The Nissan diesel was available for many years. Diesel Scouts are getting rare because of the high repair costs, combined with diesel ignorance. Most of the remaining Diesels have been converted to gas 345 v-8. One of the nice things about IH Scouts and pickups is that any drivetrain option can be converted to any other drivetrain option with factory parts. A 2wd 304 auto pickup can be converted to a 392 4barrel, 4 speed 4wd but unbolting and bolting on the new parts. For more information, the ultimate source is www.scoutconnection.com
Actually, though this is true for most cases, some WERE a bit more difficult than others. All of the straight axle IH's are a pretty easy conversion to any other straight axle, and any 2WD can be bolted out to a 4WD quite easily, relatively speaking. However, IH had some IFS trucks as well, and these, though the engine and tranny can get in there quite easily, converting the front end is tougher. There are some variations in the frame, as well as some differing locayions of mount bolting holes, etc. Also, the "outsider engines" can be a bit trickier to work back and forth with-namely the fore-mentioned nissan diesels and the AMC engines (232, 258, 401) that were used in some models. Also, the IH "slant 4" which was, almost literally, one of their V8's chopped in half, and thus, had similar mounts and components, did have a different mounting angle-special intake manifold and bell housing unit required to swap one of these for a V8 in either direction.
Even better for TONS of info on these is Binderbulletin.org-pretty much the definitive IH web page-will have links to others, but this seems to be the grandaddy.
Michael
