Diesel Conversion

raveen · January 29, 2009

Hi Guys,

I have a Daihatsu Charade G12 Petrol car (Not EFI, its a Carb Model) and I thought of converting the petrol engine into a diesel one. Anyone here use a diesel converted vehicle? what are the pros & disadvantages?

My current petrol engine isn't 100% perfect so will it be worth doing a conversion ????? Do I have to change the number plate? Will I get a Fresh english number or?...

tnx :-)

Ripper · January 29, 2009

raveen said:
Hi Guys,
I have a Daihatsu Charade G12 Petrol car (Not EFI, its a Carb Model) and I thought of converting the petrol engine into a diesel one. Anyone here use a diesel converted vehicle? what are the pros & disadvantages?

My current petrol engine isn't 100% perfect so will it be worth doing a conversion ????? Do I have to change the number plate? Will I get a Fresh english number or?...

tnx :-)

Errr i dont think you can "convert" your petrol motor to run on diesel.... the mechanics and the way two technologies operate are totally different. Not like "converting" a petrol motor to run on LPG

But you should be able to find a diesel engine that fits ya car....since charades did originally put out a diesel version...

you will have to "amend" your registration data but i'm not sure you would get a "english" plate... If that's the case so many folks would replace the motor and get a "newer" number...

In terms of pros and cons...nothing bad about the whole thing but you get typical "diesel" vehicle characteristics...

Devinda_Z · January 29, 2009

raveen said:
Hi Guys,
I have a Daihatsu Charade G12 Petrol car (Not EFI, its a Carb Model) and I thought of converting the petrol engine into a diesel one. Anyone here use a diesel converted vehicle? what are the pros & disadvantages?

My current petrol engine isn't 100% perfect so will it be worth doing a conversion ????? Do I have to change the number plate? Will I get a Fresh english number or?...

tnx :-)

you'll end up with a 325- number which will reduce the vehicles resale value a bit...

how much is it doing on petrol at the moment?

work out the cost in terms of the cost of fitting a diesel engine and re registration etc and then see if its actually worth the outlay

raveen · January 29, 2009

Devinda_Z said:
you'll end up with a 325- number which will reduce the vehicles resale value a bit...
how much is it doing on petrol at the moment?

work out the cost in terms of the cost of fitting a diesel engine and re registration etc and then see if its actually worth the outlay

well it cost around Rs 12.00 per Km when I go outta colombo. Yes fuel consumption is a major issue, but another reason for this conversion is the carburetor. Carburetor banda (best in town) tuned the carb several times, but then again those adjustments got changed within few days. Pick-up is really poor. Thats why i thought of replacing the petrol engine with a diesel one.... (so then i will have no carb issues, & diesel will be good for my pocket too)

btw thanks ripper for ya idea too.. appreciate it. anyone here who owns a 325- car

Edited January 29, 2009 by raveen

maliths · January 29, 2009

raveen said:
well it cost around Rs 12.00 per Km when I go outta colombo. Yes fuel consumption is a major issue, but another reason for this conversion is the carburetor. Carburetor banda (best in town) tuned the carb several times, but then again those adjustments got changed within few days. Pick-up is really poor. Thats why i thought of replacing the petrol engine with a diesel one.... (so then i will have no carb issues, & diesel will be good for my pocket too)
btw thanks ripper for ya idea too.. appreciate it. anyone here who owns a 325- car

Also a nother thing to consider is the effect on your front suspension. Most diesel engines weigh quite a bit more than the petrol equivalent so you will be putting more weight on the front end by putting a diesel motor in. If the weight is too much you will suffer suspension problems later on. Didnt the Charade come with a 3 cylinder Diesel engine as well? The diesel Charade will have different front springs and shock absorbers.

JadeyBlitzen · January 29, 2009

maliths said:
Also a nother thing to consider is the effect on your front suspension. Most diesel engines weigh quite a bit more than the petrol equivalent so you will be putting more weight on the front end by putting a diesel motor in. If the weight is too much you will suffer suspension problems later on. Didnt the Charade come with a 3 cylinder Diesel engine as well? The diesel Charade will have different front springs and shock absorbers.

i'm glad you brought this up mate. cos diesel cars usually have frames different to petrols. albeit the mounting points are different. so it'll need some proper cut and shut jobs. and the chances are it'll be a pretty crude conversion. and yes if you want to make the best out of the conversion you better install all the parts unique to the diesel. but thats not worth it, and considering the cost of conversion, the loss in resale value, and the actual gains from the conversion i'd say its pretty pointless.

raveen · January 29, 2009

maliths said:
"The diesel Charade will have different front springs and shock absorbers"

thanks for the info mate

raveen · January 29, 2009

JadeyBlitzen said:
i'm glad you brought this up mate. cos diesel cars usually have frames different to petrols. albeit the mounting points are different. so it'll need some proper cut and shut jobs. and the chances are it'll be a pretty crude conversion. and yes if you want to make the best out of the conversion you better install all the parts unique to the diesel. but thats not worth it, and considering the cost of conversion, the loss in resale value, and the actual gains from the conversion i'd say its pretty pointless.

aha thnks

Watchman · January 29, 2009

add to the cost of conversation another 250,000 rupees you have to pay the RMV. (it used to be only around 35,000 till a few months ago)

We did a conversion at home, petrol to intercooled turbo diesel on a Tata Indica. It was a wpHG plate, and its the same number. (though we were told that we'd get a new plate with the "D" we never did, and we wont mind )

As for technicality it was pretty simple since both the diesel and petrol use the same engine block, and are different only head-gasket upwards. So no suspension issues.

GTAm · January 29, 2009

Why not buy a brand new carb? That will be the cheapest and best solution providing your engine has adequate compression.

miniace · January 30, 2009

Dilesh said:
add to the cost of conversation another 250,000 rupees you have to pay the RMV. (it used to be only around 35,000 till a few months ago)
We did a conversion at home, petrol to intercooled turbo diesel on a Tata Indica. It was a wpHG plate, and its the same number. (though we were told that we'd get a new plate with the "D" we never did, and we wont mind )

As for technicality it was pretty simple since both the diesel and petrol use the same engine block, and are different only head-gasket upwards. So no suspension issues.

Hey didnt know ,you did that conversion. D*MO engineer Amal told me about this swap...heard that was a very succesful conversion.Do you mind sharing more info on that?

MINIACE

miniace · January 30, 2009

raveen said:
Hi Guys,
I have a Daihatsu Charade G12 Petrol car (Not EFI, its a Carb Model)

BTW you got a G12 model ?? Thought G12s are rare and not available in SL.

Best recommend is get rid of the car...buy a diesel...dont waste your time and money.

MINIACE

Devinda_Z · January 30, 2009

miniace said:
BTW you got a G12 model ?? Thought G12s are rare and not available in SL.
Best recommend is get rid of the car...buy a diesel...dont waste your time and money.

MINIACE

i second that

doubt it'll be worth your trouble doing a conversion - not forgetting that you'll be minus your wheels for the time that the conversion is getting done

your better off sorting the car out as GTAm suggested cuz a carb is obviously gonna cost less than a new engine and a far easier fix

or else , sell and get yourself a diesel

raveen · January 30, 2009

miniace said:
BTW you got a G12 model ?? Thought G12s are rare and not available in SL.
Best recommend is get rid of the car...buy a diesel...dont waste your time and money.

MINIACE

yup its a G12 (high roofed turbo model) yp at the end of the day, i think its a waste of time but as my engine is not in a good condition, i thought of replacing it with a better "petrol" engine. i was looking for some engines but still couldnt find any... found a G100 EFI engine should check out whether it will suit my car

raveen · January 30, 2009

GTAm said:
Why not buy a brand new carb? That will be the cheapest and best solution providing your engine has adequate compression.

any good place where i can chk out new carbs? thankz.

raveen · January 30, 2009

GTAm said:
Why not buy a brand new carb? That will be the cheapest and best solution providing your engine has adequate compression.

any good place where i can chk out new carbs? thankz.

The Don · January 30, 2009

raveen said:
any good place where i can chk out new carbs? thankz.

Try the "Watte" area in panchikawatte, which is along the canal. they have all sorts of bits down there.

raveen · January 30, 2009

The Don said:
Try the "Watte" area in panchikawatte, which is along the canal. they have all sorts of bits down there.

thanks4 da info i should try it on dis weekend...

Watchman · January 30, 2009

Devinda_Z said:
or else , sell and get yourself a diesel

Sounds more sensible too

If you're looking for a small diesel car, i saw a a nice little 1500cc turbo diesel in very good condition for sale in the classified. Owner looking to sell cos the car's not being used

Look under Isuzu

hehehee!

Watchman · January 30, 2009

miniace said:
Hey didnt know ,you did that conversion. D*MO engineer Amal told me about this swap...heard that was a very succesful conversion.Do you mind sharing more info on that?
MINIACE

Well, it started off when my father went to india on a sight-seeing trip and rented a Indica over there (where almost all indicas are diesel). He gave me a call and asked me to check with D*MO on how feasible a conversion would be. At that time an indian engineering was there and he told me that it'd be fairly straight forward since both the diesel and petrol engine blocks were the same. That meant no worried about engine mounts etc etc. So my father found a used diesel engine and shipped it over here. Engine and transmission came to around 30k if i remember right and he also bought an entire overhaul kit (pistons razors gaskets and all) for like 8k from a Tata agent there. (But after the engine came down and was checked out it didnt need an overhaul)

Then we bought a Indica here for around 925,000.

Ran it for 2-3 days and then started off on the conversion. It was done by a mechanic who my father has been going to for a long time and he's a pretty trustworthy guy..So basically we pulled out the engine and put in the diesel. We used the transmission from the petrol cos we felt there was nothing wrong with it (though gear ratios were slightly different). Ran for a while and felt it really didnt have the kick that we wanted. was a kind of stale drive.. like stepping on wet bread... By this time Tata had introduced a turbocharged intercooled version of this engine. So went ahead and bought a used turbo unit and a new intercooler and fitted those two.. had a an improvement.

Ran a few months and the car started giving a weird issue. As soon as you start the engine it would cut out. Couldnt figure out what on earth it was. Took it to D*MO too and they diagnosed it to be a diesel pump issue. D*Mo diesel room worked on it still showed no remedy. Then as we were all pondering standing around the car one day another D*MO mechanic came over and said that it might be the catalytic converter. and it was! what had happened was that the diesel soot had got collected in the cat-con and was blocking the exhaust path, and pressure built up between cat-con and engine and when it had no-where else to go it just stalled the engine. So they just broke up the inside of the cat-con and it worked like a charm. And then my father thought of trying out the diesel transmission and we cleaned it up ad fitted it. it was just RIGHT. Ran like a charm and still does. So i think it was the transmission to begin with. The car has been running without a issue since.

So basically the conversion was a matter of pulling out the petrol engine and transmission and putting in the diesel one. And like i said before Tata's decision to sue the same block for both engines meant almost identical weight, hence no suspension replacement issues.

maliths · January 30, 2009

Dilesh said:
Well, it started off when my father went to india on a sight-seeing trip and rented a Indica over there (where almost all indicas are diesel). He gave me a call and asked me to check with D*MO on how feasible a conversion would be. At that time an indian engineering was there and he told me that it'd be fairly straight forward since both the diesel and petrol engine blocks were the same. That meant no worried about engine mounts etc etc. So my father found a used diesel engine and shipped it over here. Engine and transmission came to around 30k if i remember right and he also bought an entire overhaul kit (pistons razors gaskets and all) for like 8k from a Tata agent there. (But after the engine came down and was checked out it didnt need an overhaul)
Then we bought a Indica here for around 925,000.

Ran it for 2-3 days and then started off on the conversion. It was done by a mechanic who my father has been going to for a long time and he's a pretty trustworthy guy..So basically we pulled out the engine and put in the diesel. We used the transmission from the petrol cos we felt there was nothing wrong with it (though gear ratios were slightly different). Ran for a while and felt it really didnt have the kick that we wanted. was a kind of stale drive.. like stepping on wet bread... By this time Tata had introduced a turbocharged intercooled version of this engine. So went ahead and bought a used turbo unit and a new intercooler and fitted those two.. had a an improvement.

Ran a few months and the car started giving a weird issue. As soon as you start the engine it would cut out. Couldnt figure out what on earth it was. Took it to D*MO too and they diagnosed it to be a diesel pump issue. D*Mo diesel room worked on it still showed no remedy. Then as we were all pondering standing around the car one day another D*MO mechanic came over and said that it might be the catalytic converter. and it was! what had happened was that the diesel soot had got collected in the cat-con and was blocking the exhaust path, and pressure built up between cat-con and engine and when it had no-where else to go it just stalled the engine. So they just broke up the inside of the cat-con and it worked like a charm. And then my father thought of trying out the diesel transmission and we cleaned it up ad fitted it. it was just RIGHT. Ran like a charm and still does. So i think it was the transmission to begin with. The car has been running without a issue since.

So basically the conversion was a matter of pulling out the petrol engine and transmission and putting in the diesel one. And like i said before Tata's decision to sue the same block for both engines meant almost identical weight, hence no suspension replacement issues.

Thats hell of a job.

GTAm · January 30, 2009

raveen said:
any good place where i can chk out new carbs? thankz.

Do you know what brand the carb is? Say if it's a Hitachi, Solex or Weber then you probaby can search if they are manufactured now and look for the manufacturer or vendor. I know Webers are still made.

What's the engine capacity? I know that brand new Webers for Fiat Uno 60's which are 1.3 engines are available in Panchikawatte. I bought one brand spanking new for the Fiat 131 I had. And what a difference it made!!! Try the Fiat boys at Panchi.

This might be suitable for your car. It's a down draught I'm guessing. Similarly there could be Indian carbs at a cheaper price.........

Check with a guy who understands engines about the compatibility between the ones available. You might have to custom make a intake manifold. I still think it would be cheaper and less messy that throwing in a Diesel engine.

But do give us more info about the car so that we might get a bit more creative

GTAm · January 30, 2009

Dilesh said:
And like i said before Tata's decision to sue the same block for both engines meant almost identical weight, hence no suspension replacement issues.

Interesting fact... I would worry about the longivity of the diesel engine as usually they weigh quite a bit more than a petrol unit. There needs to be a lot of re-inforcement to handle the ectra vibration.

That said TATA might have used the same block to save manufacturing costs even if it meant using extra metal for the petrol.

Thankfully the Indica now usues the Fiat Multi-Jet diesels which are stunning engines compared to the older oil burners.....

Devinda_Z · January 30, 2009

Dilesh said:
Sounds more sensible too
If you're looking for a small diesel car, i saw a a nice little 1500cc turbo diesel in very good condition for sale in the classified

was this the advert with the really nice photographs?

oh wait - here it is : http://www.autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=8680

Devinda_Z · January 30, 2009

Dilesh said:
Look under Isuzu
hehehee!

you shameless shameless man!

your almost as bad as i am now!

raveen · January 31, 2009

Dilesh said:
Sounds more sensible too
If you're looking for a small diesel car, i saw a a nice little 1500cc turbo diesel in very good condition for sale in the classified. Owner looking to sell cos the car's not being used

Look under Isuzu

hehehee!

LOL evrytin is ok except the make "gemini" hehe hey good photography dude. u got the talent.. u doin graphic designing? btw thankz for tht long interesting conversion story which will be useful for everyone, u liv @ goonatilake av. ye? ;-)

Edited January 31, 2009 by raveen