93' Suburban 4BT conversion daylight view

[Jishory]

very nice! im about to do a 6bt swap in a crew cab and love seeing completed projects to motivate me... light at the end of the tunnel. But, no intercooler!?!

[scoobytuff]

Does it have a pusher fan on the front of the radiator?

[DRNEGOLICIS]

what the heck engine is that? sounds like a little 4cyl for a diesel conversion should at do a detroit 453t or a 6v92 they will fit with the adapter bell houseing

[foxsecret]

@DRNEGOLICIS

Correct it's a 4 cylinder Cummins. As you can see the Cummins fit just fine.

[DRNEGOLICIS]

@foxsecret does it have enough power? decent gas milage? im thinking of putting a GM 6.2L in my truck or a 453T detroit

[theonly9]

@DRNEGOLICIS Go with 4-53t Personally 6.2s are gutless

[DRNEGOLICIS]

@theonly9 im gonna go with a 6V53 i want to put a 6.5L in my z71 way more power than a 7.3 power smoke

[SpanishClarks]

I put a cummins 6bt in a chevy k3500 truck and had several trubles with the space, very difficult to put the a/c, its manual trans, you did a nice job there.

[bigboi1245]

ok so im getting a 87 ford f150 and it has a gas 6 cyl. and would you think a 4 cylinder cummins would work better and how hard was it to do that it ur burb

[BlakeMason2]

Did you end up putting an electric fan in front of the radiator? I didn't see one in a traditional spot.

[FireSide31]

I'm trying to decide between a 4 BT & a 6 BT for my 1990 Burban

[foxsecret]

Go with a 6BT. They are smoother, much more power and easy to come by. You will have to move the transmission back 3 inches.

[FireSide31]

That is what I was thinking, plus I would like to put a 5 speed behind it and of course keep the four wheel drive

[cmscania1971]

.i have fit a 6bta 180 in a C20 truck with spicer T5XO/D trans but the 8 stud axle as a 3.73? diff on 285/85 16 tires and iam concerned about top speed . i would like the final drive ratio to be around 275to 1.I cannot find a better ratio and nobody in UK wants to cut a new crown wheel and pinion ,is there any aftermarket gears available in the US of around 250 275 to 1

[FireSide31]

I think your question was to be directed to foxsecret, but i was curious so I did some looking. The highest gear I could find was a 3.08 for a truck axle. That is not to say they don't make the ratio you are looking for.  Your best bet I think would to be to look up Richmond Gear, or Motive Gear, or your gear maker of choice on the web and email them and ask if they would machine the gear you are looking for.

[solarcat1]

Well you're not gonna win many races, but your fuel mileage and reliability should be top notch.

[torque395]

a 6bt would have fit like a glove. How come it wasnt used?

[foxsecret]

I wanted to retain the stock transmission and it's location. Didn't want to slide it back and mess with driveshaft lengths changes and linkage modifications. Back then I thought the 6Bt was too heavy but after seeing others do a 6BT swap into a half ton chevy I'm now comfortable the the ideal of using a 6BT next time.

[gnccracer250]

how hard was the conversion? what steps are required to do this?

[tpvalley]

Good idea, good mpg aswell.

Intercooler would be good.

[DieselMikey084]

no comment

[Hotrodx199]

guess what buddy. You just made a comment! lol

[DieselMikey084]

oh is that why the 4BT is a four-cylinder and the 6BT is a six-cylinder.

[vipertruck05]

DO YA THINK SO ????

[michigandon]

Man, look at all the room in there! I see you're not running a fan in this video. That radiator looks like it's big enough to where you could totally get by without one, depending on what part of the country you're in.

[DieselMikey084]

foxsecret, that is a hell of a Suburban with a Cummins engine. That must be off a 1990 Dodge Ram Cummins Diesel if I am not mistaken because that is what the engine looks like. Keep it runnin!

[malibujordan]

sorry bud. the engine your thinking of is a 6 cylinder. this is a 4 cylinder probably out of an international cube van.

[cumminsguy89]

Nope, but those were some damn fine engines. The 6 banger, Im sure the 4bt's are too

[DieselMikey084]

i didn't know that.

[gmentrans]

does this have a G-Men Transmission in it?

[foxsecret]

Yes it does, is that you Greg?

[MotelCambodia]

I would like to see it finished.

What trans you running?

I put a detroit diesel 353 in my 64 chevy 4x4

[foxsecret]

It has a 700 R4 tranny with a diesel converter. The converter was modified to bolt to the flexplate because these flexplates only have a TH400 converter bolt pattern. I though of a detroit diesel but couldn't find one. Make a video of yours.

[lilbrudder32]

btw, he has a few videos... check his profile. It's a great old truck!

[BIGTAZ351]

Oh you had the same idea as me (almost). I met a guy at a tactor pull that put a 4BT/Turbo 400 in a ford 1ton pickup, I was thinking a early 80's 2WD chevy pickup with freeway gears and 4BT/TH400. 30mpg should be easy.

[foxsecret]

Yes it can. These engines peek fuel efficiency comes in at 1500-1700 RPMs. If you can achieve those RPMs at cruise then that will give you the best fuel efficiency.

[Justy330]

That is awesome. I recently heard there is a company in new york that converts gasoline vans to diesel. I think they were toyota vans. But if a person can get 40 mpg with a 7 passenger van thats great. Diesel has always been a great engine.

[foxsecret]

You know I had a similar ideal of converting a Toyota van to diesel. We have a Previa and Toyota made a diesel (3C1) for this van in other countries. We'll see if I get that far...

[FROSTY2588]

no electric fan?? how did you swing that

[foxsecret]

It's not quite done yet. When this video was taken it was getting test driven around the yard because it can't be driven on the street yet. It will get some electric fans and then eventually a regular fan.

[Justy330]

Yeah I'm surious what your fuel mileage will be also. Almost looks like you'll need to get something done to shut the hood. That pipe looks to high up. But who knows maybe you'll be ok there. Is this a suburban 1500 or 2500?

[foxsecret]

The suburban is a 1500. If it was a 2500 I would have gone with the 6BT. The 1500 and 2500 share some of the front end components like the A arms and ball joints. It's still not done but finishing up, should hopefully been running by the end of the week.

[foxsecret]

Oh, it's got a slightly different intake and exhaust system since this video was taken. So the pipe is lowered. Just can't wait to finish this project!

[snappy9601]

how good is the fuel mileage with that? how bad was the conversion?

[foxsecret]

Haven't calculated fuel mileage yet because it's still in the finishing stage. But will let everyone know soon.