The Night Moose and the Kentucky Rally

[MasterM00SE]

Well.... for those of you unfortunate souls who were unable to attend the impressive '09 Rally ( ----THANKS HEATH & MISSY) and see the newest conversion from the Agne household, it showed me the stellar preformance that I looked forward to when building a 3200 lb. truck with a 6.9L diesel. While my horsepower rating may be on the low side, I do have some bragging rights. On the way to the rally the night moose averaged 27 mpg! Which is nothing to complain about. HOWEVER! the journey home across Ohio brought a suprise. Not 27 mpg or 28 mpg but a grand (possible record) of 31.5 mpg hwy . I have to say that it suprised me. Running around town back in PA I was used to my 23-24 mpg and on the way to KY I was not suprised by the 3 mpg increase due to the hwy driving; however, 31.5 seems pretty rediculous, but numbers speak for themselves.....Heck, my standard cab shortbed does better than some of these little crossovers comming off the line today (and I have all the comforts of a full sized vehicle). It's a great conversion and I love the way it has turned out!

 

[Feed Bunk]

Congrats, thats pretty good milage.

 

[6.9poweredscout]

wow....new vehicles are SADDDDDDD. go IDI power! and great fuel economy! boy i thought 23mpg was impressive with a severly underpowerd and poorly reliable (hard to find parts too!) turbo nissan 3.3L that the scout had. the 6.9 is 100 times better of an engine and i think i'll get better milge too!

-Jon

 

[hoodshauler]

congrads Matthias!

How did the interviews go?

 

[Goofyexponent]

wow! I thought the 21 MPG I squeezed out of my wore out truck was good, you got something to brag about there!

 

[dakotajeep]

Thats awesome!!! I may need to drop a 6.9 into my 68 Chevy......if I had the knowledge....or tons of help....

 

[The Warden]

That mileage is a bit better than my M-B gets and I'll bet you have more power as well, not to mention the extra versatility. Shame the CARB Nazis wouldn't allow something like here...

 

[BROWNIEBOY525]

very cool

 

[Devilish]

That mileage is a bit better than my M-B gets and I'll bet you have more power as well, not to mention the extra versatility. Shame the CARB Nazis wouldn't allow something like here...

I thought they would as long as the engine is newer than the body it is installed in and emissions for the engine is correct for that year engine.

 

[ericboutin]

That's pretty awesome Matthias!! The best I've ever gotten was 13 or 14...as you can see not enough to make an impression! But that is awesome!

 

[Chevyboy_0]

Thats awesome!!! I may need to drop a 6.9 into my 68 Chevy......if I had the knowledge....or tons of help....

Check out the July Diesel World issue. There's a 1970 Chevelle in there with Twin Turbo'd BUILT Duramax thats throwing down 900HP with 1800lbft!! It runs 9s in the 1/4 and gets over 30MPG.

31.5MPG! Holy cow Matthais, my moms little V6 only gets 25

 

[The Warden]

I thought they would as long as the engine is newer than the body it is installed in and emissions for the engine is correct for that year engine.

They might if you're swapping from a gas engine to another gas engine. But, as I understand it, you can't put a diesel engine in a vehicle that's titled in CA with a gasoline engine, unless it's a '73 or older vehicle that doesn't require smog. I don't know if you could import a gas-to-diesel conversion to CA or not, although I HAVE seen a couple of IDI-powered Broncos driving around.

I looked into it a couple of years ago, when I had the idea of putting an M-B OM616 (2.4l 4-banger diesel out of a 240D) in an '80's Toyota pickup. Ended up not doing it mostly because of that. The CARB is violently anti-diesel.

 

[Devilish]

They might if you're swapping from a gas engine to another gas engine. But, as I understand it, you can't put a diesel engine in a vehicle that's titled in CA with a gasoline engine, unless it's a '73 or older vehicle that doesn't require smog. I don't know if you could import a gas-to-diesel conversion to CA or not, although I HAVE seen a couple of IDI-powered Broncos driving around.

I looked into it a couple of years ago, when I had the idea of putting an M-B OM616 (2.4l 4-banger diesel out of a 240D) in an '80's Toyota pickup. Ended up not doing it mostly because of that. The CARB is violently anti-diesel.

From the carb website:
Engine Changes
Engine changes are legal as long as the following requirements are met to ensure that the change does not increase pollution from the vehicle:
•The engine must be the same year or newer than the vehicle.

•The engine must be from the same type of vehicle (passenger car, light-duty truck, heavy-duty truck, etc.) based on gross vehicle weight.

•If the vehicle is a California certified vehicle then the engine must also be a California certified engine.

•All emissions control equipment must remain on the installed engine.

After an engine change, vehicles must first be inspected by a state referee station. The vehicle will be inspected to ensure that all the equipment required is in place, and vehicle will be emissions tested subject to the specifications of the installed engine.

I see 2 possible points that the carb can use to ban a diesel conversion.
1. ensure that the change does not increase pollution from the vehicle
2. based on gross vehicle weight
these are open to interpretation.

Those carb people are nuts.

Transmissions and transaxles changes alone are not legal. Transmissions and transaxles can only be changed along with their matching engine. The total engine transmission package must conform to the engine change requirements above.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Kentuky may very well be backwards, hick, red-neck, and fifty years behind the times, but in many cases, that is not a bad thing.

I can title a homemade vehicle over the phone, without anyone ever actually seeing said vehicle.

They don't care what you change about the vehicle, so long as you come in once a year and pay that figure on the bottom of the yearly reminder.

Kentucky is one of the last bastions that hasn't went completely socialist.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

I was one who was priveledged to get a ride in the Night Moose and I must say that thing as light as it is can get up to cruising altitude without ever leaving an idle it seems.

I was wondering what the bigger tire was gonna do for ya Matthias........... Now I know.

I can only brag at a near 16 mpg average for the trip, but truck and trailer combo weighing in at nearly 17k, I can live with that.