No pics so I'll try to remember the camera before I go to work on monday. The back story is that the owner of this truck, 2001 IH model 9900i has 1.2 million miles on it and the C12 cat finally gave up. It has coolant in the oil and fuel in the coolant. It's dead and tired. The owner wants more power than the C12 had. That means a 15 liter engine and a Cat would make the electronics easier. So we sourced a 1999 3406E rated at 475hp with 200k on an inframe rebuild. From a Cat to a Cat, how hard can this be...
It fits in the frame. To help make this go easier I found a 2 year older truck with this engine in it from the factory. Pics are a big help. The biggest help was the VIN from the model truck. with that number I could duplicate the build parts needed to make this happen. Believe me when I say it was a big help.
Motor mounts is the first challenge. The new engine is 5 inches longer and heavier by about 750 lbs I'd guess. And the new engine came out of a Peterbilt from 1999, this creates headaches later. Using the model VIN I was able to source 90% of the needed mounts to do the install. The left rear frame mount is not in stock anywhere in the US and IH has no idea when they will make more. A cummins mount is different. Damn! 2 more dummy VIN's and an inspiration strikes. The rear mount is 3 pieces, the part that bolts to the frame, the part that bolts to the flywheel housing, and the rubber isolator between them. Does Cat and Cummins use the same isolator? Why yes they do. Hmm...the distance between the rails is the same for the truck no matter what engine is in it. Whats the difference? We ordered in the new mounts for the Cat and I went junkyarding.
Turns out the difference is less than an 1/8 of an inch in width spacing and the Cat mount is cast steel and the Cummins mount is a fabbed and welded part. Same bolt pattern. 15 minutes of work with a die grinder and its prego baby...yeah it's in there. Oh yeah and 4 hours of drilling holes and measuring for the angle from front to rear.
The ECM on the engine plugged into the truck harness like it was made to fit. God only knows what will happen when we power it up on Monday.
The clutch linkage is a longer rod so that problem is simple. The trans will get a new cover with the shifter in the forward position. The driveshaft will have to be shortened, but thats an easy problem
The biggest issue is cooling. This is where that Pete comes back to life. On a Pete the lower radiator outlet goes straight out the bottom, it points at the ground. Between the frame rails. <this point get really important> The IH radiator is not only new but the inlet on the bottom is on the outside of the rail ABOVE the rail, not below or between the rail. How IH does from new is change the backing plate on the water pump so the outlet comes out above the rail point straight out. So that lower hose is really 2 short pieces of straight hose with a tube that has a 90 degree bend in it. That rear plate is made from unobtanium as of last week. I think I spent 2 days looking at this puzzle scattered about in 2 bays at the shop figuring out jigsaw puzzles and that paid off in spades friday night when I went to the local freightliner dealer looking for a cooling tube for the lower hose on an FLD with a cat engine. Why you might wonder? Well Some FLD's and Century class trucks have the lower radiator inlet on the outside of the frame above the rail and the solution was to use a U shaped tube to go around the frame rail and rise to the radiator. Its not perfect but it's better than nothing...
I think I have a pic of what the stock tube looks like
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