How much money did you guys put into your bombed-up diesels? Just looking at what I'm getting myself into and what the trade-off is worth.
I have the itch to buy a Cummins 'cause the K3500 454's fuel mileage is keeping my wallet dry. I might have a line on a '94 this weekend though.
"bombed" is a relative term right.......bombed to you might be bearly out of stock for me. You can pick a HP number now that you want to make as a goal.........then throw it out the window in 1 month after you get hooked on diesel power. and it'll never be enough.
imo, don't bother with the 1st gen '89-93 VE pumped trucks. '94-'98 12v. and '96-'98 to break it down further.
grind you own fuel plate - free
3K GSK governor springs - $80-100ish......i have a spare 3000 rpm set of springs.
bump timing - free if you have the tools and know how. I don't know what a shop charges for that.
block waste gate - free
change delivery valves - 100 -200 in you can get them good used. or $250 for a new set of bigger DVs.
tune your fuel plate, Aneroid fuel control, and starwheel to suit your driving taste - free.
torque converter/ valve body upgrade - 1000-1600 for billet converter depends where you get it.
valve body - 300-500ish you can slam a shift kit in it. for way less. but the done up valve bodies from the pros are much more involved than any shift kit you can put in yourself.
clutch upgrade - depends what brand and how much power you want it to hold. my south bend ceramic dual disk was about $1500 and the 1 3/8" NV4500 input shaft was another $600. but good to 650-700 RWHP single disks clutches are way less.
guages intake and exhaust are almost a given to do 1st.
any of my present or former 6B engines would eat any gasspot for lunch any day of the week. my old 24v ISB pulled down 15-18mpg @ 600rwhp loaded.
I see your problem though, looks to have been 2 '93 VE powered trucks. and a 160hp '94 truck.
