Beel_MT

Ok, so there's no question I couldn't be more of a newb when it comes to off-road and 4wd but I'll ask anyway.

I've been lucky and caught a couple of cool shows about building and driving off-road vehicles. Right now I'm watching OLN and the World Extreme Rock Crawling championships from Las Vegas.

While watching this it struck me that the machines they are driving do not appear to be using diesel engines. They don't sound like or seem to perform like it.

Am I wrong is my in my assumption? They are highly modified machines and I could certainly be wrong but I was curious about the engines they run.


Thanks in advance,
Beel

biglynny

I went to a pretty big rock crawl event in Goldendale Washington last year and there were a ton of the really extreme rigs there. Surprisingly a lot of them run fairly stock chevy 350 V-8's. It's a gearing thing with these guys....go very slow and hit the gas hard when you need to lurch forward. Of course there were some wild rigs with hot motors and open headers. I love open headers.

jeepfreek13

Jason Paule is from Rapid and has a shop here. I believe he runs bowties.

Beel_MT

That is exactly my impression of the machines I've seen. It didn't appear to idle or punch like a diesel.

Of course it's hard to make assumptions just from watching it on TV but there are so many diesel pick-ups around here I figured I knew one when I heard it.

Beel

Beel_MT

:sad: What's a bowtie?


Beel

biglynny

The chevy logo is commonly referred to as a "bowtie"

Beel_MT

So the reason I brought this up and what it has to do with JK's, is why does everyone always talk about a diesel in their Jeep? The most highly modified and capable off-road machines are running gasoline engines but for our more modest machines, all anyone wishes for is a diesel.

I understand a diesel has more torque for a comparable sized engine. Do people feel the gasoline engine is really such a weak link? How often on the trail, is the engine the factor that is keeping you from getting past an obstacle?

Beel

Beel_MT

Is a 6cyl diesel heavier than a 6cyl gasoline engine? That's pretty interesting if it is, I've never heard that. Of course I didn't know what a bowtie was either.


That's one aspect I did consider with a regular Jeep. The diesel will be able to handle the weight of the Jeep better than a gasoline engine. Like I said I was just curious if it was the concept of the higher torque or is the gas engine really not able to handle some situations?

Beel

Ge99ne

And diesels also run at considerably higher compression than thier gas counterparts. Than means some portions of engine are beefed up to handle the added stress.

Probably some of the biggest reasons for chevy v8's in extreme vehicles is the parts availabilty, aftermarket addons galore, and cost.

Plus the Gas v8 has a wider rev range. A big 8 still has quite a bit of low end grunt. Plus it has the added bonus of high revs if need be. Diesels have a more narrow band of useable rpms.

hellazuki

Diesels tend to be heavy b/c there components have to be built stronger to withstand a diesels combustion processes EX: a big block bowtie connecting rod to a cummins 5.9L connecting rod the cummins is nearly twice its size.