showme wrote:
Thanks for those comments. To answer the question of "why would I want to?", The answer would be that I had one in my old Suburban, and it was a great little engine, when maintained. I was told when I bought it that they were known for 80k on the heads (warped heads, cracked heads, blown gaskets, etc.). Sort of like an older jeep. I was also told that this was caused by GM using substandard head bolts that were brought over from the v-8 gassers. The solution to this is to install new head bolts that are of a better alloy (won't stretch and contract due to the high heat and pressure that diesels suffer), before the heads are ruined by the old type bolt less-than-good-enough metallurgy. I've talked to many people who found this swear it's worth the $70 for the new bolts and the resurfacing and/or new heads. Secondly, the Detroit 6.2 is a tough little engine and so does well running on WVO or anything comparable. Others who have run it in most other American engines have not faired as well. The 6.2 is as good with it as Mercedes Benz' 300 and 240 diesels. They are also easy to find parts for and cheap. The U.S. government used them in military and USPS vehicles, and a lot of them are still going strong. Per the Cummins, I've seen and heard about all the trouble my Dodge/Chrysler buddies have had with them, and the exhorbitant prices for parts and repairs. I'd say "No offense...", but that didn't seem to be a lead in in any of the 6.2 bad mouthing that I just read, so I won't bother with that. Per the 454, it was this very forum who led me to the knowledge of buying a diesel (my former '95 GMC 6.5 dually to pull our 36' HR), that convinced me hands down that it would break the bank as a gas guzzler. "You'll be able to watch the fuel gauge needle drop as you pull up hills!! (No thanks!) This is going into an '82 one-ton dually that has a fiberglass service bed and a welder, so I won't be pulling anything with it. I would have kept my old'90 GMC with it's 6.2 but I needed a truck, not a passenger vehicle, and since it would have cost as much to have someone else rebuild the heads as I paid for it (I had a back injury at the time), I chose to sell it. Wish I would have kept it now. OK, then. Now that I know lots of people hate 6.2's, does anybody anybody have an answer to my question? Thanks!
LOL, I thought I did!
Get a new big block radiator.
Get a diesel torque converter.
Get a diesel throttle cable.
Make a return line for your fuel tank.
Get diesel motor mounts. (They might be the same as the SB?)
You can do a push button glow plug deal. In fact I recommend it.
Hook it all up and go have fun. I see what you're doing and there is nothing wrong with it. The 6.2 will also burn clean ATF and UMO just fine. DB2 pumps are cool that way! I think it's cool what you are doing.
BTW I don't agree with whoever told you about the whole head bolt deal. The 5.7 had head bolt problems, not the 6.2. In any event it's not a bad idea to ARP stud anything IMHO. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
