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1960 Ford C750 custom cabover

Ex Search & Rescue Truck - An 8.3 Cummins, Allison 3060 & Air Brake Swap

I wanted to build a semi truck with a semi cab on a 4x4 diesel chassis and make a matching bed, on my little budget. I bought the cabover in December of 2017 for $1200 from an auction in Utah. From what I have gathered, it used to be a search and rescue truck from Henderson Nevada and then purchased for a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise to use as a parade vehicle. At some point, the original industrial 302 and five speed transmission was swapped with a Dodge 440 and 727 transmission.

It took me two days to drive it home, roadkill style.

I have a degree in diesel mechanics from the local college. I’ve worked as a heavy equipment and semi mechanic at the local shops in Price, Utah, and I'm currently working for the local school district as a bus mechanic that gets to drive every so often. I think of how I can change, improve and modify everything I get my hands on. I can't afford nor would I want someone else to build this truck for me.I want a truck that meets my need for reliability and desire for what I want.

I came across a blown up mechanical Cummins 8.3L about 3 years before I got the cabover. I have always been impressed with the platform and it came with a mechanical allison. The 8.3 has an A pump and parts are easy to come buy, for a reasonable cost. Since the engine and trans sit so far back, I wanted an Allison, mostly for convenience and avoiding the nightmare of linkages. When the mechanical trans started to slip from me not setting the tv cable right, I installed an Allison MD3060. With the 6th gear 1:.65 overdrive, I more than doubled my fuel economy by having overdrive. I went with air brakes and changed the axles because the original 8 lug and split wheels are outdated and parts are hard to find.

I splurged on upgrading the Injection A pump from Fair Valley Performance, which I am very glad I did. I also got my gauges from Dakota Digital and the gauges I have hooked up, work great.

The hardest parts of the builds, I like to consider as just part of the fun. I don't have a large enough garage to build this truck inside, so I did almost all of it outside in the dirt. The weather needs to cooperate in order to make progress. The times when I couldn’t be outside working, I would spend hours upon hours of research to figure out what I’m trying to do. From dodge forums to even offshore forums, anywhere where I can find relevant information.

Builder Q&A

How long did it take you to build this?

I started about six months after I purchased it and haven’t finished yet. So six years plus. I will likely always be working on it. If I'm not working on it physically, I am mentally. Total hours, I can’t even guess.

What have you been using it for?

Ever since I made it road legal I've been driving it as often as I can. I use it to pull my toy hauler and gooseneck, I also help friends to move their trailers around for them. I don’t use it commercially, just for myself and friends.

What motivates you to build?

My first local car show I brought it to, I won the special interest category. I like the questions and reactions when people see it, especially from kids. I attend a few car shows every year with it and usually spend quite a lot of pics and questions. I’m married to a very special woman who is on board with my grand design projects. She keeps me focused on my current project and reminds me to not start another project before I'm finished with my current projects.

Any future builds planned?

I would actually love to build another cabover with an Edison kit. I am really interested in this hybrid system. Currently, I’m working on another truck so I can park this one and make more progress on this cabover. I’m going to fix the paint and body, convert the front lug studs to stud pilot instead of budd. I have some 315 super singles for the front. There is some electrical wiring I need to redo and fix. The aftermarket wiring harness works very well but the way I routed it might cause future problems.

Any advice for those looking to build?

Watch your budget! The bigger the truck, the bigger the cost. I don’t pay full price for much of anything because I'm too limited on budget. Most of my parts came from Ebay, local scrap yards as well as.purchasing part buses. The bigger parts like engine, trans, and axles are from a few different buses. I was able to finance a lot of my project from the parting out of the buses. A Cummins engine will go for $2500 to 5k depending on which one. I get about $500 out of scrapping the body. Anything else I can use or sell before I scrap it, is a bonus!