Remember back in the late 70s early 80s when GM took 350s and put diesel heads on them b/c gas was $$$ and diesel was $. I was a mechanic's helper and those engines where nothing but problems- blew head gaskets; leaked; no credible auto mechanics to repair them except at big rig diesel shops; needed specialty tools. The shop I worked at was swapping those diesels for gas 350s. Don't stand behind them on first fire-up. Lotsa diesel soot came out. Wonder how long it'll be before those electric motors are ripped out and replaced with gas. Don't know if it'll be legal in all 50 states or the pitfalls to doing the swap, but I find it an interesting notion. Some gearhead will figure it out.
I was on an 1979 engineering school fundraising committee with Gary Dowell, then chief engineer at General Motors.
He, as an “old hand” assured me as a young whippersnapper many times those diesel 350 V8s were going to be great.
When the cylinder heads on our fleet of EMD GP-38 diesel engines were all cracking he also assured me there was no way it was a factory defect.
