Building a 2WD - I need some help with a turbo please...

[12ValveDakota]

Originally Posted by 12valve

my understanding was that you could put the 6bt cummins in there without changing the firewall. am i wrong? i know the front end is gonna be harder, cuz of the need for room for radiators

i have this idea in my head of building a dakota too with a 6bt in there, and no intercooler, or a water-air intercooler...

I dont believe there is anyway to put a 6bt in a Dakota without major firewall and floorboard alterations. I may be proven wrong, it wont be the first or the last time that has happened!

As you can see from my pics (hopefully) the rear of my engine as I have it mounted is about even with the front bottom edge of the windshield. I decided this was as far back as I was going with it as I want to keep the windshield and dont want to have to pull the motor out or the cab off to pull the head if need be. In this picture you should be able to see that the motor is past the firewall about 6 inches. The entire back rocker cover is behind the old firewall plane.

Another picture with the tape measure shows the distance from the front of the balancer to the back of the lower core support. The angle of the camera dont really show the distance, but it is right at 6 inches. I have to cram the radiator and elec fans in that area. Well almost, I hope I can get a radiator that will fit between the uprights on the core support, if so the back of the radiator will be about even with the edge you see, so if I can do that I will have 6 inches between radiator and balancer. You notice the belt driven fan and support is gone, there just wasnt room for it had I wanted to run it.

The picture with the tranny pretty much speaks for itself. A trans as big as that NV4500 just aint going in a little Dakota body without floorboard cutting. I guess maybe if you did a major body lift off the frame you might could make it work, but even then I dont think your going to get the motor in the engine bay unless you lose a big part of the firewall.

I know the firewall and floorboard hole looks huge, and it is. On the drivers side I just had to keep cutting to get the starter, fuel filter and bell housing to clear. On the pass. side I went a little on the big side to have plenty of room. I am going to build alum. panels to cover it all back anyway so in this case bigger was better (and easier).

Byrl

[kino_fab]

Are you going to run a "dead mans" throttle (hand throttle). I would also get a bell housing blanket too. With the flywheel being inline with your ankles, i would hate to see you loose your feet from a flywheel or clutch exploding. Looks like your making some good progress. I wouldn't worry about using your stock fuel filter. Once you get into big fueling, the stock filter housing doesn't flow very well.

[Fireman450]

Originally Posted by 12ValveDakota

Its not much to look at right now, has a huge hole in firewall and floorboard! I get time I'll shoot a few pics of it. So far as radiator, from measuring I think I can make one out of a late 70s F250 gasser work, the Dodge radiator is waaaayyyyy to long. There is no room for intercooler, so I am going to go with air to water on that.



I bought the minirod from a guy in NY. I have some of his pictures but I am making several changes like paint, decals, exhaust and I want to wait till I get done before I take any. I'll post some when I do. I have looked all over youtube and cant find a pull video of it. We have a big 2 nighter here first week in August, so hopefully I'll get some vid then.

How many years have you been in fire service? I'm a volunteer ff here, so the Dakota is going to have a fire truck theme.....

Byrl

Cool deal, Ah have been a volunteer firefighter for 5 years now and love every second of it. Fixing to go back to school and get my EMT/Paramedic.
Thats the theme I am going with on my 2wd as soon as I can get someone to do the paint or graphics that I want. Keep up the progress!!!

Lynn

[BluegrassDiesel]

Originally Posted by 2wpuller

put a 0 plate in don't run with out one

No harm in running without a plate. For a dedicated puller on a budget. I dont see a problem at all with running plateless and without the AFC foot.

12ValveDakota it sounds like you are off to a good start. I would recommend at least looking into some sort of aftermarket lift pump. I dont think the stock lift pump alone will not be enough to supply the injection pump with the needed pressure. If you have the funds available you could rig up your own fuel system pretty easily. A lot of guys like to use the Aeromotive1000 pump. They can be had for around $300 I think. Then you will need a filter base and filter, as well as fuel lines, and preferably some sort of fuel pressure regulator to be placed in the return line. You could go without a regulator and just continue to use the stock overflow valve, but with a regulator you could easily set and adjust pressures as desired.

What clutch did you go with in the truck?

[BluegrassDiesel]

Originally Posted by BlackSkyRacing

Ok I have to ask... You can actually spin 5k on a stock bottom end??? I thought the limit was 4100rpm before harmonics start to hurt you?

Oh and if you have a friend who works on diesels at all you can pick up a set of nozzles for pretty cheap. I picked mine up for $200 on a group buy, I think they're still under $250 regular priced. PM me about info and putting them together if you don't have any friends that can assemble injectors.

Also, a little more timing and a mack rack plug seem to be the trick for the 160/175 pumps

Harmonic vibrations only occur at certain RPMs. Supposedly around 4100 is supposed to be when they occur on the 6BT. Anything below or some above that is okay, but just stay away from continually running the motor at 4100 RPM. This is all just what I have read several times before, but I am not sure if there is actually a lot of truth to it. I know I have turned well over 4K RPM in my pulling truck several times without any issues. I do have a fluidampr so that may help minimize some of the vibrations.

[Cummins Driver]

I think 4k RPM will be plenty for your application. It takes a LOT of fuel and air to run much over 4k RPM all the way down the track.

You should have over 400hp with your setup pretty easy i would think. It should have plenty of power for something that light!

Eric

[12ValveDakota]

Originally Posted by kino_fab

Are you going to run a "dead mans" throttle (hand throttle). I would also get a bell housing blanket too. With the flywheel being inline with your ankles, i would hate to see you loose your feet from a flywheel or clutch exploding. Looks like your making some good progress. I wouldn't worry about using your stock fuel filter. Once you get into big fueling, the stock filter housing doesn't flow very well.

It is going to be a hand throttle, among other things theres no room left for a foot pedal! Plus it has 2 brake pedals and a clutch, so my feet will be pretty busy. Yes, it will at least have a blanket around the bellhousing, our rules require a can, or enclose with plate or a blanket, I may put a blanket on the tranny also.

I went with a Valair DD 3650, so it has a sfi billet flywheel.

I'm building my own fuel tank, so I'm going to put two outlets in it, one for the stock system, another for an auxilary. A 4x4 puller on this board sold me my JL injectors, and he gave me some pointers on building a budget minded secondary system, built to kick on with a boost switch.

Originally Posted by cumminsdriver

You should have over 400hp with your setup pretty easy i would think. It should have plenty of power for something that light!

Well I hope to have that much or more hp. I think its gonna take a good bit, with the 34x18x15 puller tires and high and long hitch we run. Like I have said before we are just starting this class and mine will be the second one running. My competition is running a tunnel ram 468 BB chevy.

Originally Posted by teddybear

12ValveDakota it sounds like you are off to a good start. I would recommend at least looking into some sort of aftermarket lift pump. I dont think the stock lift pump alone will not be enough to supply the injection pump with the needed pressure. If you have the funds available you could rig up your own fuel system pretty easily. A lot of guys like to use the Aeromotive1000 pump. They can be had for around $300 I think. Then you will need a filter base and filter, as well as fuel lines, and preferably some sort of fuel pressure regulator to be placed in the return line. You could go without a regulator and just continue to use the stock overflow valve, but with a regulator you could easily set and adjust pressures as desired. !

Teddybear - tell me more about what your talking about on a regualtor. Is that what the overflow valve does, restrict fuel return? Are you saying that with a regulator in the return line I could dismiss the overflow valve?

Originally Posted by fireman450

Cool deal, Ah have been a volunteer firefighter for 5 years now and love every second of it. Fixing to go back to school and get my EMT/Paramedic.
Thats the theme I am going with on my 2wd as soon as I can get someone to do the paint or graphics that I want. Keep up the progress!!!
!

Well I have only been a ff about a year and a half, got to be nearly an old man before I decided I wanted to do that! Hey, when I get the minirod to the point where I can take some pictures I'll post a new "Little 2WD" thread with some pictures.

Thanks to all of you for your help, without these boards guys like me wouldn't know where to start....

Here is a link to our associations website if yall are interested.

Texas Modified Tractor Pullers Association

[12valve]

looking Good man! I believe now theres no way you can put a 6bt in a dakota... without modifying a lot!

keep up the good work and some pics of the progress!

[BluegrassDiesel]

Originally Posted by 12ValveDakota

Teddybear - tell me more about what your talking about on a regualtor. Is that what the overflow valve does, restrict fuel return? Are you saying that with a regulator in the return line I could dismiss the overflow valve?

Yep. The overflow valve keeps fuel pressure in the pump. There is a ball and spring that regulates the pressure. You can take the overflow valve out and remove the ball and spring, then reinstall it. Once you remove the ball and spring you have essentially turned the overflow valve into a banjo bolt. Then you can splice an adjustable regulator into the return line. Preferrably pretty close to the injection pump. I have mine mounted right by the firewall.

[12ValveDakota]

Originally Posted by teddybear

Yep. The overflow valve keeps fuel pressure in the pump. There is a ball and spring that regulates the pressure. You can take the overflow valve out and remove the ball and spring, then reinstall it. Once you remove the ball and spring you have essentially turned the overflow valve into a banjo bolt. Then you can splice an adjustable regulator into the return line. Preferrably pretty close to the injection pump. I have mine mounted right by the firewall.

That sounds good, I guess just a simple regulator like this?

Summit SUM-G3131-1 - Summit SummitRacing.com


What kind of return pressure are you adjusting the reg. to?

Thanks, I appreciate all the help.