Looking for a good road trip rig

[waggyneer]

Currently, I have a 1990 Grand Wagoneer that I do like a lot, except for two big things, I can't afford to pay for a 10 mpg road trip to the Sierra Nevada with gas at $4.00 a gallon, and she tends to overheat. I discovered the overheating issue when me and some of my buddies took a trip to Hungry Valley OHV, which is about 100 miles away from where we live. We took two cars, my friend's lexus sedan and the waggy. It was 100 degrees going through the grapevine, and the waggy didn't like it at all, and we overheated going up the steep grade. We were almost up the hill, so when we cooled down we just climbed up the last few hundred feet and coasted down the hill from there. I know I could probably flush the cooling system or drop in a BJ's aluminum radiator, but with the waggy I feel like I'm burning money instead of gasoline. I love the car, but I think
I need something a bit more fuel efficient.

I've got a budget of about 3000 dollars, and i'm looking for a rig that can tow a small boat or trailer and fit a lot of people and camping stuff in. The 6.2 diesel suburbans look good on paper, as do the XJ cherokees, but I'm not sure the cherokee will be able to haul all my camping gear plus a small trailer. Any suggestions?

[HAPPYJOHN]

Flush/replace radiator, install gear vendor or similar overdrive.

I don't think you'll find a reliable tow rig on that budget.

[Elwenil]

Ramcharger, but don't expect too much in the mileage department with any full size rig.

[TrikeKid]

Ford with a 6.9 or 7.3 IDI diesel should be in that price range, and they came in a crew cab format. Pretty good mileage and they'll pull a house, they just won't do it quickly.

[waggyneer]

I'm liking the ford and gm diesels, but how do naturally aspirated diesels perform at altitude? To clarify, i'm probably not going to be towing much more than a tent trailer or 15 foot boston whaler, so its not going to be any heavy duty 10k stuff.

[chriscon7]

The xj is probably not the best choice. Bad gas mileage for a 6cyl and won't like towing duty with a loaded cab either. i would look into older diesels so you can pull some decent mileage and load

6.5 turbo diesel
6.2 N/A diesel
7.3 pre turbo, or maybe early turbo models
maybe first gen Cummins 5.9

[WYJAX]

Do not overlook the XJ. We had an 87 while I was growing up and it was nothing special. Stock with the 5spd and the old man & I threw a small lift, 31's and some 3.73s in it. Had a factory TracLok in the rear end. We towed a tent trailer all over the Sierra Nevada's and never had any problems with it. It was our go-to rig when we weren't doing the tough trails. We would load it with 2 adults, 2 (sometimes 3) teenage boys, a dog, and all our gear along with the tent trailer and it worked flawlessly. That 4.0 is a torquey little motor. It's just easy to overlook these days in the world of the turbo deisel'd pickups. Plus, driven right, it can deliver low 20's for MPG when empty.

[waggyneer]

Another, potentially harebrained idea I've been thinking of may be to do an engine/tranny swap. I could get rid of the 360 and swap in a manual tranny and a 258 I6 from an older wagoneer, which I hear can get up to 18 mpg, or possibly keep the transmission, which is a chrysler TF 727 and put in a 5.9 cummins from an older dodge ram. I've never swapped an engine before, and I realize it might be a bit impractical, but what do you guys think?

[Elwenil]

I doubt the front suspension and axle on a Wagoneer would enjoy dealing with the weight of a Cummins 6BT. A 4BT would be more than enough and a lot lighter, though they tend to be more expensive than the 6BT versions. Either is possible, though maybe not the ideal project for your first swap since it's not going to be a "bolt in" project by any means.

[waggyneer]

Originally Posted by Elwenil

I doubt the front suspension and axle on a Wagoneer would enjoy dealing with the weight of a Cummins 6BT. A 4BT would be more than enough and a lot lighter, though they tend to be more expensive than the 6BT versions. Either is possible, though maybe not the ideal project for your first swap since it's not going to be a "bolt in" project by any means.

Yeah, I checked the weight of the 6bt and it's about 500 lbs heavier than the 360, which sucks because its the only Cummins I can find for a good price on craigslist. At this point I think Im going to go look at some xjs. They're plentiful enough, so I don't think I'll be looking too long to find a good one.

[92 s dime]

I would swap a late model GM 5.3L/4L60 setup and take the change and fix whatever doesnt work

now you also didnt say it had to be a 4x4
caprice/roadmaster wagons will tow and fit alot of people/stuff and get 20mpg hwy,old rwd volvo wagons are dirt cheap super easy to work on and do the same

[waggyneer]

Originally Posted by 92 s dime

I would swap a late model GM 5.3L/4L60 setup and take the change and fix whatever doesnt work

now you also didnt say it had to be a 4x4
caprice/roadmaster wagons will tow and fit alot of people/stuff and get 20mpg hwy,old rwd volvo wagons are dirt cheap super easy to work on and do the same

Thats true, I didn't, and I dig those roadmaster wagons! Maybe its just cause I'm partial to that fake woodgrain. I'll definitely look into some.

[jamesdart]

put the 3,000 into the wag. if you are going to do an engine swap, go for something more efficient, like the 5. 4l60 combo that was mentioned.