86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Hey guys, I purchased a 86 Chevy c30 3+3 camper special for $1000. Truck came with a 454/400 combo completely rebuilt, also a completely rebuilt rear end with aftermarket sway bar. I then purchased a 250 straight 6 and muncie sm465 for $200. The plan was to build a high torque 6 with the help of Clifford performance. I have been planning this build for over 2 years and always wanted to do it with a cummins and a 5 speed although the money wasn't really there. I had saved about $3200 when I found the deal on the truck so I went ahead and picked it up. I then looked on craigslist at all different types of cummins trucks and they all had over 300k miles and the cheapest one was 4900. I got a little disappointed and decided to move forward with the project. A friend of mine told me to look again and expand my search so I did and stumbled across a 96 ram 2500 quad cab 4x4 with 160,000 miles for $1500. Truck had a 12v with a 47rh transmission and a np241 transfer case. The only problem was that the truck was about 4 hours away in Wilmington NC. I decided to take a chance and go look and see what it was. The guy told me on the phone that the truck didn't run due to electrical issues and the rust was to the point the truck couldn't be repaired so it sounded like a good donor. He was right about the truck but he came down to $1100 and the motor sounded good spinning over so i took the gamble. Worst case scenario i could get my money back around town parting it so why not. The frame broke as we took it off the trailer due to the rust. This made me a little nervous.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

i went and looked at the truck

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Brought it to the chevy hanger. Note the rear sway bar. The only rust is in the door jam on each rear door. Even the floor pans are spotless

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Got the 96 dogs and started removing the drive train. All that was left. Sold the axles for $1000

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Got it out side and little bro washed all the sand and oil off. Pretty bad rust. Caught wind of some rear doors so I went and grabbed them for a couple hundred bucks since mine had some dents. Went and picked up a f350 front axle with springs and hangers and shock mounts. Ordered my new gauges that will be placed into a custom made aluminum panel in this order with the diesel tach mounted on top of the dash.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

ordered 5x.014 injectors, 4k gsk, 60# valve springs, #5 fuel plate, wicked wheel, big head waste gate, adjustable boost elbow, and complete over haul gasket set from cummins.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

So then my bro tells me his brother in law that owns a scrap yard has a 95 12v 5 speed for 1000 dollars that has been turned into a rat rod project. This is what it ended up at the hanger as

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Scored a klutch brand plasma cutter and decided to try my hand on some scrap metal. Also picked up some commercial grade bridgestone tires, blizzak for the drives and duravis r250 high scrub for the steer axle. Also got the motor torn down and washed it a few more times and ready for paint. I must say, kerosene works wonders at removing old build-up.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Got some paint on the engine and installed the 60# valve springs. I did not clean any internal parts. It was that clean when the valve covers were removed. And those are the original markings on the spring retainers and the valve stem seals look like they had just been put in. There wasnt even any oil discovering on the raw aluminum valve covers inside. The whole motor is this clean inside. Talk about diamond in the rough.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Subbing in on this one, crew cab Cummins should have been built from the factory!

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Got started reassembling the motor after paint. Opted to use the banks twin ram intake since i had it from the rat rod. And sold the 454/400 for $4500 so had to get the front end off before I could leave to get it pulled out over the weekend and ready for pick up

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

agreed. i was going to purchase a new duramax crew but they are so high and it still wouldnt be exactly what i want. i love old school tin as i have a couple of classics already. this way i can build exactly what i want for a quarter of the price and have a "new" truck. this will be my dd work truck. built not bought. :chevy: til the end

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Looking good so far, I like the twin ram intake.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Thanks for checking me out black sheep. From what I have read about the twin ram it does nothing for performance just better individual cylinder temp and maybe longer engine life. Who knows? But it looks cool and I have nothing invested just like the polished valve covers so why not.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Well I didnt get to work on the truck yesterday but today I got the injectors, delivery valves, fuel plate and gsk in. Got the 454/400 out and gone. Also got the old flat bed off along with the gooseneck plate and went and picked up my wheels after having them cut and polished.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

this is a cool build so far cant wait to see more

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

thank you stepside83. stay tuned im hoping its going to start coming together quickly. the only thing that i am not doing it the paint as i dont have a place to do it.

on a different note, does anyone know where i can get center caps and lugnuts for these wheels? the centers i have are kmc and they are dented and rough. i was missing a couple of lug nuts and the ones i have are rusty. i would also like to find spike lugnut covers if any body knows where to get them for 1" lugnuts????

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

thank you stepside83. stay tuned im hoping its going to start coming together quickly. the only thing that i am not doing it the paint as i dont have a place to do it.

on a different note, does anyone know where i can get center caps and lugnuts for these wheels? the centers i have are kmc and they are dented and rough. i was missing a couple of lug nuts and the ones i have are rusty. i would also like to find spike lugnut covers if any body knows where to get them for 1" lugnuts????

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Cool build. :metal: :metal: I like these old CC trucks.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

So over the weekend we were able to finish up the motor other than a little touch up paint I have to do. We also rolled the truck out and got some good cleaning done. That took most of saturday. Sunday afternoon we loaded up the first donor truck to take to the scrap yard and got the body lift installed on the truck. Also cleaned the hanger up and got the truck up on the lift where I pulled all the old fuel lines off along with the tanks. I just cant get over how rust free this truck is. The floor pans look new.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Looks to me like 88-98 dually centercaps would work on there and would look good. Also need the plastic caps and threaded lugs.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Well today we got the cummins and nv4500 in for the first time for a test fit. Went right in thanks to the patc motor mounts and the 3 inch body lift. I will have to cut a half moon in the very front cross member for balancer clearance. Everything else fit like it was meant to be there. After some thinking and testing I will be using the factory dodge nv4500 cross member after I narrow it about 1 inch or so on each side and box the frame. The shift is in a perfect location along with the clearance on the floor pan is just as it should be. Even the power steering lines hooked right up. I have plenty of oil pan to cross member clearance although the oil pan to steering center link is only a half inch or so. Tomorrow I will be pulling the interior out so I can build my gauge cluster and dash board and start my custom wiring harness and get the cab off. I will post the pics of today as soon as possible. It keeps telling me webpage isn't available.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

It's too bad you have to do a body lift on it. Not a big fan of spiked lug nuts either, the rest of it I mostly like. What're your bed plans?

I like using imgur.com to host images.

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Pics from today

Re: 86 c30 flatbed cummins 2wd
 

Transmission in 1st 2nd 5th rev. Couldn't ask for a better fit.