FJBen
SILVER Star
You don't reuse the gasoline catalytic converters with diesel, but you can put in a diesel catalytic converter if you aren't happy with the smell of the exhaust. Diesel exhaust does smell different from gas exhaust, but it doesn't smell raw if it's tuned correctly.
It's really subjective. Some people I've met are more sensitive to *any* diesel exhaust. I'm more sensitive to gasoline exhaust. No one wants to be riding around in a smoke cloud, and if your exhaust is routed correctly, you'll never smell it in the cab while going down the road.
That's not really true, it just takes a long, long time to recoup the swap costs.
Example: my diesel swap cost about $10k. I've been getting 18-22mpg with it since converting 6.5 years ago. With my 2F I was getting 8-10mpg. I've put about 60k miles on my swap (estimating). Just spitballing, say gas is $2.50/gal and diesel is $3.00/gal. Over those 60k miles I've saved almost $9k in fuel costs over gasoline. Does this justify converting? No, but for those in it for the long haul, this type of stat might be able to help you convince your better half
60,000/8mpg (gas) = 7500gal x$2.50/gal = $18,750
60,000/18mpg (diesel) = 3,333gal x$3/gal = $10k fuel cost
Exactly
I feel like thats a pretty good diesel swap price, and if I remember you did a ton of the work (if not all) yourself. I believe most shops are in the $20~$25K plus range for a swap. Some of those swaps are used engines.
Here's my Debbie Downer chart based on his MPG and my MPG and price of fuel in my area. Obviously just a ballpark. Obviously, cheaper diesel, worse gas MPG can change this payback.
Annual Miles | 15,000 | 15,000 |
Car #1 | Car #2 | |
Fuel Price ($/gal) | 2.22 | 2.64 |
Fuel Economy (mpg) | 12 | 20 |
Annual Fuel Cost: | 2,775.00 | 1,980.00 |
Savings: | 795.00 | |
Savings after ... | ||
Year 3 | 2,385.00 | |
Year 5 | 3,975.00 | |
Year 7 | 5,565.00 |
As you can see, it's not going to payback anytime soon. It would take you 25 years or 375,000 miles to payback a $20,000 conversion cost on just fuel cost based on 12mpg and 20mpg and the above fuel costs....or at $10K 187,000 miles. Obviously, cheaper diesel, worse gas MPG can change this payback.
Thats obviously just one side of the argument that doesn't take into account power, torque, preference, want to or smiles per mile.
@Paul DiNapoli You said you mainly want a diesel swap because you want it, which pretty much makes that chart irrelevant.