Does anybody have experience with putting a diesel in a muscle car?

Question

I would like to build a big muscle car, like a 1969 Charger, with a modified 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel. I have seen modified diesel pickups that run 12s in the 1/4, get 20 mpg, and are driven every day. I imagine that I could do the same with a Cummins powered Charger. Has anybody seen one or even heard of one? How difficult of a task would it be?

Answer 1

i have seen it done with a 5.9 liter cummins in a 1970 monte carlo. as long as you have the donor vehicle that the motor came out of shouldnt be too bad. regarless of what you use you will have a lot of custom fab work to do with getting guages working if you use the original guages in the car. just use the motor and transmission and you will have to have some custom mounts made for it. i would get a bigger rear end for the charger. something equivelant to a dana 60 and put some highway friendly higher gears in it. something like a 3.08 to 1. you will need the bigger rear end to handle the torque. i would also put heavier rear springs in it and traction bars. you will also have to have a custom drive shaft made for it even if you use the original rear end. whether you use a cummins in the dodge charger or a duramax, or a powerstroke, none of these will just simply drop right in. none of these motors ever originally came in the car, so its gonna be some work.
whether you go with a v8 diesel or inline 6 it will be some work but one thing to remember is the inline 6 diesel from cummins makes its power at a lower rpm... a good thing , mroe torque at lower rpm. this is due to its longer stroke than the v8's

Answer 2

Diesel Muscle Car

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does anybody have experience with putting a diesel in a muscle car?
I would like to build a big muscle car, like a 1969 Charger, with a modified 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel. I have seen modified diesel pickups that run 12s in the 1/4, get 20 mpg, and are driven every day. I imagine that I could do the same with a Cummins powered Charger. Has anybody seen one or even...

Answer 4

It would depend on a few things. If both use the 727TF transmission then it may be a simple swap until you hit the wiring harness.

The Cummins should be the easier swap as may not need to change the rest of the drivetrain like you would with a Duramax. Motor mounts and the wiring/computer swap would be most of it.

Answer 5

Afew months ago there was a short article about a guy doing about the same thing...He,s putting a duramax in a charger...Duramaxs are v8 so they auctually have a higher rpm rate than a 6 cyl...The article was in mopar muscle or hot rod mag..

Answer 6

Go to mtv.com and then pimp my ride , the have a 65 impala that they put a diesel engine on it, it was pretty nice and fast. they change whole thing transmisson and cables they even cut a part on the foor so the transmission will fit.

Answer 7

you must not watch pimp my ride where they put a duramax into an impala that produces about 800 HP and runs on biodiesel. diesel can be used in anything nowadays . you may have to strengthen your drivetrain and your suspension to handle all that power you are gonna throw at it

Answer 8

Take some measurements and the weight of the diesel might be a bit heavy for the front end of the charger>

Answer 9

the 12 valve cummins would be the easiest to swap due to lack of electrical controls, but i think any cummins might be too tall. you might measure an engine and measure your car to see how far it will come out of the hood.

Answer 10

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/chevy/0707dp_1965_chevy_impala_ss_duramax/index.html

http://www.18to1.com/