repowering old cars

[steamjam]

Hello peoples,
I'm new here!.... I love old American cars, but I hate old American car gas mileage. I also love classic Japanese cars, but think the MPG could be better. I own a 1980 Corolla that's been set up for drifting, and an '82 Corolla that barely runs.

I'm going to use the '82 as a test mule for repowering with biodiesel. What I'm going to do this use a VW Jetta 1.6TD with a adapter plate to a Suzuki Sidekick 2wd 5 speed. The MkII Jetta and the Corolla RWD are very close in weight, so I'm hoping that I'll see 40+mpg, and with alittle tinkering with gear ratios, and possibly some F.I. mods, 44+mpg. I already have a rather crude biodiesel processor made out of an old water heater and a bunch of buckets that I made a few years back when I first started tinkering with it. I'm also going to be further developing this as I go along. For anyone interested I'll start a thread soon and take tons of pics.

Anyone here re-power their old cars to run bio? If so, what car did you use and what engine? The ultimate goal here is to scale up what I learn from all this to a 1950's or a 1960's muscle car using an engine such as a cummins 4bt, or a Nissan SD33T, and see something like 24+mpg.

Thanks,
The Steam!

[me and my metro]

Back in the mid 80's I put 4.3 liter Oldsmobile v-8 Diesel out of an 79 Cutlass into a 68 Vista-Cruiser. It got 24 mpg and had only 90 hp. th-400 and 3..23 gears in a mid size wagon. This was in central Oregon at 3500 ft elevation. The car was a great commuter and we even took it to Yellowstone and Custer's last stand on vacation. ( I still drive a GM 6.5 Diesel in a crewcab to this day.) I now commute in an xfi clone Metro.