Does anyone on the board have a 350 diesel?

[87 V20 Scottsdale]

I've never seen one in person, and was wondering if there are that many still running. Anybody have some pics they could post of one? A video would be even better!

[ray_mcavoy]

I saw this one at a local car show about 5 or 6 years ago:



Looked to be a well kept low mileage truck. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good underhood pic but it did have a 350 diesel under there (as well as the original diesel badges on the fenders).

[bmchevy1979]

I have seen a couple one all original and one converted to gas I believe most were I think it was just a matter of changing the intake and maybe the heads

[gchemist]

I saw 87 SWB GMC black diesel truck a few months ago. It was really cool. I had never seen a SWB truck in that combo and OD! The owner was using it as a parts runner. :-( I asked if would sell it. He said no. I gave him a business card incase he changed his mind. The body was not bad. The paint was starting to show it's age. The engine bay was dirty and rusted out. I could have cleaned it up really fast and make it daily driver.

[Maxzillian]

I got my hands on a 1978 Olds 98 that has a Goodwrench reman 350 diesel in it. The car is an utter rats nest, but the engine is being yanked to run duty in a car destined for the 24 Hours of Lemons. I think currently we plan to drop the compression to about 16:1 or 17:1 and feed it about 8 psi of boost to produce around 180 hp.

This is after removing a trash bag worth of nest!

[thirdstreettito]

Sweet! Got a build?

[willett]

Originally Posted by bmchevy1979

I have seen a couple one all original and one converted to gas I believe most were I think it was just a matter of changing the intake and maybe the heads

a common misconception

[bmchevy1979]

So that means that the one I saw probably had the motor swapped in does it have the same motor mounts as the gas Olds 350

[Maxzillian]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

Sweet! Got a build?

Not yet. Work and other obligations has had me traveling for the last few weeks. I won't be able to so much as pull the motor and attempt to start it until another few weeks.

[80SPORT]

The olds gasoline motors were a perfect drop in for the diesels and made for a very nice unit ...especially if you used the 403 instead of the 350.

The Olds gasoline motors were a high quality unit with 403 cubic inches in a small block weight package

We switched lots over using Trans Am 403 motors in the early 80s...you could even reuse the original exhaust manifolds and factory dual exhaust.

total install time was under 8 hours...from the time the diesel was towed in to driving out the door....we just drained the tanks as much as we could and refilled with gas.
There is the odd one still running...if you search under kijiji Alberta there is a 79 listed for sale ...low original miles and factory bucket seats.Most were sold to farmers and construction guys who were used to diesel equipment.

[Corts60]

I still run one. Great little engine if you never want to pass anyone. I have about 14k on it since I have owned it and have not had (knock on wood) any major issues. I get around 21-23 MPG's on the highway and it could probably be better if I freshened up the injection pump and rebuilt the injectors.

Check the thread in my signature for a couple videos.

[Maxzillian]

I managed to snag a neat little find at a swap meet last weekend for $1. This was handy enough to me that it warranted cutting the binding and scanning in all of the pages. Enjoy!

1979 GM service training booklet for the Oldsmobile diesel:
http://www.maxzillian.com/lemons/old...e-training.pdf
(10.5 Megabytes)

[Corts60]

Maxzillian you are the man! Thanks for that!

[BigBlocksRule]

I remember when they first came out. Farmers were hyped about it, looking forward to being able to pull a couple of cotton trailers at a time. The hype ended when they found out that it wouldn't even untrack a single trailer. Good idea, but waaay down on power, even compared to a gasoline engine.

[Weasel Diesel]

I was the "Diesel Man" back when I worked for GM. No one in the shop would touch one, they pawned it off on me "Thats how I got the name Weasel Diesel. It broke starter bolts like candy and usually the area of the block where the starter bolts went in. Gm put out a bulletin to re-adjust the injector pump timing... still a no fix. So I used to set the inj pump timing with a Lumi-tach and that would tame it a bit. Gm after the 5.7 era, Gm saw that the public DID have interest in the Diesel pickup and even produced some S-10's with a 4 cyl diesel, so they redesigned and went to the 6.2. Now the 6.2 had more umpf, but still not what they were looking for. SO, the 6.5 Turbo Diesel was born. The addition of the turbo was a Major improvement. BUT.. the 6.5 had its share of problems with injector pump problems and turbo's that didn't last. In a joint effort between Isuzu and GM, The Duramax series was born..... AND the bell just rang....class adjourned...hahahahahaha I get so winded when I get on my soapbox...

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by BigBlocksRule

I remember when they first came out. Farmers were hyped about it, looking forward to being able to pull a couple of cotton trailers at a time. The hype ended when they found out that it wouldn't even untrack a single trailer. Good idea, but waaay down on power, even compared to a gasoline engine.

Haha. yeah, the original owner told me that when he got it it had a sticker in the door frame that said if more than 500 lbs (or maybe 1000 lbs) was towed it would void the warranty.

[Maxzillian]

I'm just looking forward to boosting my engine and seeing what it does in LeMons. I've already got the pistons machined down to 18:1 (table top CNC mill) and have the long block assembled. Now I just need to go through the pump, mount the turbo, and cross my fingers!