I was not looking for more power but when the motor gives it up it may be an option to swap and get incredible mileage that's all. The power I will assume would be neck in next. Both engines are terribly underpowered. The 2.6 even more so IMO.
What are you basing 'they are a crappy motor' off of?
Also I am not saying I will for sure do this. I may go with a different motor like the diesel that pretty much can be put in this truck. I have seen a few of the conversions online and they looked like an interesting option.
The reason I started this topic was to get ideas and I am getting them. I also wanted to know if the motor like that in an escort diesel can even take the RPM's of the mighty max gearing?
There are several things that you are confused about regarding this swap. The 2.0 Perkins at 52hp and 74ft lbs of torque is only half as powerful as the 105hp 145ft lbs of torque produced by 2.6 Mitsubishi motor. To say the 2.6 is more underpowered does not make sense.
To put this in perspective for you, the 2.2 Isuzu diesel rated at 58hp moved the PUP from 0-60 in 25.4 seconds. It was a complete dog. The 2.0 Perkins at 52hp and 74ft lbs of torque will probably be closer to 30 seconds going from 0-60. I would not wish that up anyone.
By crappy motor I mean it is a used motor with 300K miles on it. When it was new it made 52hp but chances are it is only making 40-45 hp after 30 years of service. It's just a bad idea all around. Chances are the vehicle would not even be drive-able.
On the opposite end of the spectrum you have the 2.3 liter Mitsubishi Turbo Diesel that moved these trucks from 0-60 in 10.9 seconds. From 1983-85 the Mitsubishi 2wd 2.3 Turbo Diesel was the fastest production truck sold in the United States. It was faster than all the big block fullsize domestics and all the imports. The Mitsubishi turbo diesel was a performance truck but it still achieved excellent MPG's. What a fantastic combination. Even today the new fullsize Ram 3500 with the 6.7 Cummins which makes 385hp and 850ft only goes from 0-60 in 9.4 seconds.
As far as the gearing is concerned, it is a crap shoot because you need deep enough gearing to move the vehicle because the 2.0 Perkins is completely gutless, but you need it to be high enough to reach highway speeds. Personally I doubt both of these goals can be achieved with this motor. In the first gen trucks the 2wd's had 3.55 gearing.
I am not trying to talk you out of it, I just hope you to look at all the information objectively before spending all this time and money doing this conversion.
