Anything Diesel...Why So Much More???

duramaxdiesel

Dmax Nut
Oct 23, 2008
1,378
0
36
47
Montreal, Canada
So I just sat down and decided to make a list of everything that went into my motor...along with the prices. Big mistake!! Wow I just can't believe it!! And these prices aren't even retail!! I've never understood why parts for our diesels are almost four times what it would cost to build a SB Chevy. Supply and demand? Maybe the market thinks that diesel owners are willing to pay more? What is it?? Curious as to what you guys think.*

Nick
 

Harbin_22

Active member
Dec 4, 2010
3,858
7
38
Southern Indiana
I think it is supply and demand, but the demand would sky rocket if the prices were all cut in half. I would almost think they are hurting themselves by making it so expensive. Honestly how many more people would build motors if it was $3000 total for a mild build? About as many that have built trans, which by my count is a lot.
 

Dirtymaxx03

Active member
Aug 4, 2009
3,109
1
38
Supply and Demand at its finest. Look at how many different companies make aftermarket performance parts and aftermarket replacement parts for the old SBC and BBC's. Tons of people do. Their is a massive supply and the demand is not very high anymore. Where as diesel performance is still a new thing, so there is not near as many companies putting aftermarket performance/replacement parts on the table. The demand is growing and the supply is not.

I put a whole forged rotating assmebly in my BBC build for what a set of rods would cost me for my dmax. Thats why im taking it easy on the diesel stuff and building an old gasser to go fast in.
 

BigDMax05

Peanut butter and ladies!
Feb 2, 2009
337
0
16
Indiana
Scat H beam rods for big Chevy in summit catalog are $451 and a set h beams for a duramax are $2800. I just made a comment in someone's thread the other day about this. I understand the market is smaller for the diesel crowd but does it merit rods to be 6x more expensive than gas stuff. If the price of this shit would come down to say half of what it is currently more people could obviously afford to do more go fast shit to their trucks. You can't tell me there is six times the amount of material in a duramax rod versus a bbc rod.
 

Ryan T

Active member
Sep 5, 2010
1,007
0
36
48
CA
im getting burnt out on diesel, i can buy a nice rolling chassis for the price of dual fuelers and the injectors i still need to buy!!. hell, i could probably take this brand new wazoo engine i just put in the truck, sell it, and buy a damn fine race car that would run 9s !!.. but im so friggin deep in this ill probably just keep plugging away and die broke...:woott:
 

dmaxman06

New member
May 25, 2011
493
0
0
morenci az
yeah like everything said above diesel power is still new and growing sport where sb bb gasser stuff has been around for 50 plus years so there all kinds of companies makeing and selling stuff for gasser where diesel only has a few places r and d parts but theres lots of places that sell the parts if we could get mort places making heads cams ect u would see the price drop becaues compianies would have to fight for your buisness where as now its name ur price because u dont have a choice in different compianies
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
21,655
5,803
113
Phoenix Az
yeah i dont like lookin at my list of parts but its just money!!! lol i knew prices were high gettin into diesels and i still kept pushin it. i coulda stopped at any point and put money else where but here i stand with what i have now. i enjoy the truck and whats in it so i cant complain. Hard to find a car that can tow 12k and go run low twelves on 37s all in the same day. i spread it out over a year so it didnt seem so bad but i dont dwell on what i dropped into it, i jsut enjoy how she runs now and i still have cash in my wallet :D
 

messejme

Jazzy, Me and Max
Mar 7, 2008
741
0
16
Branchburg NJ
I would think that the strength factor (diesels have higher compression usually longer stroke and more weight[mass]. Also the development costs which in the case of a SBC has 50 years of trial and error under it's belt where as the Electronically controlled Diesel is a much newer concept. I think the aftermarket manufacturers believe that If you can afford the added cost off the diesel then you should also be able to accept the higher cost of the performance parts.
 

MACKIN

Smell My Finger...
Aug 14, 2006
3,948
1
0
Connecticut
It's really simple why parts for diesel cost so much it's already mentioned. Low demand compared to high performance gas . It's the same thing in gas performance build a Mopar compared to a small block Chevrolet.

Between that and recouping REAL R&D , research and development, and that's why,it's that simple. For what it cost just to build a big time diesel motor and transmission you can build one hell of a car from SCRATCH.
 

BigDMax05

Peanut butter and ladies!
Feb 2, 2009
337
0
16
Indiana
That's why there is a 1984 c10 in my garage awaiting her 500 CI motor.

I think my Malibu is gonna go back together with a strong 383 or 355 just depends on what rotating assembly I find for it. I want to duramax it bad but the cost of doin so is gonna break me.
 

Dirtymaxx03

Active member
Aug 4, 2009
3,109
1
38
I think my Malibu is gonna go back together with a strong 383 or 355 just depends on what rotating assembly I find for it. I want to duramax it bad but the cost of doin so is gonna break me.
I'm taking it easy on my dmax. Gonna take the nitrous off and maybe put it on the big block :D if I break the old truck I won't be anywhere near as pissed off as if the dmax motor popped.
 

hondarider552

Getting faster
May 28, 2008
10,627
2
36
34
Arizona
I to have seen the trend, made me leary of turning up the wick, we all know you gotta pay to play, but for me, going fast in a dmax has peaked on the last hill im afraid, just not all that excited about it anymore. Im looking seriously into doing a LS swap on my Colorado. 3200 lbs and 450rwhp should be fun
 

AdaMax

New member
Nov 26, 2010
412
0
0
Caldwell , Oh
Yeah the price of these trucks and the mods it takes to get them decent hp safely makes me think about selling mine and building a 6.0 ltr gas truck .

I guess we pay the price because we can build a 7-800 hp truck that can still be used as a truck .
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,607
1,862
113
Mid Michigan
Diesel = Gourmet

Ya know how "gourmet" foods are so much more expensive than "regular" foods? My theory is its because stores assume the gourmet customers are better-off and can afford it, and they have nowhere else to buy the product. Pretty much the same thing with diesel parts.
 
Last edited:

ecc_33

Junior Member
Aug 10, 2006
1,925
0
0
39
Amanda, Ohio
when i got my trans built and second year of pulling a was making a sheety 11.00$ a hour :( I still can't believe i saved up 5 grand to do the trans and fuel system back in 07. I know living with mom and dad and having nill bills helped a ton (back when i was 20 helped a ton) but now i have a wife ( which wants a kid :dontknow::banghead:) and now am wanting to build a house instead of renting. I am now considering selling the truck to live a better life because everytime i turn around its not 100 dollars for the truck to continue its more like 5 grand :mad: It does suck but diesel performance isn't cheap at all!