It isn’t everyday that you can understand someone yanking the 454 out of a perfectly good square-body GM truck. Besides the immediate “but…big-block!” argument, there’s the contingent of folks who view a big-bore V8 as a better alternative to a diesel, and those who would rather hear the happy noises of a Mark IV block putting down torque over the clatter that signifies the arrival of a Cummins diesel. Then again, there’s a strong argument for the twelve-valve Cummins inline-six, too. Working with 95 less cubic inches, the Cummins can produce a tsunami of torque that the Rat could only match if it was built to the hilt inside and out. The Cummins is about as anvil-durable as they get, and any weight issues that come with a diesel swap will be quickly dealt with by the turbocharging system. If you want to play, you use the big-block. But when you want to work, you use a diesel. That’s the mindset of Mike Finnegan, who has found the weaknesses of the Ramp Truck, the 1974 Chevrolet C30 ramp truck that has been around for a few minutes now. The Chevy was always lauded in shows, but it had it’s fair share of issues and now that Finn is using the truck to haul around his ’55 Chevy, he’s learned a thing or two about dismal fuel economy, overheating and crawling up mountain grades while getting passed by triple-trailer semi trucks.

The answer was a twelve-valve…in this case, one yanked from what appears to be an Air Force tug Dodge. These stubby little trucks are a cut-down and rebodied unit that’s meant to drag aircraft across a flightline and to haul a couple of airmen out to work on whatever is broke. They’re geared to the moon and “usually” are well taken care of. So, we have a surplus Dodge, help from Power Driven Diesel and Diesel Conversion Specialists, and a Chevy that’s about to get a heart transplant that GM never saw coming. This is the first of a two-part series, but the meat and potatoes of how to jam a Cummins into a square-body is here. Check it out!