My current project

[lumberslinger178]

great job ferm ....love them war wagons ,,, had myself an 89 with a 350 ran like and animal

[THEFERMANATOR]

The old 6.5 ran pretty good, but it always something everytime I turned around that needed work. After the last failure though, it was gonna cost me about $2K in parts alone to nurse her back to health. S o I decided to upgrade a bit to 300HP Vs my old 190HP, and why not back it up with an ALLISON. This sucker is HEAVY though, my old combo weighed about 1000-1100 pounds and this new combo weighs in around 1500. It's a big old load to swing around by myself.

[Skools Out]

ferm when you're done come on over and we'll put one in my 6.5T Tahoe. As if the rare 6.5 Diesel Tahoe wasn't rare imagine a 6.6 in a Tahoe. looking good so far.

[cterrebonne]

hey ferm, you didnt happen to want to sell the 4l80e? shoot me a pm if so

[THEFERMANATOR]

The 6.5 will be up for sale soon, but I may hang onto the 4L80E. It needs built, but I have a 350 I built for my uncle but he keeps ripping the 4L60E out of it. I hope the current fully built one I did for him holds up for awhile, but he's taken out 2 already, one stock and the next one was a mild build with a HD-2 shift kit. If he tears up the fully built one I just did I'll have no choice but to swap in the 4L80E.

[cterrebonne]

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

The 6.5 will be up for sale soon, but I may hang onto the 4L80E. It needs built, but I have a 350 I built for my uncle but he keeps ripping the 4L60E out of it. I hope the current fully built one I did for him holds up for awhile, but he's taken out 2 already, one stock and the next one was a mild build with a HD-2 shift kit. If he tears up the fully built one I just did I'll have no choice but to swap in the 4L80E.

same situation here , i just scored a junker one from a salvage yard to hold me over while i build the one that came out of it, hopefully i can beef it up enough to handle the towing i do.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Here's a copy of my latest post on it over at DTR.

Direct link to it: http://www.dieseltowingresource.com/...273#post126273

Well I've spent a few more hours on it in the last few days. Progress has been next to nothing really, but I have worked out a few bugs and fitment issues that I was concerned with. I ended up moving the engine forward until the crossmember was bolted into the holes it was for the 4L80E, and putting the trans mount just slightly back from as far forward as it could sit in the crossmember. This unfortunately cut my clearance with the radiator down from 4. 1/2" to about 2". I wanted to move the engine as far back as possible, but it caused clearance issues with the oil pan and steering intermediate shaft. Also it was going to make fabricating engine mounts BEYOND a PITA! I also ordered in Jim Bigleys conversion guide from the page, and I am going to use the foundation of his mount templates for mine. My engine will actually be about a 1/2" furthur forward than his conversion, but at this point many things are revealed.

At this point in time there is NO DOUBT in my mind that the DURAMAX was designed to fit into the older GMT-400 platform. The ALLISON 1000 is another story. With about 5 minutes with a 3lb BFH the transmission now has about a 1/2" of clearance all around, and will have more before I'm done. The indent in the drivers manifold matches the intermediate steering shaft almost dead on. And the oil pan has a clearance spot in it that matches the steering nearly perfectly once you remove the plastic coating from it. Also by sliding the engine forward a 1/2" and lowering it down over the pan notch, it lowered the engine down and the fan shroud lines up almost perfectly center. And by using a 95 mount instead of the 01 on the trans, it brought my pinion and engine angles to within a 1/2 of a degree of each other so shimming shouldn't be required.

I'll have to rework the radiator core support a bit to work with the DMAX intercooler and retain an external trans cooler. The pages truck uses the radiator only in there conversion, and modified the condenser to slide it forward. I plan on cutting the fan shroud and sliding the radiator back an inch and gutting the center of the core support and sliding the intercooler in there.

The electrical appears to be pretty straigght forward as the 6.5 and DMAX use almost the same engine fuses and amperages. I will have to add an IGNITION 1 relay and the ECMPRV 15A and INJ B 25A for the FICM, as well as a 15 A fuse for the fuel heater. The rest are already there, and most of the wiring colors are the same between the 2. I will also have to add in another A/C relay as the 01 ECM looks for a ground from the HVAC controller, but the 95-00 controller in a 6.5 truck sends a 12V+ to engage the A/C. The APPS out of the 01 will not fit into my 95, but my 95 WILL interchange to the 01 ECM as they are both wired and work the same(just a different base with a stronger spring in it).

Now for some pictures.
Steering after grinding the coating off the front of the pan and smoothing the ribs down a bit. Provided an extra 3/8" clearance by cleaning it up, and a total of almost an inch after moving it forward with this cleaning.



Heres the steering shaft.


Lots of room between the turbo and firewall for the insulating mat.



And a few shots of the ALLISON nestled down in there nice and snuggly. I need to get a pic showing how close the shift rod is the case, it misses it by about a 1/4".

[msbhammer]

Good job Therm. I dont know crap about working on vehicle.