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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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#481 · (Edited)
Well there are A LOT of if's buttt....if I lived in another state, this is the exact same way I wouldve went, except with an Allison tranny, and I wouldve had my truck back in about a month or so after dropping it off at Destroked.

Since I do live in Cali, if I had to do it all over again, and wouldve known this was going to happen, I would have done it WAY differently. I would have paid the 2k or whatever to have the headgaskets redone, and then sold it and cut my losses.

I am still not sure if I would have went and bought a brand new F250/350 or if I wouldve went and bought a new Dodge 2500/3500. With all of the problems I have read about here on the new Ford 6.7, I don't know. Not sure if they have been resolved or not and I read people on here and other forums that Ford was turning them away as far as warranty goes with the water in the fuel thing that caused heaps of issues. That is not very reassuring that Ford isn't taking care of their customers. Now I take some things with a grain of salt since it is the internet, but some of them have posted pics, went into great detail along the way, and not just been a troll.

Now, with all that said, if I get this thing going right with everything working, I will NEVER get rid of it. Hopefully I can get 300k or more trouble free miles out of it but who knows. If the CEL doesn't work, then I will sell it to someone out of state who knows what they are getting for around the $35k mark and go buy a brand new truck with the money left over after paying off my truck loan. I think I probably have about 55-60k into this thing so I will be taking a huge loss which sucks.
 
#483 · (Edited)
Yeah I don't think it should be too hard. These trucks with the CR cummins are a rare find because people usually hold onto them. There was an 03 on here that went for $25k within a week or two, and he had several buyers. His was pretty nice, but no where near as nice mine, and didn't have anywhere near the stuff done to it mine had. Honestly, I hope it doesnt come down to that anyways.

I have seen them go on Ebay and Craigslist for a pretty penny which is where I would start. I have already had one guy that saw it in the shop offer me $28k with the CEL not working. It definitely has to be the right buyer who is looking for a Fummins.
 
#484 ·
Can someone edjamacate me to as why the cel light is a problem cummins motor with a allison and a dodge computer why couldnt that work.
 
#485 · (Edited)
Well if you plug into the ford side of things via OBD2 port, you will get all kinds of codes because a lot of the Ford stuff is no longer there which will set off a plethora of codes. With the Dodge side of things, which is what OBD2 port replaces the ford one, it is reading and looking for things on the dodge side of things. When something is missing, like a sensor(say battery temp sensor) it will read that it is missing or not functional which sets off a code, which turns on the CEL. You can't just deprogram these codes. You can delete them with a scanner but it will turn right back on when it goes through the circuit again. That is why smog shops make you drive at least 100 miles if you have reset the battery or erased any codes. They can read that you did by something the ECM tells them.

To get everything to read as it should, you have to go through every code it is setting and try to fix whatever is missing. I believe the 06_07 dodges have a TIPM which is like a secondary computer that controls a lot of the dodge electronics. Now in a Ford with a Cummins swap, the TIPM is never used. However, because I need my check engine light to work, I might have to use one. Not sure on that yet though but we will see. That is basically it in a nutshell.
 
#487 ·
Yes it sucks having to jump through freakin hoops. But after reading about all of these problems with the new trucks, it gives me more and more motivation to get my truck finished. What happened to the days of just getting into your truck and driving with no worries? Maybe I will have to go back to driving a dang gasser. :doh:
 
#488 ·
if the only thing thats holding up ur truck is the check engine light, talk to the shop owner and get it out of that shop. ask to get a reduction of the bill being that its gonna cost you more money to get it fixed right to make it communist California compliant. ship it off to destroked and call it a day.
 
#489 · (Edited)
Well that will be the only thing left once they finish the mechanical stuff(which from what I was told is just the interior wiring buttoned up, and adjusting the shifting linkage). After that it is only the check engine light left. That is the plan once the mechanical gets done is to fly that guy down and have him do the electrical. And I will talk to Mike about settling on what I owe him, unless they give me something in writting that they will have my truck completely done in the next two weeks(CEL and all). Mike wants to be done with my truck as bad as I want my truck back. I sent him a nice text last week saying that we need to sit down and figure something out with my truck. He never text me back which shows he wants absolutely nothing to do with me. Destroked unfortunately cannot fix the CEL, nor do they even want to mess with it. The only place that said they have done ONE truck emissions compliant with CEL working was FordCummins aka Diesel Conversion Specialists. With the headache I had with them on my wiring harness, I don't know If I want to pay to ship my truck over to them.
 
#490 ·
Buy a cheap lot of land in a southeast state where there are 0 emissions tests and register the truck there...
 
#491 · (Edited)
Yeah I wish I still lived in Georgia. Should have kept all my crap registered there when I moved back..lol. I am trying so hard to do this legit so I don't have to deal with all of those headaches.

I will get it done ONE way or another. There has to be someone out there that is bad a$$ with electrical that can get it done. I am pretty sure the guy I am going to fly in will get it figured out.

The other problem is that my reg expires in like two months which means everything has to be done by then and pass the State Referee or it becomes expired and undrivable.
 
#492 ·
Years ago, I moved out of CA to TX because I knew the path Cali was heading. Beautiful state but the worst government regulations. Even when I lived in Minnesota, it was worlds better than Cali, and like TX, MN has no emissions regs on diesels.

I tell you what, when you get your truck finally done, it will be a badazz beast. But to me personally, and especially after seeing what your going through, its not worth it to do a Cummins swap. And forget that $55k price tag on a new ford 6.7. I'll stick to my paid-off trouble-free bulletproof 6.0 and drive it until the whole thing comes apart.
 
#493 ·
Where do you live in central Texas?
 
#495 ·
I'm in Williamson County/Round Rock area bud. And you, College station, perhaps?
 
#494 ·
Trust me buddy..if my 6.0 would have been problem free, I never would have got rid of it. It was just so unreliable that I couldn't deal with it anymore. When it ran good though it was awesome and it pulled my boat like nothing was even back there. Plus I still think to this day that the 6.0 is the best sounding diesel out there.
 
#497 ·
You really got burned with the 6.0 by people working on it that didn't know what they were doing IIRC. Hindsight being 20/20 like it is you would have been much better off to put a reman 6.0 from Asheville or Blackwater or somebody and bulletproofed it. But hey, you tried what you thought was best for you. Sorry it hasn't worked out quite the way you wanted it too.
 
#496 ·
How is it bro? Any new updates? Hopefully u have been having up much fun with the truck to post.
 
#499 ·
So when you whoop another dodge at a redlight whos going to get credit. I guess ford since thats on the outaide
 
#501 ·
Well no updates. Every time I call down there they tell me that they are just too busy to fit my truck in, and that nothing else is done with it. I am over it. I have something else planned but I don't want to say anything until it is done.
 
#502 ·
Best of luck
 
#504 ·
Thanks Strokin. I will keep them in mind. I have a few things going on with the truck right now so I will update again on the 23rd of this month. I was promised my truck would be completely done by then and I would be driving it out of the shop running great with CEL working right and smog legal. We will see.
 
#505 ·
That's good news. I'm hoping it works out the way its supposed to this time for you.

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