and for power yes I agree, but not for fuel economy.
Agreed.
The right Diesel for an application pretty much always burns less fuel than the right gasoline burner. If I remember correctly there is significantly more energy per gallon in Diesel than gasoline.
Since there is more to the operation of a vehicle than filling the fuel tank I do not agree that burning less fuel to do the same work always results in more economical operation.
Now what you plan to do with the truck makes all the difference
Agreed again.
I've modeled my own usage in Excel a couple times, both to support my decisions on my current project, and when I briefly considered a new 1-ton a few years ago.
On my current project it would take ten years for the savings in fuel to justify what I estimated a 6BT would cost over the Cad 500. And at least one of the assumptions was a real risky one; assuming the relative cost of gasoline and Diesel stay the same.
I've seen Diesel swing way high in the past few years and can't say with confidence that it won't again cost far more than premium gasoline.
A second iffy assumption was that I could buy a 6BT as cheap as some had said they did in other forums. I only looked for maybe a week but did not find any in my region for less than $5,000. The only cheap old Dodge pickups I could find were motor-less.
I hope to be driving this current project 20 years from now, but a ten year financial model along with my bias toward big gas V-8's settled it for me.
A key factor in my model is an assumption that may be different than most others. I have enough vehicles that most of them are only driven a couple thousand miles a year. I modeled a long trip every five years and assumed only 2,000 or 3,000 miles typical annual mileage.
That factor alone is probably one of the reasons my model favors a gas powered truck.
When I looked at new trucks I believe I was comparing the 8.1 gas against a Duramax. The initial cost of the Duramax option was about $12,000 additional pushing the total cost of the proposed truck well into the 50K+ range.
My model did not justify the additional cost even assuming this would be my primary driver. And I could not stomach putting that much money into a single vehicle! Not long after the price of Diesel spiked for a while.
But if you like long road trips and often tow heavy things then diesel is a good choice.
I like long road trips but the last time I crossed the country burning anything but kerosene was 30 years ago. That was a motorcycle trip and I averaged 63 mpg and over 55 mph including food and gas stops but excluding sleep and visit time. I only got one ticket in 6,000+ miles and that was during the National speed limit days.
I've driven a truck towing something to Colorado and back twice in the past decade. I assume I'll do it again.
I think even the right stuff to make a bolt in swap with a 54 model transmission crossmember.
That's interesting. If you are able to pull that off a lot of people will be eager to copy you.
Would that same approach work with a 4BT? I think even more people would try that. Answering my own question, since a 4BT can be found in front of a TH400 the same adapter would bolt on the bellhousing that would sit on a '54+ crossmember....
Not a project I'm likely to do, but something I'd watch with interest.
