I’m guessing on top of the 350 Olds diesel short block, once the conversion to gas power has been completed.
The 350 Olds diesel was definitely from a dark time in automotive history. The idea was good, and would have been great if the bean counters would let the engineers finish testing and proving the design before rushing into production.
I’m not all that familiar with the 350 Olds diesel. From what I recall, the designs vetoed by the bean counters were introduced in the second generation engines. Things like water separators, and different head bolts. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. The engine had a bad reputation that it never recovered from. Being a Oldsmobile enthusiast, I know many Olds diesel owners. It seems to me the ones that had problems had nothing but problems with the engine. Others seemed to have had no issues at all and loved the fuel economy.
As with many things in GM history, it never failed that anytime management was forced to do anything it didn’t want to do, they always did it in the worst possible way. Maybe they thought the consumers would get burned out on whatever was being forced on them, and go back to the cars and trucks GM wanted them to buy in the first place. The Vega comes to mind. GM didn’t really want to build that car, but the OPEC crisis made it necessary. What does GM do? The unlined aluminum block,iron head and lousy cooling system really burned the GM buying public. Add in the corporate engine swap class action lawsuit a few year later, and the designing cars with a “belly-button” mentality, it’s no wonder GM lost its way.
I wonder if the Big 3 would have had nearly the issues the did if they had continued plan their future with the mindset of what’s best for the long haul, as opposed to what will look best a the the next stockholder meeting?
