Installing Diesel Motor???

[Boeing]

I KNOW some of you guys have considered installing a diesel motor in your SUV's or Pick-ups.
I have a 1975 BLAZER with a gas guzzling 350 Sure would like to go diesel. And I'm not talking a 600 cu in diesel, I'm talking a little motor.
Remember the VW diesel mini-pickups in the 80's....what happened to them? Isuzu built cars and mini's in the 80's....where'd they go?
I'm getting pretty sick of paying $4.00 a gallon and getting 17 MPG. (The Blazer gets 12 MPG) If you go to Europe EVERYTHING is diesel....cars, cabs, trucks....well, not motor cycles but it wouldn't surprise me
Any ideas here? Anything available? Can we get an old JD engine and fit it into a pickup?I]

 

[jonyyuma]

You need the cummins 6 cylinder to pull the blazer. I have a junked 2.2 isuzu engine and it is only rated 62 hp....Look at the weight of your rig,, a Vw would not have a chance... AlsoChevy 6.2 and 6.5 will bolt right in.Jy.

 

[MD09]

Swapping engines sounds easy however,

Some things to think about:

Diesels are heavy compared to the 350 Chevy this would lead to beefign up the suspension to handle thh additional weight.

Diesels product tons of low end torque this will eat a gas powered Drive line

Harmonics, a vibration that occures are certain rpms, Cummins is famouse for 6th order harmonics which eats gearboxes and drivelines.

Too Small and you end up using more fuel than the gasser

Too large and the drive train will suffer.

Power stuff, (like Brakes) need a vacuum source (Hydro boost).

When all is said and done you will have somethign like $6-10K invested in your project..... Keep it forever it is a good investment, if the initial rig is somewhat on the tired side...... It will be more so sooner with a diesel installed.

Mercedes had a 5 cylinder mechanical diesel with a turbo, not fast but easy to work on and adapt to other vehicles, Isuzu truck are also Mechanical in design, again easy to adapt but loud.

Electronic controled diesels are quieter but require much more adapting ( electrical) to make work in a "new" platform.

Gearing , 4.11 in a gasser will be too low for a moderate powered diesel, gearing closer to 3.0 in a blazer application would work better.

And Before you ask, Yes I have done a couple of swaps
1st ISB Cummins ( common rail ) to a 79 F250
2nd Mercedes V6 common rail into a 41 weapons carrier ( lots of custome work
3rd Cummins bt4 into a CJ 7 pickup.......

All required a pile of money and lots of time. Not a weekend project.

 

[Kernopelli]

I used to subscribe to farm Show Magazine and I remember they did an article on a company that was doing tractor engine to light truck swaps. Agriculture equipment, farm magazines, farm equipment, farm inventions, farm machinery, agriculture machinery I also remember a member here that did a thread several years ago about putting a 30 or 40 HP jinma engine in his truck. Might try doing a search for it...sorry but I can't remember too many details about it other than it worked out fine and at last report I think he had 10-15K miles on it. This guy had a lot less in his conversion than the Farm Show company.

You could always look for one of the '80's GM 5.7L diesel engines they were putting in cars back then......well, that will be a problem. I think the only running example is locked away in a vault in Detroit so GM can prove that they actually ran at one point in time.

 

[chucko]

I was thinking steam could put the fire wood right in the bed of the truck


Sentinel Steam Powered Truck - 1933 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[MD09]

I KNOW some of you guys have considered installing a diesel motor in your SUV's or Pick-ups.
I have a 1975 BLAZER with a gas guzzling 350 Sure would like to go diesel. And I'm not talking a 600 cu in diesel, I'm talking a little motor.
Remember the VW diesel mini-pickups in the 80's....what happened to them? Isuzu built cars and mini's in the 80's....where'd they go?
I'm getting pretty sick of paying $4.00 a gallon and getting 17 MPG. (The Blazer gets 12 MPG) If you go to Europe EVERYTHING is diesel....cars, cabs, trucks....well, not motor cycles but it wouldn't surprise me
Any ideas here? Anything available? Can we get an old JD engine and fit it into a pickup?I]

'nother thought,
GM had a 6.2L Diesel in their trucks and blazers. While it was a mechanical motor and underpowered it would be a "drop in" motor as you can get one from a H1 Military hummer, or ole GM truck/blazer. They were not quick or quiet.

Cheers

 

[jonyyuma]

I also, have one of the 82 MB 5 cylinder turbo diesels in my yard. 120hp and about 26 mpg in the car..The engine has cast iron head and cylinder liners, very tough..The Chevy6.2 with out turbo is an underperformer, 389cuin and not a real good design. The 6.2 is in a lot of Military Blazers, plenty of parts available..I wore out the trucks under these engines, fuel got high, so I started driving gas Toyotas.

 

[Kernopelli]

Sorry, this is off topic but my previous post also reminded me of another article in Farm Show about an old guy that ran his truck on wood gas. Very simple concept and if I remember correctly, this was really common place during the gas shortages of WWII, particularly in Europe. This would certainly be something to look into for anyone running a dedicated engine like a generator or pump.

 

[o2batsea]

Cummins 4BT. There's oodles of swap info out there for these engines. Check out Pirate 4x4 for lots of stuff on this.

 

[RPW]

On problem with the 5.7L GM diesels are the heads. They tend to crack with age i.e. over 150k. We had an 80 Olds with the 5.7L and we loved it. Got about 30mpg on the highway. Also had an 82 chevy 3+3 3/4 ton and also I loved it also. Would also get about 17 city and about 20+ on the highway. Both would be a fairly easy swap. You might have to change the transmission depending on where you get your donor motor from as the bolt pattern is different from chevy and oldsmobile.

Good luck.