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I think Vince has chosen a great swap here using the 6.0L. It should be an exceptionally smooth transition, including an accurate and appropriate Excursion OEM owners manual that anyone can use for guidance.
I have to admit I once considered a V-10-to-Cummins swap into my own Excursion, especially when it blew a spark plug ($700+)... and there were signs that was not the first plug to fail, such as an adjacent plug having an odd non-OEM coil on it. I hadn't noticed this before I bought it, although I did question the previous owner and he swore no problems. In my defense, there were full Ford service records showing a local dealership having done the 100k plug service to put my mind at ease. Still...
While I admire the Cummins 5.9L, the Cummins/Ford swap doesn't appear all that friendly to me. Sure, the foreign parts eventually bolt in and a mixture of the features of Dodge, or Ford, can be retained in the finished vehicle. But it appeared that much of the marginally workable swap is still a morphodite with spliced wiring and a great probability that many common Excursion electrical features may end up compromised. Without the Ford computer, perhaps the Passive Anti-Theft System (PATS) will be erratic, I don't really know. Guages and check engine warnings may never work OEM-like, for instance. And, unfortunately, the auto tranny ends up either the less desirable Dodge or, in my case, an "adapted" 4R100 Ford with a hoaky after market control system. To sum it up, I thought that the likelyhood of the vehicle being finicky to drive, would certainly cause my wife to avoid driving it.
I think Vince has found a way to avoid the bad manners of many hotrods. The 6.0L swap-choice offers a true OEM-like bolt-in swap using the precise parts the factory installed in the donor. The 6.0L is rock solid once the EGR/cooler, and headbolt issues are resolved. It is superior to the older 7.3L in stock performance, offering the snap of the V-10 gasser in city traffic. I have a stock 7.3L* pick-up and, in traffic, it feels downright sluggish compared to the V-10 Excursion. On the other hand, the 6.0L is as snappy as the V-10, I assume because of the variable geometry turbo which quickly adds more bottom spooling off the line.
Besides a Ford-in-a-Ford delivering complete factory like motor attributes, the 6.0L also comes with the matching excellent 5R110 transmission, which is just about the best out there
according to Diesel Power Mag. There is no reason such a 6.0L swap should not be a very well behaved, and enjoyable, Excursion project, one that no wife would fear to drive.
*Of course, comparing the 6.8L V-10 gasser to the V-8 7.3L diesel, once on the highway, even the old, sluggish 7.3L diesel tows right in it's torque band, at OD cruise rpm, and is very resistant to shifting down to maintain speed. The snappy "cammer" V-10, on the other hand, must drop into 3rd, or even 2nd, on steeper hills, usually an rpm overkill to reach it's torque peak in order to maintain speed. That "gear-holding" alone is part of the fuel economy advantage to any turbo'd engine, in this case the diesel. The trusty turbo-diesel pokes along uphill or not, seldom having to rev, largely due to the turbo packing in extra cubic inches of air under load. The turbo acts, in effect, as a continuously variable transmission, allowing gradually increased displacement when required, but yet, no more air/fuel than is needed due to some obscene rpm jump.
Wes
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Days spent camping are not subtracted from one's total.
- 2019 Leprechaun 311FS Class C
- Linda, Wes and Quincy the Standard Brown Poodle
