Duramax???

[Camaromax]

First of all hello. I am a newbie on here but not a newbie to the car hobby. I have been visiting this forum as well as pro-touring.com for several years trying to decide what to do for my project. I am still probably a couple of years away from getting to actually do much with it unless I run into a bunch of money or something, but I would like to bounce a few ideas around off you guys and see what your opinions are.

A little background on me. My experience is mostly with gasoline powered cars. i previously worked at an automotive machine shop where we did a lot of dirt circle track and scca type engines. I have also helped build and maintain some dirt oval cars.

My question is has anybody here ever done or thought about doing a duramax swap into their project? I have seen this done a couple of times in magazines but can not seem to find very much information on the subject online. Does anybody have any information on doing this swap? The car I am considering is my 1980 camaro. I know it will take up a lot of room but I saw one in a Regal and I know I have a lot more room under the hood of my Camaro. So right now im just looking for information and bouncing around the pros and cons.

Sorry for writing so much.
Thanks for any info or input.

[XcYZ]

Welcome to the site.

You seriously want to put a Duramax in a Camaro? I've seen it done in a Chevelle, didn't really see the point other than the wow factor.

[Ketzer]

Its not as big as a big block, but is just as heavy. If you are staying stock, its not a big deal but if you plan to hotrod your Dmax, start looking at the cost of some of the parts. Building a high end Dmax is expensive. The only company I've found so far that makes a stand alone engine harness is PPE, the guys that did the Dmax Chevelle.
I think its a cool idea, I hope to follow your project if you go at it. Just don't expect to be very popular, I've built against the norm and caught lots of flak. Thats how I came up with my screen name .

Jeff-

[CraigMorrison]

Off the top of my head, there are at least three customers who are doing Duramax projects.....
1) Chevelle - Has been at SEMA the last couple years
2) Buick GN - Pro Street car that makes 1800ft-lbs torque
3) 57 Caddy- TT engine that should be over 2000 ft-lbs.

If you are looking to do a cool PT diesel look to the european engines. Peugeot and Audi are leaders in high RPM direct injection race engines as seen in their LeMans race cars.

[rsk68]

are you the Kid I met at the Plesanton show a few weeks ago?

[Camaromax]

First off thanks for the input.

XcYZ - Yes I seriously want to put a Duramax in a Camaro and not just for the wow factor. The Duramax will put down loads of torque and I believe that I have seen a few in the diesel truck forums getting right near 600hp with no work on the internals of the engine. Now while that is not a huge amount of horsepower it would be a really dependable powerplant that also gets great mileage vs gas engines with similar power.

Ketzer - Thanks for info. Yeah I don't like doing much by the book either and most the car guys I hang around with here all think I am crazy also. I am planning on keeping things fairly simple as far as the engine goes. My main concern is dependability and driveability as I do plan on driving this car quite a bit once it is done. I am thinking about just getting a low mileage engine and trying to use the factory wiring and computer. Then just doing some of the upgrades to it that are available to the truck guys. I still need to do some research on the truck boards and see what product will be the best way to reach my goal. I am planning on aiming somewhere between 500 and 600 horsepower but if I get a little more I won't be upset. But hopefully that will keep engine cost to a minimum.

CraigMorrison - is there anywhere I can find some info on the 57 Caddy that was mentioned? I have not seen that one yet.

Thanks Again Everyone

[Camaromax]

Oops I forgot one

rsk68 - No I am afraid I am not that Kid. I live in Illinois and have never made it out to California yet. But maybe someday.

[deuce_454]

id strongly suggest looking into european Diesels..... i can think of a couple off hand

merdedes 400CDI, which makes 350 Hp with no other mods than a ecu flash
th VW Thuraeg 5L V10 diesel will do 500+ Hp with upgraded turbos and a tune.
if you ar emade of money.. banks is offering a duramax crate engine thate 750+ Hp... but i think it is so expensive that you need to be an ex enron CEO to buy it...

[fesler]

You can do this, you will have to run a large cowl hood to get the engine up a little. The oil pan is going to be your problem as they hang down on the engine, you may have to rebuild it to fit. Not a big deal but a small problem.

The engine and tranny with exhaust, intake and some PPE programming will get you about 600HP and 800-900FT so this thing will fly. HP is cool but you feel TQ and that is what will make the car fast.

I have a few of these engines in trucks that are beefed up and my 10-inch 2008 lifted Chevy on 38s will hang with vettes all day. It is super fast and will weight alot more than a Camaro so you are going to fly. I have a ton of info I can get you for the performance side so you can get it right the first time.

look up PPE and use them for the computer and all programming, they do these engines in boats and sand vehicles and they work hand in hand with GM so they have the best programming and eq you can get. They also build the tranny to handle the weight but you wont need that. We do it in the trucks because of how heavy they are.

Start a post on this when you start it because this is going to be very cool. there will be a lot of guys who hate it but who cares be different. Good luck

[Vegas69]

Not digging the whole duramax engine in a Camaro idea. I did see the Chevelle at Sema. Talk about 10 lbs of **** in a 5 lb box. Different but not appealing to me whatsoever.