On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 13:17:21 +0000, Dave Hall wrote:

Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

Hi,
This is kinda boating-related. Anybody hear of anyone who's converted
the Venerable GM 4.3L V6 to diesel? I'd like to do that in my van. I don't
see any room for anything other than a V6, and would like diesel.

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36 - already has diesel


Are you attempting to convert a gas V6 to diesel, or are you replacing
the gas V6 with a diesel one?

Forget trying to convert a gas engine to diesel. Even a full staff of
engineers at GM tried it with the 5.7L in the 80's, and there were all
sorts of trouble. A gas engine block is just not made strong enough to
support the increased stresses that diesel operation will cause.

Now replacing the engine with a diesel is doable, although there will be
some gearing issues to deal with, as the torque curve and max RPM of a
diesel is much different than a gas engine, and the transmission and
differential gears need to be matched to these factors to achieve the
best performance.

Dave

Thanks for the response.

No, I wouldn't be doing a conversion myself. The 5.7L conversion was what
made me think of it, because the 4.3 is basically the 5.7 with 2 cyl
lopped off. I read about the 5.7 conversions, and apparently it had "mixed
reviews" - but I think it may have been at least partly because they were
used in marine environments. So I was wondering if there would be any
"converted" V6's out there...

Trouble is, the van's engine compartment is REALLY cramped, and I don't
think I could get anything other than a V6 into it - certainly not an
inline-6!

As for gearing, it's already pretty tall, and I'm expecting a reduction in
HP, so the torque would probably be about the same. (the 1.0L
normally-asperated diesel I'm buying for Far Cove is 26hp@3000, so
extrapolating to 4.3 gives 110hp - the existing engine is 190hp. I don't
want turbo: too complicated!) Also, the existing tranny is on its last
legs, so I'll be replacing it soon in any case.

So if there's a V6 diesel of about 4 litres or so, it might be doable.

Lloyd