Engine Transplant / Repower Projects

CanadianBeaverS370 · Oct 9, 2014

I had a flashback to few years ago, some guy i knew was stuffing a Cummins 5.9 into a Ford 5000. Lost track of the guys before he finished the project. but it got me thinking of asking the TBN community what you guys have been crazy enough to attempt ??? We all know the Flathead V8 into a 8N conversion is pretty popular one, but who out there was thinking outside the box and repowered their tractor in an unconventional way for every use, not as a puller or show queen but to actually use as intended...

Let see some pix and hear your story( s) successful or not

AaronS · Oct 9, 2014

I don't know the person and I'd guess they're not a member here, but I remember as a kid, helping my uncle disassemble a grain bin he bought from a big farmer. That farmer had several John Deere tractors he had put Caterpillar engines in and used them for standard grain farming.

pmsmechanic · Oct 9, 2014

Conversions that I have done. Sorry no pics. Engines: 1974 or so Ford F-750 tag axle grain truck: Out 391, in Mitsubishi diesel with overdrive transmission. 1980 Chevrolet C-10 pickup: Out 5.7 diesel, in Olds 455 with a truck 4-speed. Mid 70's New Holland bale wagon: Out 361 Ford, in 6.2 liter 6 cylinder Ford diesel out of a 995 New Holland combine. Numerous automatic's to a standard and vice versa. Most notable a 1991 Dodge Cummins with an automatic to a 5 speed out of a 1996 Cummins using all factory parts. Honourable mention: redrilling a 1981 Chev bell housing to attach a New Venture 5-speed instead of spending $300 to by an after market bell housing.

Whatswrong · Oct 9, 2014

My first repower job was to take a 390 Ford car engine and put it into a 1953 Ford 3 ton with a five speed New Process transmission. I was driving a school bus at the time and it had a 4 speed new process and I could tell mine would bolt right in once I located a bell housing . Motor mounts and Radiator were a minor modification.
Driving it was like driving an automatic you could load it up with 280 bushels and come to a corner and only shift down 1 gear and soon as you turned the corner you could accelerate with absolutely no hesitation and be up to speed in no time, empty all you had to do was shift to low range at the corner .
It was still only a 45mph truck.

Whatswrong · Oct 9, 2014

My second major project was to take a 3208 Cat from my sick 1500NH combine and put it into a Versatile 700 that I deliberately bought with no engine so I could do the swap .The biggest job was to build a hydraulic pump mount to drive off the front pulleys.

2diamondfarm · Oct 27, 2014

My FIL put a John Deere combine engine in a Ford Major

Wayne64SS · Nov 18, 2014

78 Ford F250 with a 4-53t Detroit Diesel mated to the stock 4 speed and an aux 3 speed behind it.

Here's a quick underhood shot from when I inframed it last year.

MossRoad · Nov 18, 2014

I have a 1971 Toyota Landcruiser that the engine died in. I also had a '70 Nova with a 230 straight 6 that the body fell off of.... so I bought a bolt-in Chevy V8 kit and put the straight 6 from the Nova into the LC. The 230 had quite a bit of work done on it before the Nova rotted out from under it. Bored .60 over. Big cam, headers, 4 barrel. The interesting thing about the bolt-in V8 kits is that there is a recess in the Toyota firewall for the factory 6. If you put a V8 in there, there can be some cooling and clearance issues, as the V8 doesn't fit back into the recess of the firewall. So they recommend moving the engine forward 4", which requires you to put in new motor mounts (not bolt-in), shorten the front drive shaft and lengthen the rear drive shaft. I had none of those issues using the Chevy 6. It worked well. It has been apart for about 29 years now. Still have it all. Contemplating the V8 vs 292 straight 6 now. 292 would be about perfect, as its a big 6, develops torque at lower RPMs than a V8, fits the firewall and leaves plenty of room under the hood for accessories, extra battery, etc...

crazyal · Nov 18, 2014

I repowered my 75 International dump. It had a 345 that was low mileage but had been sitting for years and needed the heads rebuilt as only 6 cylinders were getting enough compression to fire. Before I got around to doing it a local highway department had an ex International firetruck that they converted to work for them that they no longer needed. It was only 2 years newer but was well maintained. I thought it would be a simple engine swap but the 446 gasser didn't match up at all and soon I was pulling the cab off and swapping both engine and transmission. Both are 4wd yet even the divorced transfer cases were different so I had to make a custom drive shaft. It was time consuming but for $300 I got about twice that in scrap steel, an engine that runs great, and 6 spare tires. Now when fully loaded going up a couple of the steeper hills it feels like I can lift the front tires off the ground whereas before I needed low range just to avoid stalling. Of course that 446 is very hungry and gas aint cheap.