Hey there everyone, we currently own a 70' charger R/T which used to house a 440 with what I believe was a 727 auto tranny. In the process of moving it to a new garage, my pops and I took out the engine and the tranny, and we were trying to think of whether to keep the original engine (which actually was a junkyard engine, because it was spray-painted blue and the vin #'s didn't match) and tranny or to do something else. I told my dad that I thought it would be cool if we could drop in a 2006 cummins turbo diesel and the matching tranny, and we could run it off of bio-diesel. He agreed that the set-up might be kinda cool, but at which point I wasn't sure if the frame would be strong enough for the big ol' diesel, and I wasn't sure if the rear end would be able to hold that much torque w/o some modification. What are your thoughts on this one guys??? Are we just asking for a major headache or what???

Hey there everyone, we currently own a 70' charger R/T which used to house a 440 with what I believe was a 727 auto tranny. In the process of moving it to a new garage, my pops and I took out the engine and the tranny, and we were trying to think of whether to keep the original engine (which actually was a junkyard engine, because it was spray-painted blue and the vin #'s didn't match) and tranny or to do something else. I told my dad that I thought it would be cool if we could drop in a 2006 cummins turbo diesel and the matching tranny, and we could run it off of bio-diesel. He agreed that the set-up might be kinda cool, but at which point I wasn't sure if the frame would be strong enough for the big ol' diesel, and I wasn't sure if the rear end would be able to hold that much torque w/o some modification. What are your thoughts on this one guys??? Are we just asking for a major headache or what???

You could fashion a motor plate to bolt the motor down securely. The real problem is the Cummins is tall. A lot taller then the 440. I can guarantee it won't fit under a stock hood. Beyond that, I'm not sure even a Dana 60 would last very long behind the CTD. What trans would you want to use? Auto? 6-speed?

^I was gonna try and use the one that came with the T/D and have someone fabricate me a driveshaft. It's just a theory, but I just learned yesterday that the t/d was about 1000 to 700 pounds haevier than I thought it was, so I'm kinda turned off of the engine. Thanks for the response though, I really appreciate it!

^I was gonna try and use the one that came with the T/D and have someone fabricate me a driveshaft. It's just a theory, but I just learned yesterday that the t/d was about 1000 to 700 pounds haevier than I thought it was, so I'm kinda turned off of the engine. Thanks for the response though, I really appreciate it!
Yep. They are approx 1100 lbs.

Why would anyone even want to do this? A gas engine is faster than a diesel but a diesel will pull more weight if you are pulling something. But if you are planning to pull weight you need a diesel for, you need to do more than just change an engine since the car frame and other parts will not pull the weight the diesel engine can.

Example: My parents had a large diesel in their GMC truck to pull a 5th wheel around the country. I think it was equivalent to a 7 or 8 litre engine. I was driving a 69 Plymouth Valiant with a 273 V8 (4.5L?). It is all they could do to keep up with me at red lights. They were a distant memory against my 66 Charger 383 (6.2L?) I had at the time.

Notice 18 wheelers, large military trucks and the like are all diesel because they can pull a lot of weight (and engines last longer) which they need to do. So I wonder what would be the reason for such a change other than to be unique?

torque. a 5.9 cummins diesel can make a huge amoutn of torque.

The dyno display peaked at 1500, but calculated torque on this HP curve is 2131 lb-ft from a 5.9 cummins, 1050 hp. I wish I could find exactly what he had done to get it.

That's almost 3 hp/ci.

http://www.dieselperformancemotorsports.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=368

Old topic

It would be cool to put a T/D in it, and a fun project, but making the bio-diesel would be hard (you mean that cooking oil shit right? if now whats bio-diesel?)

^bio diesel isn't really cooking oil, it's more of fermented soy bean oil, etc... and most diesel engines don't really need too much modification to use it. I've given up on that, but I found a different T/D engine that I'd rather put in a different car...

You've got an R/T Charger it would be a shame to wreak it.. I'll trade ya, mines just a base model car :D the cummins won't fit at all, ever.. the engine is taller than the hood with the engine sitting on the ground beside and the car at proper ride height.. The torsion bars won't take the weight of the cummins either.... Plus you'd have to remove the floor and build a new one because of the sheer size of the transmission..