1996 Suburban Cummins 12V Conversion Build up with pics

[gerry m]

I used the 94 dodge intercooler with a chevy 454 radiator from a 1990 pickup. No problems with clearance.

[4wdfactory]

Hey Crummins where did you get your Intercooler from. Some of the aftermarket I/Cs are really expensive. Saw some cheaper ones, not sure about the quality? My 96 donor truck had some damage on the I/C from an accident.

[duckbuster]

very nice.

[Crummins]

Hey Crummins where did you get your Intercooler from. Some of the aftermarket I/Cs are really expensive. Saw some cheaper ones, not sure about the quality? My 96 donor truck had some damage on the I/C from an accident.

I got mine from Performance Radiator. They show $329 on their site.

[4wdfactory]

I picked up an intercooler from Performance Radiator. They have a location near us and we have an account with them. I hadn't thought about them, thanks. Also found a really nice radiator I think I'm going to use. BTR radiators in GA. They make a 4 row all cooper and steel radiator. I hate those Plastic reservoir radiators. http://www.btr-radiator.com/. I'm getting set up as a dealer for BTR so if anyone's interested let me know.

[Jcarrick]

This is a great build! Quite an inspiration

[gerry m]

Hate to hijack but thought you guys might wanna see a few pics of mine since I finished it.

http://s1121.photobucket.com/profile/Gerry838

[Crummins]

Hate to hijack but thought you guys might wanna see a few pics of mine since I finished it.

http://s1121.photobucket.com/profile/Gerry838

Awesome!! Great job!

[gerry m]

Update.
HAve 5,000 miles on it since its been finished.
Runs like a top and gets 20mpg in town.
So glad I did the conversion although I am about to give it to my son who wants it more than I do.
I might just do another one on a newer body style ))

[gerry m]

Got 10,000 miles on it now.Starter and fuel filter is all Ive had to do.
Runs like a clock.
I am going to give it to my son for his 21st birthday.'
Probably gonna build an 02/04 chevy into a cummins

[s104bt]

i know this is a old thead but if your still on here im doin a swap on a 95 burb and was wonndering what all i need to do to the tranny its a 4l60e like do i need to change shift points or somthing?

[Crummins]

i know this is a old thead but if your still on here im doin a swap on a 95 burb and was wonndering what all i need to do to the tranny its a 4l60e like do i need to change shift points or somthing?

Yep, still poking around.

Not sure if you are going to run a 6BT or a 4Bt but I am not sure a 4L60E would hold up behind a 6BT. My 2500 Suburban had a 4L80E in it stock which I used.

There are lots of different controllers for GM transmission. I used this one:

http://www.powertraincontrolsolution...t/SimpleShift/

It is a cool unit, you don't need a laptop to set it up and you can change stuff on the fly.

You will also need an adapter:

http://www.destroked.com/prod_adapters.php

The place I got my mounts, Autoworld, sells Destroked parts so I just bought everything from them, including the controller.

Hope this helps.

[s104bt]

Yea thinks and I'm useing a 4bt

[Jd1950m]

I am running a 94 suburan and have bought every thing from auto world as well I just want to know what gears are you running in the diff my truck has 4 10 and my dodge pick up has 4 10 in it as well be I think the gear ratios in the overdrive of the dodge tranny are steeper than the 4l80e and I think I may have to change the ring and pinion out to compensate I was also thinking if I change the gEars I will go with 3 42 which will give me lower rpms in over drive and better fuel mileage. I think

[4wdfactory]

Jd1950m Your gear ratio depends a lot on what your using it for and your tire size. If your doing a lot of towing or have larger tires the 4.10 my be better. If you want mileage go with a 3.42 range gear.

I had a 1st gen dodge with automatic (32" tires) that I put 4.10 gears in to help it in towing, I now have a 1st gen 5spd getrag with the same tires and 3.54 gears and it works great, if fact if I could put something like a 3.00 gear and use 4th gear for heavy towing I would probably do that. Fuel mileage starts dropping off on it above 70mph and the cummins really seems to like to cruise at a lower rpm anyway. There starting to raise the speed limits to 70 to 80mph here in Texas and I'm having a hard time keeping up. I using 3.73 in my Suburban project mainly because that's what in the ford axles I'm using. I plan to use 35" or 37" tires. Should give me a good cruising speed.

[Crummins]

As of right now, I have 4.10 gears and ~32" tall tires, shooting down the freeway in overdrive and lockup it is turning about 2200 rpm at 65 mph.... too much, in my opinion. I do mostly towing with this vehicle so I am probably going to swap out some 3.73 gears which should put me at about 1900-2000 down the freeway at 65 mph.

I might go 3.42 gears but I haven't 100% decided yet. I am probably going to get a rear axle at the local pick-n-pull (~$250) with one or the other gear ratio and swap it in to see which I will re-gear to.

With the bone stock engine it would de-fuel and run out of power at about 75 mph. I had a buddy that had a 1994 Dodge dually with a NV4500 and 4.10 gears and he had the same issue until he raised the RPM like I did. With my pump turned up I can go 90 plus.

[gr8shot]

I've got 3.73 in my truck. IMO that is about perfect until you get to pretty big tire sizes. I've got little 245/75/16 (about 30" tall) tires and with the nv4500 and 3.73 gears I run about 1900 rpm at 65mph. Next set of tires will be probably 285/75/16 (almost 33") which should drop the rpms somewhere around 150-200rpm and be about ideal. As is, I can knock down 23mpg on the highway at 65-70mph. Can't ask for much more than that if you ask me. With the added weight of larger tires though its very rare to ever gain mileage by switching to a larger tire. I know this, as I'm just going for looks next time around.

I think that 3.42 would be lugging the motor if you run any halfway decent tire size. Might have a hard time keeping the turbo spooled at 60mph. But I haven't personally done it so I wont say it can't be done or anything.

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[Keydodge]

I think I am gonna need to read this thread 10 times!
Good job!

[Crummins]

I re-vamped my A/C bracket since I didn't care for the cowl hood very much.

It uses the stock dodge mount but it is mounted up above the alternator. I got a bracket from someone in Vegas and it utilizes the factory Dodge alternator and places the factory Dodge A/C compressor above it. Worked pretty slick except I modified it so I could run my stock alternator. I don't like that the Dodge alternator requires an external voltage regulator plus my factory alternator is a CS144 which is a great alternator. The bracket kit was $150-ish and then I had to buy the stock Dodge A/C mount and a couple pulleys and bolts. All total was about $300 for the brackets.

Here are some pics:










Stock Hood!!!!






The bracket was supposed to use the stock Dodge mounting flange for the A/C, you cut it off of the piece that has the water outlet in it. When doing the conversion, I was frantically looking for the Sanden head (the back piece of a Sanden A/C Compressor) to convert to to the GM A/C lines, the one I found made the compressor flip over so the mounting on the stock Dodge mounting flange wouldn't work anymore so I had to build my own off of the bracket I received.

[lwood]

Do you have any more pictures of the a/c bracket? Did you buy it for someone that makes and sell them or was it a clist find? Great Build

[gr8shot]

I'll send ya a pm when I'm not on my phone, I believe he used the same guy that I did for the a/c mount. Its a slick setup for sure.

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[Crummins]

Do you have any more pictures of the a/c bracket? Did you buy it for someone that makes and sell them or was it a clist find? Great Build

Thanks! Those are all the pics I could find. I thought I took more but I didn't see any.

Here is his information: His name is Chad Reynolds. He lives in Vegas. His # is 702-824-5765

If you go this route, I do have an extra stock Dodge A/C mount that has already been cut off from the rest of the piece. I can get pics of that.

Thanks!

[gr8shot]

Here's a few more pics.









I got my brackets from chadd too. He's a great guy. Have another set of mounts coming from him for my buddies truck. Should be here before this weekend.

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[Crummins]

I have this extra:



If anyone is interested. It is required with Chad's bracket. $55 shipped.

[chevytrucksonly]

Hi
What length belt did you use on this setup or was it a standard Cummins/Dodge 5.9 belt with AC?
Thanks

[Crummins]

Hi
What length belt did you use on this setup or was it a standard Cummins/Dodge 5.9 belt with AC?
Thanks

It uses the factory length belt, pretty cool setup!

[chevytrucksonly]

Thanks for the reply.
It's hard to tell from the pics, but are you using the stock belt tensioner (located below alternator) with this AC, Alternator set up?
You've been very helpful to me in working out some final details for my conversion,
Michael

It uses the factory length belt, pretty cool setup!

[Crummins]

Thanks for the reply.
It's hard to tell from the pics, but are you using the stock belt tensioner (located below alternator) with this AC, Alternator set up?
You've been very helpful to me in working out some final details for my conversion,
Michael

Yes, it uses the stock tensioner although I had to change the pulley from smooth to ribbed and then I used the stock smooth pulley on the idler that was added with this setup.

[k5 cummins]

Nice build. Like the a/c set up

[Shocker]

Fantastic! I have a trade in the works for a 95 2500 Suburban MPV (fire chief truck) with the 454 and very few options. Very excited to convert to the Cummins. Thanks so much for posting all this info.

PS: I am kinda local to you here in Olympia. Maybe we can get together so I can see this bad dog in person?