Diesel in m37?

[G744]

RE: diesel engine in m37

I did a goat motor repower in mine back in '76. It still runs like a raped ape and 240,000 miles on it. Very little maintence, plenty of grunt. I LIKE the noise, too.


Send me you E-mail and I'll forward the a little movie I took on the freeway running it.

dg

 

[mangus580]

RE: diesel engine in m37

dg.... could you upload the video to the video gallery?

 

[sermis]

RE: diesel engine in m37

What about a hercules out of a forklift. I have found a running non smoker for $500. Will still need a bellhousing and maybe an OD trans. I have been told that they have a different fuel system. Anybody here know about the fuel system or if it can be altered for road use.

 

[steelsoldiers]

RE: diesel engine in m37

I'm not flaming anyone for using lift blocks over the front axle, but you have to be very careful with them. Cabell sounds like he has his set up correctly. The biggest issue is the sideload the block will experience in a turn. There have been reports of the block spitting out during a hard turn. I don't know about Canada, but some states won't pass a vehicle with front lift blocks. WV modified inspection stickers for lifted vehicles won't pass front blocks. Personally, I would get some new springs made or as a last resort for cost issues, have the stockers re-arched with a new leaf or two to support the heavier diesel.

This is what one suspension company has to say about them:

Using lift blocks on the front is never a good idea because: 1. When used on the front axle, blocks are subjected to increased side loads when cornering, which can cause them to fail by "rolling out" from under the springs. This, in turn, will cause loss of vehicle control. 2. Most blocks are tapered. If the tall end is installed facing towards front-of- vehicle, it worsens caster angle; if the tall end faces rear it worsens driveshaft angle. 3. Most factory front springs are fairly weak. Blocks increase the leverage load on these already weak springs which really compounds spring / axle wrap-up.

My $.02

 

[hippiedude]

I would make costom shakles before I would use blocks!!That way you get just the right amount of lift you need...With some nice soft ride springs your good to go...

 

[pa.rich]

RE: diesel engine in m37

Talk about American and Japanese? A duece hauling a Kubota excavator? Uh Oh.

 

[steelsoldiers]

RE: diesel engine in m37

Good point hippiedude, but if you really need 2-4" of lift, then the shackles would have to be about twice that long. That could really throw the pinion angle off. You could do a 2" shackle and then weld a 2" boxed and gusseted spacer between the frame and the front spring mount.

 

[Bidslinger]

GM never really made a good deisel. .

Not so fast. GM did own Detroit Diesel at one time and what about the EMD division of GM. I tore into a 567d3 EMD 16 cylinder one time at Stewart and Stevensons when I use to do engineering. Maybe a John Deere engine out of an wore out combine would make a nice replacement. I could have bought a whole combine with a running diesel 6 cyl for $700 it had less than 2600 hrs on the machine.

 

[citizensoldier]

Well lets just say Chevy/Olds/Cadilac and so on never did. IMHO.. Everyone they designed was kind of junky. This does not mean they did not purchase companys that made good diesels.. Some that you mentioned had bigtime crankshaft timing problems,some were converted gas engines and should have never been made,always under powered and bad milleage.. Its all in the records.. I was just stating this because they had to buy or go to outside soarces that were making some very dependable and eficiant engines..
My childhood/best friends sister is the head of the GM truck complaint departement so I find out all the inside stuff. Her quote "We now have a good engine, we just need to build a good truck to put around it."
This was from the first year of the Duramax series. Good motor but should do my laundry and clean my house for the price tag..
They then took the Allison transmission and lightened it ,changed stuff against there recomendation and had all kinds of problems in the begining. From what I have heard they worked those bugs out.
Remember the Chevy LUV?? Wasnt that a Izusu deisel? They were putting Jap mad gas engines in S-10's in the 80's.. My point is many USA trucks have foriegn hearts beating in them and have for years..So what the diff with a M37.

 

[mangus580]

ok... I will try again (damn exploder)

IMHO, most of the GM diesel trouble is 'consumer based'. Most people had no clue about owning a diesel when GM started making them (a good deal still have no clue). This caused alot of issues because people were treating them like their gas counterparts... we all know thats not good I think that ford (and probably even dodge) had some similar problems, just not as widely known. GM had the corner on the market in the early 80's, and it cost them dearly in the diesel world.

They then took the Allison transmission and lightened it ,changed stuff against there recomendation and had all kinds of problems in the begining. From what I have heard they worked those bugs out.

This is only true if you are talking about Ford. The tranny behind the d-max is an allison design. Ford did just what you state, they asked allison to change things outside of their specs. This caused Ford a great deal of headaches.... I guess thats why Allison never put their name on it



All that said, the 6.2/6.5 series engines were decent. Tons of them have gone several hundred thousand miles. They were great for what the original design was... a LIGHT DUTY diesel engine for GOOD mileage. GM didnt design the 6.2 to be a powerhouse. They made it for the 1/2 ton trucks to get good mileage. Now, that said, alot of people thought 'hmm diesel' and got them in teh bigger trucks, and attepted to work them. This was fine, but there was a big disappointment in power


Off the deuce fender now, back to diesels in the M37.....

 

[dodgem37]

I made a road test with the m-37 with his new diesel engine. the m-37 run very well to 45 mph same on slopes of 8% . more need for downshift here the spec: 4BD1-T (3.9L 4 cyl Diesel) 121@ 3000 232 @ 2200 Transmission? T-case original. differential original (5.83). tire 900-16

I did not take a picture yet

cgarbee: dou you have msn chat? phazerallain@hotmail.com

 

[JDToumanian]

dg - Can you post some pics of your Detroit converted M37? That's my kind of project! I've probably got a hundred questions about it... What transmission did you use? Did you need to do a suspension lift or did it fit at stock height? Did you encounter any serious problems?

Very cool project!

Regards,
Jon