Engine Swap?

[Wallace Krempa]

I have a 89' manche with a 91' 4.0 in it. I have replace the harmonic balancer, alternator, and the water pump on the 4.0, but the transmission is leaking, the power steering is leaking, and the engine is running worse and worse every day. I have always liked diesel engines, and i was looking into a Mercedes OM617 from 98. I have seen them in Cherokees as old as my manche and was wondering if you it would be worth it to do the swap. I was looking to do a compound turbo setup on the Mercedes and it would produce 250hp and 250ft-lbs of torque. i would have to re-enforce the frame so that it wouldn't break. My current estimate is about $4K for the engine and work to the engine. The frame re-enforcement's and welding about $1,500 more. Resealing the tranny and re-gearing the axles about $3,500 to $4K. I would re-sell the 4.0 to a friend for I'm thinking $2k because he is going to completely restore it. 

 

Just looking for thoughts. Thanks

[Jeep Driver]

Well.........two things I'll comment on.........

 

250/250 ain't special, you are not going to shred a frame/uni-frame/uni-body with it, no need to reinforce. 

 

Your 4.0 core is worth about $200, not $2K. And I don't care what he's going to do with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smokeyyank]

1 hour ago, Wallace Krempa said:

I would re-sell the 4.0 to a friend for I'm thinking $2k because he is going to completely restore it. 

 

You must not like your friend...I sold my fully rebuilt and complete  4.0HO with 25k on it for $1,200. You can pick up a fully rebuilt long block for less than 2k. 

 

As for the swaps. You can look in epic a few have used the TDI diesels with success. 

 

I've thought about what I would do once the 4.0 is ready to go in my manche. Sometimes I think LS swap, others 4.0HO swap, other diesel. I'd say what ever your budget for add on another 10% of cost and 100 hours of time because well $h*t happens especially with swaps. 

[DirtyComanche]

Do more research on the OM617 first.  They're a hassle to get parts for, and all of the adapters currently in production suck.  You're also going to have trouble packaging it nicely in the MJ chassis.  Not saying its impossible, but it will take money and time to do it right.

 

And they aren't used in 98.  That would be an OM606 or something. 

[Ls2xjcomanche]

4BT Cummins Swap 👍🏽. Wouldn’t be cheap, but eventually plan on doing this swap in my 88 MJ!

 

 

 

[Wallace Krempa]

6 hours ago, Ls2xjcomanche said:

4BT Cummins Swap 👍🏽. Wouldn’t be cheap, but eventually plan on doing this swap in my 88 MJ!

 

Do you think you need to do any frame re-enforcement? What about hp and torque? Also could it bolt into the AX-15 that is already in my Jeep?

 

[johnj92131]

Wallace,

 

Let me point you to several long threads on diesel conversions here on the Comanche Club   My suggestion is to  read both of them and learn a whole lot about the several different diesel conversions.

 

https://comancheclub.com/topic/40407-cummins-b33-powered-mj-build/

 

https://comancheclub.com/topic/52550-86-diesel-mj-to-vw-tdi-conversion/

 

https://comancheclub.com/topic/57572-om616-swap/

 

https://comancheclub.com/topic/9562-project-crd-mj-is-born/

 

You will notice that none of them are 4BT engines, because the 4BT weighs close to 1000 lbs.  All right on the nose of the truck.

 

I have about $10K in my Comanche VW TDI conversion because I paid someone else to do the work.  BTW, I think you will find the VW TDI conversion has the most after market support.

 

Brandon has much less in his cummins B3.3 conversion because he did his own work.

[Ls2xjcomanche]

2 hours ago, Wallace Krempa said:

Do you think you need to do any frame re-enforcement? What about hp and torque? Also could it bolt into the AX-15 that is already in my Jeep?

 

I would recommend doing frame stiffeners, but not saying that it’s necessary. I’ve read about swaps with AX-15s and they handle the torque fine. The 4BT weighs 745lbs and jeep 4.0 weigh 483 lbs. Don’t see the 262lb difference being that big of a deal.