Duramax and M1009

Any one ever installed a duramax and alison in a M1009. Is there enough room to fit this set up in the wheel base of a M1009?

Plan on changing your axles. It will destroy them.

Yes i was planning on going with a dana 60 front and a full floater 14 bolt rear anyways. Just thinking out load about the duramax swap.

It's heavy engine . With time and money you can do anything

there is an attempt to do this somewhere out their on the internet done by a profesional builder and one of the magazines covered it. bottom line is it does not fit without either extening the front end or major changes to the firewall. yes it can be done but springs, axles, firewall and frame have to be changed. The frame is to light duty for this much power and weight and needs to be boxed front to back.
like stated previously, if you have enough money you can build anything. It is easier to put a 6bt in with intercooler than a duramax and will cost much less and you will get about the same power. I think the best thing about the duramax now is the 6 speed allison. IF you could do the allison with a 6bt, that would be more than the frame could handle also and would be just as awsome.

search the major 4X4 magazines for this build and you can probably find it.

There's a Grand National with a Duramax and one in a 70 Chevelle also... So I would imagine that if it can fit and work in a mid-size GM car, it can fit in a K5. But as was said before, with enough money/time/skill you can do anything.

However, I think the biggest obstacle is that the electronics that go along with the Duramax are pretty complex, especially to make work with a truck almost entirely devoid of electronics. A Cummins 6BT or 4BT have almost no electronics to deal with, which is the biggest advantage of swapping those into just about anything.
Also, the Allison trans is pretty large too. A lot bigger than a TH400 or 700R4/4L80.

6bt dry weight is 1100 lbs. so figure around 1300 fully dressed (alt., A/C, etc.) with all the fluids. A Duramax dry weight is 836 so figure around 1036 fully dressed with fluids, the 6.2 weight is 700 so figure around 850 fully dressed with fluids(holds half as much fluids as the cummins and duramax). 6.5 weight was 775 so figure around 925 fully dressed with fluids. A 4bt weighs 650 dry and 750 fully dressed with all fluids.

If it where me I would go with the cummins 4bt. If you get the inline pump version it has around 120-130 HP and 275-300 ft. lbs. of torque. So the 4bt has the same hp as the 6.2, a little bit more torque, it comes with a turbo, it weighs a little less, and takes up less room then the 6.2. The inline pump version can be turned up to 200-300 HP with over 400-500 ft. lbs. of torque very easily and on a very low budget($200-500). The 4bt can be adapted to most transmissions through Advance Adapters web site. It is one of the most simplest and most reliable diesels out there, I have seen these engines with over 350,000 miles on them and never been touched as far as major maintenance overhaul or repair.

Has anyone come up with a "4BT Swap for Dummies" book yet? I'm not sure I could live with the bread truck sound.

You can mate an Allison to a 6BT, but again, there goes the "if you have enough time and money" deal. There's a build thread over on 4btswaps dot com right now where a guy is doing a 6BT/6 spd Allison in a 78 Chevy crew cab.

richingalveston said:

there is an attempt to do this somewhere out their on the internet done by a profesional builder and one of the magazines covered it. bottom line is it does not fit without either extening the front end or major changes to the firewall. yes it can be done but springs, axles, firewall and frame have to be changed. The frame is to light duty for this much power and weight and needs to be boxed front to back.
like stated previously, if you have enough money you can build anything. It is easier to put a 6bt in with intercooler than a duramax and will cost much less and you will get about the same power. I think the best thing about the duramax now is the 6 speed allison. IF you could do the allison with a 6bt, that would be more than the frame could handle also and would be just as awsome.

search the major 4X4 magazines for this build and you can probably find it.

Click to expand...

Length and weight for the DuraMax are less than the 6bt so I dont think those would be the biggest obstackles for the DMax swap, I think the electronics and the Allison fitting in the truck would be the biggest problems.

The dmax will fit better than the 6bt and the weight is not that much more than a fully loaded big block and has been put in lots of vehicles. Don't let the automatic naysayers get to you, check on the builds that have been done.

The block on the durimax is not much different than a 6.2 or 6.5 block after all the dmax is a 6.6. The trans may be an issue and I would think you would have to pull the transfercase out of the donation truck also. The electronics would be the issue as both the motor and trans are electronic controlled. But I would think it would be possible.

I'm sure like many others do you can modify stock wiring harness so it still controls engine and trans. But the allison is big i would think trans tunnel will have to be modified or maybe put 3" body lift should give a good bit more room

There is a older fella local to me that has swapped a duramax and Allison into a late 70's K20. Plan on oil pan modifications a 2in body lift andsome computer work. The 6bt, 5.9, Cummins or wwhatever you what to call it is a far easier swap. That is why people are swapping them into everything out there. Where I live here in northern California, there is at least 6 Chevys with Cummins swapped into them. One Ferd with a powerstroke and the duramax swap. This is a small town too.

Well since we are on the topic of Duramax engines, here is a video of one that was put into a 65 Impala. They make it look easy if you have the right tools and 10 guy's that know what their doing. It was originally aired on a show called Pimp My Ride a few years back.
Never mind the Governator at the beginning.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/pimp-my-ride-earth-day-bio-impala-full-episode-504/1557647/playlist.jhtml#vid=145918

I saw the impala build back in the day. Pretty sweet. Wonder how its been driven/held up. Guys have been running big hp gassers in our trucks 30yrs I dont see why a 6Bt or dmax would be disasterous for the frame if some boxing is done...this guy wanted perfection and long term reliability so he went allll out on his frame..Amazing fab work. Im thinking 4BT w mechanical i.p. would be perfect w less box work needed b/c of =< weight vs 6.2 and less possible tq http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showthread.php?16156-1988-Chevy-Blazer-K5-Cummins-6bt

Theres also the Buick GN clone built on an Olds diesel Gbody frame that has a Dmax. Thia car is on an OEM frame that has proven itself to last w 9-10sec wheel launching drag passes making same tq w boosted gasser v6. No reason a K5 frame from same vintage cant handle it.Guy built it on a diesel vin frame to keep it smog legal in CA since your not allowed to switch fuel types there w swaps.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x2t6BK3E_0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I just got a duramax truck, engine and tranny are huge compared to my old 350/nv4500 truck. Matter of fact everything underneath is big.

I think what the video shows is that in order to put the Dmax and allison trans into a vehicle the trans cover will have to be modified. The only other thing to consider will be where to mount the coolers...the oil the intercooler the trans cooler etc. If you do go ahead with this project please take lots of pictures and write up about it here.

dude I would wait for 4.5 d-max they have smaller foot print and the cylinder banks are at stepper v for placement in the 1/2 & 3/4 GMT 900 seris trucks. turbo is mid mount similar to hummvee set up, with exhaust manifold in valley and the intake is on the out board.. beside who want another computer lol..

that 4.5L T was supposed to deploy way back n '08 models....too bad cuz there might be some used ones floating around now...310/500+ft lbs and 16:1.. **** shame they arent out yet