far out there dream diesel retro!!!
 

For SOME of you; you are old enough that your dream cars used to be gas sucking classic performance cars, long before being PC, and hyper pollution awareiaaatied!! (like that word?) I remember the day I saw my first picture of an early Pantera in Hot Rod Mag. of all places.... I didn't even know those existed until that day!!! Now I'm a bit gaga over the Beck 904! It's a high dollar replica of the few, and seldom seen Porsche 904. To me; its quite a looker!

So, I'm thinking to myself; what Diesel would fit in there; be powerful enough for a badboy image, yet still give us our ecomodder mpg when we want it, w/o weighing in like a boat anchor?

Some of you have the answer already, but I want it (eng/systems) to be low tech enough; so if we SUDDENLY became a 3rd world country where most computers no longer operate; that it still meets all of the above criteria!! Still have an answer???

I blush at what a Beck 904 roller only would run for if even they would sell in that form!! I'm sure something based instead off of a Fiero would be much more practical. Several yrs ago, I read of a Dino replica (fiero) that was reviewed as being high quality, but I don't see it showing up ANYWHERE these days.......


Dreaming is fun, but to be practical; (I may have asked this before) have any of you an idea of what diesel could fit the best in a Fiero cheaply, and FAR beat the stock 2.5's highway 32-34 mpg???????????

6.2/6.5 will fit with a v8 kit, Isuzu/perkins 1.7, 2.2 used in older GM are a bolt in for 4/6 cyl Fiero to the oe trans.

NB--The original 904 made rather less than 200 HP (the most powerful race motor had 192 HP, according to here), and quite a lot less torque I believe. Very peaky powerband, too, if my buddy's four-cammer Speedster is any example. It shouldn't be hard to find a diesel that would be roughly comparable to that. In fact, if you're willing to trade off the high-RPM power, I'd bet that any recent-ish TDI-type powerplant will do. And many or most would probably even have better low-end grunt for more flexibility and perceived acceleration.

The later 904-6 cars had an early form of the 2.0 liter 911 engine that made up to 210 HP, but the power was still somewhat peaky.

The car will be light, even with a strong and heavy diesel mill in it. So you won't need much power to give excellent performance. :)

The aero could definitely be better, but they sure are handsome cars... Just don't let yourself think about the possibility of an SUV hitting you. And don't think about driving it in actual hot weather; an acquaintance of mine co-drove one across the country once, and it was the next best thing to torture. They'd get bags of ice at a gas station, and just dump the ice on themselves. Not exactly fun; the car had no AC and no insulation, and very little in the way of openable windows, so the Texas sun turned it into an oven.

-soD

Have you looked in the For Sale thread just now ? Someone is selling a couple of Ecotecs...

Thanks, but I would be a little squeemish to have a motor that rare in NA. Parts availability??

OK - I thought it was a plaything, plus they are local ;)

You may want to think about swapping the engine and trans otherwise you may end up limited to something like 80 with the petrol gearing and a Diesel with a 4 to 4.5K redline and limiter.