Perkins diesel in mid 70's Dodge pickups?

[Racer Dan]

Does anybody else remember when Dodge pickups had the Perkins diesel engine? I seem to remember it was around 1976 or 1977. I saw a red one at the shipping yard and it was the only one that I ever saw.

[Wild and Free]

That must have been a Canadian sold unit only then, I have never seen or heard of such a rig. I have read of many types of repowered pickups and some putting perkins in them. Farm show magazine has had a few of these repowers in the magazine. There are a lot of Diesel powered vehicles in Canada that have never been offered in the states.

[Racer Dan]

The reason that I saw it was the transport company was on strike and the vehicles were being driven by car jockeys. I was too young to drive one because of the insurance but I wandered around and looked at all the new vehicles like the Lil Red Express pickups and some different models that were available. I remember sitting in the pickup and on the dash it had a light that said "glow plug" so I turned the key and it started right up and it had the coolest sound but man did the truck vibrate, and it shook like a wet dog when I shut it off, lol.

[cmns2500]

yeah i've heard of such a critter...it was naturally aspirated right?? top speed of like 50 or somethin like thati'd love to have one just to have

[AlCorr]

I ran across this; http://www.dieselpowermag.com/news/0708dp_1916_to_1975_dodge_diesel_engines/index.html

[Racer Dan]

Cool article.

[Mopar1973Man]

I ran across this; http://www.dieselpowermag.com/news/0708dp_1916_to_1975_dodge_diesel_engines/index.html

Right On! :thumbsup:

[flagmanruss]

I had a Ford Ranger with a 2.2 Natural diesel. It was very used when I got it. It was a total dog... couldn't outrun a toddler on a bicycle. I let my stepson drive it when he first got his license... he did fine... I was driving when the tranny came off the engine, broke the case up. If I'd been smarter I might have had a real transmission builder switch the tail shafts & put a Mazda 5 speed in there. After 2 attempts at repairing the case, I threw in the towel. RussPS This was only offered 2 years... back in the 70s. NEVER buy a used anything that was only built a year or 2!

[ISX]

You mean one of these Russ? It's a 2.2L Isuzu. We put the turbo on it and it had a pretty good impact on it.

[flagmanruss]

I just did a search & found a ton of info... http://www.allpar.com/mopar/perkins.html

[flman]

I guess back then, the under powered, hard starting diesel could not compete with a smooth running V-8 or I-6 gasser. "High compression, 6 volt battery, hard starting, doggy, noisy, vibration, smelly." Just too bad the politicians is the US still believe this to be true today? Now they have advanced more in the last 15 years then the gassers. But they always have their heads in the sand, and hands in the pockets of the industry and Arabs that want us to continue to drive inefficient gasoline vehicles.

[flagmanruss]

ISX, I recall an article back then about a transmission swap with required a tailshaft swap to use the Mazda transmission. I never understood why the Ford branded unit had a different output spline or some such. I think the engine was the same as the Mazda. I seem to recall the glow plugs I bought had a Mazda wrapper inside the Ford box. Danged thing would not start in December with only 1 of 4 glow plugs working. (No Sh*t Sherlock!) These seem to have been built 83-84... 59 hp. I've found some referances to this being a Madza built Perkins engine! "In 1985, a Mitsubishi-built 2.3 L turbodiesel with 86 hp replaced the Mazda diesel" http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Diesels.htm I remember running an errand with a friend... his S10 just walked away from me at lights.