@barbagris got my wheels turning about transforming out 2.3L beast into an oil burner in another thread.
@Skililo got my mind working on simplicity. How difficult would it be to convert our pride and joy to diesel? I saw a guy build a V twin air cooled diesel chopper using a motor off of a hydraulic lift machine some years back. He ran it just as a turbo motor to get around in New York City. He claimed about 100 mpg with this motor. I have never really heard of anybody converting a motor over like this. If it could be done it would be really cool. What compression would need to be run to get it started? I looked it up online and it said that diesels run anywhere between 15:1-23:1 compression. I used to have 1st gen cummings and I loved the simplicity of that motor. The injector pump is the heart and soul of that operation and one of the more spendier components. I hope there is enough interest to keep this topic rolling.
@BigNorm - way back in the 70s, I had a friend in Southern Africa, converted his Mach 1 Ford Mustang to run on Kerosene.
Used to see him at the gas station, filling up with the women from the local low-cost housing areas gathered around restocking their containers of kerosene for hurricane lamps.
I put 25% kerosene in my Landrover Series III quite often during gasoline shortages, long as you don't overdo it - acts as an upper cylinder lubricant .
Diesel - I'd imagine a Cafe racer for the Rocket III, something like this
@
Performance & Diesel Centre on FB have a couple pictures of Rockets on their page (though not diesel powered of course)
A turbocharged version of the Mercedes Benz 16 valve diesel engine became their new 190E engine Displacement: 140.3 cid (2,300 cc) specs on that engine are here Specifications
There's a good article here
12 High Torque Motorcycles | RideApart from Sean McDonald
Another good write up here on Wikipedia that explains why we see fewer diesel motorcycles
Diesel motorcycle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You've probably seen this on the web recently too -
Look at the Military’s New Stealth Bikes
- so you are definitely not alone in your thinking.
Wikipedia sums it up
@BigNorm - "...with a traditionally poor
power-to-weight ratio, most diesel engines are generally unsuited for use on motorcycles which normally require low weight, compact size, high RPMs and rapid acceleration". Your Rocket would not be what she is today and would certainly not make it to the Salt Flats with Castrol :-(
