1980 diesel Oldsmobile

If it were next door, for the price I'd try it. I like the (no) tail lights.

 

Sure seems cheap enough Does it run at all??

 

If it's super clean, interior photos would help, also to check out options.

 

The Olds diesel blocks are used to build race motors, frequently with a cut down 425 crank. Back in 1988, I knew of one mechanic who had side business converting diesel Oldsmobiles to gas.

 

My Diesel ran well at about 185k miles when I took it out. The only issue I had was cold starts. I usually had to park it inside and plug in the block heater for a couple of hours on a really cold morning. The only reason I took it out was because I was young and stupid and wanted a cool sounding gas 350 Olds that my brother in law had sitting in his garage. To this day I still regret taking that Diesel out.

I used to get mid to upper 20's in my old Cutlass, but that was also back before 70mph speed limits. I don't know what it would do at higher speeds. Mine just had a three speed and really tall (2.4?) gears out back. I think they would do a lot better with shorter gears and an overdrive trans.

Despite what everybody says and all of these stupid lists posted everywhere they are very good engines when properly cared for.

 

From what I understand it would save about 30 to 35lbs remember that they could eliminate the Regulators, window Channels, all the needed rollers and attaching hardware, the glass could be made about 20% smaller in area (the part that sticks down into the door that the regulator attaches to) and they could even save $$ and alittle weight on the seal as it did not need to hold up to the window sliding across it.
They also could use the increased elbow room in advertising, and I am told that some more justification was the fact that A/C was almost aways ordered in mid and full size cars by 1978.

That being said it was 1 of the reasons I sold my 83 Cutlass Cruiser
When I bought it I was unaware that the rear windows did not roll down, couple that with the non dog friendly rear hatch glass/lift gate, and non fuctional A/C it really did not work for us. My wife was actually very happy to se the car go. She liked the 77 Century wagon we had before the 83 Cutlass, and she loves the 78 Impala Wagon we have now.

There were many weight saving features of those 78-86 A/G Bodies that I did not car for, 14" by 6" Wheels, the fact that the drivers side frame rail is shorter than the passenger side making it nessissary to add an extension to put a stock overdrive trans crossmember in. The short wheel base that makes the chassis porpoise over freeway expansion joints, (I believe the wheel base should have been about 12" longer, with less body overhang. The weak 350C or 200M transmissions ect... But the rear door windows are what make them a No sale to me. To bad because they are not bad car really.

 

Thanks for that explanation, and it's a shame they did those other crazy things with the frame. I always thought that was a sharp looking mid sized car. They don't seem to exist in this area at all. I don't remember seeing more than one or two back in the day anyhow. I wouldn't mind having one, except maybe now it would be nearly impossible to find 14" tires anymore.

 

A 6.2L truck diesel, 700R4 automatic, solid wheels and tires, and the B-body diesel wagons become very very good. If you really have to have a Turbo find an old Banks kit. The 6.5L turbos are junk IMO.

I want to put an IDE 7.3L or 6.9L diesel (non-turbo Ford/IH engine) into a 70s Ford/Mercury wagon someday. I've driven this 7.3L turbo wrecker and our 7.3L nonturbo rollback. I like the rollback better. It sounds like a muscle car due to a straight pipe exhaust. It's slow and it's geared too short to get decent mileage though. If I were to build a better tow truck, I'd use the 7.3L non-turbo diesel, a 7-speed Spicer manual transmission, and then gear the rear end as tall as I could. Both trucks have 4.88 gears out back. I think 4.10's would suit the turbo truck and 3.73 or 3.55 for the non-turbo. I'd rather have slow acceleration than be churning 2600rpm at 55mph like it does. The turbo truck has a deeper overdrive but 55mph is still about 2050rpm. The 7.3L engines cruise best around 1800-1900rpm. They pull well from 1100-1300 depending on the gear chosen. So the 7-speed Spicer along with a 3.55 gear and the tiny 16 inch tires on the rollback would give a much better 2239rpm at 55mph. IN SIXTH GEAR. Which means the overdrive 7th gear would let it cruise about 2259rpm at 75mph.

That's a good thing because that truck is the one that goes on all the highway runs out of town and needs to get better highway miles.

 

i did a 6.2 swap in a olds 98 that originally came with the 5.7 diesel.. i added a gm1 turbo, head and main studs with girdle .010 head gaskets and 3" single exhaust.. upgraded 700r4 with a 3:25 ford 9" p235 75r 15 tires.. tach,pyro, boost gauges.. plus a few other slight mods....that thing would cruise 75 all day at around 2150 rpm.. averaged 29-30 mpg and the wife put almost 400,000 miles on it before rust issues forced me to retire it... diesels in old wagons are great if you are willing to do it right