'03 Z71 Tahoe - ByeBye 11mpg.. Hello 4BTA Cummins
 

Hey alls...

Been lurking around here for a little while... figured I should post a build thread...

I've got a 2003 Z71 Tahoe... rolled 100k miles just before I pulled the motor... got tired of not being able to afford to drive the thing.

Anyways...

Here it is when I brought it home from the stealership...
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And a few months later...
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Then while the 4wheel jamboree nationals in Indianapolis, I saw a Jeep scrambler with a 4bt Cummins swap... turning 40's and doing it quite well.. I figured why not. After some convincing with the wife, I started to cut up the truck I was still making payments on :devil:

Making room for this...
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Out with the old...
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Going in for motor mount mock-up... note the Destroked adapter and flexplate
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Back in the garage for some touch up..
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Motor mounts...
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Back in the truck getting plumbed.. using hydroboost brakes from an '05, plumbed using stock lines from the '05.. fit was perfect. Also check out the heater hoses and what have you... it was like it was meant to be..

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...p/P1010538.jpg

First start in the truck... craptastic phone camera...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...h_MVI_0103.jpg

Then came the wiring...
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Fuel pump delete...
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Bauman trans controller
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Installed..
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'05 e-fans installed..
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Exhaust... 3" downpipe to 4" downpipe back using 4" banks monster muffler
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And finally on the road... had a friend cut some decals for the truck...
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And this is a first drive video... this was taken before the exhaust was done... so its open downpipe... just down the block.
2003 Z71 Tahoe - 4bta Cummins Swap - YouTube

Quite a bit has gone on since then... I've killed 2 4l60e trannies... and am currently working on over building an 80e for it with parts from Jakes and a billet low stall converter from Hughes...

I also have another turbo on the way and will be setting up a mid sized compound system come early summer... shooting for 550-600 lb. ft. to the ground.

So far.. worst tank of fuel got around 15mpg which is still an improvement over stock.. shooting for low 20s when its all said and done... and I wont be running on straight diesel :)

I gotta go to work... more details to come

-Chris

pretty cool swap. keep us updated.

You did a great job on the swap!

Diesel is a great choice, even my ol' 6.2L NA Diesel in my 83 Jimmy got 16MPG, with a 4" lift and 35" mud tires. Slow as balls though, but still very useful.

Awesome build! Looks like some good work to.

very cool swap! but for some reason the amount you spent on doing this and all of the new transmissions you have gone threw and will go threw probably will equal allot more then what you would have paid in gas for the life of the vehicle as a gas motor lol , buy very cool as i said .

Lol... well.. it depends on how you look at it.

Soon... I'll be driving for nearly free... and so far including the tranny build... I've got less then 7k in the swap.

If I spent 10k on it... I will make that back in 30k miles with just fuel savings... running W80 ftw!

More on that later :)

Gotta be the coolest/differentest (if thats a word) swap.


goin out on a limb here, but were you able to get the tach to work?

This is cool as hell. Good work sir

This is badass. What turbo is that?