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Homey's got a whole new attitude!!!

It's done! Well, as far as projects go. It seems my projects are never really DONE. Now I can get to the fun stuff like 370 injectors, fuel plate, 16cm housing, paint and polish, you know.

As far as satisfaction? Man am I happy! I'd do it again in an instant. This is a neat motorhome. It feels more like driving a pickup. No more boring waiting to get up to speed and I bet it'll pull whatever I want now. How else can you get a diesel motorhome like this for under $10,000 total investment?   Plus, now I know and understand just about everything about it so I don't have to pay anyone $75/hr to work on it. I really like the 5sp over the auto because it gives me control over performance. If I want MPG I can use lower revs throughout. If I want performance I use higher revs and I certainly get better performance. One bad thing though, when I start adding more performance parts I won't be able to keep things in the cupboards. Even now, if I really romp on it everything goes sliding and banging around, never used to do that! Maybe I'll have to put on some better latches.

Breakdown of project in retrospect.

1. removing old powerplant.
2. placing new engine tranny
3. radiator
4. intercooler
5. wiring
6. driveline
7. engine controls
8. exhaust
9. intake
10. total cost
11. fuel mileage

Removing old powerplant

    Well this is easy. The only thing I can say is keep all the old bolts and small parts because you will probably need a lot of it. It's very frustrating when you have to make a special trip to the store for a bolt you threw away.

Placing new engine tranny

    This is a scary part because you run into problems you didn't anticipate. Actually mine went in pretty easy because the 72 cab and chassis is basically the same through 93 and most of the parts are in the right location. I used front motormounts from an 89 with Cummins so they bolted right on. The rear was a different story. I had to use a modified 89 rear crossmember with a rubber isolator from a 96, then had to drill the frame to move the crossmember back 6".

Radiator

    I used a radiator from a 93 standard. Originally, the old radiator was set back about 4" to get it closer to the old engine, so the core support had flanges hanging back. I cut them out to fit the new radiator but in retrospect didn't need to. The new radiator would have fit between them. I had to make new brackets to hold the radiator but the 93 hoses fit perfect. This part was actually quite easy.

intercooler

   I used an intercooler (proper name is "charged air cooler") from a first generation but I think now I should have used a second gen because it is larger. Then again, I may have had more trouble fitting it under the grill. As it is the first gen fit great. The only trouble I had was I didn't have all the first gen tubes and manifolds so I had to fabricate my own tubes to match connection sizes.

wiring

    This part was fun and easy but quite time consuming. I used crimp connectors covered with heatshrink tubing and after getting everything in it's proper place, I used pieces of the old plastic wire covering to cover all the new wiring. I turned out great and looks like a stock harness. The wiring layout is quite simple on this conversion. The 96 uses the same voltage reg setup as the 72. I used the old coil power wire for the "hold open" side if the fuel shutdown solenoid . I then used the old starter wire to trigger the starter solenoid and the relay for the "pull" side of the shut down solenoid. Works great! Next was the grid heater. I jus put a button on the dash. Now if I want grid heat I just hold the button down. The only difference I can see between using grid heat and not is smoke. It starts right up with out it even when cold. My backhoe has basically the same engine and has no heaters of any type anywhere, and it always starts and smokes a while till warm. Click here to see wireing diagram for a 96 Ram

driveline

    This part was very easy but more expensive than I planned. I just needed to get the measurements and take the parts to a driveline shop. It bolted and slipped right in with no problems.

engine controls

    For me the clutch was a biggie. My old tranny was an automatic so I had no clutch linkage and no hump on the floor. Fortunately all cab floors of a given year are the same stamping so I just needed to cut the floor out and find the stock bolt-on hump from a standard cab. The pedals swapped easily after I finally found them but the hydraulic linkage would be a problem. I had to use a clutch bracket from a 93 and drill a hole in the firewall, move an electrical connector and bolt the bracket to the old pedal support. Throttle cable is just a stock 93.

exhaust

   My plan to use a 4" down pipe for a second gen worked great. I only needed to bend a small part of the firewall to fit it in. I cut it as short as possible and then it goes right into a BD 4" remote mount brake, then steps up to a 5" muffler and tail pipe. You cannot tell that this motorhome is modified except by the big 5" pipe coming out the side in front of the rear wheel (and the awesome sound of course).

intake

   Pretty simple here. I just used a K&N RE-0880 and the stock rubber connector.

total cost

**I got this engine and tranny from a wreck I bought at auction. I have attached the link for the auction company. I watched this site, signed up ($100) and made a few trips to the auctions. I watched a few wrecks go for all different prices depending on who wanted what and the condition of the vehicle. I finally got mine, it was a complete total, I mean really bad. The only thing left was the engine,tranny and rear axle. It was perfect for what I needed.   There are a lot of guys out there that buy Rams and rebuild the for sale, this drives the price up a little. It just takes patience and a little work to find what you want. Most wrecks go for around $3000-$5000. I was just there when a one came through that nobody wanted. The harder I work, the luckier I get!

Fuel Mileage

This spreadsheet is from my last trip to Cabo San Lucas from Seattle. Combined weight of 17,000+lbs. Pretty darn good I'd say!  Better than my old gaspot mileage of 7.6mpg for the same trip but only 13,000lbs.  Twice the mileage, 4,000lbs more, twice the horsepower, amazing but true! I love this engine!