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Im my state, I can swap any engine into any vehicle, no emission testing etc. Can put older engines in newer vehicles and all that too. There's people in the states running tractor engines in their trucks, atleast a few people that I've seen videos on. One guy used small tractor engines, 3 and 4 cylinder and got impressive mpg figures, like 30+ mpg for a full sized pickup and was expecting 40mpg out of a mustang he was working on. The other guy didn't care about mpg, he has a monster columbine engine in his truck.
I'd say there's probably two basic ways to define underpowered, the typical person one would be what they feel is powerful enough probably based on experence (newer vehicles and such). Then the real world where a vehicle is loaded to it's max capacity, and has to drive up the steepest hill in the country. If it can't maintain power, I suspect it could be stated it's under powered. A 5hp briggs engine can move 100,000lbs, it would be extremely slow and need insane gearing, so getting up a hill with a giant load is more about torque multiplication than raw power. Granted double the power requires half the gear reduction.
In the context of cars, under powered is a little harder to define since the application is more about getting from point a to point b. Getting up to express way speeds would probably be what defines under powered in my book. If it can't get up to speed within the on ramp distance, then you can't properly merge with traffic going 75mph. In my area, the ramps are fairly long, but a city over they are stupid short, I mean like 300ft after the sharp bend and it's an entrance/exit ramp (clover leaf style road). Just about no vehicle of size can get up to speed fast enough. My lexus does it fine, my T100 I might hit 60mph from going 30 around the corner. My diesel I haven't driven in that area yet, but I suspect it would be more like 50mph, it's not exactly a fast truck lol.
@ME_Andy
Yea, that's the only reason I bought the truck with the 7.3L, I wouldn't touch the 6.0L and anything else it too new besides the IDI trucks, and I wanted the power stroke for the better mpg and such. These trucks had alright integrity so it's a pretty solid vehicle all around. If I couldn't get the 7.3L diesel in the format I wanted, I'd be forced to buy a newer Tundra and my 2nd best pick (like the 2006 era when the 5.7L was an option). The GVWR on the truck went up quite a bit for that generation so I suspect it would handle a larger load pretty well. Before that, they were more like a F150/1500.
@Piotrsko
I don't think you can get much more "underpowered" than a VW caddy, 47hp diesel 1.5L (I think we had the 1.6L too). People easily got 40mpg+ out of those little trucks though. I was going to buy a couple ages ago, but the guy was shady and didn't tell me the issues about the trucks and wanted $1000 each for rusted out trashed trucks.
Quick google shows the VW beetle was around 40-50hp in the 60's. 1970+ ones got around 60hp or so.
Anyway small update on the truck, glow plugs all replaced, no more smoke on startup. Oil changed, transfercase fluid changed. My dad was working on the drive shaft, I suspect it's swapped out now, haven't test drove it yet. Got a few more things and it should be caught up on maintenance and repairs. I've been focused on my business lately, so haven't really done much with the truck and haven't needed to haul anything. My dad has a line on more wood though, so fair chances I'll be using it again fairly soon. My neighbor also mentioned about wanting part of his property clear cut and stumps removed. He's not motivated though right now, he said maybe in 2-3 years.
Also, finally getting some nicer weather here, high today is 45, massive heat wave for our area lol.
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