turbo diesel (again)

was thinking bout another potential donor of a turbo diesel and wanted some honest opinions about it. how about the taking the 4cyl td out of one of those little cab fwd trucks we see all the time, like the mitsubishi fuso (or whatever its called) or the isuzu/gmc/chevy trucks. i've seen in the trcuk paper that they have a 145 to 160 hp versions with auto of manual (6spd). thanks.

I have also been contemplating this type of conversion as well. I am told that Cummings makes a 4 cyl turbo diesel, that may be what is used in those cabovers that you mentioned. I think the biggest concern would be the adapters to mate either the engine to the rest of the existing drivetrain or an adapter to mount an engine/tranny combo to the t-case. I think machine shop access and lots of down time will be required. I'm hoping my XJ's 4.0L lasts a few more years until I have a shop to try the experiment.

Just one question - why would you want a 150hp 4 cylinder in your XJ? Sure, diesel is cool, but why go through all the trouble of adapting a little engine like that when you could probably put in a much bigger diesel for the same amount of work?

You can't fit a much bigger diesel engine. The I-6 cummins is huge!! It is way too tall, a large lift and cowl induction hood would be a must. Plus the bigger engines way a billion pounds. I do partialy agree on the HP side of that arguement. I personally wouldn't trade a 190hp 4.0 for a 150hp diesel engine. The torque would be the seller for me, if the diesel produces more than the 325 lb/ft of a 4.6 stroker (which it probably does.) then I would go for it. Diesels have enourmas power gaining potential with turbo upgrades, injector nozzles, and such. It would be a lot of work, but I think you could get 250+ hp out of those engines and a large amount of torque.

Probably just a matter of time, until Jeep offers a Mercedes diesel, in the Jeep line. Hope the tendancy of Mercedes, to over engineer everything, doesn´t carry over, probably will. Mercedes makes some really reliable, diesel motors for there sprinter delivery trucks, but you just about have to have a 5/6 speed to make them work (tight torque band). I drove, the stretch model, 2,5 ton, that motor would be right zippy, in a jeep and not really very large. Simple and reliable, just need the right gears to make it go. The Swedes make some high horse, diesel motors, drive just like a gas motor. Audi makes a good diesel and a variable ratio automatic, but they don´t put them together.
Put a decent size diesel, behind a variable ratio automatic and you´d really have something.
The Isuzu, turbo Diesel, has a bad name over here. A lot, of the locals, burn them up on the interstate (autobahn).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't chrysler offer a td in one of the new liberties?

diesel in Liberty

Yes,
DCX is offering a 4cyl TurboDiesel this model year in the Liberty, they are already selling it over in Europe (where 40% of new passenger car purchases are diesel). It is a common-rail diesel and is very quiet and relatively smoke-free. They have comparable accelleration to the 3.7L gas motor (so I'm told).
Don't know the price tag premium yet, It should help sales if it gets 25mpg and can tow a trailer (you'd think? )

BLUTO

CW. said:

I personally wouldn't trade a 190hp 4.0 for a 150hp diesel engine. The torque would be the seller for me, if the diesel produces more than the 325 lb/ft of a 4.6 stroker .

Click to expand...

If my memory surves me correctly the cummins 4BT pumps out around 350-400 ft/lb near 2-2.5k rpms in stock form. thats where most modified 4.0 strokers top out. and the 4bt starts out. the cummins 4bt can easily be buildable to upwards of 700 ft/lb around the 2k rpm band... thats pretty impressive for a 4 banger no?

What about weight?

are these as heavy as a 4.0L? I have you problem solved. Use the 2WD tranny that is attached to the desiel and a divorced T/Case!

Cummins Diesel 3.9TB

I looked into this a year or so ago. The motor is hard to find and they cost alot! I found one that needed to be rebuilt and they wanted $6,000 for the motor, minus the turbo. So figure upwards of $10,000 to have a rebuilt motor.

If I remember correctly the 3.9TB weighted in at about 900lbs and makes from 140 to 190hp and up wards of 400-450lbs of torque. Also it uses the same parts as it bigger brother the 5.9TB. So if you can get the trans and T/C from a dodge TB then you can make it work.

I still think it would be a great setup just a bit to much for the old bank account!! So I went with a 96 Corvette LT1/700R4/241!! Hopefully someday I will have it finished and can see how this setup works.

HB86XJ

There have been some posts about turbo and non-turbo cummins 4cyl diesels used in UPS trucks as donar vehicles. Some of these applications repowered old 292 cubic inch I-6 chevy powertrains. Maybe these are possibilities finished out with an old chevy medium duty four speed with granny low and a chevy 4x4 transfer case(NP 205?) do a search on the net (outside this forum) and you will find people investigating this swap. These engines are heavy though.

Yu can get 2.8 diesel from Liberty(cherokee) overseas (illigal on road though)

Or even 3.7 diesel form Gcherokee sold in Europe!
Old 2.5L diesel can produce healthy 150-170 BHP and around 280-310 Lbs of torque is properly modified. I mean put a less laggy turbo and larger injectors and you're set. Also MPG-wise it gets 25-30 MPG easily combined city/hwy....
I still dont get why Stupid American auto manufacturers dropped diesel idea in small-to-mid sized vehicles ...Is it because Stupid consumers cant maintain their vehices, or to much noise, or what???
I would love to own 3.7l diesel GCherokee and get 25 or more MPG .....YO udont need 250 HP gasoline engine which produce 250-280 lbs of torque. Think of it as a gas gulper and lesser lifespawn vs. diesel can go 200-300 K miles w/o rebuild the same time producing healthy power/torque and gets MPG way above 20mpg....

I am aware that this is a Jeep forum, and kow that this is not a Jeep qeustion, but is there a set of adapter plates for a 3.9l turbo diesel to fit under the hood of a 1st Gen. Isuzu Amigo. No one else discusses gas to diesel transplants, so I am begging your induldegence.

You might want to include some more info with this request, elf.
Things like 3.9L what made by whom? Bolting up to what transmission?

Jaredatriot:

3.9L cummins four cylinder, bolting to an amigo tranny I would assume. :doh: I know there is an adapter to bolt it into a jeep CJ but other than that i am stumped. Don't know much about Isuzu's.

The isuzu 4cyl engines would be crap for a Jeep. The 4cyl engines that came in the cab over trucks came mostly in the NPR's which were relatively light duty city trucks, the Isuzu NPR's were pretty problematic especially the transmissions that mounted to them. The Isuzu NRR cab over trucks came with an Isuzu 6cyl and is a much better set up. But with either one you are talking about a really complicated swap, and won't be getting great HP numbers, not to mention the greatly increased weight and having to find a home for the pretty big intercoolers that you would need to run. There really is not much of an aftermarket for these engines so performance upgrades would have to be home fabbed. I do know that the NPR 4cyl engines are not very friendly for mods and have a tendency to burn themselves up when you try to do something as simple as eliminate the blow off valve which would keep the engine under boost all the time.

As for the cummins 4B engines, they are pretty big, and the ones that make the most power are usually used in industrial or marine applications, which if your state does diesel emssions testing or will be in the near future, you are very likely to fail. There are TONS of 4 cyl diesel engines out there, turbo, non turbo made by everyone from Cummins, Deutz, Ruggerini, Lister Petter, Hatz, Kubota, Isuzu, Mitzubishi, Yanmar, Mercedes, VW, etc Its just that many of them are Large, heavy, and designed to be run at a constant RPM and last a long time so the power that they make may not be a huge improvement. Thats the problem I have run into, I am trying to build a Diesel minibike, and I have a brand new ruggerini single cyl engine, but the injection pump is either full throttle, or off. But I like the idea of working with diesels, its just a matter of someone out there finding a combination that will provide enough power gains to offset the cost of doing the fab work, and the steep price.

What about finding a rolled Liberty CRD and swapping out with that? Drivetrain's largely the same, the engine was used in the Cherokee in Europe before the KJ existed (so we at least know it's doable), and you can get parts at the neighbourhood dealer if need be.

how a bout the i-5 MB diesel from the Sprinter vans...you'd get a bling 5 speed Auto to go with it...across the pond there are 4wd sprinters with a divorced Tcase setup. A bigger heavier aerodynamic brick gets ~30mpg with the STOCK drive train. there are pretty cheap mods for it to put out >350 ftlbs with little trouble.
major moola though.
No I am not trolling