1953 Chrysler Imperial Turbo Diesel

[idiTravelAll]

Just scooped this baby up in Camarillo, CA yesterday, guy we picked it up from has 150+ classics, tons of 27-32 Tudors and Fordors.

Told my boy I will work on this with him and not for him.

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Seeking atleast 20mpg and to be able to get out of its own way, any recommendations? I doubt an OM617 would be a good candidate

 

[u2slow]

Set on diesel? One colleague likes the Ford 5.0L and T5 manual for just about everything he puts miles on. Not terrible mpg either. I think you'd be in the same league with a 5.2L magnum.

Mechanical diesel with oomph... measure it up for a 6BT/727 first... that's likely the path of least resistance if it fits. Would have to look into beefing up the suspension and brakes probably. Build a 9" to take the torque.

If I had to move up to an electronic diesel, duramax probably. Some weight savings there. Can get with Allison or the smaller 4L85E for autos.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

4bt

 

[idiTravelAll]

Set on diesel? One colleague likes the Ford 5.0L and T5 manual for just about everything he puts miles on. Not terrible mpg either. I think you'd be in the same league with a 5.2L magnum.

Mechanical diesel with oomph... measure it up for a 6BT/727 first... that's likely the path of least resistance if it fits. Would have to look into beefing up the suspension and brakes probably. Build a 9" to take the torque.

If I had to move up to an electronic diesel, duramax probably. Some weight savings there. Can get with Allison or the smaller 4L85E for autos.

Similar goals as the Travelall, 20mpg and no PCM.. so pretty much narrows it down to diesel haha.

4bt

Would love to find one at a reasonable price, even 6bt is out of our budget on this.

I read some info recently on using OM606 with an OM603 ip, that can make some solid power just not sure its necessary.. might just toss an OM603 in or roll the dice on an OM617.. all up in the air were focusing on getting the body straight, shoot it in epoxy, and undercoat it.

 

[1mouse3]

There is a bmw M57 diesel that can get better 25mpg, power varies between 2.5l vs 3.0l, single turbo vs bi turbo and gen1 cp1 vs gen2+ cp3 pump. The gen2+ got swirl flaps that are junk and will drop, so would want the gen1 intake or deleat caps for those. This would have some electrical work involved in this sawp, a e39 ecu could be easiest to find with immo ews3 that can be turned off with least effort. The thought crossed my mind to investigate what it would take to swap one into a e36, not sure if will go down this road but if there was free money might consider it. This is someone I found that would program out the immo and this is what I would with a quick search on the subject of diy it.

https://fastmotion.eu/product/bmw-immobiliser-ews-delete/
https://mhhauto.com/Thread-BMW-E39-EWS-remove


This is a egr deleat for one the runs of the engine I had in my bookmarks

https://whitbreadperformance.com/collections/bmw/products/m57-egr-replacement-pipe

 

[idiTravelAll]

I read about those awhile back and don't remember what exactly but they had alot of issues

 

[1mouse3]

I read about those awhile back and don't remember what exactly but they had alot of issues

What all other issues you find with it past dropping swirl flaps, I find it interesting. The m57 is almost bolt in on a e36, bmw's are like legos but some peices are a bit over tweeked.

 

[idiTravelAll]

What all other issues you find with it past dropping swirl flaps, I find it interesting. The m57 is almost bolt in on a e36, bmw's are like legos but some peices are a bit over tweeked.

I'm not sure but want to say head gaskets failures and cracked heads were common with those, read up years ago I've forgotten by now.. nevertheless I doubt I'd be able to find one I'm even having a hard time finding OM617s used to be able to find those whole cars for 1000 all day

 

[idiTravelAll]

This big girl must have been wanting to be a diesel for quite some time... CA plates stamped '63 and this is what came out of the fuel tank.

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[riphip]

Love the patina on that jewel!! Light sand it with 800-1200 and shoot it with clear.

 

[idiTravelAll]

Love the patina on that jewel!! Light sand it with 800-1200 and shoot it with clear.

Haha if life were that easy I'm teaching my kids to appreciate things, not get into debt, and if its broke.. fix it! Haha this thing is really cool gave me a love for 50's cars and a hate for restoring them.. the metal is all pot metal and my chrome hookup doesn't do potmetal gave me a guys number and looking at over 3k that's just a phone estimate he hasn't seen how pitted this stuff is (I'll attach a photo after blasting) so I'm sure that'd be far more. Planning to fill the pits with body filler and shoot something shiny on em not sure yet. Some of the stainless trim needs help too and that's not cheap.

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I'm really digging this look minus the purple, my son wants blue so planning for some shade of blue with white roof

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[snicklas]

I'm not sure the cost... but I have been watching Chip Channel on YouTube. This guy restores Tonka trucks... He has a chrome powder coat he uses when the original stuff is too far gone. It really looks like chrome. This might be an option....

 

[riphip]

Might even check into 3D printing. Lots of places out there now. You already have it cleaned.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

5 or 6 cylinder MB engines are cheap, simple and bullet proof. I'm betting that Chrysler is pretty heavy, but I don't think 150-200 horsepower and 20ish MPG would be too far fetched. I like the 606 engine as they are newer/lower mileage and you can retrofit them with the mechanical pump from the 603 and keep it mechanical.

i love the Mercedes diesels in passenger cars as I think the truck engines (IDIs and Cummins) are just too big and heavy for a passenger car.

Cool rig and cool that you are building it with your son

 

[idiTravelAll]

I'm not sure the cost... but I have been watching Chip Channel on YouTube. This guy restores Tonka trucks... He has a chrome powder coat he uses when the original stuff is too far gone. It really looks like chrome. This might be an option....

Yeah you gotta have a 2 or 3 stage powdercoat for the chrome to hold up in the sun, single stage is cheap once you get into 2 and 3 stage it's getting close to chrome in cost.

Thanks guys.. you dont wanna know what I picked up today.. 1927 Studebaker.. she's pretty rough definitely going to be put on the back burner with minimal work getting done until the Imperial is rolling.