4BT Cummins Turbo Diesel in an 05 Silverado (with pictures!)

[92_half ton_W/T]

This is an awesome thread.
I like the write up, and showing how you did everything.
And that little truck is sweet. It probably wasn't easy, but it looks great. Congratulations!

[VortecZ]

Are you saying your Avalanche gets better mileage than the diesel on the interstate or are you saying that your Avalanche gets better mileage when driving the interstate vs. highway, compared to the diesel driving the interstate vs highway?

The Diesel gets about 31 on the highway at 55mph with some stopping and starting in towns along the way. It gets about 27 if I drive the interstate at 70mph.


The Avalanche gets about 15 on the same highway trip and 18 on the interstate.

This is an awesome thread.
I like the write up, and showing how you did everything.
And that little truck is sweet. It probably wasn't easy, but it looks great. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone that made comments like this! It is a fun project and I still have lots of ideas to keep it going. Custom paint, and a 14 bolt rear swap are the big ones on the list. I'll keep adding pictures as I go.

[BIGMIKE@GAUGE]

I told you I would get on here first thing this morning. It great to meet you and your truck is truely badass. Hope that rear axle works great for you!

[Black06]

Originally Posted by VortecZ

Thanks to everyone that made comments like this! It is a fun project and I still have lots of ideas to keep it going. Custom paint, and a 14 bolt rear swap are the big ones on the list. I'll keep adding pictures as I go.

Your best bet is to grab a 14 bolt from a 2wd Silverado SS or Vortec Max truck of the same year range.....they are semi floaters but come 6 lug and should handle all the power that 4bt can throw at it.

[VortecZ]

Originally Posted by BIGMIKE@GAUGE

I told you I would get on here first thing this morning. It great to meet you and your truck is truely badass. Hope that rear axle works great for you!

It was good to meet you guys too.



The axle refered to in that post is a SF 14 bolt 6 lug out of a '98. I met Big Mike from buying it off of his buddy. I just spent the afternoon working on it. It is only one inch narrower than my original and the leaf spring perches were 2 inched off. I cut the perches off and welded them to the bottom of the axle so I won't need a flip kit for it. I also converted it to disc brakes. The conversion was really easy. I had a junk axle that I cut the backing plate mounts off of, bored them out a little becuase the 14 bolt axel tubes are bigger and welded them on right where I needed them for my discs. No spacers like the kits use.

I also found out that it is a 3.42 posi. It was supposed to be a 3.73 so I was planning on re-gearing it. That little mistake worked out great for me and saved me some money! My rear now is 3.23 so I don't think that little difference will matter too much.

Your best bet is to grab a 14 bolt from a 2wd Silverado SS or Vortec Max

Great idea! That really would have been the best way to go but finding one of them isn't the easiest thing to do and I bet they can get pretty expensive.

[Black06]

Originally Posted by VortecZ

Great idea! That really would have been the best way to go but finding one of them isn't the easiest thing to do and I bet they can get pretty expensive.

considering the amount of fab in your silverado.....I should have known better than to recommend a bolt-in swap

[92_C1500_4.3]

Originally Posted by Black06

29-32 mpg works for me! Much better than the dismal 14mpg highway I get in the 4.3 now

You are only getting 14 mpg out of your 4.3, what the hell did you do to it??

I have a 92 with 31" tires and a 4.10 and still get 19-20 on the highway.



Cool swap, I am debating on getting a obs K3500 and putting a 6bt in it or getting a K2500 and putting a 4bt

[Black06]

20" SS wheels with 295/50/20's and factory 3:23 rear/ 4l60e

[92_C1500_4.3]

did you correct the speedo, Cause I have pulled a two horse trailer with 2 horses at 70-75 mph and got like 15-16 mpg.

[Black06]

speedo is corrected with a programmer....as soon as this motor starts giving me problems it's gonna be swapped

[92_C1500_4.3]

huh thats weird i have never heard of a 4.3 getting that bad of mileage.

[KADILLACKID]

Awesome FN machine dude!

['04CCLB7]

VortecZ, i gotta say that this is one cool swap. if i had the money, i'd try something like this

[Black06]

any new driving videos?

[crossy's son]

People complain about 4.3's getting bad mileage in a fullsize pickup but its probably becuase they can't keep their foot outta it.

My dad'ss 93 ECSB auto 4.3 tbi truck would nail down 18 around town and 21 on the highway on cruise running 65 with 3.42's

vortecz, awesome build once again, If you're looking for mileage you could bump your timing and get about 1 or 2 more MPG out of it and more power.... I'm not lying... At least thats the way it is on the 6bt's with the VE pumps... bumping the timing is one of the first things we do to our 89-93 cummins trucks, good mod.

[VortecZ]

Sorry, no new videos.

The timing is turned up from stock. I haven't checked exactly where it's at but the timing and fuel were turned up a little when I sent the pump off to get rebuilt.

I haven't done much to this truck lately other than replace the front wheel bearings. The truck has a little over a 100k on it and this heavy motor quickly finished off both bearings. I don't expect this to be a problem but I could see them wearing out a little more quickly than it would with a gas motor. I would love to switch this over to 8-lug and use larger bearings but I just don't see an easy way to do it.

[Black06]

2wd 2500 van spindles and hubs?

[cubcadet149]

Looks great. It is nice to see people putting their brains into their vehicles and not just their money. It must have taken a lot of careful planning and research to get this thing going. Cool stuff like this is why I am an engineering student. Diesel seems to be a great option for commuter vehicles...it's too bad we don't see more small trucks with diesel engines.

[VortecZ]

Originally Posted by Black06

2wd 2500 van spindles and hubs?

Is that just a thought or do you know anything about them? I did some research on 1500HD parts thinking they would be similar but with 8-lug hubs. It turns out that the parts are quite different. The simplest way to do it seems to be using HD spindles and hubs and modify the 1/2-ton control arms to use HD ball joints. I may do something like this but I don't think it's worth it right now.



cubcadet149, I'm glad to see this stuff gets other people interested in engineering. I became an engineer because of stuff like this too.

[Black06]

just checked on the build I was thinking about and he used 6 lug van suspension....sorry