Gas prices killing me!

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RobbAdams

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Anyone ever consider putting a cummins in their early a-body? Diesel is a lot cheaper , and milage is apparently better as well.

I would think their should be ton's of tourque available, and their seems to be a lot of performance parts available for diesels these days?

Thoughts / Reality Checks welcome:toothy10:
 
First. The cost of doing that swap would buy a bunch of gas. My advise would be to go out and buy a used Miata if you want gas milage and something fun to drive.

I have had 3 Miatas, they are dead on reliable, fun to drive and get great MPG. You can get a nice clean, early 90 car for under the price of that swap.

Don't sell your Mopar, Just have 2 cars.
 
No, never thought about doing anything like that. I just have my 89 Chrysler Lebaron I drive for gas mileage. I think what 1968 formula said would be the smarter way to go.
 
the front of the car and the tires would collapse under the weight of a cummins. plus they are about 3 feet tall from oilpan to the top
 
man the diesel convertion would be different but i don't think that the cummins in the 2500/3500 rams probable arn't the engine of choice.

i have heard of a guy in victoria that is taking a gm diesel (based on the 455 block) into a vette. now i'm not going to encourage any body to install a gm engine into there mopar so i agrea 68formulas340 get a smaller car that is easy on gas or start riding your bike more, and use the cuda for weekends.
 
I'm not sure which sounds worse.....diesel or Miatas!!! I've had nothing but Mopars and don't advocate having a Mopar in the garage for Sunday use and driving anything else during the week. I switch off on daily drivers....original paint 1973 Dart Sport /6 car w/ac and 2003 PT Cruiser Limited w/5 speed..loaded out!!
Ripper is a 1970 Coronet Sleeper....Deluxe with dogdish..rubber floor mat and 400 HP under the hood for tire testing..... NO Miatas..no 5.0 Mustangs...nothing but Mopar!!!!

Bryan
 
edision,,i agree with you,,,mopar or no car,,mo truck,,or no truck,,,

i have a cummins,,no one told me it was cheaper to run,,,,,,,
but i do know where there is a low milage 5.9 cumming engine sitting,,,inside,,,collecting dust,,,,,,incase your still considering that in your A body,,
 
Diesel is only $.10 gal cheaper here and it would take alot of driving to pay for the conversion at that rate. What I was thinking of doing was swapping in a 3.5v6 with an OD tranny. The 3.5 in my old Concorde got 30mpg hiway and still had good power being it was 225 HP net.


Chuck
 
i total agrea with you guys on the mopar or no car thing thats why i ride my bike to work. though traci on the other hand owns a mazda it's been a good car, though i did take some ribbing from some friends about it after we got married. there is hope she likes the 300 and the charger, and has stated that the ram is a hot looking truck so there is hope.

as for gas prices and milage i don't even look any more the trouth is the independant gas stations are making nothing on gas and the oil companys are getting rich. we as a consumer just keep buying it and driving our suv's with one or two people in them so i do not see the gas prices going down. now in saying what i have said i do under stand that for people living in rural, and small town areas there is no choice but to drive. but really does some one in vancouver, edmonton, seattle or any other big city need to have a big car/suv/truck for daily use? if we all look at how much we drive when we could have walked or ride it may suprise you. it also get use back out in the comunity and talking to our neibours.

sorry about the ranted, (i think that maybe i should have at least one coffee before i post) though a valiant with a build deisel might be different and cool at the same time maybe..................
 
Even buying a second car it may take a year or more to pay off the cost of the purchase & insurance before you realize a savings.

I was going to pick up a 03 Neon for $2k to drive daily in place of my Dakota that gets 15-17mpg. I figured it would be 1.5 years before I saved any money. You need to do the calculations before making a decision

Here is my example;

Based on 20k miles per year of driving (which I do)

30mpg avg. car will use 667 gal.

16mpg avg. car will use 1250 gal.

That is a 583 gal per year savings or at $2.89/gal (current price of regular) $1685 per year savings.

Assuming I am keeping both vehicles there is the $2000 purchase price plus $500 additional insurance for $2500 to get into the more economical car. 2500 divided by the 1685 per year savings it will take 1.48 years before I start saving money. This calculation does not include a split in my annual miles between the two cars, the more you drive the less economical car the longer it will take before you realize a savings.

If you are finacing the economical car and the monthly payments for the year are not less than the gas savings it will be the end of the note plus the amount of the delta loss each year before you see a savings.

I read in a magazine that the difference in cost between a Toyota Prius hybred and a Corolla would take 7.5 years to pay off before your realize a savings do to the additional mileage of the hybred. Not a very compelling reason to purcahse a hybred. I believe this was calculated on the average 10k miles per year and a $3/gal gas price.

You would be better off finding other ways to cut your fuel costs. Driving less is ofcourse the best but there are lots of simple low cost things you can do to improve mileage that will pay for themselves in a month or to.

I have been tweaking on my 360 powered Barracuda and now have the around town mileage up from 12-13 to 17.5-18 mpg.
 
I like the idea of a second car. Something new(er) with FI and mileage. The other car could be anything really. My new one (as of yesterday, Thanks Dad!) is a 2000 Intrepid.
(Dad was about to junk it and I said WHOA! there.)

Driving the big block Magnum everyday was and is absoultley fine minus it's thirsty drinking habbit of about 10 /15 - town/Hwy. mileage.
Even if I had to purchase a car, just the wear and tear taken off the older car is worth it to me.
 
There is a gent in my area who dropped the TDI plant from a VW into his jeep and converted it to run on the veg oil from fast food fryers. He Likes the idea of driving around giving OPEC "the finger" although he owns his own salavage and repair facility. Other than that all you can do is drive less.

My $0.02, LY.
 
340 mopar,,thats not a bad idea,, an newer 3.5 with A.O.D, and it is still mopar,,,just take the wiring harness out of the donor car,,and computers,,,
it would be different,,,dependable,,and good power,,,,do it do it do it do it,,,you may start a new trend,,,
 
For the price of that conversion why not add a gearvendors overdrive and have something nicely mannered but a beast when you need it. I drive a pos Ranger everyday for work. Better to wear out a Ford than my babys .And when i,m driving my 600 horse coronet I dont care who thought I was poor during the week in that beat up Ranger.
 
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