1979 Chevy 3/4 ton with a Detroit Diesel?

I just purchased a very solid 79 3/4 chevy. Very clean frame, very straight body. She has no engine and no tranny.

My plan is for the time being, Clean it up all nice, Coat the frame, fix up the interior.

Once I get some money saved up I would really like to drop in a Detroit with possibly a 10 speed road ranger. Any thoughts? A twin stick would be sweet too.. I will post pictures soon.

Also thought about a 6bt cummins.. But I would greatly prefer a 4-53t or even better a 6-53t but thats a pretty dang big engine.

I want a challenge but I don't want it to be too incredibly impossible. Money isnt so much of an issue as this will be a long term project.

Any tips, hints, thoughts, would be much appreciated!

A 453 Detroit is all you will want to go. Back before there were factory diesel PUs there was a couple guys out of Bakerfield getting 453s out of rail road reefer cars and rebuilding them. Only they went with 1 ton Internationals single rear wheel because they could cary the wait of the Detroit better. With an automatic they got 18 mpg, standard they were seeing 21 mpg. If they could get traction they would climb a telephone plole.

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Originally Posted by a5150nut

A 453 Detroit is all you will want to go. Back before there were factory diesel PUs there was a couple guys out of Bakerfield getting 453s out of rail road reefer cars and rebuilding them. Only they went with 1 ton Internationals single rear wheel because they could cary the wait of the Detroit better. With an automatic they got 18 mpg, standard they were seeing 21 mpg. If they could get traction they would climb a telephone plole.

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Exactly what I like to hear! The more I think about it and read about it, I don't want a 10 speed however it would be very nice. With the engine being a 2 stroke I definitely don't want a 4 or 5 speed. Could possibly get a zf-6 but I still would like more than that. Maybe a 4speed with a 3 speed aux or something of that nature.

Ive made up my mind. I'm going with a ZF-6.

I've got a 6BT and NV5600 6 speed manual in my 1990 Suburban so I'm kind of partial to this setup. Fuel economy with this setup is high 20's and it pulls like crazy.