If you plan to do more research,
you might consider writing a letter to
Willem Weertman
who is now retired
and seems to want to
pass on knowledge to a new generation
http://www.allpar.com/corporate/bios/weertman.htmlnotice the bit about the Slant 6 diesel engine project
sample quote
Q: The various programs to modify the Slant Six that I have read include things such as a turbo charged version and another aluminum version and a fuel-injected version, is there anything that you can tell me about those and what instigated them and why they were not pursued?
I think I mention both the diesel and turbo versions in the book. The diesel version was a pretty neat program when we were working on that one. It was quite well developed; we had a 4-cylinder version of the Slant Six engine for use, it was a turbo-charged 4-cylinder diesel version of the Slant Six engine. It was no longer slanted though. I’m sure it was upright. But the diesel version of the Slant Six was slanted.
That program died when the interest in diesel engines in the U.S. died following the unsuccessful launching of General Motors diesel version of an automotive engine. That gave the diesels a bad reputation in the field and the market dried up and with that we quit our diesel program. That cessation of our own diesel Slant Six program was a decision by Lee Iaccoca. He figured the market wasn’t there and we shouldn’t be spending any money in that direction and he was right and we just stopped working.
