Engine Options, Restoration Direction

I left the engine discussion pondering the possibility of a conversion to diesel. I did some research and there is a guy who took a GMC across the pond (England) and converted it to diesel. It wasn't an easy task. I don't think I have the time, tools or expertise to do a conversion like this. Their conversion ended up looking a bit like a reinvention of the wheel. I don't feel the need to chart new territory with this conversion.

I will try to go a different direction from a lot of the restorations that have been done before mine. I am trying to keep things on the interior as close to original in appearance as possible. I will be re-doing the mechanicals (electrical, plumbing, insulation) to avoid catastrophic failure due to materials that have exceeded their useful life expectancy. There is no need to keep wiring or plumbing original and risk having to re-rebuild a system because I was just being cheap or lazy to replace it with better than original. I do want the keep the funky feel of the original interior. I just love the look of those wild ass colors. They just don't decorate stuff like that anymore (most would say that is a good thing, but I am not most, and definitely not normal). I have just started to my search for a source of the original fabrics, so who know how it will end up. Most of the GMC's that have been redone used updated styles. It seems like I am a bit of an odd ball when it comes to this, so I may not be able to, but I'll sure try.

Engine design

I am currently doing research on modifications that I would like to make to the Oldsmobile 455 engine in the GMC. I am very interested in fuel injection. Ideally I would like to go with multi-port injection, but I may only be able to afford a throttle-body set up. I have also been reading about the Coop Kryptonite cam shaft. I am not sure if I can buy the camshaft alone or if it available only as part of the Coop engine (which is too pricey right now). It may work out to bring the torque with the multi-port (fuel rail) alone if the camshaft is too pricey. Save here- gain there. I wish I could afford both the cam and the multi-port but oh well. The current camshaft needs to go as it is a flat tappet, which will require additives in order to function that may not be around for much longer. How the hell does someone go about picking a camshaft anyway. That is why I am hoping to get my hands on the Coop model, as they seem to know what they are doing (which I don't). I would like to plan my engine as soon as possible so that I know how long I will be having to eat Kraft dinner for. I also don't want to do this again for a long time, so I want to do it right. So research, research, research!

A whole different approach would be to go diesel. I am a big fan of diesel (it makes much more sense to me). I have seen on the net that there is a least one GMC'er that has converted to diesel. I wonder how he hooked that up to a front wheel drive transmission. I was thinking that the diesel pushers motorhomes being built now must have some sort of equivalent as the drive wheels and transmission are at the same end of the vehicle. I will have to try and track down this diesel GMC and see if i can find out how he did it.