1974 Dodge Dart Diesel

I went to the Wilcap website and read the history part, pretty interesting. I've long been aware of Wilcap but didn't really know much about them. I wonder where he first saw one of those engines and decided it would be good swap material.

I'm not sure how my co-worker found the engine either, I just remember going to a heavy equipment repair shop where we picked up a new engine. Both of us were working in the engineering lab of an auto parts manufacturer at the time. One day he approached me, told me what he wanted to do and asked me if I would help him. We were able to use the shop at work after hours to make what we needed to do the conversion. He was an engineer and I was a technician, so he designed the pieces and he and I then made them.

His ultimate goal was to start a company doing diesel conversions using these engines. He figured there would be interest in doing this because the first gas crisis was in full swing and diesel fuel was really cheap then. Several conversions were done before he gave up on the idea, it didn't work out because it was too expensive, the engine alone was $1500, a lot of money in'74. Do you have any idea how much the diesel swap into the Dart added to the price back then?

One funny story about the first conversion: since he wanted to start a company doing these swaps he was always on the lookout for potential investors. One time he was going to make a 3 hour one way trip to talk to some people. On the way he stopped at a truck stop to fill the car up. The attendant was reluctant to do so but did fill it up. On his way back he stopped at the same place to top it off and check mileage and the same attendant was still there. This time the attendant refused to fill it up, saying how Novas don't come with diesels and he was going to ruin the engine in his car. So my friend had get out of the car, open the hood and show this guy the engine so he would fill the tank.

I'm also curious about Chrysler's connection with this engine, as I mentioned before it said CHRYSLERNISSAN on the cast aluminum valve cover.