Diesel Prius Conversion

I haven't done a lot of poking around, and I'm not looking to do the swap myself... but while investigating JEEP and Toyota Diesel conversions I came across this.

http://dieseltoys.com/pricing-2/toyota-diesels/prius-diesel

It appears this company is looking for guinea pigs to try out putting diesels into the Prius. I know nothing beyond what is on the website, but I figured I would share the info anyway just in case this sparks someones interest - and they had a spare Prius laying around...

Last year, there was one (Prius) stuck in the snow, and the guy needed a push, he was ademate that we not push on any of the panels as they would crush.
Samari's, Trackers, anything but a Prius....Why would you EVER waste your time on one of these P.o.S.'s ? I thought they were so GREAT from the factory....

Not my call. I know we have a few folks on here who drive a Prius and/or a TDi. I only posted this for info, nothing more. They did mention getting a 1.4 diesel for a Yaris conversion they've done too in the same text as the Prius, but their pricing pages on the website don't list that as a conversion...

It really isn't a good idea. The electronics are very sophisticated on Prius and I seriously doubt if those guys would be able to make it work at all. I have seen a number of electrical engineers mess around with them adding batteries etc. Most of them blew a ECM or screwed something else up.

hevster1 said:

It really isn't a good idea. The electronics are very sophisticated on Prius and I seriously doubt if those guys would be able to make it work at all. I have seen a number of electrical engineers mess around with them adding batteries etc. Most of them blew a ECM or screwed something else up.

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If I had a dollar for every time someone said that...

There is a local guy that hacked the Prius years ago...they are not black boxes. Any device can be manipulated....given the time and effort.

I just came across this thread after a google search on whether or not anyone ever did this... The idea definitely intrigues me, not sure if I personally am ready to tackle it at this point though but im just thinking of all the horrified stares when you pull out in front of your prius colleagues and leave them in the smog as you aggressively pull out with a stage 4 and a 5 speed!!! All while doing 45 mpg.......

first gen insight has been done, and they're pretty easy to keep the electronics happy as manual control of the hybrid stuff has already been figured out and working for a long time. Just toss power into the flywheel and it doesn't care. Manual joystick for electric assist or regen braking.

the trans is very weak though, and the hybrid electronics are anemic