The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 6.2 diesel vs. SBC engine mounting points?

OK, call me crazy but I'm stuffing a 6.2 diesel into my '61 Suburban. To make it even more interesting, it's being converted to run on waste veggie oil. Hey, 25 mpg on what's essentially free fuel is something I had to try out...
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone knows if the engine mounts on the 6.2 are the same as on a SBC. I've heard of a guy who swapped a 6.2 into a '77 Corvette and claimed nothing had to be changed. My Suburban has a 500 Caddy motor in it now so I'm assuming stuff will have to be changed anyway but I'm trying to determine just how different the 6.2 will be from all the available SBC stuff.
Any help appreciated. Thanks.

I think that,s a great idea. I can,t imagine in the vette though. I think the mounts will fit. You might have to relocate them a little but it shouldn,t be a problem. The small block exhaust system bolts up too. We run a 6.2 in a rollback & its been a great engine. It,s underpowered for the rollback but should work good in the burb. Let us know how the waist veggie oil turns out. It is interesting.

Sound like a cool idea. If memory serves me, I think that the 6.2 was based on the Olds v-8, and used the same mounts and trans bolt pattern. I think that you should be able to modify the motor mounts to work in your 'Burban though. One thing that you will want to watch for is cracking in the heads. They were bad about cracking between the valves. That problem was cured on the replacement heads and on the 6.5 that replaced it.

the trans bolt pattern on all the ones I have seen are the same as chevy small block and moter mounts look the same but may be in diffrent location

Found this in a search for diesels..... hows the project going?

6.2 is not derived from the Olds in any way. Bolts to all Chevy trans but I don't know about the motor mounts. Don't forget to flush all the gas out.

Missed that part....

No, the 6.2 was designed (IIRC) by Detroit Diesel for Chevy.... (OR they had a hand in it). It's always been a diesel... not a 'wanna be' diesel like the early V8 that gave GM diesels a bad name....

I have access to a 6.2 diesel that I was going to put in my 59 Fleetside 4WD. Have opted to hold off for now. I will be following this thread.

In the meanwhile, I have purchased a GMC Savana 1 ton cargo van with the 6.5TD. I too intend to run waste veg oil in a separate 40 gal. tank with the heaters,heated fuel lines,etc. Am considering which conversion package to get. Will be installing over the summer so it will be ready come Sept. for my 87 mile daily commute.
Ken

My dads worked on them lots and hates the 6.2s, he says he thinks they were based off a chev 350 and were horrible engines. Not to say others havent had luck with them, but hes been around the block plenty of times and does not like them. Underpowered and self destructive. I wouldnt get one if it were me.

Kaliburz, I thought the 6.2 was the early v-8 diesel gm made???

I dont know anything about the 6.5s though...

The early GM diesel based on the Olds V-8 was a 350 aka 5.7 We had enough of 'em in the shop at Burch GMC when I worked there in the early '80s. The 6.2 as mentioned above was totally different and designed from the ground up as a diesel. Detroit did have their fingers in the design. The 6.2 is a much better engine than the Olds which had a nasty habit of dropping valves into pistons if pushed too hard.

We had a customer who bought a new 5.7 GMC diesel pickup. He was a painter and when he brought it back, he told us that it ran fine with an empty bed. But the minute he put a bucket of paint in there, it couldn't get out of it's own way. He was wanting us to pull the diesel out and put a 350 gas engine in it's as a warranty repair. He ended up trading the truck in on a new gas Chevy.

The 6.5 was a punched out 6.2.

Interesting about those 5.7s and 6.2s. I have had both and because I have decades at wrenching I knew to run Delo 15-40 and both ran outstanding. Most people ran plain gas motor oil in the 5.7 and some still do it in other diesels and they trash the engine as the gas oil is NOT formulated to handle the high combustion temps of the diesel. BTW, the 5.7 was NOT a gas conversion as many believe with differnt heads.. The only thing it shared was the same bore and stroke as the 350 Olds gas engine. It was a totally different block, it said on the side 350D not X or other letters. Had different heads, different pistons and cam and no distributor but an injector pump which is the same as the 6.2 and 6.5. My friend is a retired diesel mechanic. I have a friend at church thats a diesel machanic and good one at that. Wrong oil will crystalize when it gets too hot and then not liquid. The rest is easy to figure out. Its not the weight in oil thats so important but the TEMP which it can handle along with ash or soot control. Change it like any other rig. 3K the most and it will run a long time. Texas Refinery Moly oil can go 20k or more if you change the filter evry 4-5K and replace that quart with the same stuff. But use either the one I recommended or Chevron Delo 15-40 or Shell Rotella T 15-40. I think you idea is smart. A balanced 6.2 with the injectors for the J series will run quite well and get good mileage. There are performance injectors for them also. Don't turbo it unless you run only 4 lbs of boost. The heads don't take to the turbo too well otherwise they run very well. The 6.5s had different heads and could handle them. I had a 6.2L in my Surburban Silverado and should not have sold it last year. It was in MINT condition. It was an 88 with rear a/c and everything worked including the 4 wheel drive. Check out www.lovercraftbiofuels.com. Its not bio diesel they sell but kits to convert even large engines to run on salad oil from United Grocers, Costco or wherever you get it in bulk and NO additives needed with their kit. For a used engine I would recommend from experience Texas Refinery Moly Pro Spec III. I use it in my rig and in the Burb I had and it makes them run super quiet and stops almost all wear. Thats why I use it. Also gets top higher RPMS faster and faster cold starts. They've been around since about 1921. Long time. Unfortunately most folks did not know how to care for a diesel properly. I have owned several diesels and love them. Just 10 cents of info and I hope this helps you and others out. There is an aquaintance of mine that has one in a full size blazer and gets 30 hwy with it. About 24 city. Has 33" tires and 3.73 gears. A little tall on the tires. I would run 31's the most. His is turboed. Check out hydrogentap.com and hydrogen boost on the net. You can run diesels on it or at least boost it and gets more power and more mpgs. H.

Good info on the oil! Proper maintenance goes a long way with any engine.

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