Somewhere between 25 and 50 hp.
origin is not important, but must be
efficient.....any recommendations?

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81 Mercedes 300SD 289k.......SOLD
82 Mercedes 300CD 252k......slow ride

82 mercedes 300 SD...mi Unknown
83 Mercedes 300D ????ksniff..gone too
84 Mercedes 300D 148k........SOLD
85 Mercedes 300TD 386k and holding some one elses project

What about a 240D?

I get between 28-31mpg. It is all in the way you drive.

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1981 240D
Click Here To See My Mercedes

pre VW TDI?

looking to make a genset or something?

I think the 240D is a little bigger than 50hp.
I also know there are diesels out there delivering
twice that is other countries.

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81 Mercedes 300SD 289k.......SOLD
82 Mercedes 300CD 252k......slow ride

82 mercedes 300 SD...mi Unknown
83 Mercedes 300D ????ksniff..gone too
84 Mercedes 300D 148k........SOLD
85 Mercedes 300TD 386k and holding some one elses project

Something.........

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81 Mercedes 300SD 289k.......SOLD
82 Mercedes 300CD 252k......slow ride

82 mercedes 300 SD...mi Unknown
83 Mercedes 300D ????ksniff..gone too
84 Mercedes 300D 148k........SOLD
85 Mercedes 300TD 386k and holding some one elses project

VW 1.6 liter NA diesels are common, cheap and easy to work on. With the engine on a stand you could likely do the timing belt in less than 15minutes. Look for an old rabbit, jetta, etc. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

if its a genset look into buying a listeroid... they don't sell them as complete engines anymore so you have to buy them in parts.

highly efficient, very simple, very green. You just need to tear them apart once they come in to verify all specs and clean them out from the Chinese manufacturing process.

Yanmar are popular for that power range in fixed-rpm applications like gensets.

If you're looking for one to build a hybrid, I'd stick in the 25hp-30hp range, be sure you get a turbo for the efficiency and altitude correction.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Yanmar, Westerbeke, Volvo, and Kubota all make nice little diesels. My grandfather bought a nice Kubota tractor to help him around his house, I think it had a 30 or 40 hp diesel engine, nice little tractor.

Yanmar are rough engines but parts are really cheap and easy to get. The little 1 and 2 GM's run forever, with nothing other than oil changes. No one takes care of them they just turn the key.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Not a genset.....I am looking at something with wheels.
I am toying with the idea of building a trike with mpg as
one of the major goals. I do not need to do 0-60 in
under 6 seconds and also do not want to have to get
off and push up small hills.

__________________
81 Mercedes 300SD 289k.......SOLD
82 Mercedes 300CD 252k......slow ride

82 mercedes 300 SD...mi Unknown
83 Mercedes 300D ????ksniff..gone too
84 Mercedes 300D 148k........SOLD
85 Mercedes 300TD 386k and holding some one elses project

Then the answer your looking for is a Perkins! Perkins makes some of the most reliable and easy to service engines out there and their American Made, so parts are plentiful and easy to get!

A German Diesel engine company that has been around since the early 1900's and is a good one too is HATZ! Hatz makes air cooled diesels that are very rugged and most used around on the farm as engines for back up generators and large haul portable vehicles. Hatz has a plant in Wisconsin, Kenosha I believe! Hatz has made engines for motorcycles in Germany under the name of Dnepner with great results! Some have claimed 94 MPG in a motorcycle with a 3 cylinder Hatz Diesel! Do some googling, you'll see what I mean!

John Deere.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Perkins is British but about 12 years ago were bought by Cat.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Kubota makes several 2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines in your power range.

The VW IDI from the late 70's early 80's is a good choice ( if you can find one now).

I have the 1.6NA variant in my pickup that is 52hp. They made an earlier 1.5 version that gets even better fuel economy (48hp) that would work for a trike.
Most are transverse mounted FWD, but some were made with non-transverse FWD (Audi 4000) configurations. Parts are cheap as they made millions of them all over the world.

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)