The Last 6.5

[Two Many Diesels]

I was there,,,, worked for GM assembly in Wentzville Mo for 34 years. I maintain the machines that do alignment and aim the headlites,,,, and DVT(dynamic vehicle test,,,like a dyno). We now make Colorado/Canyon and full size vans. We're always the last to get good stuff. Don't remember the last year for the 6.5. Detuned Duramax repaced it. Detuned because the Allison won't fit under the floor. (4spd instead) Sooooo,,, it was a shutdown and all the complete built ones were gone but one and it was the last 6.5 to leave. Our repairmen had failed to get it runnin so they called a guy to fly in to fix it from the engine plant so it could ship. Spoke to him and he had a very high opinion of the engine he helped produce. He sounded sad we were't going to use them any more. We also made the last smallblock chevy (305ci.) Wrote an article for Hotrod,,, Steve Magnante said it would be in the Roddin at Radom section ,,, but they didn't use it.

[More Power]

Yes, it was sad to see the program end. We all have a lot of ideas for how the situation could have been different, but in the end it was all about the Benjamins (and a profound lack of diesel commitment from the top).

The Duramax had been penciled out on a napkin in early 1996 (which killed further 6.5 development at GM). Prototype Duramax engines were running in Japan in 1998 and the first prototype production trucks were here in the states in mid 1999. I got to drive one of the first Duramax/Allison trucks in October 1999 right here in Montana.

Pre-1996, GM's Romulus Engineering Center and GM Powertrain had designed aluminum cylinder heads and even direct injection cylinder heads, along with other strength and performance design improvements. Other than prototypes, none of that made it out of the lab. For a time, I thought I would get a set of the heads, but it didn't work out. Jim