Posted by Russ/Wyo on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at 2:05PM :
In Reply to: Diesel Conversion posted by Michael Fanoni on Monday, October 23, 2006 at 10:45PM :
My Dad had an Oliver 990 tractor with a supercharged Detroit 3-53 that I had the pleasure to run most summers while I was a youngster. That's why my hearing is so bad today - it was terribly noisy.
I then drove an early GMC Astro 95 semi that had a Detroit engine. The radio was useless because you couldn't hear it with the engine running. It had good power though.
I also ran Detroits in a tugboat and a work barge on a dredging operation. Again, they were very noisy, leaked oil like seives and needed a lot of maintenance. They did make a lot of power for their size since they are 2-stroke engines.
I think the Cummins would be a much better engine for your conversion. I am on my second Cummins Dodge and really like them a lot.