Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Diesel Conversion - Not the KLR

Anybody have any idea how much HP in a diesel would be required to move my Suburban down the road at legal speeds? It's probably around 7,000 lbs loaded. EP? Bill? Astro? Y'all know who I'm talkin' to.

I find myself lamenting the prospect of unloading the behemoth for a more economical form of personal transport and have recently found the time to consider picking up an old 4 cylinder Perkins or somesuch out of an outdoor forklift, straight truck (6 wheeler) or marine power unit and doin' a swap. I have the rescources to engineer and execute this and I figure it will put the 'burb near the 20mpg mark which I can live with. Gearing is not a problem as the 'burb has a tall overdrive.

I'm not a bit interested in being able to haul ass down the road and am thinking the european approach to powering a 'lorrie' is the way to go.

No comments: