I have thought about putting the big Cummins Dodge Turbo diesel in my 71 Fury Wagon. It has the frame to handle it and those engines can make some real power when you pump them up with a bigger turbo. I think the car would be faster than if I built a 500 plus stroker motor for it ( I know it would be more durable) and it could get pretty good fuel mileage. But man I hate the smell of diesel, and all that black smoke, and the car would have to be sound proofed alot to put up with the noise of those engines. Still if I was to find a wrecked turbo dodge truck I would give it some thought. I could see it now, pull in off the road at the track with the air on, make a 10.90 pass in that big wagon and the crowd would go wild, well after the smoke cleared and they could see the timing board anyway .


Jess

Jess,

My '96 Ram 2500 Cummins Club Cab didn't smoke, would roast the tires easily, and got 18+ MPH with 4.10 gears. The tune-up wasn't radical at all, just Banks stuff. It would have gotten better mileage with 3.54s and then would have gone more than 87 MPH. The common rail injected Cummins engines are much quieter.

There is a Cummins powered Monte Carlo on You Tube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RO_kjaxIDzc

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Joshua

Now, now SSD:
Along with my Valiants ['64 177ci 4 dr; '64 225 2 dr], I've also got THREE [3] of those little 350 diesels. '81 Olds Cutlass Brougham, '82 Cad Eldo and '79 Cad Seville. IF and ONLY IF properly maintained, they rarely break & don't smoke, aren't particularly rough if you are used to a good cam in a gas engine. The trans weren't that bad, but there are now bullet proof 200Rs.
Noise?, huh?, I can't here you over the engine! Wait till I turn it off. [LOL] If you set the pump timing right, jack the injector pressure and so on, they are really quick too! I got between 32 and 36 mpg with them.
Americans just don't do proper maintenance, so they were always screwing up the engines. And yes that did set diesel in America back a good 20 years.

Dad has a 82 Caddy with the 5.7. It has over 200K on it. He doesn't drive it much anymore. Injector pump was a problem with seals. IIRC same pump as the 3208 N/A Cat. Dad had tranny problems too.


Anyone that knows the 71 series Detroits knows the 8V71 needed to be rebuilt frequently. Fast when they did'nt have a load on them. I only drove one 671. They didn't call them "screamin demons" for nothing!

The Nissan conversion was done at dealers.

The D50 Mitsubishis were pretty good. My neighbor has a D50 4x4 back against my fence. I wish it had a diesel!

My Cummins only goes 83. 159HP and 425 torque. I am guessing it has 4:11's. There is no tag on the rear as it has been rebuilt.

B20 biodiesel smells like French fries. It gives less mileage in my experience, 17.9 tops VS 21.7 with ULSD. Bio costs the same if not more in TN.

IIRC biodiesel puts out more green house gases as does ethanol.

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'72 Duster 198 stock cam, 3:23's Hookers on jack stands for 8 years in the driveway
'79 Maxivan 360 Offy Qjet Comp RV cam/rusting in the driveway.
93 D350 160HP Cummins Auto Dually Clubcab needs a injector pump
2005 Golden Couch Buick

The Nissan diesel conversion in my family is going to become available this summer. Likely it will just be the engine with all the mounting and trans adapter. The car it is in is up in Washington state. I am planning on keeping the front disk setup and rear from this car. The rest of the car is a 4 door 73 dart, in so - so condition.

It ran fine for what it is last I saw it. So anyone interested keep this in mind. I can't do much about it until I get up there, but this is the real thing, for what it is worth. An interesting conversion that might be good, or better, for a truck as well.

Gotta chime in here because diesel is topic close to my heart. I own the International 7.3 NA in the lard bus, the slant six, and the craptastic Benz diesel, and have a small amount of experience with the 6.2 GM diesel and the 80s VW diesel. In short:

1. International 6.9 & 7.3 IDI (indirect diesel injection, means a prechamber). Installed in 79-93 Ford pickups and a billion school bus and heavy truck apps. NOT to be confused with the Powerstroke, or the 444TE. This engine is truly a fine piece, and Ford owners got lucky that such a meaty beast got installed in their trucks. Roller rockers, 21:1 compression, exhaust valve rotators, oil squirters, beef galore. Weight approaches 1000lbs - that should tell you something. I put 80k on mine without a single hitch engine wise. HP was 195 stock, up to 300hp with an aftermarket turbo. But you'll see 20+mpg in a 1 ton truck. A very simple, durable engine with almost no weak points. The injectors are low pressure at around 1500psi and so it burns anything without flinching including water and dead flies. I run mine on chicken grease, but she'll burn motor oil, transmission fluid, kerosine, whatever. Keep in mind that this engine is NOT a Powerstroke/444TE. The powerstroke is a much more modern design, runs 26,000psi of fuel pressure, and the combustion chamber is actually IN the piston not the head. The powerstroke also runs multiple injection squirts per combustion stroke, and also run a tiny little squirt on another stroke to minimize noise. Highly computer controlled, as opposed to the IDI which has but 1 wire to operate it.

2. Slant six would be a good choice to convert to diesel, but it still wouldn't be worth it. The Cummins weighs well over 1000lbs, about three times more than the /6, so even if you did it you probably wouldn't be able to mount it in a regular car without massive mods. At nearly tripple the compression ratio, I doubt the block would hold together. Chamber temps would go up maybe 500 degrees as well, possibly blowing the head gasket, warping the head, not to mention overloading the cooling system. Head bolts would be overstressed as well. As fun as it is to think about, put a slant six diesel conversion out of your mind.

If you want get your feet wet in the wacky world of diesel, the Cummins is the way to go. There's also the Cummins 4BT, which is the same engine less two cylinders and came in bread trucks and step vans. The VW is pretty good, and the Benz is garbage but it's fun to learn on. And dirt cheap too - ebay is always littered with sub $500 Benz's that people buy and give up on.

What this country needs is what Europe already has: 1 liter diesels in tiny little cars that get 50mpg. But to do that, you need to design the engine and car together, and for reasons I don't undestand we can't seem to do that.

Kip On Truckin'

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1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)