My father has 2 on his farm, one red and one green, both are 4 cylinder diesel trucks, I believe they are both 4-speed.  The bodies are kind of shot and they have been sitting for years.  I have never seen or heard of another one, my grandpa liked em' for some reason though.  They both say diesel power on the tailgates.  If anyone has any info or wants to buy em I can ask, if not they will sit there for another 20 years.

Military dodges had a perkins 4 cyl as a retro fit. I did a few. The "kit" came in a large air tight case made for shipping and storing jet engines.

There was a turbo diesel option in the D50, The owner of the local auto parts store has one.
-Steve C.

These are full size trucks1/2 or 3/4 can't remember, I thought they were 4 bangers, but, it was a cou[ple of years ago that I looked at the motors.  I will check em' out closer next time I am out there. I imagine that the engines could be salvaged, bodies are nasty though, thats why they were parked. Are these things super rare? is it worth putting them in dry storage so they don't deteriorate any more?  Is it just a regular A-833 four speed or were these beefed up for torque. These are not Military trucks, civilian FS as stated above.  Thanks for your help!

I wouldn't say they are Super rare, but they are slowly becoming rare. Few knew about this earlier diesel option. In fact I didn't know these engines were available in a 4x4 until last year because they were so low powered. I don't believe that the trannys were modded for more torque because these engines didn't make more torque than a typical 360 of that era.

I would take the engines and build them, add a turbo and have some fun with them.

Ed

The engine wouldn't be a Nissan, unless someone later dropped one in and the valve cover wouldn't have Dodge anywhere on it. You were much more likely to find a Scout with the Nissan diesel in it, but then again anything is possible, but from the factory? No, Dodge didn't put the Nissan diesel into the Ram trucks.

As I mentioned before in this post, in 78 & 79 Dodge offered a Mitsubishi diesel. Remember, Dodge was selling trucks built by Mitsubishi under the Dodge moniker, the D50 and Dodge Raider were Mitsubishi trucks. At the time Mitsubishi was also building diesels. Dodge tried selling these diesel engines in their fullsize trucks but the option didn't sell very well and was discontinued shortly after.

Yes take a pic, next time you see them

Ed

Now that I think about it is may have been Chysler and Nissan on the valve cover and not dodge. I'll go take another look and get a pic to post....  

Well Mitsu did have a diesel option for the D50, but not in 78-79.

Ed

What years did the diesels run in the D50's??

Olly

The Ram 50, first got the 2.3L turbodiesel in 1982.

Ed

Thankx for the info!  I would like to find one someday.  Just don't want a rot box!  lol

Olly

I found a six cylinder Mitsu diesel engine for sale,but there is no tranny.The guy is telling me the same tranny for a Dodge V-8 will bolt on.Is he telling me the truth,or pulling my leg so I buy it.Anyone have any ideas?

Try a search on www.car-part.com for the transmission.

Olly

That nissan-chrysler diesel 6 is the one used in IH scouts, they came NA and turboed.

Seems strange a Nissan-Chrysler Diesel!  lol

Olly

I found some more info on the 78-79 Dodge / Mitsubishi diesel engines as well as the Chrysler-Nissan diesels.

Apparently before the Fuso series, Mitsubishi once marketed  trucks under the Jupiter series, which was not sold in America at the time. In 1970 they introduced the new 6DR5 243 cid / 4.0L n/a diesel in the 3.5-ton T44 Jupiter cab-over truck. This is the engine later used by Dodge.
The introduction of the Mitsubishi diesel in the 78/79 Dodge trucks occured partly from the partnership Dodge and Mitsubishi had during the 70s fuel crisis years. The Mitsu-diesel was intended as a fuel economy engine, but at 103hp it really lacked in power, then again it was probably far worse in the 3.5 ton T44 Jupiter.

As for the Chrysler-Nissan diesel, apparently they did exist. Chrysler marine was marketing Nissan diesels which found their way into International's Scout. That engine was known as the Nissan SD33 diesel, the turbo version was the SD33T. They were an I-6 design, displacing 198cid with a HP rating of 98hp n/a and 101hp for the turbo engines.

Ed

Hey thanks for the info and the pic,Txs.I wish I had one of those to experiement with.

I remember (in the pre-cummins days) Chrysler talking about converting the 225 slant six to diesel.  As far as I know, that never happened, at least for production

-Dave

Did the 78-79 Diesels have any sort of a diesel badge on them?

Olly

The Mitsu diesels were available in the 1/2 ton trucks. As far as modifying one, you'll be on your own. There really isn't a market for these little engines (At least in America) But it should respond well to mods as any diesel should.

The two areas which will make any diesel perform is fuel delivery and air supply. I don't know what kind of fuel delivery pump the engine uses or if it could be turned up or otherwise modded to increase volume, but if theres a way to turn it up, that should help out alot.

Next is injectors. You might be able to use bigger injectors from another engine. That will require alot of cross referencing or it might be possible to regrind the tips to increase volume. You might want to look at all the fuel lines, a larger diameter might help in getting more fuel to the injectors.

The biggest improvement is adding a turbo. You might want to stick to a smaller unit, but if you like living on the edge, you can go with something that puts out alot of psi, but it won't help much if you don't have enough fuel.

Ed

I don't recall seeing badges on the trucks.

Ed

I recently bought a 78 Mitsubishi powered Dodge 150. It's not
a show truck but is in very nice shape.

Mine has a sticker type badge on the tailgate and I have 2 spares
that were originally on the front side fenders I believe.

Email me at robertcrone2002ATyahoo.com if you'd like a few pics.

With just 100 horsepower and a 3 speed automatic this thing is not
fast and the cab noise level is quite high.  It originally had sound deadener under the hood and on the firewall but this has long since disappeared.

The PO said he'd pulled about 1,000 pounds on a trailer occasionally but the owners manual recommends no towing.

I drove it home over 900 miles of mostly Interstate at 60 mph and it got 20 mpg. It's a decent old machine.

As for how rare it is, the previous owner said from his research he thought only about 1,500 of them had been sold.

I'd be especially interested in hearing from anyone who has one
to compare notes.

Rob

I recently picked up a 2wd '86 Ramcharger with Nissan SD33 diesel (originally from Canada and I just returned it up there last night for my son to drive after he fixes it) with 727 and another with a 318 that is 4x4. (fixing that myself)

Check ebay cos they show up there every once in a while!

Olly

Check the classified section, or ebay for a manual.  Dodgeboys has a FSM section in the classifieds.

A quote from a book entitled "Dodge Power Wagon History" by Monty Montgomery says...
"Dodge offered an optional diesel engine in its 1978 truck line. Sourced from
Mitsubishi Motors (a company which Chrysler owned an interest), the 243 cid inline six
produced a meager 100 hp and 165 lbs-ft of torque, which did not provide the
performance expected in a Power Wagon. Poor performance, noisy operation,
a long break-in period, and maintenance difficulties spelled the demise of this engine
at the end of 1978. Few have survived."

If you're looking to repower your rig, consider the Cummins 4BT. Tons of power,
economy, ease of parts locating, reliability and weighs about the same as a big block.

I'm also new to this forum but not new to this Dodge truck lineup.

There's been also some discussion over there at the other forum about these Mitsu-powered trucks:
http://www.dodgeforum.com/m_405321/tm.htm

I have one of these as well, it's a 1978 Dodge W150 4x4 stepside with 727. The truck has been turbocharged with a Schwitzer S2 turbo and I recently added an intercooler. Now, the truck is not a rocket yet, since I have not been able to find exploded view of the inline fuelpump or good solid instructions on how to tune more fuel. And when I dont have enough fuel for operation I'm also therefore lacking boost, now max boost is 11 psi, I plan to have around 22 psi. Can anyone help me with this?
Now, we do have diesel tuning shops here nearby that can do the job, but I really want to learn to do this myself.





That truck is not the only 4x4 Dodge that I have. I also have a 1961 Dodge Power Wagon Panel like this:

Photo courtesy of owner

And I also have a 1999 Dodge Ram 24V Cummins 2500 4x4 with auto and full options and leather.

Actually, the parts for the Mitsubishi engine are not so hard to find since the engine shares quite a lot of parts with nearly identical Toyota 2H engine. 

Sweet truck, Jari.  That's probably only the second pic I've seen of one.  Like MMM, I seriously dig the panel truck, too.  Were the Mitsu diesels equipped with hydro boost from the factory?  Those hydraulic lines look like factory hardware.

Well,
I really cannot tell you for a fact whether hydro's were equipped to these trucks as OEM. That unit has been added there alongside when the engine swap was made.

This truck is an original 360 4bbl car at least according to all the original stickers inside the engine compartment. Haven't cared that much to investigate VIN. All the hydraulic lines and everything fit just too well to have beeen hotrodded in. So I imagine all hydro-related parts along with the engine have been extracted from another truck and put into this one. Everything looks pretty much like OEM.

Mpg is about 20-25 with those tyres and fulltime 4wd and my right foot. And I floor it all the way to 4000rpm quite often, several times a day since that is my daily driver. And that is not highway mpg, my average speed has been around 40 mph.

The 1961 Panel is also my favourite of the bunch. Bodyshape is just awesome if I can say that about my own car.

Just sold my Gen. 1 1978 Dodge 4x4 pickup diesel with turbo and intercooler.

Funny thing was that it was a young woman who just had to have it ??
Life is funny sometimes.

sorry to unbury the dead post but i was redirected here by a google search on these engines. lol

while dropping the baby off at the sitters today i noticed a nice looking 78 1/2 ton 2wd manual transmission short bed adventurer in the drive way. noticed it originally because it is almost 100% rust free!!!! Noticed it even more as i was backing out of the drive and i glanced over at it again and on the fenders and tailgate it has some stickers you just dont see every day.

on the fenders and tailgate it says "diesel powered". wow, i had heard about them but never actually thought i would see one.

now for the reason of bringing up this topic. when we went back to get the baby i asked the sitter about it and the possibility of acquiring it. she said she wasnt sure as it was her husbands but that he could very well consider parting with it. she didnt seem to know a ton about it but did know the engine option was kind of rare and stated they had been having trouble locating a water pump for it.

so i told her to mention it when he got home and have him give me a call. i looked the truck over a bit more carefully before i left. there is a very very very small area of plain surface rust, maybe 1/2 inch wide by 7 inches long on the rear passenger side wheel well lip but that is all i could see on the whole truck and easily sanded out and painted.

all the glass looked solid and no obvious cracks, overall other than a bit of oxidation to the paint from sitting out side in the sun the paint looked good and solid. the seat is definitely worse for wear but the seat is a minor fix. only other obvious damage i saw was the front bumper had a crease right in the top center of it like someone had hooked a chain there to pull it. not a major problem.

so now i must ask, what kind of price would some of you consider decent for this truck. i know a similar truck in 4wd would go for about $1000-1500 here even with the water pump being bad. as of right now the water pump is the only thing that i know is mechanically wrong with it. i know it is somewhat rare, but being that it isnt a super popular engine nor a real sought after option i dont think that will or should effect the price.

also, if anyone has info on potentially turbocharging or other performance upgrades that can be done to this the info would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

eric

Slap a Turbo on that critter and i'm sure you could wake it up a bit    Even the little 4D56 2.5L Turbo Diesels (Mitsu-Itchy again) are cranking out 175 HP / 300 Ft-Lbs stock     Granted those numbers are for the newer Common Rail Intercooled version of the 4D56, mine's a much older Intercooled VE pump'd 4D56

I can't see why you couldn't squeeze 200 / 400 out of the 6 Cylinder with a couple tweaks and a turbo

Anybody happen to know what IP is on one of the 243 6-Banger things? if it's another VE pump it should be fairly decent to crank up.  My 41 is almost identical to the 44 in terms of internals and tweaks