I Love This Diesel Custom Cruiser!

Over at the Moparts forum, there’s a pretty decent discussion going on about 80′s American diesels and why they never caught on (it’s too bad you need to be a forum member to view the thread). One guy owns this mint Olds Custom Cruiser with the GM 5.7 L diesel, which took a beating back in the day for being failure-prone. The notion that this engine was just a repurposed diesel version of the Chevy 350 gas motor, which I’d always heard was true, is actually a misconception: the diesel didn’t share many parts with the SBC, and its problems largely consisted of injection-pump issues, and blown head gaskets due to stretched head bolts resulting from its much higher compression. It’s true that GM’s experimental oil burner wasn’t well-equipped to deal with the rigors of diesel operation, and neither was the public who bought them. Those that survived the initial die-off, however, tend to soldier along pretty well, especially with the later, improved 5.7L diesel that GM began offering near the end of their run. Someone on greasecars has even built a veggie-oil converted diesel Delta 88. And the owner of the Custom Cruiser says the clattering wagon gets way more attention than his ’68 Road Runner. Go figure!