Root Moose said:
Some people ahve been asking about sticking a diesel in an XJ...
There is an interesting thread on the Liberty diesel (VM 2.8?) at PBB that may make a good swap:
Hm. Interesting. I feel sorry for whoever ends up with that eBay engine if they try to use it though - they're basically stuck with a one-off with attendant iffy parts supply.
I've looked into the CRD swap for the XJ to a fair degree, and am hoping to be able to do it sometime in the next 12-16 months. Things I've been able to determine from talking to Burnsville off-road about their
Rubicon CRD conversion:
- Engine weight isn't an issue. The CRD uses an aluminimum head, so stock suspension
should be able to handle its weight. They replaced a fully-optioned 4.0 with a fully-optioned CRD and no suspension modification was required. Good news on that front at least, since this is the route I want to take.
- Custom engine mounts were required, but that was more or less a given. Just nice to have confirmation.
Now, here's what I don't know:
- Transmission. I've got the AW4 and am thinking that swapping out for the 545RFE used in the KJ CRDs would be a good idea: it should more or less bolt up to the existing NP242, at least at the output end, and would eliminate possible tranny control issues with trying to make an AW4 work happily with a CRD ECU. I'm expecting mounts to change, though. Having the higher 5th gear for highway cruising would also be a plus.
- Gauges. Expecting to have to change out the XJ's gauges to work with the CRD. Ditto door locks, the overhead console's guts, etc.
- Fuel lines, tank, etc. will likely have to be swapped out for export-spec diesel XJ parts from the 2.5-litre VM-engined jeeps.
It looks as though the engine itself can be made to fit without serious re-engineering, though I don't exactly expect it to be a drop-in by any means. Seeing if the 545RFE can be jigged into place along with the engine is the great unknown, though.
Budget: $10000. That includes finding a rolled CRD with good driveline, figuring everything out, and making it work. It's a lot of money and honestly I don't expect to ever get it back in fuel savings, but the XJ will be paid off by then and spending ten grand on giving it at least another decade of service vs. buying a new car and making payments on it over five more years seems a lot more reasonable.
