1979 Diesel Truck a bad idea?

You'll need to determine if the engine is a 350 diesel or a transplanted 6.2 diesel. The 79 should have the 350 diesel and would most likely be more trouble then worth unless you don't mind swapping in a 6.2 which should drop in w/o problems. The 6.2 was released in 1982 but I would not get anything until 1983 then you should be ok, if it has the 6.2 then fix it they last forever. Ours (1983 Van) has better then 500k miles and doesn't burn a drop of oil. You can rebuild the 350 but at best you will get 40k off the rebuild, my uncle had a caddy and a olds wagon with 350 diesels and 5 extra engines in the garage. He would swap them out and rebuild the dead one. In the late 70's GM was giving them away to anybody who promised not to sue. :) Hope this helps...

mark

should

transplanted 6.2

It does help. I have a feeling it's the original motor. Although it looks like it's been rebuilt. I guess I'll pass on this one and look for an '83 or up! Thanks! Clay

Or, you could buy the truck and do what my uncle did to his '82 diesel caprice...... when the heads cracked on it ('91 or '92) he found a '76 Olds cutlass in the junkyard and grabbed the entire top end off of the 350 rocket. he swapped them onto the diesel block, keeping the diesel pistons and roller cam. he had to run premium (and about 10 bottles of octane boost for maximum effect) in it, but oh my God.... the thing must have had well over 300HP and it's still running to this day. (he sold it to a high school buddy of mine, who in turn sold it to one of my uncle's neighbors after 3 or 4 years.) talk about a sleeper.

-Bret

Believe it or not, these engines have an enthusiast following.

As far as the 6.2 goes, you want to make sure and keep after the oil.

6.2's die by spinning main bearings, usually, and the way to prevent this is to use high quality oil, and make sure it is clean-clean-clean.

AP

Yep I believe it, there are people who still love the corvair.... I have not heard about the bearing issue with the 6.2 I do know they tend to throw starters. I have to change the mounting bolts on ours every 6 mo or they shear off in the block.

mark

Hello Mark,

Do you have the support bracket installed on the front of the starter? Also, they recommend replacing the mounting bolts when installing/reinstalling a starter.

Regards, Franko

Hay, Yea, it's on there... It is just one of those things. Not a biggie 3 bucks every 6 mo, from what the dealer tells me a lot of 6.2 will actually tear the bolt holes out of the block so it was a design issue. Two mounting bolts on something that produces that much torque is just not enough. Interestingly enough I can't find torque spec for the starter mounting bolts??? So I tend to just touch and then go three more flats (half turn more). But the engine has over 500k miles and does not burn a drop of oil so I have no complaints what so ever.

thanks, mark

Hello Mark,

From The Diesel Page R&R Guide:

"The two main starter bolts are torqued to 40ft/lbs... Always install new starter bolts along with the new starter..."

"1982-99 (all 6.2 and 6.5) Starter Bolt P/N 15544950"

I torque the support bracket bolt to 25-30 ft/lbs.

500k miles and does not burn a drop of oil? Man, I envy you...

Regards, Franko

Excellent! Thanks I really appreciate it, I have the shop manual and it isn't listed. This was the only year the 6.2 was made by Detroit Diesel/Allison and I think that is why it has been such a spectacular engine. The body has holes you can put your fist though and it's on its

12th or 13th transmission but it just keeps running and still gets 17 miles to the gal city. Once it won't pass inspection I will have to start to rebuild the body the only problems are suspension components are specific to the diesel van model so now everything has to be ordered directly from GM but they have come though each time. They call it their antique parts division. (seriously) I guess they realized people now keep cars more then 5 years besides it's only 22 yrs old and we plan to keep it another 22 years. Although, I am concerned about the new ultra low sulfur diesel coming out. I will have to contact stanadyne to find out how the injection pump will tolerate the lower lubrications values of the diesel. Anyway thanks for the help believe it or not the dealer did not even know the torque for the bolts.

thanks, mark

Hi!

Hmmm...I could believe it. What thing doesn't have some kind of following?

There was a 350 Diesel-equipped '79 Olds that once belonged to my uncle sitting on one of the family farms. Apart from all the tires being flat and the paint being impressively weathered away, it didn't look half bad and nature had stayed out of it for the most part.

I always wanted to get some batteries, change the oil and put some fresh fuel in just to see if it would still go. Unfortunately, I never got the chance. Someone complained about the car and in two days time the local junkman had hauled it away. I did get to see it before it truly disappeared, so I pulled the owner's manual and some other interesting stuff before it disappeared to be smashed and pounded into who knows what.

When it was hauled away, all four tires didn't look half bad...it was really kind of unreal how time had pretty much ignored this car.

I found the Diesel El Camino on that URL to be the most interesting thing I'd ever seen .I always wondered if any had been made that way...

William

"William R. Walsh" wrote in message news:nVA9e.4618$c24.243@attbi_s72...

Not that I know of but since it was just a heavy duty 350 block (slightly modified) it probably would not weigh much more then a truck version of the

350. Probably would be an easy swap and it was an amazingly smooth running engine and aside from a strange exhaust note would not believe it was a diesel. I guess they though it would eventually be put into luxury cars and if they had done a better job designing it, it may have become a standard.

mark

Add some biodiesel to it. 2% biodiesel will increase the lubrosity of the fuel by 100%. You could also run it on B20 or B100, if you can find them.

AP

Yea there was a long discussion about BioDiesel in the Ford group. The general census was it is a nice product and no body seems to having any issues with it. When it becomes available I probably will start to add it.

Thanks, mark

just bear in mind that the 5.7 diesel was based off the Oldsmobile

350 V8, not the far more common Chevy 350. an Olds "rocket" 350 weighed in at ~680lbs, in otherwords, very nearly as much as a big block chevy and around 150lbs ( if memory serves) heavier than the chevy 350.

it should be a fairly easy swap, other than needing new motor mounts and a BOP pattern transmission. Hell... I put an Olds 350 in my '78 Ford F100 back when I was in HS.

-Bret

G3 diesel fuel additive.

Also, you can call around to your local bulk fuel suppliers. You almost certainly have someone within a not _too_ far drive from you that sells the stuff. If they won't do into-vehicle fueling then they will probably be willing to sell to you in 55 gallon drums.

In my case, I have a 100 gallon home heating oil tank that I got free, and a small utility trailer that I salvaged from a junk pile. I also have a large fuel filter that I got on eBay for a song. When I have the time and the energy in the same place at the same time I'm going to mount the tank on the trailer, and put a pump and meter on it. I figure one trip over to Ward Oil about every 5 to 6 months will fit my needs.

AP

Not a bad idea up here in the farm region plastic fuel tanks a real cheap. I'll look into it.

Thanks mark

Things to keep in mind with this idea. Diesel weighs 7.36 lbs per gallon, bio some what more at 7.85 to 8.3 lbs per gallon. That 100 gallon fuel oil tank has no baffles in it so the fuel will move a lot. If the tank is a "lay" down, or can be adapted to lay on its side, it will lessen the affects of the liquid moving in turns and when stopping. I drove M49C's in the Army, a 2 1/2 ton truck with a fuel tank body on it, they were moved by the fuel sloshing and the two tanks had baffles. Transporting fuel in this quantity may require you to have a CDL with hazemat endorsement, and the tank may have to be placarded when your rolling down the high way. Fuel oils(bio, diesel, kerosene, gasoline etc) are a class 3 hazerdous materials. Before someone pops off, it may or may not be a problem, its going to depend on what the "reportable quantity" is and I cant find my old hazemat reg book from when I drove truck, but an ounce of prevention is surely worth a ton of cure. A five minute phone call to your highway patrol or DOT office could save you a lot of grief down the road. At a 100 gallons, Ward will probably be willing to deliver to you, especially if you are on a route they run.

Whitelightning

I thought about that. I don't think it'll be much of a problem, since I'm going to be transporting it so rarely.

It's a cylindrical tank. I don't remember the exact measurements, but it's about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.

That could make life interesting.

In Florida, IIRC, you can go without the placards and stuff as long as you are not transporting it for commercial purposes, and the quantity is under a certain amount. I don't recall the amount just off the top of my head, though.

Indeed. It's that "reportable quantity" that is the key. I will definitely do the research _before_ I go driving this rig down the road.

Nope. I asked. They won't deliver biodiesel in quantities of less than

600 gallons. But they'll be more than happy to loan me the tank and dispensing aparatus free of charge as long as I have a proper place to put it. I could build a co-op with some other people and go into it together, but I don't know anyone who is as crazy as I am about biofuels. By myself, 600 gallons of biodiesel would last me about two and a half years at the rate I usually use it, at which point water and critters would be a major concern.

AP