Heavy Z Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone has swapped a diesel engine into their Z car. My neighbor has a Chevy 6.2 laying around that was pulled from a military surplus Blazer. The more I think it through, the more sense it makes... - 250 ft/lb of torque at 2,000 rpms for good holeshots. - 40 mpg with conservative driving in the lightweight Z. With a 40 gallon fuel cell, that'd get you across the U.S. with only 1 gas stop. You may laugh, but with 30 years of oil left in this world it might be a good contingency hybrid to explore. I think that if a new message forum was dedicated to the diesel Z, that this idea would catch on. Plus, it would be a more economical tow vehicle. Imagine being at your local track blowing your air horn as you dust ricers, diesel fumes choking them as you pass. It would be a humbling experience for them, I'm sure. And to know that you could stay at the track all night and then make it through three states without gassing up, well... What would it take? Heavy Z, soon to be 'Convoy Z' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 Heh, well I must admit your right on the fuel supply. Of course do to the lobbying of the oil companies helping to keep it shut down, we'll wait until we're nearly out of oil completely before we start producing alcohol (which we could easily do with our agricultural abilities, just pay people to plant things instead of paying them NOT to grow something). Anyway, I believe it was in Hugh McGinnesses book on Turbo's (or Corky Bells can't recall which) that someone had put a nissan diesel inline 6 from a old (patrol? is that the model) 4x4 and was pulling down mileage close to what your talking about. It was turbo'ed obviously and had decent power. Consider VW's diesel 6 cylinder too, Volvo used them, it had some serious beans, not sure on its longitivity. The inline cummins in the dodge diesel with care a few are seeing a million miles on the engine. (thats right I said a million!) Only deal with diesels is the RPM's are usually pretty low so you'd want some gears in the 3.0's or sub 3's to take advantage of all that torque and not have to have a 16 spd gearbox. As I mentioned in another post, I ran across a place recently that had stage three cummins hop ups that were putting out 750 hp and over a 1000 ft/lbs of torque. Even the stage one upgrades were seeing over 600 ft/lbs. You may need a new rear end minimally, but you'll be able to tow 10,000 pounds up 11,000 ft peaks and still get 15 mpg! Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 Being a farmer, I think I can chime in a bit here. Biodiesel and Ethanol can only buy us some time with the fuel supply. There is no possible way to manufacture enough of it to completely replace fossile fuels. The entire annual soybean harvest from the united states would only supply the us trucking industry with less than 30 days of Biodiesel. As far as Ethenol being produced,The nations corn supply would not last more than 30 days for our nations cars either. I know the prognosis is gloomy,(assuming 30 yrs is accurate) but only a combination of alternative fuels, conservation, and exploration will extend our fuel supply. If you eliminate any one of the three, it wiil greatly shorten the expectancy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 I think a 6.2 is a very viable motor to stick in a Z or any other car for that matter. Very similar size to a 350 and fairly light (about half the weight of them giant IH Powerstroke diesels. There's lots of aftermarket for these motors and you could put down 300hp pretty easy. The available mods do obviously focus more on truck apps - high pulling torque, low hp, low RPMs. I'd give you bonus points for uniqueness. The car would definately be fast, and I think your 40mpg extimate is probably pretty close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 > You may laugh, but with 30 years of oil left in > this world it might be a good contingency > hybrid to explore. Heard that back in the early 1970s and again in the late 1970s. I guess it must be a rolling 30 year supply... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 21, 2002 Share Posted August 21, 2002 heh heh... Seriously! I think it'll work good in a truck with tall tires as well. Wonder if I can get a transfer case behind it and put the whole drivetrain in a jeep. (turbocharged 350 six speed maybe in a willy's woody wagon... or maybe a morris minor ) Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted August 22, 2002 Author Share Posted August 22, 2002 I know what you mean about the 'rolling 30 year oil supply', but in the 70's China wasn't producing twice as many cars as the U.S. does every year and southeast Asia, India, and the rest of the developing world had an infantile thirst for oil at that time as compared to today. I don't plan to yank out my 327 anytime soon, this was more of a 'what if' type of post. Should gas prices here get to the $4 level like in Europe, then the practicality of this setup might be an option. As a last point, we the consumers will be weaned off oil before we actually run out, probably using fuel cells or something like this . Our military (and other militaries around the world) will need the oil for their .7 mpg tanks and 16 foot-per-gallon destroyers. Heavy Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted August 22, 2002 Author Share Posted August 22, 2002 Hey Lone, with a Diesel maybe that T56 1st gear would fially be useful. Heavy Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Dreamer Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 Not to worry about crude oil going bye, bye. Have you ever heard of shale oil? Well over a 1000 years supply even at todays consumptions. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverz Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 I have never had any luck with the 6.2 motors. I have had two of them blow up on the freeway doing 55 one had a turbo the other did not. They also wieght alot more than a gas motor. just my .02 if you can make it work them more power to ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrat Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 Just to chime in on the other side of the fence, my stepdad has a 6.2L diesel in an 83 4X4 blazer, and it has close to 400K on the odometer without a rebuild. I know, he's owned it since 87 and put 350K on it himself. Changed the oil every 2500 miles, and it purrs. He's worn out water pumps, transmissions, rear ends, 4wd hubs, etc. but the motor is pristine. The glow plug relay stuck on about 40k ago and melted the glowplugs off so that they dropped down into the cylinders. we pulled the heads and removed the pieces, and there was no ring groove at the top! Out of curiosity, we pulled the pan and plastigaged the mains. 1.5 thousandths clearance. at 360,000 miles. wow. and 18-24 mpg. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 Make it a turbo diesel, and put and auto in it, intercool it and run more boost and I bet it would fly. I think it would be interesing to find one of the Nissan inline diesels and turbo it if it is not alreayd turbo. Diesels last forever, and they like turbo's too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverz Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 My dad had a grape harvester with a nissian diesel in it. It wasn't any bigger than the cummins in dodge trucks it had 400 hp (don't know the torque) out of the factory with a turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LIghtningZ Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 I'd hate to Rain on your 6.2L party but i've worked on them for to many years and they are J-U-N-K!!! they have to many problems and are to heavy... why does the military use them?? because thier a dime a dozen, but if you do decide to use this engine and want any kind of performance look up Gale Banks Engineering for turbo or twin turbo help !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Z Posted August 23, 2002 Author Share Posted August 23, 2002 Lots of ideas out there, and it seems that with so many diesels to choose from there's probably one out there for your tastes. Yes it will be heavier up front, and that is one of the trade-offs. But you'd still have a fast Z that could put $15 out of every $20 you spend on gas back into your pocket. And with the horsepower some of you have mentioned, well...it's like harnessing the power of a big-rig. This isn't going to be for everyone of course, it just seems to bring some intrigue to that old 'bang for your buck' idea. Heavy Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 the Idea of a v8 diesel Z as an economy car is not really a bad one. After thinking and reading these posts, I would actually consider building one. First I would use a 78 or earlier 2+2. Instead of the heavy 6.2. I would use a completely rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted olds 350 diesel. For the tranny I would use a 700r4 (or possibly a t56) I would use an r200 with the tallest gears possible. and finally for the tires, i would use 15" wheels with the tallest tires possible, without adversly effecting handling. I use to have an 81 grand prix w/ an olds 350, it would get 30mpg no matter how I drove it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ericmendenhall Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Hey, the "rolling 30 year supply" is an accurate description. Doom-and-gloom prophets always take KNOWN oil reserves and estimated usage to get their numbers. The "known reserves" are not equal to all the available oil on earth, and never will be, since it costs a lot of money to find out where the oil is. And once they find it, it can take 20 years to get to drill for it. Thanks for the farmer's clarification of the agri-panacea. Like so many other alternatives, solar, wind, etc, this is another example of something that definitely has some appropriate usage, but the truth is that they are not large scale viable options for replacing much of the existing power use structure. Most people involved in the industry can tell you what the physical limits are on these alternatives, and these limits are the reason for low usage, not some corporations or politicians or political party. What motorheads do have to fear is some overzealous politicians closing off "smog loopholes" that we currently exploit. the anti-SUV crowd will take your V8 away next. And you won't get any politicial power behind you when you fight against people who can scream "global warming" at you. Sorry, I didn't mean to write a full editorial! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted August 24, 2002 Share Posted August 24, 2002 I do have some plans for a still, and a biodiesel tank for the production of ethanol and biodiesel. The ethenol is actually used in the production of biodiesel as a catalyst for fermentation. http://www.biodiesel.org.au/old/faq.html http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_link.html http://www.biodieselaustria.com/en/productiontechnology.html http://www.superiorprocesstech.com/process.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 26, 2002 Share Posted August 26, 2002 Lightning Z hit the nail right on the head. I had one of these turd engines in my dually and it cost more to maintain it than to buy a new truck. Stay away from the 6.2 it's real junk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted August 27, 2002 Share Posted August 27, 2002 I'd say propane, it has real high octane (like a 106 to 110), is real easy to convert gasmotor. Would prolly be great for high boost. Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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