4.3L oldmobile diesel motor in a cherokee chief

[83 chif]

Does anybody think that putting a 4.3L Oldsmobile Diesel in my Cherokee is a terrible idea? The wieght and power doesn't make it much different from my 258, but I'm sure there is something big that I overlooked that you folks out there will catch.

[incommando]

Diesel fuel is currently as expensive as premium unleaded

The entire fuel system will need to be changed.

replacement parts for the motor are mucho expensive

The fuel economy difference would take years to make up for the cost of the swap

Just some random thoughts...

[83 chif]

I want the diesel motor so I could try the Vegitable oil/grease/biodiesel stuff.

[joe]

Interesting question cause I'm a dsl fan but not familiar at all with the 4.3L.
In regards to this link: http://www.bestautojobs.com/shop/cratebestoldsmobile/itemtnx_737ioy_8.html Anyone have any comments on these motors? $1100 for a rebuilt dsl short block seems awfully cheap?

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Originally posted by -joe:
Interesting question cause I'm a dsl fan but not familiar at all with the 4.3L.
In regards to this link: http://www.bestautojobs.com/shop/cratebestoldsmobile/itemtnx_737ioy_8.html Anyone have any comments on these motors? $1100 for a rebuilt dsl short block seems awfully cheap?-Joe.............thats a GAS engine LOL

[joe]

Drats! I got there from following a google olds/4.3/diesel link and didn't catch it sent me to a gaso link.
Doh! Time to brew up the 2nd pot of starter fluid...obviously the first pot of coffee didn't do it's stuff. :eek:

[83 chif]

hey joe, do you run a diesel in any of your jeeps?

[joe]

Not yet. Still working out a tcase/trans issue before plopping a 2.4L MB diesel in my CJ8 but do run a 6.9 in my Ford truck and a 2.4 in my 240D Benz. Both work great.

[incommando]

I am not familiar with the 4.3L Olds diesel either. I just assumed that, as the Olds Diesel was based on their 350 (5.7L) gas motor and Olds also had a 260 CID (4.3L) V8 that might have been made into a diesel,too???

The bottom end of that Olds diesel was never meant for that kind of compression and there must have been a reason almost all of them were eventually converted to gas.

[Chevelleguy]

Didn't know they made one but here it is, '82-'85 6 cyl 263 Diesel 85hp-165 torque! Will that even move an FSJ. 1980 V8-260 Diesel 90hp-170 torque. Pass! Get something with balls if your going to go through all the work to do the swap.

[Retro93]

Great little engine. I had one in an '83 Buick Century. Great mileage...zero issues with it. It moved that little Buick along just fine. Now if I could just find one for my home generator set up. smile.gif

[Stuka]

Gasoline based diesel engines suck. Pass it on.

[woodstock]

In my opinion, that thing is a dog. My dad had three of those, two Delta 88 4 door sedans (one blew up, so they replaced the whole car) and a Delta 88 wagon. He threw a bunch of miles on them, but they had a 0-60 time of approximately 2 hours. I don't recall it being anything special in horsepower or torque. They were also very dirty diesels, not like the modern diesels we see today.

[FSJeeper]

I would consider the GM 6.2/6.5 the minimum entry level diesels for out FSJ's. Easy swap, cheap to do, 21+ MPG and the Blazer with the 6.2 was rated at 29 mpg.

Optimum diesel swap would of course be either the Cummins 4bt or 6bt swap.

I have owned a 2001 6BT Dodge truck and now have a 2004.5 600 series cummins Dodge 3500 truck. Got 21 MPG in a 2200 mile trip to Ouray and got 14 mpg in the 2004.5 in a trip to Ouray. In my opinion, the pre 600 series engines are superior for fuel mileage and can easily be upgraded for power.

I think 30 MPG would be so easy to get with a 4BT in a FSJ.

[incommando]

(hijack) I put 170,000 miles on a '93 Didge dually with a Cummins and an automatic. Many of them came while towing a 7,200 pound car/trailer combo. I love that engine, and with a few simple mods it ran quite well. It also delivered about 18 mpg in daily driving including towing. A pure highway trip would get me about 21 MPG. (end hijack)