A FAMILY HEIRLOOM IS REBORN

A TIGHT FIT

Other than things being a bit tight under the hood, no notching of the firewall was necessary to accommodate the Cummins. In fact, the engine would be set back 4-inches on the frame after setting the cab on a pair of fresh cab mounts, which also called for repositioning the motor mounts. However, even with engine moved close to the firewall, little room remained for an adequately sized radiator. Instead of sacrificing cooling capacity, Chris purchased the largest off-the-shelf radiator Ron Davis builds and mounted it in the bed. Then to ensure the engine remained intercooled, he sourced a waterto-air unit from Precision Turbo & Engine, which sits suspended above the valve cover.

SCHEID-BUILT 5.9L

As for the engine itself, Chris dropped it off at Scheid Diesel’s Effingham, Illinois location for a full refresh from the bottom up. The factory rods were retained but treated to ARP rod bolts and new, stock compression Mahle pistons. Scheid’s 12-valve street cam also made the build list, along with fire-ring grooves being added to the block for ultimate peace of mind. A remanufactured cylinder head fitted with stiffer valve springs is anchored to the crankcase via ARP 2000 head studs. A billet-aluminum, one-piece Scheid valve cover and intake plate top things off.

On the frame and just under the driver side door, Chris mounted an Airdog II fuel supply system. The lift pump sends a consistent 25 to 30-psi of diesel the P-pump’s way, and pulls fuel from a factory second-gen Dodge tank. Breathing through an AEM air filter and outerwear, the Scheidsourced 58mm S300G was spec’d just about perfect for the engine’s fueling mods and sports a 64.5mm turbine wheel inside a .80 A/R exhaust housing. The internally wastegated charger allows roughly 35-psi of boost to be made at full tilt and is bolted to a T3 Steed Speed manifold and a 4-inch downpipe. Space under the hood of a ’51 Chevrolet 3800 is pretty limited, especially when you’ve installed a much larger inline-six and prefer to run an intercooler. To get around his real-estate problem, Chris opted for Precision Turbo & Engine’s cast PT1001 water-to-air unit. Requiring engine coolant to operate, Chris built a separate cooling system dedicated to the intercooler using a Ron Davis radiator behind the grille and a Moroso water pump mounted along the frame rail.