Re: [Amc-list] AMC V8 Diesel - Did AMC ever create one?

[Archimedes <Freedom@xxxxxxxx>]

greg_taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx said:

>I've never seen this pop up in AMC discussions before ... did AMC ever 
>create a V8 diesel prototype?


Given the gas crisis and the diesel activity at GM in the late seventies, it's a sure bet AMC was looking.  However, with truck sales in the range they were at the time, it probably would have cost AMC too much to make its own V8 diesel.  Heck, Ford used an IH diesel in its F-trucks (I have a 1990 -- no throwing rotten fruit, please, I only bought it to haul around AMCs), Dodge still uses the Cummins diesel...

AMC would have been foolish to try.  GM had a lot more money to spend engineering a V8 diesel for its big car line (Impala, Park Avenue, etc), and they flubbed it up miserably.

Had the AMC car line lasted longer, I wouldn't be surprised if that XJ diesel would have landed in the Concord/Spirit, purely in an attempt to cash in on the hi-mileage bandwagon of the early eighties.


>What would be involved in converting an AMC V8 over to make it a diesel? 
>An idea I've been milling around for my '89 Grand Wagoneer.


The big mistake GM made with its car line diesels was to assume their block was strong enough for the extra stresses of burning diesel.  They weren't.

AMC V8's were always overbuilt and orders of magnitude stronger in many areas than the Big Three smallblocks, but even so I doubt they are built strong enough for diesel.

-- Marc

P.S.  Glad to see you're still around the hobby, Greg.


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