Howdy Everyone,

This is Mojave Joe checking in with an update on my blown motor & transmission.

I’m in a remote area in Southern New Mexico… our vehicle inspection comes down to “Does the vehicle roll?” As such, I got the wacky idea to replace the blown motor with an old mechanical diesel. I want to remove most, if not all, of the electronics from the vehicle. After a posting on this forum I have settled on a Cummins 4BT swap. I’ve even located a good engine block to rebuild.

So… any advice out there? Has anyone done this to a G-II S-10 Blazer?

I have swapped diesel for gas, a Delta 88 in the old days… but I haven’t gone the other way. I am planning an off-frame rebuild, so if I’m going to swap the tranny too, this is the time to plan for it.

Originally I was planning to rebuild the 4L60, but if I’m nixing engine electronics, it would be just silly to leave the tranny electronics… I imagine a 4BT/4L60 bolt-up would be a bioch-kitten anyway. So, any transmission pre-chip suggestions would be appreciated. Keep in mind, I want auto transmission.

As for the engine… I want to KISS it (Keep It Simple Stupid)😐, so during the rebuild I will select simplicity, power, and durability over economy. Any experience and advice for rebuilding a 4BT for this purpose would be appreciated.

Years ago I was a M-B mechanic, so I have professional automotive experience. I even considered an old M-B 617 diesel for about half a minute, cause I’ve rebuilt one of those. Additionally, I was a 6GR Pipe/Structural Stick,MIG,TIG welder. So fabrication doesn’t phase me a bit. I also have a buddy in Deming that was a machinist and he has his own shop.

I would love to see any images of fabbed parts for this swap…

Thanks All and I’ll keep this updated as progress is made.

 

Sounds like you're well setup for your engine swap. I've seen threads of people who successfully swapped the 4BT into an S-series truck, so I I'm curious to see how your build goes. You should consider making a build thread in the build section and share your progress with us. I'm sure there are others who would love to see how it goes.

Good luck!