Junkyard Jack
Well-Known Member
I have this weird obsession with all of the smaller diesel trucks and SUVs found around the world that we never got here in America. The diesel 4runners and Nissan Patrols and the like. Made me get to thinking about what a baby 7.3 excursion would look like. What would one be like if I built it.
I heard about a few ford V6 diesels and while it would be cool to do I think parts availability might be an issue and I'm not sure about the newer electronic engine controls. Which stinks because ford has a ton of diesels that I think look great on paper, but they are all in Europe.
I've seen the 4bt done but realistically I think it's too heavy to be a real contender. That newish Cummins R2.8 looks awesome but it's not cheap at all and I wouldn't pay that much just to say I had a diesel.
So that all leads to this wild idea I've had bouncing around in my head. Now my original idea was to do this to a late 80s suburban slammed on 20s, but what about the ALH 1.9L diesel from VW?
Let's be honest here the truck was never a powerhouse, the 5.4s made about 350lb-ft of torque, obviously the 4.6 made less while 350 lb-ft of torque or more is not out of the question for the little ALH when hopped up. I was just thinking how cool it would be if you could eventually make 350-400 lb-ft of torque out of a small diesel, that's plenty to haul around the truck and a trailer seeing how the truck was able to do those figures before with the gas engine I'd also like to believe that this could be achieved with mid 20s MPG.
Am I just crazy or what? What do y'all think?
I heard about a few ford V6 diesels and while it would be cool to do I think parts availability might be an issue and I'm not sure about the newer electronic engine controls. Which stinks because ford has a ton of diesels that I think look great on paper, but they are all in Europe.
I've seen the 4bt done but realistically I think it's too heavy to be a real contender. That newish Cummins R2.8 looks awesome but it's not cheap at all and I wouldn't pay that much just to say I had a diesel.
So that all leads to this wild idea I've had bouncing around in my head. Now my original idea was to do this to a late 80s suburban slammed on 20s, but what about the ALH 1.9L diesel from VW?
VW 1.9 2.0 TDI to Ford Small Block V8 Transmission Adapter Kit
This adapter kit allows you to attach a Ford Small Block V8 transmission to a Volkswagen TDI engine (1.9L or 2.0L turbo diesel engines, AAZ, AHU, ALH, BEW, BHW, BRM CBEA, CJAA, CRUA, CVCA, other Euro-specific codes may also work). This kit will ONLY work with the 14.25" diameter flywheel or...
tdconversions.com
Let's be honest here the truck was never a powerhouse, the 5.4s made about 350lb-ft of torque, obviously the 4.6 made less while 350 lb-ft of torque or more is not out of the question for the little ALH when hopped up. I was just thinking how cool it would be if you could eventually make 350-400 lb-ft of torque out of a small diesel, that's plenty to haul around the truck and a trailer seeing how the truck was able to do those figures before with the gas engine I'd also like to believe that this could be achieved with mid 20s MPG.
Am I just crazy or what? What do y'all think?