1988 Bronco 302 to a 6bt conversion

[sdom001]

Don't know if anyone cares, but I decided to convert my 88 302 Bronco to a 88 cummins 6bt Bronco. I always wanted a Bronco then after finally getting one I decided I wanted to run bio-diesel to do my part to help the planet. Well what do I do give up my truck, I don't think so. I then went about looking to see if anyone had done the same and found that the answer was yes. So I set out to find a diesel engine and found a guy selling a complete 1989 dodge d250 pick up with a running cummins 6bt. His misfortune was that he is moving out of the country and can't keep the truck(it was going to be a project restore). He sold it to me lock,stock and barrel with a rebuild kit for the enigine for $700.00. Thats right I said 700 hundred dollars. But wait it gets better I just barely got done pulling the engine out today when I get a phone call from someone who wanted to buy the rest of the truck. So I sold it for $350. So now I only have $350 invested in the engine. I must have done something right because I know I've been pretty lucky so far. I'll take pics and update this as the project goes.

 

[BLADE262US]

Did you keep the tranny as well ? MIght be hard to find an adapter to go from the cummins to the ford tranny . I want to do this as well but with an international . Just need to find a smashed donor truck that they dont want thousands for /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[sdom001]

yes I,m keeping the tranny. Check out destroked.com and fordcummins.com I've gotten alot of info from both over the phone.

 

[Croneybones]

Good luck with the conversion! Keep us informed, I may consider it myself, the way gas is going.

 

[black beauty]

good luck beefing up the front suspension to hold the extra weight of a diesel. i know a powerstroke weighs in at close to if not 1000lbs. and a 460 comes in at close to 500 or so, give a take a few pounds. my advice if your serious about the diesel conversion, ditch the ttb front axle and coil spring set up and straight axle it and use leaf springs of a 80s 250 or 350. the leaf springs in these trucks support the weight of diesels from the factory. it takes some fabrication to fabricate a crossmember for the leafs but all the mounts and shackles you can get off the donor truck that you pull the leaf springs off of. look at Just Shoot Me 84 and see how he did his leaf spring suspension set up to give you some ideas. a picture can describe it way better than i can

 

[Broncobill78]

Don't know if anyone cares, but I decided to convert my 88 302 Bronco to a 88 cummins 6bt Bronco. I always wanted a Bronco then after finally getting one I decided I wanted to run bio-diesel to do my part to help the planet. Well what do I do give up my truck, I don't think so. I then went about looking to see if anyone had done the same and found that the answer was yes. So I set out to find a diesel engine and found a guy selling a complete 1989 dodge d250 pick up with a running cummins 6bt. His misfortune was that he is moving out of the country and can't keep the truck(it was going to be a project restore). He sold it to me lock,stock and barrel with a rebuild kit for the enigine for $700.00. Thats right I said 700 hundred dollars. But wait it gets better I just barely got done pulling the engine out today when I get a phone call from someone who wanted to buy the rest of the truck. So I sold it for $350. So now I only have $350 invested in the engine. I must have done something right because I know I've been pretty lucky so far. I'll take pics and update this as the project goes.

Well, if nothing else I'm glad to hear you don't have much cash sunk into the project yet because I think it's going to run you a LOT more. As others have mentioned the weight will be your issue. While you can certainly have custom springs wound I think that the IFS Dana-44 is a pretty weak axle for all that weight. I'd be looking to swap in an IFS Dana-50 or better still swap to a solid axle D60 and I would honestly question the strength of an unreinforced frame. The Bronco uses a short 150 frame, the big-boy diesel frames are thicker & much stronger. Truth be told I think you'd be WAY ahead of the game if you used a 350/Super-duty frame and swapped the Bronco body onto that instead. Starting with a bare frame will make the whole project a lot easier not to mention that having a proper frame for that much weight & torque is just a plain good idea. Why go thru all that work only to have the thing torque the frame so badly you can't open your doors and the pillar welds crack every few weeks ? I'll grant that it's certainly every man's right to spend his money as he wants but I really do think there's a LOT more research to be done first, but on the other hand it's not MY wallet /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

You certainly have your work cut out for you.

I spotted this writeup awhile ago in that *other* Bronco forum and bookmarked it just because it was so informative, you might want to not only read the whole thing but give a lot of thought to just HOW many modifications this guy had to make and also the fact that he had a *complete* shop and junkyard to work with, but hey, some guys LIKE a challenge /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61534

Keep us informed. Inquiring minds want to know /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />