Diesel Engine In A Charger?

[Skinypete]

Has anyone ever swapped a diesel motor into a charger? Or have you ever seen one?
I think it would be pretty cool, and would do it if I had the money for it...

[68X426]

I won't ask why, but how. How would you fit one in? 

Lots of stories on conversions here: http://www.dieselpowermag.com/index.html

[tan top]

 not a charger ! but some Chebby Dude did    looks a nice job 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO_kjaxIDzc

[ACUDANUT]

I won't ask why, but how. How would you fit one in? 

Lots of stories on conversions here: http://www.dieselpowermag.com/index.html

Okay why is there a Ford 289/302 gas engine here ?
BTW I was thinking of putting a 4 cylinder Diesel engine into a Charger and see if got decent Fuel Milage....na, too much time and wasted money. But a thought.

[TylerCharger69]

I dunno....the words "Charger"   and "diesel"  shouldn't be used in the same sentence..

[tan top]

I dunno....the words "Charger"   and "diesel"  shouldn't be used in the same sentence..

yeah good  point   same as  4 doors  also      

[1BAD68]

Are you kidding? 600hp and gobs and gobs of torque getting 28mpg.
I would love a Cummins twin turbo in my Charger.

[68RED4SPEED]

Diesel is diesel, ours daily driver is a Nissan diesel, Ill rather loose my legs then put a diesel in my Mopar

[bull]

It can be done but why? It's like putting a 440 in a Kubota.

[68X426]

It's like putting a 440 in a Kubota.

Wait a minute, I just remembered there was the guy who put a Hemi in his mower and went Petty with it.

[chargerboy69]

I will not mention his name as he is known by some here on this board as he is considering a Duramax or Cummins in his 1969 Charger SE.  To be fair, he is also considering a 6.1 Hemi too.

As stated above 600 hp, loads of torque and great mpg. 

[73rallye440magnum]

I think it's a great idea. I've often wondered what kind of trouble would introduce itself. 5.9 cummins is a very tall motor, so I wonder if there would be ground and hood clearance issues. Also a very heavy motor. Stock suspension wouldnt work. The torque would grenade any of our factory rear axles. It would be a lot of work, but I'm surprised someone hasnt done it yet. Cummins swaps are very popular so it's only a matter of time before one finds its way into a Charger.

[bull]

I will not mention his name as he is known by some here on this board as he is considering a Duramax or Cummins in his 1969 Charger SE.  To be fair, he is also considering a 6.1 Hemi too.

As stated above 600 hp, loads of torque and great mpg.  

Don't those Cummins weigh about twice what a 440 weighs? I would imagine there would have to be some pretty crazy modifications done to a Charger to make it work. And why the hE11 would you put a Duramax in a Mopar.

[chargerboy69]

I will not mention his name as he is known by some here on this board as he is considering a Duramax or Cummins in his 1969 Charger SE.  To be fair, he is also considering a 6.1 Hemi too.

As stated above 600 hp, loads of torque and great mpg.  

Don't those Cummins weigh about twice what a 440 weighs? I would imagine there would have to be some pretty crazy modifications done to a Charger to make it work. And why the hE11 would you put a Duramax in a Mopar.

The suspension issue is the reason why he is leaning to the 6.1L.

As for the Duramax, I believe it is more for reliability issues over the Cummins. These are still options not only for performance reasons, but he was thinking of the "Wow" factor too.

Personally for me I wish he would make up his mind and get something.  He has a fresh built 440 in the Charger now, and it will be finding a new home in my 69 Bee. Just add my Six Pack set-up and drop her in. 

[suntech]

I mileage (costs) is the reason for the ide, my suggestion is:

Put the money you would be spending doing the swap towards GAS!
Spend the time you would have spent doing the swap at work, and put those money towards GAS!

I would guess you would have gas money for a couple of years just there!!

[bull]

Exactly. If you're using it as a daily driver I guess you'd have an argument with the mpg but we're talking about a 66-74 muscle car that almost no one commutes in. Who cares what mpg you get? Gas is nothing more than a sin tax in our case.

[Highbanked Hauler]

 I doubt the front suspension could handle the weight of a Cummins 5.9  I have (heard) that there is a smaller diesel for light duty pu.

[GPULLER]

A 5.9 Cummins weighs 1020lbs from what I've read.  A 4BT which is the 5.9's 4 cylinder little brother wieghts 740lbs.  Thats a lot of wieght, plus it looks like they are 38" tall!  Think you'd need a rather tall 6 pack style hood.

[69rtse4spd]

Crap, if you go diesel, you might as well go all the way, four wheel drive it. Big old swappers, exhaust stack out  the trunk & fuzzy dice hanging in it.  .   




P.S.  flaming fuzzy dice for some. .

[NMike]

the engine height is the biggest issue. the length is about the same as a V10. the crossmember would be the linch pin for the swap. the oil pan and the suspension would be fighting for supremacy .

i was wondering about the swap while i converted my 79 powerwagon and 78 ramcharger to diesel.

[moparstuart]

how about in a willys

[six-tee-nine]

I'm not gonna ask why but if you want to go this way why not use soething more suited for use in a car.
(I know most of the US guys are going to hate me for saying this)
The European big 3 as we like to call then (Mercedes Audi and BMW) all carry a V8 diesel engine in their top line cars from 4 up to 4.5 liters with 2 turbos.
Most of these engines will provide more torque then a well tuned 440 (altough the torque curve is not as flat) They drink less than half of most petrol counterparts and they run awesomly quit......

Then again converting a Charger to a Diesel car seems as unneccecary as converting your wife to a guy.......

[Highbanked Hauler]

  Stuart, what motor do you have in that Jeep

[moparstuart]

 Stuart, what motor do you have in that Jeep

?   not mine i just took those pictures saturday at our local mopar show here in Kansas city , I have never seen it before , we featured AMC and got alot of them to come out .  Looks to me just like the red one up earlier in the thread .

[NMike]

the engine in the Willy's is a 4BTA. basically a 6BT cummins with the middle two cylinders removed. it is the later and better model, has the inline pump.

[200MPH]

Then again converting a Charger to a Diesel car seems as unneccecary as converting your wife to a guy.......

LMAO

[PocketThunder]

Then again converting a Charger to a Diesel car seems as unneccecary as converting your wife to a guy.......

LMAO

              DUDE!!!!!!!!!!   

[jww426]

Theres a new Italian Iveco diesel V-6 in the new Ram pickups and Jeeps. Making it hotter with twin turbos and implementing the truck's tranny might be cool. No need for mufflers. Not sure about the weight, but probably as much as a hemi 426 with the 727.
Just a guesstimate.

Hmm...Im thinking a 70 Charger with a custom-built Dana, or the rear axle out of the Ram. Stock looking RT on the outside.
Why you ask? Why did we go to the moon? Win WW2? Dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench? Because we're Americans, and we love horsepower! Chrysler Firepower!
I'll post if I can get an engine from Dodge. My local diesel guy can order one.

JWW

[myk]

Eh, to each their own, but you can count me out.  Who buys a Charger for gas mileage anyway?

[toocheaptosmoke]

When my car was just a chassis a 5.9 cummins was a serious consideration for it, a modded 12v would have been awesome in there!   But like others have said, the engine height and weight were two of the biggest hurdles.  The trucks have a hard enough time keeping ball joints intact, there would have to be some serious planning to make a reliable front suspension work.  Not to mention you would basically be using an entire 3/4 ton truck driveline with even more weight and clearance issues, and a lot of those parts aren't exactly cheap either.   That's why I ended up just going with 1/2 ton gas job truck parts.

[wingcar]

Why mess up a Charger in that way..................If what you are looking for is more mileage, transplant a slant-six into it........

[jww426]

Ive found out that there are a good number of lightweight diesel transaxles out there that could be suitable to a 6 cyl 24V Cummins.
But in order for this to work, I think its best to locate the engine mid-mounted, and that means no rear seat. The fuel tank can be moved to the engine compartment, which of course would now also be the trunk.

Mid-engine, 2nd gen Chargers have been done before. (see photo of 1st gen drag car)

The clearance issue, the engine height and its weight, will be better placed in the middle of the car.
With twin turbos, and there are multitudes of options, 600 HP is not a problem, 100 ft. lbs. too of torque. (24 mpg)
My diesel guy says the halfshafts and hubs for the transaxle are not a problem to source.

Hefty coil over rear springs and shocks of course.

Im thinking seriously of going this route.

JWW

[ACUDANUT]

Why not put a four cylinder diesel engine it.  It would get great fuel mileage, and would run like a slow tank. 

[JB400]

I hate to say it, but the Chevy Duramax would be the way to go if someone was looking to a diesel conversion.

[six-tee-nine]

A mercedes OM 606 straight 6. 3 litres, 24 valves.
Do a inline pump swap, add 7.5 mm elements to the pump, convert to a Holset HX40 turbo and done. Capable of 600 horse and more torque than a average big block.

Still the quastion remains why....

The Cummins engine is great, but the way it is build makes it almost a rig engine even heavy for pick ups.

[jww426]

Thats a good point.
I may consider the Merc, or even the Cummins 4bt, or if I can get the Dodge V-6 Iveco that might solve the problem.
I agree, the 6cyl Cummins is too heavy.

[Todd Wilson]

A friend of mine has put several 4bt Cummins in various old Dodge trucks and a Jeep. He has a system down for bell housing and transmission as well as hydroboost brakes.  I would think as others have stated the Cummins 6 cylinders would be way to heavy for the front end of any of the old muscle cars.



Todd

[Mike DC]

                             
A B/RB wedge is arguably too heavy for these cars, if you care about performance outside of a dragstrip.  We tolerate the compromise because the factory did it and B/RBs are great motors.  



Putting big diesels into old Chargers?  LOL.  

Oh yeah, I have no doubt you could do it.  

And here's an article about a big-block chevy V8 in a Smart car:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a7879/video-big-block-smart-fortwo-drag-racer/

[kanadanmajava]

A mercedes OM 606 straight 6. 3 litres, 24 valves.
Do a inline pump swap, add 7.5 mm elements to the pump, convert to a Holset HX40 turbo and done. Capable of 600 horse and more torque than a average big block.

There's one competition drifting team here that are using somewhat modified 24v OM606 diesels. They seem to be going at around 500 hp and 800 Nm. The engines are quite reliable at those levels but they have been braking plenty of turbochargers. The pump has 8 mm internals but rather surprisingly the engines uses a HX52 turbocharger and an Eaton MP90 supercharger. They are getting around 3.5 bars of boost but the smoke levels aren't very street worthy.

They are probably nice engines but I prefer spark ignition. I still do like the way 2-stroke Detroit Diesels sound but they wouldn't fit in any car.