As happens very often, the OP has never returned and the choir is amusing themselves waiting his return…
As happens very often, the OP has never returned and the choir is amusing themselves waiting his return...
And wouldn’t the obvious choice be a gasoline fired Olds 5.7. All the bolt patterns for trans and such, motor mounts and even the coolant hose routing would be the same.
Almost all those diesels were replaced wiht the same size gasoline engines. A relatively painless switch.
Hi folks! Back after the July 4th weekend. Sorry for the delay! This got a lot more attention than I was expecting.
If I wanted a gas engine in an Eldorado, I would just scrap my current car for parts and buy a gas Eldorado for ~$2k. I really just want the diesel.
I’m definitely open to the idea of getting the current engine rebuilt. Damn first shop told me that it already had grade 9 head bolts in place, but they didn’t even bother to check.
Also considering this:
Since it has the same wheel base as the 3rd gen blazer. How much is a chassis swap though? o_O
Loves Labor Lost…Like owning a large, wooden, boat…
Drop a 4BT in? I know they’ve done that with damn near every pickup/V8 Disco Cruiser out there at one point or another, so this is known territory. The 4BT has (relative, lack of) weight going for it. A DD sounds really [expletive deleted] heavy!
Its ok to break the law so long as you know better than the law. Just ask around here, speed limits are ok to break because people know better. I would just do what I want and swap it. Darn the Laws, if you start following laws about emissions requirements, next thing you know they will show up at your door and take you away....... Quit giving up your rights to speed and pollute.
@WheresRick: Okay, an owner of a 2010 Fusion has to follow all the pertinent emissions regulations pertinent to his vehicle, lest he fall out of emissions-compliant status. An owner of a '64.5 Mustang doesn’t. Now…an owner of a '64.5 REPLICA Mustang, built in 2010, doesn’t have to comply with emissions, either! My Lawnboy 2-stroke cannot be produced today, because of emissions. I can still use it, though. Nobody can sell me a new replacement engine…but if I supply my own cylinder head (just a piece of finned aluminum with a spark plug hole), they can legally sell me a replacement short-block for my mower. If I lived in CA, I cannot replace my catalytic converter with a BETTER perfoming one, unless it has a valid CARB number attached to it. Also, I am prohibited from adjusting the mixture setting on an moyorcycle carb, even if I know it is set over-rich, and will run CLEANER for my having adjusted it! I’m allowed a waste oil hater for my garage, but NOT for any living areas attached to it.
(And meanwhile, a Cessna owner complies with NONE of this…and burns leaded gas, to boot.)
WR, doesn’t this strike you as just a tiny little bit…ARBITRARY? Somebody suggested to fix an old-school, smoke-belching diesel with a gasser, which would IMPROVE emissions, and you counter with some morality lecture?!? IMHO, nobody has a moral obligation to see to it that “all i’s are dotted and t’s crossed…in triplicate.” If airborne pollution is important to you, build the best, cleanest conversion you can, drive it responsibly, and let the paperwork fall where it may…just don’t get caught doing it!
IIRC, even GM admitted the 5.7L Diesel was a mistake long ago. After 30-some-odd years, I’m sure parts are hard to find. If a Diesel is what you want, it would be cheaper in the long run to find a better and more reliable design already in a decent car or truck to replace this ancient '81 beast, IMHO. Some things you should just let go.
Well, Rockauto has gaskets for it, even a wholesale closeout. Head would be something else. GM might even have a crate Goodwrench rebuild around in one of the warehouses yet. What can I say?
I thought I was a masochist keeping my diesel going. Now don’t bet its the head gasket. I sold mine to a diesel mechanic who sold me an engine before that. Seemed obvious head gasket but he changed them and still had the same problem-he was stumped. Another diesel guy told me you have to swap the radiators or it’ll do the same thing. Who knows? But you need new bolts absolutely. You cannot reuse the old bolts.
Wheresrick, That’s not a dark blue Broham still running around is it? It would have the hood ornament missing. I kept that for a souveneir. Give him my sympathy and if he needs the service manual let me know. Sorry but I threw the injector pump away when I cleaned the garage last year.
These guys seem to offer a replacement for this engine of the stock type. The Detroit might work with the possible exception of height, the mounts and bell housing are reportedly the same as the other GM V8’s of the period. A more diesel oriented site might be able to give you the steps for the conversion if that’s what you really want to do. Might be more trouble to do on this car than it’s worth but there are a few unknowns at this point (like will it even fit?)
Geeze, I’d take the one with the 5 year warranty for $800. Cost me over $1000 just for head gaskets 20 years ago. Can you imagine a 5 year warranty on a 30 year old diesel engine? Even new it couldn’t have been more than 2 years.
The original 5.7L engines are listed online but are actually not available. Tried calling some places and no luck. (Unless you can find one!)
I would love to go with a 4BT. What bolt pattern does that have? How can I determine the height of that engine?
There are sites to swap a 4bt (cummins) into just about anything. At least as long as it’s a truck. The 6.2 Detroit Diesel would be a vastly easier swap assuming that the engine you currently have has the same mounts and bolt pattern as the same gas powered 350 of the era. The Detroit is reportedly a clean swap into a truck since it was offered that way by the factory for a time and there is more room to work with. Spend some time here http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/forum.php and I think you’ll find more information from people who know these engines.