[59bisquik]

I am considering a 4BT swap into my 86 Bronco II. Im not having much luck finding out if I can do this is California. I know how to swap in an Explorer 4.0, but not a deisel. Can anybody help me with this?

My B2 weighs in at 4400lbs empty. 35" tires with 4.88 gears. Within the next year, I will be going to 38-39" tires. With the bigger tires, beadlocks and such, I am guestimating 5k lbs.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dusty]

what kind of front axle the TTB dnaa 35 wont take the weight of big tires and a 4bt.

converting to a diesel in CA is easy, istall the motor take it to dmv have them inspect it and they will change your registration to note diesel instead of gas. FYI i had one inspector give me a hard time because i used a 1989 cummins in a 1996 ford something about if the vehicle is a 1987 then i can use a 1987 or newer engine. all the other conversions i slipped througha nd they never batted an eye at them so it might have just been him

 

[RoadRacer68]

Diesel in Ca

I had to take my Cummins/F350 to the referee. I took the forms from the DMV, had the referee look it over, he never batted an eye, didn't really look at anything except under the hood. He didn't check for a cat or check engine light, just wanted to know why I did something so foolish...And it didn't cost me anything from the ref, he retitled it in the computer as a diesel, went back to the DMV and was done in about 10 minutes. There was 4 or 5 forms to fill out, the cost of the mod, and a few other things, Seems like there is lots of grey area here and the next ref might look closer, but who knows. There doesn't seem to be any clear cut guidelines to retitleing at a diesel...what can I say-it's California..

 

[4bt ford]

California does have a provission for engine
swaps for the year of the vehicle or newer.

Referee is one way around the regulations,
but that is a crap shoot.

 

[dusty]

Ive had 6 done in ca. never had to use a ref just the vin plate inspector at the DMV office.

 

[JimmieD]

I found out the 'secret' to Kalifonia DMV a long time agao: SMALL TOWNS. Go to a small mountain community and tell them you're there visiting for a while [true] and wanted to take care of your registration or whatever. They're WAY more laid back than the big city and cut a guy a whole bunch more slack on the silly totalitarian stuff.

I once tried to register my '67 Dodge in Sacramento at the main DMV: $168! No way!! Went to a small mountain commnity and the girl was actually human, and even got p-o'd about the paperwork, "What? What were they doing here, that's crazy! And this is ridiculous..." etc. etc. By the time she got good and fired up and crossed off al the BS I registered the truck for like $58 or something? It pays to shop around. Oh, and go to a town that doesn't have the annual or biennial SMOG regs in force.

 

[59bisquik]

I currently have the TTB D35 and run 35's with no issues. I am doing a full width D44 swap in the near future and will then go to 38 or 39's. I am trying to get all of the math figured out before I start buying parts.

Now that I know that the cummins can be done, I need to figure out what auto tranny to use and figure out what gears I will need to run. I guess depending on what tranny I use, I might still be able to keep my 4.88's.

I just wonder what I am going to start breaking now if I add that much torque!! I know the torque converter screws the numbers up a bit, but as it sits now, I have a 74:1 final drive with both t-cases engaged!!

 

[Bioracer]

Welcome to the fourm

I am going to be doing a 4bt into a Ford Ranger next month. 2wd so less complicated than 4wd. For me I was lucky enough to find an 86 titled originaly diesel so it should not be any difficulty. Are you doing the work yourself or have a shop do it. PM me and we can share some local resources.

 

[GreasedPiggy]

There have been a few guys on another forum who ran into problems and got quagmired in California DMV red tape. One guy followed all the rules and I believe after two years of standing in lines, and being put on hold he finally succeeded. This kind of thing seems rare, but outcomes seem to be random and subjective.

Another guy in CA registered w/friends in AZ and easily (I've no details) declared it a diesel. Then later brought the vehicle into CA as a diesel. I remember it being a fairly new vehicle. The permanent cutoff in CA for smog exemption (thus no visual inspection) is 1975. I don't believe this date is going to change again...

 

[59bisquik]

I after doing lots of research on here... I think I am just going to skip the deisel idea and stay with the 4.0 V6 swap which is almost a drop in.

I do not want to sacrifice reliability due the the nature and use of this vehicle. It is regularly is remote areas and places that a tow truck for example could not get to!

I dont mean that the 4BT would not be reliable. But seeing some of the dyno numbers, I start to worry about the rest of the drive train. With my 200k mile, 2.9 v6 and twin transfer cases, I have already twisted a 8.8 axle housing and tore up a few driveshafts. Upgrading to a torque monster like the 4bt... I think could give me some serious problems.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[ryurabbit]

Keep this thread going

This is great info and I would like to keep this thread going. bounce I am contemplating a 6bt in my 96 Ram 1500 and a 4bt in my 84 XJ cherokee. I would like everyone to share there stories about registering there diesels AFTER a swap here.bounce

 

[914turboford]

I put a 1983 6.2 diesel in a gas 1991 K5 blazer. The VIN checker at the Placerville, CA, asked my wife to start it up. She said yep, that's a diesel and changed the registration's fuel type to "D" for diesel. My buddy put a 6BT in a 1984 Chevy K15 and got the same treatment as me. The regulations state that the year of the engine must be the same as or newer than the year of the vehicle(in my case the 6.2 was basically the same engine in 91 as in 83). This is true for gas or diesel conversions. One issue, though, is that the rules say you cannot install a heavy duty engine in a light duty vehicle. I think this is a potential problem for the 4BT. To my knowledge, it was never installed in a personal use light duty vehicle. Only commercial vehicles. Ironically, this makes it a heavy duty engine even though the 6BT can be considered a light duty engine because it came in pickups one ton or smaller. I suspect that at most DMV's you won't have a problem with one though. I have a forum dedicated to this at my website, engineconversions.org.
Brian

 

[ryurabbit]

Great info and thanks for posting up. I was thinking that since the XJ Cherokee came with a diesel 4 cylinder that I might be able to pass it off as an engine that came with the XJ. I mean how many diesel XJ's do you think a smog referee has seen if there not required for smog check and there were so few made! What are your thoughts on this?

I put a 1983 6.2 diesel in a gas 1991 K5 blazer. The VIN checker at the Placerville, CA, asked my wife to start it up. She said yep, that's a diesel and changed the registration's fuel type to "D" for diesel. My buddy put a 6BT in a 1984 Chevy K15 and got the same treatment as me. The regulations state that the year of the engine must be the same as or newer than the year of the vehicle(in my case the 6.2 was basically the same engine in 91 as in 83). This is true for gas or diesel conversions. One issue, though, is that the rules say you cannot install a heavy duty engine in a light duty vehicle. I think this is a potential problem for the 4BT. To my knowledge, it was never installed in a personal use light duty vehicle. Only commercial vehicles. Ironically, this makes it a heavy duty engine even though the 6BT can be considered a light duty engine because it came in pickups one ton or smaller. I suspect that at most DMV's you won't have a problem with one though. I have a forum dedicated to this at my website, engineconversions.org.
Brian

 

[Machman]

I put a 1983 6.2 diesel in a gas 1991 K5 blazer. The VIN checker at the Placerville, CA, asked my wife to start it up. She said yep, that's a diesel and changed the registration's fuel type to "D" for diesel. My buddy put a 6BT in a 1984 Chevy K15 and got the same treatment as me. The regulations state that the year of the engine must be the same as or newer than the year of the vehicle(in my case the 6.2 was basically the same engine in 91 as in 83). This is true for gas or diesel conversions. One issue, though, is that the rules say you cannot install a heavy duty engine in a light duty vehicle. I think this is a potential problem for the 4BT. To my knowledge, it was never installed in a personal use light duty vehicle. Only commercial vehicles. Ironically, this makes it a heavy duty engine even though the 6BT can be considered a light duty engine because it came in pickups one ton or smaller. I suspect that at most DMV's you won't have a problem with one though. I have a forum dedicated to this at my website, engineconversions.org.
Brian

Up until Model Year 1995 in CA, a normal 3/4 ton truck would qualify as a "Light Heavy-Duty" vehicle as those usually have a GVWR over 8500LB, thus allowing the use of a "Light Heavy-Duty" EPA certified diesel engines in them.

http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/us/hd.html

Now, I don't know if the 6BT up until then that was put in the Dodge trucks was "Light Heavy-Duty" or "Light-Duty" certified. I'm assuming that Model Year 1995+ they had to be "Light-Duty" certified.

 

[914turboford]

As far as getting away with it you can put anything you want in your XJ. If it already has a diesel pink slip you don't have to smog it. If you want it to be strictly legal I still think there is an issue with the 4bt being a heavy duty engine. But I'd like to hear otherwise.

 

[914turboford]

Up until Model Year 1995 in CA, a normal 3/4 ton truck would qualify as a "Light Heavy-Duty" vehicle as those usually have a GVWR over 8500LB, thus allowing the use of a "Light Heavy-Duty" EPA certified diesel engines in them.

http://www.dieselnet.com/standards/us/hd.html

Now, I don't know if the 6BT up until then that was put in the Dodge trucks was "Light Heavy-Duty" or "Light-Duty" certified. I'm assuming that Model Year 1995+ they had to be "Light-Duty" certified.

That link is very interesting, something I had not read. Anyone know what the GVWR is for these 4bt bread trucks?

 

[Machman]

That link is very interesting, something I had not read. Anyone know what the GVWR is for these 4bt bread trucks?

Mine's 9000LB GVWR (but the totaled rating of the front and rear axle are more than that.. Which is not unusual). 1982 P-30 w/ dually rear.

 

[dragonblue24]

Ford F150 diesel conversion

Hello everybody!

A friend recently gave me his old '94 F150. I like the truck but not its engine.
Ideally I'd love to put a 4 cylinder diesel in there and I heard about the 4BT.
How difficult would it be to put one in and does anyone know maybe a good place in southern California for that as well as a place where to find a good used or rebuilt 4BT?
I probably could do it myself but I don't know if I have the space and time for it.
Is it possible to bolt it to the existing transmission or do I have to replace that one too?

 

[Mr.C]

I have been playing with the idea of converting for a very long time. My location may kill the deal though. I'm in Visalia and the smog police here are pretty strict. If I do this conversion, would......lets say Vacaville be a place I could register my newly converted Land Rover being so far from home? My sister lives there and I think the smog rules are a little more lax.

 

[Machman]

I have been playing with the idea of converting for a very long time. My location may kill the deal though. I'm in Visalia and the smog police here are pretty strict. If I do this conversion, would......lets say Vacaville be a place I could register my newly converted Land Rover being so far from home? My sister lives there and I think the smog rules are a little more lax.

Unless something has changed, the CARB Smog Check program is the same state wide.. Visalia and Vacaville will have just the same requirements as Rough and Ready or Timbuctoo. As previously mentioned, the DMV folks for the small towns will often be a bit more "laid back" about things, but the process is the same: get the title changed, then diesel = no biannual inspections.

At least for right now, that is..

I don't know where this is in the "process" right now, but I present for your entertainment AB1488:

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1451-1500/ab_1488_cfa_20070420_161829_asm_comm.html

Now, even if that one doesn't fly, I can see something like it going through in the near future. So, if you're swapping, better stay before 1997 to steer clear of this one (or, best, 1975 and before and not worry about it at all..).