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Project Frankenstein has begun..

89K views 605 replies 106 participants last post by  armyguy209 
#1 · (Edited)
Well after WAY too many problems with the 6.0, as well as being left stranded on the road at least4 times a year(thank God for AAA), I have finally decided to take the leap to the dark side.

I found a local place that is very knowledgeable who is going to do the cummins swap into my truck. I already bought the motor today(07 CR 5.9l cummins with only 66k miles) complete with everything. It is still in the donor truck and will be getting pulled out monday, then shipped to my shop. I will probably keep it stock for now until I can get everything to pass smog which I'm sure is going to be a headache.

I will keep you all posted of the progress as we go along. I am still trying to figure out which tranny I am going to go with so I can get all of the parts ordered. What do you guys think? I can either go with a built 47re, an Allison, or the 5r110/4r100. If I stay with the ford tranny, Brian from BTS and John from JWT both said I should go with a built 4r100 as they are a lot easier to program and can handle way more power than the 5r110. I have already looked into it price wise and found that the price across the board is not a whole lot different for any one I go with. I will need a stand alone controller with any of them which varies from 850 for the ford trannys, to 1500 for the Allison tranny, and 1800 for the 47re. The only thing with the 47re is that I won't need the flex plates and adapters so it evens the price a little. I talked to Auto World and they like to run the Allison trannys behind theirs. Problem is none of the shops including destroked have actually done a swap using the dodge tranny. What tranny would you guys go with?

And thoughts, suggestions or comments are welcomed.


EDIT 02/01/13: Well she is finally up and running after many months. Still have a few bugs to work out which are currently getting dealt with. I posted a video of it running which is on page 24, or you can click the link in my sig which will take you to the video. Pictures are kind of scattered throughout the thread. I will post a page with everything on it when it is completely done. Thanks
 
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#347 ·
If your stuck with the 05 ECM go with smarty UDC, as it is practically efi live. Don't think efi live will be out any time soon (6 months) for the 03-05 commonrails.

Awesome project but you are way more patient than me!


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#352 ·
Thanks man. Yeah I have pretty much given up on EFI. They lost TONS of customers over them deciding to drop the 03-05 cummins. Many of them went to exactly what you said, smarty UDC. I will probably do the same. I would like to try to get good power on just fuel and air but we will see.
 
#349 ·
SKIM is basically the security module/programming in the Dodge trucks. The keys have a chip inside of them that must match up with the computer in order to start the truck. Since you don't have the original key for the dodge truck, the computer won't recognize the ford key so the truck won't start. You have to have a recovery file programmed onto the stock dodge computer to get rid of the SKIM and be able to start the truck. Then comes the mission of trying to get the check engine light working.
 
#350 ·
Hey Dan what about taking that ECM and a NEW key and sticking them in a running Dodge truck and take them to the dealer to have them flashed and programmed together?? Wouldn't that be a way around the SKIM??
 
#353 ·
I was thinking about that too. Just leave the key somewhere under the dash, like when you get a remote start installed on a truck with PATS.
 
#351 ·
Well Bryan, I had a big ol response typed out but my POS Android phone just deleted it all right in the middle of typing. It does this all the damn time. I hate this phone(Galaxy S3) and am about done with Verizon as well...AHHHHHHHHHHHH Ok rant over.

Anyways to make things short and sweet, we went over many different routes. Mike spent 6 hours with a few guys trying to figure out how to make it work. We had repinned the painless harness to an 06. It would communicate with a Starscan but not with EFI for some reason. Needless to say we are just sending out the 05 ECM to have a recovery file installed and that will get us up and running. Then we have to get the check engine light working right, put a few hundred miles on it to check for leaks, bugs, etc. Then we are done and I will be driving me baby again. The 05 ECM should be back this week and we will go from there.
 
#355 ·
They have just completely dropped it for now. And yeah, get the 06-07 if you want it and use the 06-07 harness instead of the painless kit. Had I known that before, I would not have used the painless kit.
 
#357 ·
The problem was not so much in removing the SKIM itself, as that can be done with programming. We were just trying to access the 06 computer with painless harness to remove it. The EFI tools can remove the SKIM but could not communicate with the 06 ECM. We sent the 05 ECM off now to have the SKIM removed with a recovery file. As soon as we get it back, all we should have to do is plug the computer back in, and the truck should run good with no problems. Then just getting the check engine light to work, and other little minor adjusments.
 
#358 ·
Yuck on the cel stuff, glad i live where I do. But, in the grand scheme, if you ever do decide to part ways with your truck, you'll have one than can be sold anywhere. I would be very cautious of mine on who I would sell it to should the unfortunate happen.

I had never even looked around for something like UDC. If it can do what efi can(for the most part at least), you should have no trouble setting up for compounds or even true twins if you wished to go that route. I have compounds and are setup just like the super b special, can have the whole thing off in about an hour. I seen where you still wanted it loud, but the lp turbo will muffle it quite a bit, but smooths out the somewhat wet fart sound they have.

I haven't seen if you have driven it yet or not, but the real big change besides sound should ne the low end respone, the I6's just have any of the v8's beat down low and pretty badly at that. Trust me, it'll feel like a brand new truck. Well until the first time you light all four up, then the honeymoon is over.
 
#359 ·
hey kdogg85 what is in the making of super mom lol a bad azz groceries getter lol no more melted blue bell !!!
 
#360 ·
Her truck is getting a newly frshened long block with full billet rotating assembly, coated pistons. A s366/595 compound setup, plus matching fuel.
 
#362 · (Edited)
Well boys..I think the day has finally come..

Talked with Mike today very briefly. He got the computers back and they all communicate. He said he has been working on my truck for the past 3 days. The cab is bolted back down, all the wiring sounds like it is finished. It is finally running. I think they might have drove it today. He said all he needs is a CARB EO intake setup. That is the very last thing on the list he was worried about so if he is asking for that, it is a VERY good thing. I am going down there tomorrow. I am so STOKED right now it's not even funny. I know I am not getting it back this week (maybe by the end of next week) but it feels like a kid at Christmas.

I will post an update and hopefully that video of me driving it tomorrow. Any suggestions on good intakes for the Cummins? It has to have a Carb EO exemption #.
 
#363 ·
Well boys..I think the day has finally come..

Talked with Mike today very briefly. He got the computers back. He said he has been working on my truck for the past 3 days. The cab is bolted back down, all the wiring sounds like it is finished. It is finally running. I think they might have drove it today. He said all he needs is a CARB EO intake setup. That is the very last thing on the list he was worried about so if he is asking for that, it is a VERY good thing. I am going down there tomorrow. I am so STOKED right now it's not even funny. I know I am not getting it back this week (maybe in the next week or two) but it feels like a kid at Christmas.

I will post an update and hopefully that video of me driving it tomorrow.
Very nice!
 
#365 ·
#366 ·
Well here is the update as promised, even though it is not the update I was hoping to give. I went down to the shop today and they were in the middle of working on my truck. I didn't get to road test it today. They got the computer working and I guess there was a bad terminal in the harness at the ECM. He said that the thing is running great now. They were testing it today in the morning and I guess the transmission isn't shifting right. It is not building up enough pressure to shift correctly. They are working on that now and said they were hoping to get it figured out today and road test it maybe this evening if possible. He said the tranny part should be done and that I should be able to take it for a spin on tuesday. So not the news I was hoping for but it was good news to hear that the motor is up and running correctly now. I will post up another update on Tuesday of Wednesday, hopefully of me driving it. lol
 
#368 ·
I appreciate it. Yeah I know ill love it when its done. Doesnt look like you will be getting my rims after all..lol
 
#371 ·
Well still no update. I haven't been down there this past week, however I text him on Tuesday and he still didn't have it working right. I didn't hear anything else from him the rest of the week so I am guessing no good news. I will be going down there Tuesday to see whats up and will post the update that evening. Summer is just about here and I need my truck back RUNNING RIGHT one way or another. I have a plan B up my sleeve but I am really hoping not to have to go that route. I am hoping it all works itself out the way it is supposed to.
 
#374 ·
Damn man that sucks! Keep up updated!



Tom
 
#372 ·
Holy dog **** man. It's less than 2 months from being a year in progress

How are you not burning that shop down.
 
#373 ·
Dont worry its gonna be a reliable truck unlike these properly built 6.0's......
 
#376 ·
I ended up selling the bottom end out of this truck to someone that rebuilds them a lot. Ended up the block needed decked .002. This may have been part of the problem from the beginning. I hope you get it running soon, cause man that's a long time to be without a truck.
 
#379 · (Edited)
Thanks guys...I hope so..even with the long delay, I have alot of faith in them, and I know they will get it done. When it is all said and done, I know it has all been done right and not some hack job shop that did the work. He is making a little binder with all wiring diagrams of how everything is ran/hooked up/pinned etc., so that if I did happen to break down far from home, that shop that I would take it to can look at the binder and figure it out instead of going in blind. That will also be a big plus of having the CEL working correctly.

I talked with him briefly today(Monday). Sounds like he got it running/shifting right which is awesome. He said it is running good now, and that he is making some adjustments in the valve body, which tells me he is just fine tuning the shifting now. I am supposed to hear from him today so we will see. Getting closer and closer everyday now. I will keep posting updates as they come. I have to borrow my sister's truck to clean the garage out today and make a few trips to the dump, so I won't make it down to see it today unless he calls to say it is driving now, in which case I will drop everything I am doing and haul a$$ down there to see it/drive it...lol Otherwise I will be going down there Wednesday.
 
#380 ·
Man I'm not tying to be a dick by any means but I think your giving a bit more credit that you should.

You took it to them because you were tired of your unreliable 6.0. They have been pretty unreliable. And if they're making a book of the whole truck and diagraming that's great but if its for when it breaks down then wtf. This one is supposes to be reliable. See what I'm saying.
 
#381 ·
Its still nice to have though. **** breaks, and I bet he plans on having it for a long time. Now on the swap vs. 6.0, I'm not hittin the man for doing what he is, because it will probably be awesome. But if reliability is what he is looking for, than this thing better run a lonngggg time to make it worth it.

Basically, my 2006 has been on the earth for 88 months, or roughly 379 weeks. During that time, it has been in a shop with the 6.0 curse for a grand total of half of a week. So, 0.5/379 = my truck has been on the highway without 6.0 specific problems for 99.87% of its life.

Let's say his was built in the same month, and without knowing his history, though I think he said it had been down twice for HG's? So we'll be generous and say 1.5 weeks his has been down. Then, 39 weeks (3/4 of a year) so far for this swap, and his truck has been on the highway for 40.5/379 weeks = 89.32% of its life. That's a big gap. I'll have to change head gaskets or oil coolers roughly 80 more times for him to catch up.

Just saying. And I hope it runs like a top for 50+ years btw.
 
#385 ·
Exactly..that is what I was trying to say. Not that I am happy with how long it is taking, but just saying that at least it is being done right. I also wasn't referring to the fact that I thought it was going to break down once I get it back. You hit it on the head. I guess better wording than I used.
 
#384 ·
I think I bought mine in 2010. It has been in the shop numerous times for different things(headgaskets twice, 2.5 weeks for a bedplate leak, 2 alternators, 2 turbos, 1 tranny, and a few other things) so my downtime even before the swap has been excessive.

Now we just hit the 9 month mark on my swap, is it excessive? ABSOLUTELY! Am I happy? Well I am not thrilled that I have had to buy another car, borrow trucks, lost a whole summer of camping and taking my boat out, and yet I still have no truck. So no I am not too happy with the whole thing.

With that said, I know that I shouldn't have any problems after this for a long time. I don't plan on ever getting rid of my truck now. If I can get another 300k trouble free miles on this motor it will all be absolutely worth it to me. We are getting to crunch time now and next month starts summer here in Cali, at least when everyone starts taking their boats out. I really plan to have my truck back by the end of this month.
 
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