Got myself a little diesel car.

[Canyonero]

I bought a 1981 Isuzu I-Mark LS with a 1.8L Diesel. 032,000 miles. It's in near prefect shape. I think it's a pretty darned sweet find. Thank you Craigslist! 40+ MPG. I don't have my own pictures yet, but here is an eBay auction for the exact same thing (minus the tow bar and 170,000 miles )

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1981-Isuzu-I-Mark-Diesel-40-MPG-Tow-Vehicle-AMSOIL_W0QQitemZ150236274651

[Alxsmt]

sweet!! my uncle has one of those, he was gettin crazy good mileage! i guess they really need a turbo tho

[Canyonero]

Yes, I have already named it after James May of the BBC's Top Gear: "Captain Slow".

This is the car I was posting about in the Boost forum, adding a turbo to a n/a diesel. I wonder if I could strip the turbo goodies off a VW diesel maybe? They also used a 1.8L for a time. I want to keep this thing all-original though. No hard mods.

[Canyonero]

I just learned from Wikipedia that this Isuzu I-Mark is on the T-Car platform, shared with the Chevrolet Chevette / Pontiac Acadian, and others.

And my 81-91 Isuzu Chiltons manual covers it.

Sweet!

[RidgeRunner]

40+ mpg? My Saturn gets that on 87 octane gasoline...



Sometimes the crappiest cars are the best. Interesting find you've got there.

[Canyonero]

Yeah, that is interesting. It's stupid how new cars don't get better mileage, and which old cars do. No one wants to sacrifice performance for a few more MPG, so it's like car companies just don't bother trying.

New cars are getting 30-some MPGs. Well our '86 Honda Accord got 38 MPG, give me something new...

What kind of engine does the Saturn have? 1.3L?

[RidgeRunner]

Yeah, that is interesting. It's stupid how new cars don't get better mileage, and which old cars do. No one wants to sacrifice performance for a few more MPG, so it's like car companies just don't bother trying.

New cars are getting 30-some MPGs. Well our '86 Honda Accord got 38 MPG, give me something new...

What kind of engine does the Saturn have? 1.3L?

All S-series saturns have a 1.9L of some variety. My '02 SL1 has a 100hp SOHC version. What I'm guessing helps it alot is the light weight and streamlining.

I keep thinking about swapping a small diesel into my old Nissan truck. Nissan SD25 or TD27 come to mind...

Do you know right offhand the torque/hp specs on the diesel in your car?

[Canyonero]

I haven't been able to find much information on it.

A forum post about a swap into a Samurai says 51hp and 72ft/lb. Sounds about right.