Hmm, need a cheap diesel car

RU482

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
12,689
3
81
I'm looking for an 80's Olds Cutlass or Chevy Caprice with a diesel engine to play around with. I've got some ideas for a bio-fuel car that I would like to try out, and I assume that these cars can be had very cheap.

ANyone know anything about these cars? I'm thinking they came with a 350 or a 403...a great many of them were probably converted to gas or just put out to pasture.

PS, Im in Iowa
 

RU482

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
12,689
3
81
Originally posted by: gsaldivar
Silly tree-huggers.

My concerns for the environment are only in the peripheral of this plan...I just want to drive a car for cheap using waste vegetable oil from a local resturant ;) plus I am intrigued by the idea from a technical standpoint
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
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Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
I'm looking for an 80's Olds Cutlass or Chevy Caprice with a diesel engine
:confused:
My thoughts exactly...

I've been wanting to do the same thing.

How about you find a diesel toyota PU?

Or a diesel VW Rabbit...
 

mAdD INDIAN

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
7,804
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get an old diesel Jetta.

The car itself will be falling apart but the engine won't.

Mind you I'm talking about the 1st & 2nd gen Jetta's with a non-turbo diesel engine. Its very slow but it gets good mileage and runs forever.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,106
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DO NOT get a GM diesel V8 from the 80's. They're are complete and utter crap. You're far better off with a VW or something of similar vintage.
 

Black88GTA

Diamond Member
Sep 9, 2003
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Originally posted by: NutBucket
DO NOT get a GM diesel V8 from the 80's. They're are complete and utter crap. You're far better off with a VW or something of similar vintage.

Agreed. Garbage. There's a reason you don't see hardly any of those around anymore, yet their gas-powered counterparts are still everywhere...

GM basically took regular gas motors and crappily retrofitted them to run on diesel. The engines weren't designed for diesel, and it showed when those muthas started blowing up right and left 3-4 years later.

You'd be much better off with a diesel that started life as such. I would think that an older diesel Benz or Volvo would probably be a good choice. I don't know too much about diesels in general, so get a second opinion on that though ;)
 

eLiu

Diamond Member
Jun 4, 2001
6,407
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Originally posted by: ElFenix
old diesel benz, thing is built like a tank.

Yeah, definitely--ours had gone 200k miles without ever having engine work (besides regular tune-ups). Though it should be cheaper to get a VW...unless the Benz was crappily taken care of, it'll be more costly
 

Evadman

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Feb 18, 2001
30,990
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Whatever car you choose, you are gonna have to build some kind of cracker to break apart the molcules, and a rather large heating system to keep the fuel from congealing.