Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Diesel in 56 chevy wagon???

I've been toying with the idea of swaping the 235 in my 56 wagon to a late model pick up deisel. My goal is to have a daily driver that gets good mileage and plenty of torque for towing.Any Ideas or experience on this matter would be greatly apreciated.

thanks Dawger

Dawger, one thing you'll have to contend with is the extra weight of the diesel. I don't know which engine you're planning to use, but they all are very heavy. Surely your suspension will have to be beefed to compensate.

Summer before last, at a car show, I saw a '50 Chevy station wagon with a 6 cylinder BMW diesel. I believe it came from a Lincoln. I was not able to find the owner, but I wish I could have talked to him.

At one time I considered putting a 240D Mercedes diesel in my Model A.

I agree with Dennis.
I'd have to think any truck diesel would be too heavy.
Doesn't leave much to choose from does it?
After the too small VW, Mercedes are probably most plentiful.
Get one with a turbo for decent power.
A Mercedes just might weigh more than the 56 wagon, so sounds like a good match to me if it fits in car and there aren't electronic issues.
Maybe a marine to automotive conversion?
Do a google search for diesel conversions and see how much info is out there! Especially in England it seems.
I've thought about how cool a Cummins six cylinder diesel would be in an older Chevy pickup.
(it was a Cummins before it was a Dodge -
I can hear it now: Why'd you put a Dodge engine in your Chevy?)
Probably have to be a 1 ton though to hold that thing up!

I don't think weight will be a problem if you stick with one thats less than 7.4 liter-- they are about the weight of a Chrysler Hemi or less.Be sure to use a real quaility( maybe 2)fuel filter.An inline version would be really neat.---Paul