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| David Sosa worked 10 hours a day for seven weeks to combine a K100 cab and a wrecked KW T660 into a clean-emissions repowered classic cabover. truckinginfo.com |
Some truckers still have a love affair with the cabover, that staple of the '70s highway and shows like BJ and the Bear. I know one fellow trucking reporter (and a former owner-operator) who has been trying to find one to buy for a reasonable price and regales us with stories of misadventures on eBay.
California port trucker David Sosa recently shared with me his story of saving a beautiful Kenworth K 100E cab from the recycler and updating it with a Cummins ISX EPA '07 engine.
Originally this truck was a wrecked 2009 Kenworth T660, which he bought for the engine to help him meet strict emissions regulations at the port. When he was looking for a cab to mate with it, he found the K100 cab nearby for only $1,000.
"I lost my father in August of 2012, and I prayed to him and promised him that I would convert the T660 into a cabover to revive memories of the 1970s when my dad used to have one like that," Sosa says.
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| Sosa spent $3,500 on the cab and about $1,000 on a wrecked T660 with a Cummins ISX. truckinginfo.com |
Sosa worked on it for 10 hours a day for seven weeks.
The cab, bought in a junkyard, included the radiator, water, air to air cooler, front axle, battery box, two tanks, cable shifting, and air filter, and half chassis. The deal included the box of batteries, pedestal mufflers, two diesel tanks and an air filter, for $3,500.
He took delivery of the K100 cab around Christmas last year, then spent the next nearly two months working on his masterpiece. He took the engine and transmission out of the T660, then cut it leaving the rear ends and welded it together with the K100 to make a 230-inch wheelbase.
The engine did not fit well, so he had to make modifications to crossmembers, engine mounts and oil pan. He also had to find a fan that fit, installed the DPF and designed and drilled 32 holes to modify all the crossmembers including the diesel tanks.
He left the pedestal mufflers for decoration, but the diesel particulate filter is connected to the bottom in the middle of the tanks.
It took another four days to modify the cab so it cleared the turbo and the intake pipes. After that he had to put in all the diesel, air, electric, electronic, hydraulic, brakes, and lights connections, double check all his measurements, and add water and oil.
"On February 16, at 4:40 pm was the last final test. I started the engine and took a while but finally started, I started crying and look toward the sky and told my father, 'This is your truck.'"
A few more modifications and he took the truck to the streets for the first time on Feb. 18, and made an appointment to get it approved by the California Air Resources Board.
"CARB congratulated me because they personally saw and liked the job done on this truck," he says. With the new lower-emissions engine, he says, the truck is good to work at the port until the year 2022.
"This is more than a project for me. It's a inspiration to people that love their vintage trucks and want to keep driving a old school truck with a modern engine that's clean."
Deborah Lockridge
Editor in Chief
Truck journalist 21 years, joined us in 1998. Plans and coordinates editorial, specializes in maintenance, drivers and fleet operations.
What a great story and great looking rig. Lots of time and energy went into the project and that can be seen by the fantastic work.
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