[mook]

Hi-
 I have the opportunity to buy an 80's diesel 350 enfield.  The bike was running in India before being disassembled, crated and shipped to California where it has been sitting for 3 years in crates.  I know parts are available for the chassis from this site, but what about finding parts for the engine?

Would buying an original diesel be better than retrofitting a gasoline model? 

This is going to be a lot of work.

[Vince]

     I've  been involved with motorcycles for 40 years. Thirty four of those years are at the dealership level. The few times these projects have ended well were when there was an emotional attachment such as: "It was my father's bike and no matter what the cost I will fix it up." Or  it was that fabulous pristine (insert favorite rare valuable classic here) that your buddy's uncle's wifes first husband left in the barn.
     Aside from the cost and mechanical issues you may not be able to register it for use.
     Good luck!

[raybo]

To be legal in the USA must be at least 25 years old or have been originally titled as a diesel in the US. Those are the only rules I can remember. I would look into it long and hard before purchase. Unless you are going to use it for parts

[Jon]

If the bike originated in India it is probably fitted with a Greaves-Lombardini engine
and this was a factory fitment by Enfield, the diesel Bullet is no longer listed
in the current range.
Presumably your local Enfield dealer should be able to source spares and manuals
from the factory although that might take a while or you may be able to contact
a dealer in India via the internet or one of the Bullet rider clubs in India and find
someone to help.
There are Lombardini dealers in the US who have websites.
If you do get it up and running the performance won't be as good as a 350 Classic
but you should get pretty good fuel milage and presumably could run on bio-diesel
or salad oil.
There are Bullets fitted with Yanmar and Hartz Diesels running around and until
recently a diesel Bullet was produced in the UK using a rolling chassis from
India and a Robin(FUJI?) diesel.
I always fancied a shot at one myself but wondered if the CVT drive from
a go-cart would work better than the Bullet box as the semi-industrial small
diesels are designed to run at a constant rpm.