Does anyone on here know much about these engines? I know that there were 2 different 5.7 Blocks, D and the later DX. But, I wanted some more insight from someone who may have worked on one. I saw a Cutlass G-Body supreme with one before but never thought much about it. I only got into GM Diesels after seeing a 6.5 I really liked.
4.3 V6 and 5.7L Diesel
- Thread starter GM Diesel Fan
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- 4.3 v6 4.3l v8 5.7 diesel
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They make great foundations for high HP gas engines. From what I gather, they are pretty well useless as diesels; stick with the 6.5.
I almost thought of buying a DX block Diesel for an OBS chevy but as a 383 stroker diesel with 17:1 compression to avoid the head gasket and stud issues. and then just do 383 heads with 6.5 studs, which I was told would work. idk I just wanted to ask to see if I could do something different. Thanks for the response tho! oh, if you read down to this part, would a 6.5 work in w G-Body supreme? replace the 5.7 diesel? I think that would be cool. 6.5's just sound like high compression v8's with diesel knock.
Check out 84dragcutlass 's build: https://gbodyforum.com/threads/1987-cutlass-build.58767/ He's run into a few obstacles; don't know if they've been resolved yet.
Don't know what you really want to know about them, they weren't that bad of an engine as long as you knew it was a gutless wonder. The 6.2 is a better engine than the 5.7, more available. 6.5 better yet because the came stock turbocharged. 1992-93 came w/ mechanical pumps after that went electronic which opens another can of worms. Last of all you have the 6.6.
The 5.7 can be made decent with head studs instead of the torque to yield bolts, thats #1 priority. Ive even seen them with an added turbo. Once you get the heads stable then you can bump them up a little. But only a little. The 6.5 will fit, the turbo version will not fit with the factory heat/AC unit on the firewall. Mine is sitting on speedway motors solid mounts for additional clearance. There arent any clearance problems with the engine cross member. The driver exhaust manifold WILL be an issue however a small notch to the frame will fix it. You would need to switch to a chevy bolt pattern trans or run an adapter to bolt the 6.5 up to the original trans which is a TH200 so have fun with it for all of the first throttle blip unless you build it up. If it were me and i had an original diesel car (which i do there is a build thread in the future) then i would build up the original 5.7 diesel. The cool factor from those comes from the rarity these days of them, and also they sound pretty cool, a lot like the 6.5 with no turbo whistle. Keep in mind that the market has a lot of aftermarket parts for gas 350 olds and quite a few of them will work with the diesel to make it better they are very similar in construction to a gas engine. The 6.5 also has good aftermarket support but stick with the manual injection engine to save on headaches.
There are so many misleading stories out there about the Oldsmobile Diesel engines its truly hard to keep tract, not alone understand it all. I have owned several throughout the years and currently own just one, in my 1985 FWD Oldsmobile Ninety Eight. This particular LS2 V6 engine was only produced UP TO February in 1985, and then GM gave the ax to the ENTIRE diesel program. It was truly a shame, because this last produced engine had all the "bugs" worked out of it. It contained a 4 bolt main bottom end, it had extra head bolts for the high compression and infamous head gasket failures in prior engines. It had the factory water separator to alleviate water in fuel issues. However its reputation killed the entire GM diesel program, and hurt diesel engine sales in general throughout the automotive industry. A lot of this was engineering issues, a lot of it was customer and service technician issues. I'm not getting into a lengthy drawn out conversation, but when you have customers not knowing how to drive or maintain these new engines, nor do you have shop technicians who knew how to diagnose or work on them, the GM diesel programs demise was inevitable. Another thing before closing, the Oldsmobile Diesel blocks were just that, they were NOT gas Conversions...anyone who says they were are idiots. HOWEVER a lot of guys have taken and converted the Diesel blocks to gas because the blocks are HEAVY DUETY and can hold up under severe racing conditions. Hope this tidbit of information can be useful to someone out there.
thank you for that. and yeah i'd love a 350 diesel. i wonder if a gasser supercharger would fit on one. just a small one. nothing big. they have the supercharger kits for 6.2 and 6.5
As said, if you want an Olds diesel for a G body, the RWD version, which all cast iron with same improvements mentioned above, 4.3 V6 is the best choice. They can actually stand a Turbo charger to give half decent performance. Stock, the deliver around 40 mpg highway but only 85 hp/160 ft/lbs. The best non turbo GM diesel is the 6.2 military grade V8. They put out 180hp and 330 ft/lbs with the extra heavy duty blocks and have hardened gears in the injector pumps for Arctic fuel. That is the same output as a stock Olds 403 with much better mileage.
I would love a 4.3. I want to hear what they sound like with turbo and a nice exhaust. I like how they sound at idle
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