I am looking into a power plant for a Zenith 701. I am very interested
in going the route of a diesel. Would anybody have any information on
either the:
Smart (Mercedes) 3 cyl. 95 hp Turbo Diesel (can be chipped up to 112
hp) found in the Smart ForFour or VW Lupo or Fox (euro) 3 cyl. 1.4
liter 70 hp Turbo Diesel (can be chipped up to 108 hp)
What I am most interested in is weight and the PSRU.

Be sure if you go with an auto diesel conversion, that the fuel pump does
not
need the oily content of the diesel to keep from wearing out prematurely.
Jet
fuel (which I am assuming you will be using) does not lubricate as well as
diesel, and some converters have had problems with their fuel pumps, as a
result.
--
Jim in NC

Thanks for some interesting new info. I had been fascinated by the diesel
idea for a while, but gave up because of the weight penalty of the only
diesels commonly available here in the USA. The primary reason for my
interest was the continued availability of fuel (Jet-A) in the event that
gasolene ceased to be available at most airports. I suspect that the fuel
pumps for the newer electronically controlled "common rail" diesels are
fairly tolerant; but, if Jet-A and Diesel fuels are not fully
interchangeable, then diesel conversions could be very difficult to justify.

Peter