the way to go if you have the skills. I have a neighbour who built a truck using a GM frame, a Cummins engine from a 90s Dodge, and then put a 37 Ford Cab Over body on the front. He then built an aluminum deck for the thing, and has been driving it for years. Since he's moving, I should go snap of photo of it. Cool to look at, and sounds mean as hell.

That's the plan for the 454 and 4L80E. Make a custom frame and drop the motor and tranny on there and put a 70 Chevelle body on there or a 40's coupe

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Depends on what you mean by "as good as" - I doubt they matched the power level, but they absolutely, in no way whatsoever, could match the reliability/durability of a 7.3 Powerstroke or a 5.9 Cummins - both of which (with a few small gotchas) are engines with a proven track record. The 6.5 has far too many weaknesses to withstand much power increase. The blocks are weak, the cranks are weak, hell the balancer is weak. The head-to-block sealing is weak. These engines crack main bearing webbings in the block, blow head gaskets, break cranks, and before they cost you the ultimate price like that they tend to eat PMD's for lunch and generally keep you keeping the parts suppliers in business.

They're slow, weak, and wholly unreliable in comparison to practically any other popular light truck diesel. The only thing they have going for them is they got good MPG for the era. They get really good MPG sitting dead in the driveway, too.

Richard

Yes many had problems with the 6.5, but it's BIGGEST problem was the bean counters at GM cutting corners. The PMD/FSD was a big problem, but is not a hard one to deal with, and no more a problem than say the 7.3's crank sensor issue. Yes, Bigley made a lowly old unreliable 6.5L hang with everything the big 3 had to offer in stock form from the 2001 time frame. He did it all on a budget, and at a fraction of the cost of those trucks new. And that truck has proven itself reliable over the long haul. They did do away with the DS4 IP, but I believe that was largely so they could get enough fuel to hang with the other direct injected trucks power wise. I'm not advocating it as being a great engine, but it is in NO WAY as bad as several in here are trying to make it out to be. They ARE a GREAT engine if used as designed. When it was designed in the early 80's by DETROIT DIESEL, it was meant to be a light duty diesel designed for useage in light duty trucks as a fuel milage offering for light duty useage. It was never designed to be used for heavy towing duty, or worked day in and day out, and a turbo was NEVER considered during the designing of it. And here steps in the bean counters. Why redesign it, just slap a turbo on it, why re-engineer it to up the displacement, lets just make it accept a larger bore, and re-use all the 6.2L parts except the pistons(right down to the cranks and rods not even being rebalanced). Many of it's shortfalls have been addressed, and corrected by its following, and even though I HAVE a DURAMAX under mine's hood, I honestly wished I owuld have stuck with the old 6.5L seeing what they have done with them lately.

Wasn't there a group of diesel tuners back in the late 90s/Early 2001s who dumped a decent amount of money into making a highly-modified 6.5 just as good as a stock 7.3 Powerstroke or 24 Valve Cummins?

It wasn't a group, it was done by thedieselpage. The truck was a success, and last I heard he had given it to his brother with well over 240K miles on it, and still running with no hiccups. The truck stacked up rather well against the big 3 offerings of it's day, and at a considerable bit less money invested.

Both Banks and Heath diesel did.

No, HEATH did the land speed truck, BANKS did add on aftermarket turbos for N/A ones. I'm not aware of EITHER company building a dedicated tow rig.

 

[skylark]

Wasn't there a group of diesel tuners back in the late 90s/Early 2001s who dumped a decent amount of money into making a highly-modified 6.5 just as good as a stock 7.3 Powerstroke or 24 Valve Cummins?

No, HEATH did the land speed truck, BANKS did add on aftermarket turbos for N/A ones. I'm not aware of EITHER company building a dedicated tow rig.

In no way was I talking about either company building a dedicated tow rig. I was responding to the post that was immediately above mine that mentioned highly modified 6.5s by diesel tuners. Both Banks and Heath were building "high performance" 6.5s.

 

[someotherguy]

Keep selling that powerful & reliable 6.5TD story. The rest of us know better.

I've lost the link long ago, but even most 6.5 enthusiasts admit it's a pile of junk - got the biggest laugh out of a long post on a 6.5 forum where everyone wanted to do a big get-together, and within a page or two it turned into nothing but jokes about getting a sponsorship and chase truck from one of their favorite parts suppliers, to contacts for towing, etc. Because they know. They're know it's junk. So do we. And so do you, but you're having too much fun trying to convince us otherwise...

Richard

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Keep selling that powerful & reliable 6.5TD story. The rest of us know better.

I've lost the link long ago, but even most 6.5 enthusiasts admit it's a pile of junk - got the biggest laugh out of a long post on a 6.5 forum where everyone wanted to do a big get-together, and within a page or two it turned into nothing but jokes about getting a sponsorship and chase truck from one of their favorite parts suppliers, to contacts for towing, etc. Because they know. They're know it's junk. So do we. And so do you, but you're having too much fun trying to convince us otherwise...

Richard

Don't like one, don't buy one, problem solved. But don't LIE to people and call them all junk. Funny how people who DON'T have one always call them all junk. Or they say they had one 10 years ago and it's the reason they'll never own one again. We don't deny that there was problems with them early on, but MOST of these problems have been worked around, and these engines are proving themselves day in and day out still today.