Plenty of people including myself have converted 1/2 ton pickups to 4BT or its newer cousin the ISB170 engine. Your correct that no factory has done it and the success of the conversions would indicate that there is demand. My understanding is that Autoworld MT has performed over 200 conversions and they are just one shop that does them. Plenty of responses on the mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] list and the web forum http://www.4btswaps.com indicate that people are putting 4BT and the smaller 3.3L Komatsu engine in a wide variety of vehicles.
My F-150 2WD 4BT gets 27-32MPG if I don't roar down the highway. More typically, I average in the mid 20's which is lower then I like, but I need to lower more final gear ratio or play some gearing tricks at the transmission since I am 200-300 RPM above the optimum engine sweet spot. Todd Smith -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jim Cathey Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 22:04 To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] WAS First MB Diesel NOW FUEL ECONOMY > I was told that the diesel was not offered in the lower class > Dodge trucks because the frame would not handle the torque that the > Cummins > diesel produced. I was also told that the weight of the engine & > transmission were much heavier than the gas package & that the extra > weight > would consume a fair portion of the overall truck capacity. The Cummins 6B is big and heavy. There were odd rumors of a 4B in a 1/2 ton, but I think that was crap. Ford scrapped a Navistar development program for a 1/2 ton diesel, cost them a packet. Basically CARB scuttled it. Never heard any rumors about Chubby. There's no escaping it, however. Smaller diesels will come back, as will nukes. Just a matter of when. -- Jim Confidentiality Note: The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential. If this e-mail contains protected health information, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited,except as permitted by law. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
