Did they ever make a SWB 73-87 Diesel??

[TIMSPEED]

A kid around town, with a NICE C10, had it for sale this weekend at the swap meet..I read about it, said it's a FORMER Diesel, so no smog is required, hence it being an 83 with a big block. Is this even right? I thought that diesel's only came in LWB's and 3/4 ton's.

[bigblock73]

They made them in swb...

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[Jonboy]

That is a gorgeous truck. I think one of Joe's is a diesel SWB, isn't it?

[Lynx]

Nice Looking Truck, I always like reading dated articals.

[cochran63]

I go to school with a guy who has a short stepside with a 6.2. Pretty sweet trucks

[TIMSPEED]

Is the 6.2L SWB pretty rare? I never thought about that (Getting a diesel powered vehicle, to get around emissions, then putting a gas engine in)
And to think, I ALMOST talked smack to this guy, because I figgered "It's an 83, it can't be fixed up because it's gotta be smogged." Man, I woulda got a RUDE awakening!

[KShortell]

Dad had a friend who had a 1984 SWB Chevy with the 6.2L back in the 80s. It was a neat blue shortbed that got 28 m.p.g.!

[60-66 Nut]

I don't know about the emissions laws in your area, but here if you convert a diesel vehicle over to gas then it has to meet the emission standards for a gasser of the same year and weight class. We do our own state inspections(fleet), so we have to keep up with all that garbage.

60-66 Nut

[arveetek]

I wouldn't say the 6.2L diesel SWB trucks are "rare," but they didn't make nearly as many of them as they did the LWB trucks. There are also a lot more 6.2L diesel Blazers and Jimmys as well.

I have yet to see an actual SWB 6.2L truck with a factory stepside bed. Everyone I've seen has been a conversion job. I think all 6.2L SWB trucks left the factory as fleetsides.

The 6.2L diesel was available in 1/2 ton pickups all the way up to 1 1/4 ton military trucks, as well as Blazers, Suburbans, and motorhomes. I think GM quit making 1/2 ton diesel trucks in the late '90's, after they started marketing the 6.5L turbo diesel as a heavy duty engine.

Casey

[bigblock73]

Originally Posted by arveetek

I have yet to see an actual SWB 6.2L truck with a factory stepside bed. Everyone I've seen has been a conversion job. I think all 6.2L SWB trucks left the factory as fleetsides.

You may be right, but let me tell you about a truck I was looking at buying before I was "in to" 73-87's. I found this really worn out and beat up 1979 C10 stepside on a used car lot back in the early to mid 90's. It had what I thought were Blazer buckets and console (before I knew that was an option), tilt, PW/PL, and a diesel engine. I of course have no pictures and cannot prove it was a factory diesel....but you never know.

[EricS76]

Originally Posted by 60-66 Nut

I don't know about the emissions laws in your area, but here if you convert a diesel vehicle over to gas then it has to meet the emission standards for a gasser of the same year and weight class. We do our own state inspections(fleet), so we have to keep up with all that garbage.

Same here in Texas too. Basically the weight class is what's important. By the mid 80's, the truck would have to have a gvwr over 10,000lbs to be in the heavy-duty emissions class. Being a big or small block or diesel has nothing to do with the emissions class if you swap out the diesel.

[60-66 Nut]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

You may be right, but let me tell you about a truck I was looking at buying before I was "in to" 73-87's. I found this really worn out and beat up 1979 C10 stepside on a used car lot back in the early to mid 90's. It had what I thought were Blazer buckets and console (before I knew that was an option), tilt, PW/PL, and a diesel engine. I of course have no pictures and cannot prove it was a factory diesel....but you never know.

The factory diesel in '78 to '81 Chevy and GMC 1/2 ton trucks was the infamous Olds 350 diesel(like I put in my '83 GMC, long story) but unlike the 6.2 diesel, I don't think they put them in anything but long fleetside trucks. But who knows what special orders or custom jobs there could be out there.

60-66 Nut

[784X4GUY]

I love the sweet sound of a diesel in the morning lol, especially if its a big turbo diesel...Later Mike

[60-66 Nut]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

They made them in swb...

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Sorry but I couldn't open these before. That's the first 5.7 diesel shortbed I've seen. I can't make out the small print in the article, does it say if the short bed was a special order or if that was a regular production?

60-66 Nut

[60-66 Nut]

Originally Posted by 784X4GUY

I love the sweet sound of a diesel in the morning lol, especially if its a big turbo diesel...Later Mike

Well, mine doesn't sound like a big turbo diesel, actually it sounds more like a big sack of hammers dragging down the railroad tracks. But hey, even though it won't pull a wet noodle from a bobcat's butt, it runs great and gets 25-28 mpg.

60-66 Nut

[ElGracho]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

That is a gorgeous truck. I think one of Joe's is a diesel SWB, isn't it?

I had one that was a short bed diesel. It was an 87 R10 swb diesel. It was special ordered by a guy who owned a big gravel hauling business and a bunch of dump trucks. I think they used it as a run around truck when one of their other trucks broke down. It was pretty beat but it still got 25 mpg. My new one is a long bed, but it's a much nicer truck. The best part is I sold the 87 for what I paid for the 86...

[1974ChevyC10]

with the gas prices in my area what they are i wouldnt mind having a diesel powered chevy.i like my 78 and all but its a hog.with 25 mpg potential in a truck i could park my 78 except for weekend warrior driving and still be able to tinker with it.

[ElGracho]

The probklem with that here is that diesel is runnning 37 cents more per gallon than regular unleaded. My diesel gets 20-23 mpg. Thats about 9.8 cents per mile for fuel. My 1980 Indy Hauler (carbed 350 with 700R4) gets 16 mpg which is 10.5 cents per mile. That makes them pretty much the same and you might as well drive the one you like better. I still drive the diesel because I can go back and forth to work for two weeks without putting fuel in it...

[1974ChevyC10]

diesel as far as i know is only 10-15 cents more a gallon here.unleaded is about 180-mid grade about 190 and premium is about 200-diesel is about the same as premium fuel.

[arveetek]

Jeff,

Like 60 Nut said, if it was factory, that 79 had a 5.7L diesel. The 78-81 trucks were available with the 5.7L diesel, in 1/2 tons only. It was not a heavy duty engine, designed solely for fuel economy. There aren't many left. Most of the 5.7L diesel engines were yanked and replaced with Oldsmobile 350 gassers. It's also possible that the 79 had a later 6.2L diesel swapped in.

The 5.7L diesel was available in several Oldsmobile and Cadillac cars from 78 to 85, as well as the 1/2 ton pickups from 78-81. The 6.2L diesel was introduced in 82 in the truck line and was designed for more heavy duty use, though still lacking in the power department a bit.

60 Nut,

I, too, once converted a Chevy pickup to a 5.7L diesel. It was a 77 Blazer. That was my first diesel truck. I really loved it. No power, but great mileage, somewhere around 25 mpg IIRC. I once got it stuck in a very small ditch, though. The rear wheels were stuck in this little washed-out rut (this was a 2WD Blazer), and I couldn't get it to move. Full throttle only produced black smoke! It didn't have enough power to spin the tires even in gravel. Finally, after rocking it back and forth, I got it to pop out of the rut. Kind of embarrasing.

I did tow an MGB convertible on a 16' flatbed one time with that Blazer. I only pulled it about 30 miles. Did okay, actually. Slowed way down on the hills, though.

After blowing the headgaskets twice in 2 years, I pulled the 5.7L and replaced it with the 6.2L. If I knew then what I know now, I could have fixed that 5.7L right and would have kept it. Ran great. But the last time the head gaskets blew, it puked oil all over the driveway too, so I gave up and yanked it out.

I've been a 6.2L driver ever since, and my current 6.2L turbo is great! Lots of power and around 18 mpg in a 3/4 ton truck with 4.10 gears.

Casey

[arveetek]

Joe is right.

With the current fuel prices, owning a diesel purely for the fuel economy advantage doesn't make as much sense as it used to. Up until just recently, diesel fuel was always much cheaper than gasoline, and diesel engines used less fuel. It was an obvious choice of which engine to get if you were mostly interested in fuel economy. Now, comparing two similar trucks, but one is a 350 gasser and the other a 6.2L diesel, you'll actually be spending about the same amount of money on fuel, even though the diesel will always get better mileage.

There are still other factors, though, that will always make me be a diesel owner, such as the fact that I can go a lot further between fill ups, I don't have any silly spark plugs, spark plug wires, or distributors to mess with, I have no carburetors to get frustrated with, and of course there's that diesel rattle and smell that I love. Some people hate the rattle, but it's music to my ears! I also love to hear my turbo sing to me when I'm cruising down the road. I also like the fact that I've driven my diesel for over 120,000 miles and I've never touched the inside of the motor, and there's no sign that I will have to anytime soon.

Casey

[60-66 Nut]

Casey,

Actually, the 5.7 was available in most all lines of GM cars, mid size and full size, including the 82-84 El Camino. Unfortunately, although GM probably had good intentions, the 350 diesel was a product of rushed planning and production to compete with the rice burners during the so called "gas crunch". When you mention this engine today, the most common reactions people have are to either turn and run, or stay and fight. They did have more than their share of problems. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a "converted diesel" like most people called it. I'm sure the Olds 350 was chosen over the Buick, Pontiac and Chevy 350's for, among other possible reasons, it's size. It's almost like a big block 350. But it is not just a gas block with diesel heads. The block was beefed up with much heavier cylinder walls and main bearing webbing, higher nickel content and bigger main bearings, not to mention the integral injection pump drive. It may look like a gas engine, but that's all. But still, yes, they were plagued with problems, with the head gasket problems being probably the worst. Then it was dumped on a bunch of passenger car drivers, most of whom new absolutley nothing about a diesel engine. To make matters even worse, clean water-free diesel fuel was much harder to find back then, as was motor oil rated for diesel engines. But even with all this going against them, some of these old engines, with proper care managed to give many years or service. We had several of them in company cars, and they did quite well with only routine maintenance.

Casey, I don't mean to preach to the choir, I'm sure you know all this. I wish more people knew the whole story behind this engine. I visit the Olds Diesel Website(yes, there is such a thing) quite often, and Chris, the site's webmaster probably knows more about the 350 diesel than GM did. Most of us there believe this could have been a great engine if GM would have kept on working with it, but instead they dropped it completley. There are many improvements that can be done to these old engines to make them run and hold up much better, many of which I've already done to mine. Sorry for the long post. Thanks.

60-66 Nut

[arveetek]

Yeah, I already knew that! But that's okay! It's good to keep giving this information out in order to combat the vast amount of mis-information that's out there. What really gets me mad sometimes is how people still think the 6.2L is a gas-converted engine. I mean, come on! If you set the 6.2L block next to a gas engine small block, you can obviously tell they share nothing in common except for the fact that both are V8's. The 6.2L is even a couple of inches longer than a small block, but slightly smaller than a big block. It is its own breed. But people's memories often go all the way back to the 5.7L gas converted diesel, which, like you said, really wasn't a gas converted diesel. Even guys driving a 2000 Chevy pickup with the 6.5L turbo diesel still have to fight against the notion sometimes that they have a gas converted diesel under the hood. It's ridiculous.

It just goes to show how hard it is to gain a good reputation, and how easy it is to get a bad one. And once you get a bad reputation, it's nearly impossible to reverse it!

Okay, rant off!

Casey

[kevinr1970]

About a year ago I was looking at I think an '83 SWB 4x4 deisel with a Banks Turbo. The guy at the lot kept telling me how powerful it was, but every time I went to drive it, he couldn't get it started? He kept having the lot mech replace things, but they kept going out?
After about the 10th time going to look at it, he got it started using starting fluid and said he would make me a good deal on it having the starting problems, but I already had(have) a deisel with starting issues and wasn't interested in another one. Last time I went by, it was gone.

On a side note, if anyone localy knew of a place that was good with these deisels I would appreciate it.

[arveetek]

Sounds like it was having glow plug issues. These GM diesels will absolutely not start at all if the glow plugs aren't working well. I had burned out plugs on my 6.2L when I first got it, and it wouldn't start on a 65 degree morning. Once the 6.2L gets up to operating temp, though, you don't need the plugs.

Most car dealers are clueless about diesels, so I'm not surprised they were having problems getting it going.

Casey