There are lighter diesels out there, while there are downsides to all of these; look at Isuzu diesels, Nissan diesels, or even Detroit diesels (such as what came in the H1 Hummer). Land Rover makes a decent diesel too, but it suffers the same hp issue as the Cummins. With that said, you can...
I'm not suggesting no test - I said "mitigation" meaning, to keep more badness from happening. Soft metals won't do permanent damage, so beside making pretty oil, it's really a non-issue. Keeping the steel out of the oil will lower the risk of more damage.
I also suggest a speaker on the...
Lead or copper won't destroy cranks, steel (what the base of the bearings are made of) will. To be honest, I can't think of a bearing (outside of poured babbitt bearings) that use lead anymore. Regular bearings are made by forming steel into shape, then coating it first with copper then (and...
usually using mineral-based oil (lol @ vegetable oil - perhaps he meant lanolin based rather then ash based?) then changing to synthetic oil will cause sludge problems because synthetic is a more detergent oil. Some will run a quart of ATF to do a good clean on their motor (adding an extra...
I don't disagree about tuning, but the problem with tuning is it tends to void warranties. If it voids the warranty, the value reduces. That said, turn up the volume on a 500 lb diesel and visions of the 5.7 GM diesel will be dancing in your head and across the pavement as shiney, oily bits...
$17,950 is the alleged street price for these (and I've also heard $25,000). I can buy a lot of gasoline for the difference between that and any number of gas motors. Don't get me wrong, I think this is an awesome motor and possibility.... problem is they rarely pencil out. On top of this...