2002 Ford Excursion Powerstroke Cummins Diesel Engine Swap - Swap Fever

11. The new DeStroked flexplate has a smaller overall diameter than the flexplate found on the Cummins, so the adapter plate moves the starter location inboard. This required cutting a chunk of metal from the engine block so the starter could fit.

12. Zuccarello chose to use the Cummins power steering pump, but there are parts available in the aftermarket that allow the fitment of a Ford pump. He had a local hydraulic shop make modifications to the Cummins high-pressure hose so it would mount to the Ford hydroboost unit.

13. The '03 Cummins 24-valve is not fly-by-wire like the Power Stroke, so it required the addition of a mechanical throttle cable. A Ford cable from a gasoline application was used and it's mated to the Cummins throttle lever via a DeStroked throttle cable kit. At the pedal, Zuccarello made a bracket to accept the cable. One of the reasons Zuccarello chose this generation of Cummins engine was that he felt that it would be the most receptive to cruise control. His plan is to use a Ford gas engine cruise control servo and hardwire it into the vehicle so it will operate a cable to run the throttle.

14. The Cummins is cooled by the factory Ford radiator. This is a good thing because the Ford radiator is much larger than the Cummins radiator. Zuccarello was able to mate the Dodge fan shroud directly to the Ford radiator. Here you can see how he used a holesaw to create space for the upper radiator hose. The lower radiator hose fit without any mods to the shroud.

15. The lower radiator hose (shown) was created by mating the factory water pump end of the Dodge hose to the radiator end of the factory Ford hose. Zuccarello could've used aftermarket stainless steel flex tube hose, but he wanted to reuse as many factory components as possible. Here you can see where the two hoses were mated together. The upper radiator hose is a Dodge piece that simply has about 3 inches removed from the thermostat end.

16. To mount the shroud to the radiator, Zuccarello modified the factory Ford passenger-side upper radiator bracket (shown). This bracket normally holds the Ford coolant bottle and the jack system. About 4 or 5 inches of length was removed from this bracket. The other driver-side upper bracket was left stock. Zuccarello plans on fabricating lower shroud brackets that will fit in the existing slots in the Ford radiator. The factory Ford coolant bottle would no longer fit, so a Canton aluminum reservoir is being installed on custom mounts.

17. Both of the stock Dodge intercooler tubes were reused. This is the passenger-side tubing during a final test-fit with modified stock hoses. The tube was reused without any modification. The only thing Zuccarello had to do was install a shorter hose at the turbo.

18. Here you can see the driver-side intercooler tube during a test-fit. This tube was modified to fit by removing approximately 2 inches from each end.

19. The exhaust system actually went together pretty easily. Zuccarello used an Excursion MBRP system and a downpipe for an '03-'04 Dodge application. He had to remove about 18 inches from the downpipe and then the two went together with no problem.

20. Zuccarello had to custom-make some parts, like this power steering "T" connector. He fabbed it from hardware store parts and its job is to receive the fluid from the Ford steering box and hydroboost, and return the fluid to the Dodge reservoir.

21. The threads on the Ford oil pressure sensor and coolant temperature sensor are different than the threads on the Cummins engine, so Zuccarello made adapters to mate them together.

22. Another cool DeStroked product is this tachometer adapter. It takes the signal from the Cummins crank sensor and changes it to the correct pulse output for the Ford instrument cluster.

23. This is the Powertrain Control Solutions (PCS) automatic transmission controller, and it's mandatory for this swap. PCS sells these units through distributors like Brian's Truck Shop and DeStroked. Quite simply, this unit controls operation of the electronic 4R100 transmission. It came with outstanding instructions, detailed schematics, and a DVD for programming. Zuccarello mounted the PCS controller (and the DeStroked tachometer adapter) inside the vehicle so they would be protected from moisture. The transmission controller comes with basic programming to make the transmission functional. Zuccarello will then work with Brian's Truck Shop to fine-tune the controller for his application via software.

24. The new air filter takes up the space where the passenger side battery used to be, so only the driver-side battery will be used. For the immediate future Zuccarello will run one oversize Optima YellowTop battery. He used a combination of Dodge and Ford cables for power connections.

25. When we left the Excursion, the team was buttoning up the front clip. Some items, like the air conditioning, were still being sorted out and custom pieces would have to be made.