Quebec- thanks for the Deisel engine breakdown.. One last question before I drive Steve nuts with this Diesel talk on his thread...Quebec, besides the long bore stroke, what makes the deisel engine derive so much torque? Is it the slow burning fuel that creates the huge torque output to drive the 18 wheelers, construction machinery, etc... Why aren't the big liter sized gasoline type engines used in the big industrial vehicles and 18 wheelers? Do Diesel engines just simply last longer and is that the only reason why the are consistently used in big stuff? Longevity?..The big block gasoline engines can generate sick torque too...hhhmmmmmm? What's the deal?????.
You should do some research on the net about diesel engines, but the jist is. They use much less fuel than similiar sized, powered gasoline engines and can use turbo's to produce torque because of the lower temps of diesel vs. gas. Have you driven a diesel truck like a powerstroke etc. the low-end torque is monstorous and they can tow and get about 50% better mileage than a gas big-block which still has less torque. So a big block or v-10 might have high 300ft/lbs to lower-mid 400ft/lbs of toque max while the newest line of consumer diesels punch out 600+ ft/lbs of torque all lower in the rpm range,like 1,800 or 2,000rpm also aided by variable geometry turbos that they have b/c they work with the lower temp of diesels. Diesel also acts as a top-end lubricant therefore all your moving parts are being lubricated by the fuel making them last longer, i.e. piston rings etc. I think diesel is a slower longer burn therefore conducing itself to long stroke high torque engines, so when people need high torque for long periods of time, and they don't want to rev the crap out of the engine and use less fuel, and last longer, then diesel fills these industrial/commercial needs. Also if your in Europe, you'll notice almost every car/truck is diesel and these small turbo diesel cars are quick to drive b/c of the torque and use less fuel than our american gas 4 cylinder counter-parts, i've given serious thought to te jetta tdi as that's about the only comparable car we get over here. 50mpg highway, high 30's to low 40's city, and turbo torque. hard to beat