Mods
Airride
6.5 Turbodiesel and Th700
Manual wastegate
4911 injectionpump
6.5 Turbodiesel and Th700
Manual wastegate
4911 injectionpump
Build story
I bought the car 6 years ago, it had been painted red, got a red/white interior and some appliance wheels in the 90's otherwise it was stock.
The first thing i did was to install airride suspension to get it closer to the ground ( it lays on the frame), and then i just drove it in the summers for about 4 years. I have always been a dieselguy so a diesel engine was kind of a dream. here in sweden it's popular to put Mercedes and bmw straight 6 diesels in old american cars, but if i was going to replace the 401 i wanted a V8 diesel.
Then in the fall of 2019 i found a 6.5 Turbodiesel from an 97 chevy van, so i just had to buy it. then a friends grandfather had a old van with a 6,2 diesel and th700 standing and rotting away, so i got the engine and transmission from it to take some parts for the 6,5
I took the injectionpump and lines to replace the electric IP that was on the 6,5, i also took the flexplate, converter and gearbox from the 6.2. to get the engine to fit i had to cut a bit of the upper side of the crossmember and weld in some new pieces to make it wider. i quickly realised that chevrolet has the steering rods in front of the crossmember and the buick had them behind, so a guy did the right thing and cut a hole in the oilpan and put a squaretube through it that the rods can go through, i also did make the pan a bit bigger to compensate for the loss of oil.
The transmission tunnel for the original dynaflow was way to small for the 700 so i cut it out of the car and bend a piece of sheet metal over the knee to replace it with.
Other than that i have deleted the ac compressor and vacuumpump and built a kind of manual wastegate, i have also replaced the 6,2 IP with a 4911 IP it's the pump for the mechanical 6,5 turbo
It may not be the most professional engineswap but it works great, way better MPG then the old engine and starts way better, and then the sound from the 6,5 with 3" straight pipe from the turbo and the boost around 12psi, it just sounds great!
The first thing i did was to install airride suspension to get it closer to the ground ( it lays on the frame), and then i just drove it in the summers for about 4 years. I have always been a dieselguy so a diesel engine was kind of a dream. here in sweden it's popular to put Mercedes and bmw straight 6 diesels in old american cars, but if i was going to replace the 401 i wanted a V8 diesel.
Then in the fall of 2019 i found a 6.5 Turbodiesel from an 97 chevy van, so i just had to buy it. then a friends grandfather had a old van with a 6,2 diesel and th700 standing and rotting away, so i got the engine and transmission from it to take some parts for the 6,5
I took the injectionpump and lines to replace the electric IP that was on the 6,5, i also took the flexplate, converter and gearbox from the 6.2. to get the engine to fit i had to cut a bit of the upper side of the crossmember and weld in some new pieces to make it wider. i quickly realised that chevrolet has the steering rods in front of the crossmember and the buick had them behind, so a guy did the right thing and cut a hole in the oilpan and put a squaretube through it that the rods can go through, i also did make the pan a bit bigger to compensate for the loss of oil.
The transmission tunnel for the original dynaflow was way to small for the 700 so i cut it out of the car and bend a piece of sheet metal over the knee to replace it with.
Other than that i have deleted the ac compressor and vacuumpump and built a kind of manual wastegate, i have also replaced the 6,2 IP with a 4911 IP it's the pump for the mechanical 6,5 turbo
It may not be the most professional engineswap but it works great, way better MPG then the old engine and starts way better, and then the sound from the 6,5 with 3" straight pipe from the turbo and the boost around 12psi, it just sounds great!