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Hello Eric,
I have formulated an idea for future videos, if you’re interested.
Sitting right here at my house is a 1997 Chevy C3500 dually crew cab, nicknamed “Jasper”. It has a 5.7L V8 crate engine from O’Reilly Auto Parts (has about 1,000 miles since installation), the original 4L80E auto trans, and a 4.11:1 rear axle. It also has new brakes from the master cylinder outward. To me, it’s just screaming for a diesel to be swapped in. Doing this would finally provide your channel with some diesel-powered content. That’s part one of this scheme.
Part two is to update “Dad’s Truck” with at least the better heads from the post-1995 vintage which could be sourced from the 5.7 pulled from the C3500, thus making more power available. If the entire engine were swapped into your C1500, the only adaptation (that I can think of) that would be needed to make the 1997 engine work would be to get a TBI intake that has the vertical bolt holes. Check out this video ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7mvgf6_p1g]Engine Masters ep 24) with David Freiburger and you’ll see where and why I came up with this part of the idea.
I hope you see the rivers of creative juices here which have flooded their banks.
Stay Dirty!
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I’m not quite clear on what you’re suggesting. Are you suggesting I diesel swap your truck and then put the engine I take out into my truck?
Sounds fun, but I don’t think I have the time if I’m going to make the race in Dallas this year. Keep in mind that shooting videos of stuff like this makes things take at least 4x longer. Not to mention the editing.
The current thinking on my dads truck is to upgrade the power plant that’s in it. Kevin and Justin at Kalvinator engines are experts with small block Chevy’s and that’s where I planned to take it. Monster transmission is already supplying me with a transmission and I’m talking with Summit racing on the rest of the parts.
At some point I had planned to get a diesel truck to take over in place of dads truck and then lower dads truck and have fun with it since I would have a true diesel ‘work’ truck and I wouldn’t need dads truck to haul things anymore.
It has occurred to me that using a 1500 to haul a car trailer may not be the best idea. I’m going to look into that before I fully commit and then take things from there.
To clarify what I was suggesting, the C3500 is up for sale, currently priced at $2500 (I won’t see a penny of the proceeds from the sale, my mom will). The engine in it would be an outright upgrade to your C1500. That would negate the need and price of going through the engine that is currently in your C1500.
Once the engine from the C3500 is in your C1500, the process would be at the point of having the C1500 running with a barely used 350 that is more powerful than the original and still looked stock.
The last part would to be going through prep and ultimately install of the diesel engine of your choice into the C3500.
But in spite of all that, in the C3500’s current state, I did pull a 20,000 pound load for a distance of about 100 miles and it wanted to go faster, but the trailer started to fishtail once I hit above 50 mph. It has pulled the equivalent load of your Fairmont with so much ease that we had to look behind the truck to ensure the load was still attached to truck. (lol)
Anyway, the truck is about 4 hours south of Dallas in Smithville, TX if it interests you any. I know your time is valuable and this truck has been sitting with the “for sale” sign on the dash for a few months now (it has been started and allowed to run occasionally). There is absolutely no need to rush a showing, Eric. Good luck in your race and stay dirty!
That sounds interesting, however distance and time are a factor. A very reasonable price unless the thing is rotting away. I suppose the real question is how would I get it back to OH. The easiest solution seems to be to drive it, but would it make it that distance?
I have full confidence that it would make the trip to OH without any trouble. As far as the rot factor, see for yourself in these pics:
Thank you for the pics of the engine. Let me have some time to think about this. I’m starting work on the Mini this week and I’ll be focused on that for a couple of weeks. After that I was going to turn my attention to the truck.
What kind of HP do you think you’re getting from that engine?
I do like the idea of putting a diesel in your truck. I think that would make for a great series of videos. That’s what makes this decision even more difficult. I feel I have a good engine in the truck I have, but let’s face it, towing with a 2500 is not the same as towing with a 1500.
Taken from the “It Still Runs” website:
“Vortec Small Block
The king of the Vortec small block engines during 1997 was the 5.7 L 5700 L31 engine, which was produced from 1996 to 2002. The V-8 engine had an overhead valve configuration, with two valves per cylinder. The truck engine was rated at 255 horsepower and 330 foot-pounds of torque. The 5700 engine appeared in the 1997 Chevrolet Express, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet/GMC full-size trucks and the Cadillac Escalade. This engine was replaced in 2002 by the 5.3 5300.”
I hope that helps 🙂
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