Anybody here using a VW diesel (or any other smaller diesel for that matter)?? I searched and came up pretty much empty handed... I thought about using the VW turbodiesel, as I'm sure that it could make some pretty decent power with a few minor upgrades...

I'm just trying to find out what engine and tranny combos you're running if you're running something other htan a Cummins, Powerstroke, or Duramax (or Chevy) diesel...

JparuBob

There's a company that makes adaptors to put a 2.0 VW diesel in a samurai - can't recall the name

take a look at the Isuzu 4 cylinder turbo diesel used in the box trucks... something like 4L. also used in some Chevy box trucks. Jefe posted some good info on this engine a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG time ago. Sounds like a sweet possibility.

Jefe, you out there?

well, that's a start... anyone else???

JParuBob

Around Europe Chrysler sells the Cherokee with a 2.5l Turbo Diesel Engine, 4 cylinder. It's probably made by Peugeot, decent engine.

This is the limited info I found on the UK Website:

"Cherokee's all-new 2.5 litre direct injection Common Rail diesel (CRD) engine is powerful, responsive and efficient. The engine is mated to a smooth shifting five speed manual transmission and Command-Trac four-wheel drive system. "

Configuration 4 cylinders in line DOHC
Cubic capacity 2499 cc
Bore x stroke 92.0 x 94.0 mm
Compression ratio 17.5 : 1
Fuel system Common rail, direct electronic fuel injection
Maximum torque - lb ft @ rpm 253 @ 2000
Maximum power - bhp @ rpm

The 2.5l Turbo Diesel V6 built by VW, used by VW and Audi kicks butt. Drove an Audi A6 with that engine I while back in Germany. Nice.

Ask the Zuki guys, they like to do that swap.

R.A.Mullen wrote:
I have found what I believe to be the ULTIMATE diesel motor for swapping
into formerly gas vehicles. It's a 3.9l Isuzu turbo diesel that makes
120hp. It's used in those "cab-over" 3(?) ton trucks which I beleive are
sold both as Isuzus (don't know the model number) and as GM 3500s. I
recently saw one in a Land Cruiser and it's a VERY clean conversion. A
factory Isuzu bellhousing is available that will mate to a Chev SM420. All
you'd have to do is get an SM420 (7:1 first gear--should crawl respectably
;) and either an adapter that would go between your transfer case (Dana 20,
is it? I'm not real good with Jeep stuff) and the SM420 OR get an SM420 and
a Chev-application transfer case that has the driveshaft outputs in the
right spot for your Jeep.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Rob Mullen RAMullen@wimsey.com North Vancouver, B.C. Canada |
Editor of the TLC FAQ TLCA Member 3036 |
'80 Toyota BJ40 Diesel Land Cruiser Why walk?...When you can CRAWL!|
'83 Toyota BJ60 Land Cruiser Wagon TLC Offroad (604)299-5600 |


jefe here.
I have always had a thing about diesels. I have owned a Benz 190D,
Peugeot 2.3L turbo diesel, Volkswagen diesel, Cadilac Seville V-8 diesel, a I.H. Scout Traveller 6cyl turbo diesel, and recently a Dodge Cummins. The Scout had a Nissan engine and
while very heavy (over 900 lbs.) it did have a very heavy flywheel,
23:1 compression and gobs of torque all the way down to zip. It would
also work well under water, sideways, and upside down. Some of the
very best rock crawling I have ever done were in that
springs-over-axle, T-19, Dana 300, 33-12.50 Mudded, 118" wheelbase
behemeth. The engine just would not quit, even at 200rpm. How do you
say: TORQUE? It was so stoggy, you could just muddle over the washing
machine sized rocks and hardly notice a change in rpm. There were
downsides, however. Not much power. No pickup. It only made 101 H.P. at 2400 rpm. The pan held 12 qts.
(yes 12) of oil. At an oil change interval of 2500Mi. the thing was a
rolling HazMat site.
The GM V-8 was completely different. The 5.7L had a very bad
reputation early on. After 1983 (enter the so called 'Target' engine),
it got a lot better. This is the engine I had in my '79 Seville. I
loved it. It had power. It stunk. It was the most unlikely pairing of
car and engine I have ever seen. A beautiful white classic Seville,
with red leather, with a clacking, smoke belching 'boat anchor'periah
for an engine. It got 25mpg one the highway!
8 years ago when I bought my CJ-8, I had purchased a low mileage
'Target' GM 5.7L V-8 to put in it. I think I paid $150 for it. The sad
ending is that I was talked out of putting it in. I have always
thought that a torquey diesel would make a fine rock crawler. Many
years ago, I read an article in a 4X4 mag. about a man in Placerville,
CA. who put peugeot 2.5L turbo diesels in Jeep CJ's. He claimed it
would walk up hills at a crawl with a retuning of the torque curve. I
also talked with a man in Wash. who has retroed GM 5.7L into SJ's,
Jeep P.U.'s and has over 200K mi. on them with the oil burners.
As far as using a 6.2-6.5L GM or Ford 6.9-7.3L (International), the
problem would be size and weight. I don't think the Jeep chassis could
take the heaviness and vibration that the big diesels put out, and you
would have to change the whole drive train to bigger stuff to take the
torque that the engines put out.
I still have a thing for diesels, and bought a Cummins (see sig below) that exceeds my expectations. One of the Crawler circuit boys runs a 4 cyl. turbo Cummins in his CJ. Nice pairing.
Be sure the smog laws will allow a gas to diesel swap. This is why I don't have an oilburner in my CJ8.
Regards, jefe

I've considered this for about a year now. I have access to mercedes 4, and 5 cylinder engines. I even made a bell housing to adapt the engine to a sm420. The biggest problem is the power. They just don't have enough if your vehicle weighs more than 2500lbs. Thats why they are so popular in the Zuk's. A turbo diesel will have some power gain, but the turbo is only affective when you can keep it at the proper R's to gain peak boost. One thing i've recently been looking into is propane injecting the diesel.

I'm running a nissan turbo diesel out of a scout. along with the tranny and transfer case. everything jefe said about the engine
is right. its got alot of torque, but not much horsepower. if you decide to get one of these engines make sure you get one out of a 1980 scout thats the first year the turbo'ed the sd33t(nissan diesel)
Nilla

From the For Sale section:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66595

A friend of mine swapped in a Vw Turbo diesel into his 67 M38A1. Send me an e-mail and I will put you in touch with him.

Cummins B3.3 or B3.9 4 cylinders ......

or

John Deere - cant recall the model or size

There are several engines around the 3.3-4.5 liter capacity that could be awesome to try out.

Sean

I did some chrysler 6cyl to cummins B series turbo 4cyl conversions years ago. They use the 4cyl turbo version in lots of equipment like case loaders. They make bellhousings to fit most domestic truck transmissions and you might be able to pick one up cheap. The local Cummins dealer was really helpful getting the right parts. They were only rated around 70 HP, but you could get 120HP out of them easily. I read about someone putting a new one in a willys wagon a while back, pretty expensive mill new (~4k).

Dont know if you can get them in the US but here in Australia there is a lot of trucks that have Diesels are standard equip

alot of the Jap trucks have turbo diesels that perform "almost" as well as a petrol V6 on the road and have the low end torque that make them so good off road

Have a look at mitsubishi they have a 3.2l Turbo diesel 4cly that put out 162HP at 3800rpm and 275 pounds per foot @ 2000rpm

Here are the specs incase I miss calculated the conversions :)

http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/mitssite/jsp/pages/thecars/technspecs.jsp?groupId=20

The truck it comes in is a POS and is IFS family truck that has no wheel travel but it is a good engine that with a snorkle will take you just about anywhere for a long time to come with great fuel economy

Nissan also have a 3l Turbo diesel with just slightly less HP and comes in a better truck that has "some" off road capabilty

but of course it is not right to put Jap crap in a CJ :P

heres a pic of my sd33t nissan turbo diesel,
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p9fd8860a09b630b925e9002aed0992c0/fd831174.jpg

Nilla

i'm so takin pics when you get down here Nilla...

JParuBob

Where to get that Cummins 4BT? I was talking to a friend about that, and I'd like to know where I could pull one from....or are we talking crate-only?

Bob