Better Than New Custom-Built Pickup

Better Than New Custom-Built Pickup PICKUPS Miscellaneous 20-1-3 "It gets fantastic fuel mileage and cost a lot less than a new pickup," says Larry Munro, Tiverton, Ontario, about his "custom-built" Chevrolet diesel pickup. Munro paid $6,700 for the frame and body of a new Chevrolet Silverado 1/2-ton 4-WD pickup in 1986. He bought it from a company that built ice scraping machines for ice arenas and needed only the pickup's engine and drive train. Munro installed a Perkins 6-cyl., 345 cu. in. diesel engine out of a 1972 Massey Ferguson 510 combine and the driveline and automatic 4-speed transmission from a 1977 Chevrolet Jimmy. In 1990 he decided to update the pickup with a new Chevrolet body from the same ice machine company. This time he paid $8,500. Then he added a turbocharger salvaged from a Wakashaw 318 cu. in. engine (commonly used on Cockshutt and Oliver tractors) to the Perkins engine. He also added a 3-in. dia. exhaust pipe, new brakes, and new cab mounts. "It was a lot of work but it was worth it," says Munro. "I use the pickup mainly to go back and forth to work. It's a lot quieter than a GM diesel engine so when people hear it they know right away that it isn't original. It gets 35 mpg on the highway depending on road conditions. I installed the Perkins diesel engine because for years GM didn't offer a good diesel engine. Even their new diesels don't have the fuel economy of my Perkins. I paid $1,000 for the engine and $400 for the Jimmy. My total cost for this latest version of the pickup was about $12,000 whereas a new comparable pickup would have cost $24,000 or more. "The Perkins engine is rated at 95 hp but with the turbocharger it has about 105 hp. It's a 1/2-ton pickup so it isn't geared for pulling big, heavy loads. I've never had to tune the engine whereas a gas pickup would've needed several tune-ups by now. I put 70,000 miles on the pickup before I updated it in 1990 and 130,000 miles on it since then. Although the Perkins diesel has about 4,000 hours on it I think it'll outlast even the new body. "Installing the Perkins diesel engine was a big job. I had to build new motor mounts and a new a bell housing to match the engine and transmission. The combine oil pan wouldn't fit so I had to make a new one. I also had to put an extra set of springs in the front end. The 1990 body didn't match up exactly to the 1986 frame so I had to make new cab mounts. The cab now sits a little higher than the original one. "When I added the new body I kept the old frame because in 1990 Chevrolet switched to a frame with a wishbone front end and there wouldn't have been enough room for the Perkins engine. I kept the Jimmy driveline because at that time drivelines for 1990 pickups were in short sup-ply. The diesel engine runs slower than a gas engine so I mounted 750 by 16 tires to speed up the gearing for better fuel economy. At 50 mph it has a rear end ratio of 3:43 and an engine rpm of 1,250 which is the peak fuel economy range. At 60 mph the engine rpm is 1,500." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Larry Munro, Rt. 1, Tiverton, Ontario, Canada N0G 2T0 (ph 519 368-7622).

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