Chad Riley's tube-chassis '67 Camaro tackles two of the most difficult challenges of performing a diesel engine swap. First, it's a common-rail 5.9L engine, which involves a lot more electrical work than a 12-valve Cummins swap. Secondly, the engine is in a car, which offers much less space than a truck.
The Camaro's common-rail engine was sourced from a wrecked Dodge Ram pickup. The entire engine was torn down, and the crank, rods, and pistons were cryogenically treated by Mountain High Performance in Arvada, Colorado. The pistons were milled 0.090-inch and then coated to achieve a 16:1 compression ratio.
In order to improve the Cummins' high-rpm potential, Chad had the cylinder head ported, the stock intake manifold machined off, and larger valves installed. A camshaft from F-1 Diesel was then slipped into the block, and a bolt-on intake now feeds the engine.
Fuel And Air
An Industrial Injection CP3 pump feeds fuel via a FASS 150-gph lift pump to a set of Diesel Performance Unlimited injectors. The turbo is a mammoth 88mm Industrial Injection unit, and since the Camaro has no intercooler, a Snow Performance water-methanol kit was added (spraying straight water) to keep the intake charge cool, while a NOS Launcher nitrous system adds extra power when needed.
A 6.0L Power Stroke starter and flywheel were used with an adapter from Destroked.com to mate the Cummins to a Lenco transmission. An aluminum bellhousing helps offset the added weight of the Cummins, while a custom South Bend three-disc clutch harnesses the quadruple-digit torque. A flat-bottom oil pan improves the car's ground clearance yet still maintains the stock oil capacity. The wiring harness from the donor truck was stripped of all non-essential parts (saving 5 pounds), and a Smarty TNT-R was used to reprogram the stock ECU. When all the gremlins get ironed out, Chad expects the 2,950-pound, 1,200hp '67 to run deep in the 8s and get more than 20 mpg on the highway.
- 88mm turbocharger
- Custom one-piece valve cover
- Side-flow intake
- Engine set back 6 inches in chassis
- Nitrous and water injection
- Fluidampr harmonic balancer