the baby diesel

[Wake]

Is anyone thinking about throwing in the 'Mini Max' Duramax 4.5L turbodiesel that's on its way? With a simple Edge programmer and an extremely robust driveline, that could be the combination to beat on the street and the drag strip.

You've all seen the youtube videos of huge crewcab diesel trucks knocking out z06 vettes and vipers at the track. In a much lighter car it would be something to see.

http://blogs.dieselpowermag.com/6210043 ... index.html

If I had the money I would be first in line to buy the complete engine and throw it in my Cutlass.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I would consider it if it were cheap, and comparable in weight to the GEN I SBC. If it were heavier, it would compromise handling too much for me to use it.

 

[custom442]

I would run it if it would take one of those grease tank conversions. Then I would hook up with a mexican restaraunt that doesn't go by any regulations and buy their grease for 10$ a barrel.

 

[dan2286]

I would run it if it would take one of those grease tank conversions. Then I would hook up with a mexican restaraunt that doesn't go by any regulations and buy their grease for 10$ a barrel.

You can use it as long as it has no rubber fuel hoses. I am not sure what year that engine came from but, most newer engines hve synthetic/plastic fuel lines that are compatible with bio-fuel. That is the only poblem that is encountered with using bio-fuel.

 

[Uncletruck]

"If it were cheap" is right- nothing with diesels is cheap, take it from a guy who owned an OTR truck for 10 years.

There is no modern diesel you are going to run off of frying pan grease or the such to meet emissions. Old pump-line-injector systems could get away with about anything (for a while), but modern unitized electronic diesel injectors won't work off of anything just dumped in the tank. Diesel exhaust systems now also have EGR valves and inline catalytic converters just like gas engines, and the Isuzu/GM Duramaxes are VERY complex diesels.

Just a guess, the retail cost of one of those engines would be around $8-10K or more. It's just not something you are going to "drop" in to an $800-1000 car, if it even fits under the hoodline and the suspension could handle it. It's nice to dream, but be realistic.

Could be one of those Jesse James projects. Get a few dorks who can cut metal and make a few blobs of arc welds, and get the engine and parts as "freebies," and it only has to last about 15 minutes, then it's a GO!



-UT-

 

[custom442]

I'm not really buying a diesel . I drove a 2002 Hino 24" for a while and the 'low sulfur' warnings are b.s. Companies just slap them on to uphold congressional laws. Citgo and Valero have diesel as yellow as paint on some days and the truck ran like new with 400,000 miles. I'm positive the thing would run off a grease conversion.

Edit: The car diesels are different, and the turbo ones also.

 

[Uncletruck]

They just started using the low sulfur diesel in 2007, and it is mandated it is not BS. Problems with injector lubrication on older diesels are cropping up all over as the sulfur was a major injector lubrication component. Line injectors are more forgiving, but older unit injectors are giving way left and right as they make their injection pressure within themselves mechanically through a cam lobe or through hydraulic pressure from engine oil.

"Diesel as yellow as paint" is dyed off highway diesel, (no difference than any other diesel other than it is not highway taxed) and it is not likely by any normal means that you put 400k miles on the Hino in the past year when the low sulfur diesel was introduced. Give it time, it will give you problems.

I call those pickup engines like the Duramax, Power-Smoke, 5.9 Cummins and Caterpillar C7's throw aways. They are parent bore engines that cannot be rebuilt in frame, you just toss it in to the scrap heap when done, and it costs major bucks to replace.

Yes, car TD's are different, and do hold a lot of merit (other then GM's bid for the late '70's) and hold some promise. VW and Mercedes make some great contenders for the economy.

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It is interesting to note that the older Mercedes Diesels,( Like the OM-617 indirect injection turbo used in the W123 and W126 chassis cars) have replaceable liners just like a large commercial truck diesel does. They only ran into problems when they decided to cut costs and make a cast in block cylinder instead in the late 80's or early 90's. I would consider a diesel car in the future, but would probably shy away from any American cars with them. American companies don't seem to do diesel cars well.

 

[Uncletruck]

Around the time of the conversion between RWD G bodies and FWD, (You know, wonderful American cars like the Citation and Celebrity) American car companies haven't been able to do much of any car well. It's not just the cars, as some of them have been respectable, well a few of them.

The management philosophies, along with the UAW and its stubborness, and lack fo global supply awareness and ability of cost effective factory adaptation have been the major causes of people to not buy American. Myself included a long time ago. When I worked as a trucker seeing these arrogant production a-holes making $30+/hr and having $80-100k+ pensions to run a forkflift with their c-sucker attitudes made me say goodbye to buying any new American car, and that was honestly giving them the benefit of the doubt with my last POS Ford Ranger. And that's the truth brothers, I can't feel a bit sorry for what Wall Street is doing to every one of those dicks, they deserve what they are getting.

-UT-

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I agree. I don't want to pay someone without a college education $30 an hour to do a repetitious manufacturing job. To me, it takes little more skill to work on an assembly line than it does to assemble Big Macs at McDonald's. I fail to understand why they make more than many college educated professionals.

I also think GM interiors had better quality in the 80's than they have since. Some of the newest models may finally be better, but their crap from the 90's was such utter garbage that even low priced Korean imports had better fit and finish than GM. I can remember looking at the 4th gen F bodies when they came out, and being appalled at the door gaps, the huge catalytic converter hump still present in the floor, and the overall feeling of chintz in everything I touched. Plus, the creaks and squeaks that were present due to the hard, brittle plastics they used gave their cars a cheap feeling surpassed only by cars from communist nations. My next new car, if I ever buy one, will either be a Nissan, Honda, Hyundai or Toyota. I won't even bother shopping domestic because I am wasting my time and money. Sure, a domestic may run for over 200k, but will anything else still work at that time? It is no longer good enough for a car to run for a long time. People have come to expect the options and little things to last that long as well. What good is a car that still runs if it nickel and dimes you to death so bad that you wish it would just hurry up and die? Or if the whole interior falls to pieces shortly after it is out of warranty? I have 294,000 on my Nissan, and have cold A/C that has needed only 1 repair in that time. Even better is that I have never had a sensor fail either. Plus, it uses less than a quart of oil between oil changes. When I know I can expect that from a Chevy, Ford or Dodge, I will consider looking at them again--but not before!