Diesel and gasoline engines are very different from each other Putting the wrong fuel in your car can cause serious damage but if you convert diesel engines to gasoline is a big challenge. But YouTubers at Garage 54 managed to make an old diesel minivan engine run on gasoline after making major changes.
They use a Toyota 2CT turbodiesel engine, pulled out from a minivan and left untouched for a year before the start of the project. As for this project, it is a very difficult project and a lot of work is needed for this Unlike gasoline engines, diesel engines rely on compression ignition and lack spark plugs. Therefore, installing spark plugs into the combustion chamber becomes necessary. Additionally, the high-pressure diesel fuel delivery system isn’t suitable for gasoline. The most challenging aspect is adjusting the compression ratio.
Diesel engines typically have a compression ratio of 23:1, which would cause detonation if used with gasoline. To safely run on gas, this ratio needs to be reduced to around 10:1.
The first step is to disassemble and thoroughly clean the engine keeping the measurement of the combustion chamber and reviewing engine specifications, it became evident that merely adding a few extra head gaskets wouldn’t sufficiently reduce compression, only lowering it to about 16:1, which still wasn’t low enough. Therefore, The team decided to take a bold step and reduce the size of the pistons by 4mm to achieve the required decrease in compression ratio.
To enable spark ignition, the team modified the preignition chambers and fuel injection ports to accommodate spark plugs from above. They also observed that the diesel injection pump shares a drive gear identical to the camshaft gear. This allowed them to replace the pump with a distributor from a Lada Samara, which runs at a 1:1 ratio with the cam. With spark ignition sorted, the team focused on fuel and air delivery. They customized old Lada intake manifolds to fit the Toyota engine and attached an old carburettor to supply fuel. This setup proved to be simple yet effective in getting the job done.
Surprisingly, with the engine suspended from a stand and connected to an old battery, after adding a bit of fuel, it starts right up on the first try. It even responds to the throttle and revs up just like you’d anticipate. It’s a bit rough, especially at low RPMs since there’s no flywheel to even out the combustion pulses, but there’s no denying that it’s now a functioning gasoline engine.