4BT in a crewcab?

[sloth]

I have 74 w200 4x4 crew cab and since the day I found it a diesel conversion was on the todo list. I think I have found a 4bt out of a frito lay truck. Would this have enough power for the crew cab? I do not do alot of towing but when I do its an approx 2000# trailer with 3500# truck on it, just bumper pull trailer. I like the idea of the 4bt becuase it is lighter weight and I don't think I would need to swap my front 44 for a 60. Am I crazy? Thanks.

-James

[rcts]

Hello from Canada! 6BT will be best, your donor truck will have all the parts list!

As I'm sure you noticed we are right now putting a 6BT into my D200, see the link here to see pictures of everything as it goes together. In my opinion there would be no reason to put a 4BT in when the 6BT fits on the stock mounts.

The extra two cylinders ad 50% more horsepower and torque but more importantly they at silky smoothness to the engine. The 6bt when rev-ed to 2000 in neutral in my 92 Donor truck would not even vibrate the mirrors with the doors open, amazing smoothness and power.

Just find yourself a rusty or beat 91 to 93 Intercooled it will be much cheaper in the long run as you will get with the truck all the bits you need. For now watch my 75 Dodge D200 Club Cab web site for fitment and info, such and you are off. We are doing movies and pictures of the entire project at our shop in Calgary.

Also as a side benefit you can join our rapidly growing and expanding 6BT 72-79 Dodge Cummins D & W club, there are whopping 4 members world wide. Hee hee.

Reg

[JimmieD]

The 4BT would provide plenty of power for your conversion. While I agree in part with Reg that the 6Bt conversion using a CTD donor truck is very good that doesn't tell the whole story on the baby Cummins.

Whatever power levels can be gotten out of a 1st Gen 6BT can be accomplished in a 4BT, at 66% result. That means there's a whole lot of power potential in a 4BT!!! My 4BT is bone stock and yet it has at least the power of a 318-360 because of the torque curve. They make power OFF IDLE and it's really pretty amazing.

There's a whole bunch of easy and inexpensive tweaks you can do to the 4BT. Not hard to get 175-200 hp and 400++ ft lbs torque. That's a lot of power in any consideration. If you can get some good deals on conversion parts the 4BT could be a great engine. If you can grab a 6BT cheap, well, that's great too!

[MoparNorm]

All good points about the 6 vs 4, but note in his original post that he WANTS the 4 bt because of the weight factor on his gasser frame and axles, all valid concerns.
MN

[JimmieD]

And he may already have found the 4BT.... :~ )

One thing not addressed: NO COMPARISON in fuel mileage between the two and that's certainly a major consideration now and even more in the future. The local diesel fuel is currently $0.30 MORE per gallon than overpriced regular gas. Oil companies know darn well that many diesels get better mileage so they're determined to hold the pricing gun to our heads 'til we all pay up to the mob equally.

[sloth]

Would I see any MPG difference between the 4bt and 6bt? 6bt's are hard to find around here, to many people swapping them I guess. I live in a small town and I have talked to the local grease joint and they are currently paying to have the grease removed and would love someone to take it for free.

-James

[MoparNorm]

Would I see any MPG difference between the 4bt and 6bt? 6bt's are hard to find around here, to many people swapping them I guess. I live in a small town and I have talked to the local grease joint and they are currently paying to have the grease removed and would love someone to take it for free.

-James

Well...you have 33% fewer cylinders...so fuel economy should correspond, assuming that the vehicle is not too heavy for the 4BT and causes it to be overworked. JimD has the acceptable weights posted here somewhere.
There are quite a few web sites devoted to running the P100 vegetable oil (NOT GREASE!) go check them out to see if the product you are looking at is suitable for use as a motor fuel. Usually the lighter the better as less filtering and processing is required.
MN

[JimmieD]

You know, if we go w-a-y back in automotive history it's truly phenomenal what men have done with self propelling machines! We men being the creatures we are do continually lust after power and control. C'mon, tell me it isn't so!?

In the early days 10-15 horsepower was a very powerful engine. "The power of 15 HORSES!?! Good heavens!" In my youngest days there was a saying still hanging around from times before: "Going like 60!" Wow, be still my heart ha haha. But that miniscule 15 horsepower was harnessed to new traces: GEARS! Thanks to effective gearing [no synchros of course] that 15hp could be applied in a Heavy Duty truck to carry several tons.

The feats accomplished with inferior carburetion, pathetically weak ignition, abysmal compression ratios and squirrel rifle sized exhaust are to me flatly amazing and diesels even proved themselves superior to that. The two main things that made it possible were gearing and patience.

As per other posts the 4BT can return some fantastic fuel economy. Actually a 6BT is no slouch considering its power level. The key to realizing that economy is in the gears and how you drive it. I chose 4.1 ratio, NV4500 5 speed O'drive and 29.5" tires in a 4,800-5,000 lbs truck with 2WD. I can reasonably expect 30+ mpg at the least with no load, and likely can add a few mpg to that if I really want to. No idea what you would get in your rig with you driving....