Building a diesel powered RHD TJ Wrangler (Picture Heavy)

[Chris]

I know your type... you're the guy who can't ever finish a project because he keeps getting new projects! Hahaha

Seriously though, nothing wrong with that, I'm actually a lot like that myself. Glad to see you're still motoring along though. Maybe one day this thing will be road worthy

I don't blame you though, if I was in your shoes I'd be trying to get that thing up and running by Summer at the latest.

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

I can’t think of a single reason I would pass up a clean LJR for 6k Been waiting for the Kubota for so long! Excited

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

I know your type... you're the guy who can't ever finish a project because he keeps getting new projects! Hahaha

Seriously though, nothing wrong with that, I'm actually a lot like that myself. Glad to see you're still motoring along though. Maybe one day this thing will be road worthy

I don't blame you though, if I was in your shoes I'd be trying to get that thing up and running by Summer at the latest.

That is absolutely true and to make things even more complicated I missed so many of my own personal goals with this project. I really thought I would going to have it running last year, but too many things kept getting in the way!

Also I have my 1947 CJ-2A project which at this point I'm itching to get started as well so I really want to get this Wrangler on the road at least so I can work on something else!!!

I can’t think of a single reason I would pass up a clean LJR for 6k Been waiting for the Kubota for so long! Excited

My wife wasn't thrilled about it LOL! Yeah I've been waiting for the Kubota as well LOL! If I'm completely honest I think adding the doubler was a mistake, I should have just bolted the transmission to the transfer case, got it running and on the road and added the doubler later. While I don't regret it now that I'm so close, the doubler most certainly delayed this project an easy 6 months!

-Grant

 

[Alex01]

Way to go Grant. Judging by your reaction getting it to turn over, getting it to fire up may be a real tear-jerker.

Keep up the good work.

LJR - "It gets 17mpg" - Does anyone else sense another diesel swap in the future?

 

[mots]

Nice work Grant. What a feeling that must be, bet you wish you could bottle some of that up. Bolting up a Kubota diesel on a TJ, it's one hell of a drug!

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

Love seeing the reaction to finally spinning it

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Way to go Grant. Judging by your reaction getting it to turn over, getting it to fire up may be a real tear-jerker.

Keep up the good work.

LJR - "It gets 17mpg" - Does anyone else sense another diesel sway in the future?

I have no idea what you could possibly mean by that

Nice work Grant. What a feeling that must be, bet you wish you could bottle some of that up. Bolting up a Kubota diesel on a TJ, it's one hell of a drug!

I really do, it was such a massive relief to see it spin freely. I'm too that point in this project where there are no manuals on how to do any of this stuff, it's just using my knowledge of how automative stuff works from here on out!

Love seeing the reaction to finally spinning it

Oddly enough I told myself I wouldn't react before I started filming that last bit but I really couldn't help myself. I've missed so many personal deadlines that I set for myself to get this project done and I had to begun to wonder myself if it would ever get done.

However I realized with the engine spinning freely like it is, it really is a case of wiring the fuel pump in the tank, wire the fuel shutoff solenoid and run the supply and return lines and the Kubota engine will be running.

-Grant

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

I have no idea what you could possibly mean by that



I really do, it was such a massive relief to see it spin freely. I'm too that point in this project where there are no manuals on how to do any of this stuff, it's just using my knowledge of how automative stuff works from here on out!



Oddly enough I told myself I wouldn't react before I started filming that last bit but I really couldn't help myself. I've missed so many personal deadlines that I set for myself to get this project done and I had to begun to wonder myself if it would ever get done.

However I realized with the engine spinning freely like it is, it really is a case of wiring the fuel pump in the tank, wire the fuel shutoff solenoid and run the supply and return lines and the Kubota engine will be running.

-Grant

All I need to see is a video with your feedback on MPG and power, and I’m sold on mine

 

[B00mb00m]

All I need to see is a video with your feedback on MPG and power, and I’m sold on mine

Sames! Very interested if it has enough power to accelerate 37's and heavier axles and such. Maybe we can get a PNW swap tribe haha. I do wants that diesel Torque so bad.

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

Sames! Very interested if it has enough power to accelerate 37's and heavier axles and such. Maybe we can get a PNW swap tribe haha. I do wants that diesel Torque so bad.

No freaking kidding! If the R2.8 wasn’t so damn expensive I’d already have it Nate from dirt lifestyle has had great results with his tdi on 40s

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

All I need to see is a video with your feedback on MPG and power, and I’m sold on mine

Sames! Very interested if it has enough power to accelerate 37's and heavier axles and such. Maybe we can get a PNW swap tribe haha. I do wants that diesel Torque so bad.

No freaking kidding! If the R2.8 wasn’t so damn expensive I’d already have it

So I'm going to go ahead and address this now because you just brought up a great point @BuildBreakRepeat . Initially this Wrangler is going to be SLOW. 65hp and I think 125ft/lb of torque but that torque is instant from idle. Also the fuel economy is going to probably be around 25mpg if I had to guess.

NOW before you freak out the reason for this is I don't have an intercooler installed yet and the boost from the turbo is only going to be about 4psi which is stock from Kubota. Also the fueling on the Kubota is turned down to around 30% of its maximum for insane reliability but these engines were designed to run full tilt at 2800rpm for hours on end, I won't be running anywhere near that constantly.

Once I get the intercooler installed, which I want to do after driving the TJ with the Kubota for a little bit as is to get a baseline, I'll first turn up the fuel and then adjust the wastegate to get more boost. I believe the stock turbo maxes out at around 15psi, so triple the current boost pressure.

Here is where things get interesting and I don't completely understand everything yet, but as you increase boost and have the fueling tuned for the boost you gain both HP/torque AND fuel economy. So the V2403 with NO turbo is 48hp and 118 ft/lbs of torque. At 14psi you double the stock HP and torque I believe, so your going from 48 HP to 96HP and 118 ft/lbs to 236ish ft/lb of torque right off ideal, the 4.0l doesn't make peak torque until 3200rpm.

The other thing you have to realize and what KubotaSwappers wants me to do is swap turbos, to a Borg Warner K03 which will output around 28psi of boost, and he thinks that will be around 150hp and 325 ~ 350 ft/lbs of torque again basically right off ideal.

So as I increase the boost and fueling I'll be increasing the HP and the fuel economy as well. I'm kind of hoping to get into the mid 30s for MPGs with the stock turbo truthfully, I have a K03, but I'm interested to see what the stock turbo will do.

Also you can put compound turbos on these engines for even greater HP and Torque gains, but again I'd rather go for simplicity!

*EDIT* ALSO I have an In-direct injection motor, if you get the direct injection motor you gain another 15% power on both HP and Torque, so a V2203 direct injection which are much easier to come by would have more power than my V2403 indirect injection!

Hope that all makes sense!

Thanks
Grant

 

[B00mb00m]

So I'm going to go ahead and address this now because you just brought up a great point @BuildBreakRepeat . Initially this Wrangler is going to be SLOW. 65hp and I think 125ft/lb of torque but that torque is instant from idle. Also the fuel economy is going to probably be around 25mpg if I had to guess.

NOW before you freak out the reason for this is I don't have an intercooler installed yet and the boost from the turbo is only going to be about 4psi which is stock from Kubota. Also the fueling on the Kubota is turned down to around 30% of its maximum for insane reliability but these engines were designed to run full tilt at 2800rpm for hours on end, I won't be running anywhere near that constantly.

Once I get the intercooler installed, which I want to do after driving the TJ with the Kubota for a little bit as is to get a baseline, I'll first turn up the fuel and then adjust the wastegate to get more boost. I believe the stock turbo maxes out at around 15psi, so triple the current boost pressure.

Here is where things get interesting and I don't completely understand everything yet, but as you increase boost and have the fueling tuned for the boost you gain both HP/torque AND fuel economy. So the V2403 with NO turbo is 48hp and 118 ft/lbs of torque. At 14psi you double the stock HP and torque I believe, so your going from 48 HP to 96HP and 118 ft/lbs to 236ish ft/lb of torque right off ideal, the 4.0l doesn't make peak torque until 3200rpm.

The other thing you have to realize and what KubotaSwappers wants me to do is swap turbos, to a Borg Warner K03 which will output around 28psi of boost, and he thinks that will be around 150hp and 325 ~ 350 ft/lbs of torque again basically right off ideal.

So as I increase the boost and fueling I'll be increasing the HP and the fuel economy as well. I'm kind of hoping to get into the mid 30s for MPGs with the stock turbo truthfully, I have a K03, but I'm interested to see what the stock turbo will do.

Also you can put compound turbos on these engines for even greater HP and Torque gains, but again I'd rather go for simplicity!

*EDIT* ALSO I have an In-direct injection motor, if you get the direct injection motor you gain another 15% power on both HP and Torque, so a V2203 direct injection which are much easier to come by would have more power than my V2403 indirect injection!

Hope that all makes sense!

Thanks
Grant

Thanks for that info. If I do a similar swap, i would want the DI then. HOw did you go about searching for a motor? Did you try to buy a tractor or the engine alone?

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Thanks for that info. If I do a similar swap, i would want the DI then. HOw did you go about searching for a motor? Did you try to buy a tractor or the engine alone?

I bought the engine by itself, you want to search for any of the following terms: V1903, V2003, V2203 (most common) V2403. You will need to confirm with each motor but you could also search V2203-DI I believe for direct injection.

I actually prefer indirect injection because I can then run biodiesel and other renewable diesel fuels through the motor, the direct injection motors don't like them nearly as much. eBay and Facebook Marketplace are a great place to start as well!

*EDIT* If you want big power and torque look for a F2503 or F2803 those are inline 5 cylinder diesel motors, your talking about massive torque with those engines!

-Grant

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

Well this was a personal reminder that engine swaps especially gas to diesel swaps never quite go the way you expect them to!

After getting the Kubota V2403 diesel engine spinning in my TJ Wrangler I really thought I would hook up the fuel lines and have the diesel engine running last weekend but complications with the fuel system prevented that! Parts ordered and they will be getting here this week.

Life of a project Jeep! You get have to ride the hills of up and downs as they come!

I'm still bound and determined to get this running this month! It might not be pretty but it will be running!

-Grant

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

While I didn't have the greatest luck with the fuel system, I made great progress on the interior of my diesel swap TJ Wrangler!

I installed the Winters Carr Shifter and got it connected to the AW4 automatic transmission! I bought the shifter specifically for the AW4 and yet like all things on this project, ended up having to modify the mounting brackets so I could connect the shifter cable to the transmission.

With all that said, at the end of the day I'm ever closer to getting this Kubota V2403 diesel powered TJ Wrangler on the road and trails!

Thanks
Grant

 

[Whitetrash]

Hey TJers,

While I didn't have the greatest luck with the fuel system, I made great progress on the interior of my diesel swap TJ Wrangler!

I installed the Winters Carr Shifter and got it connected to the AW4 automatic transmission! I bought the shifter specifically for the AW4 and yet like all things on this project, ended up having to modify the mounting brackets so I could connect the shifter cable to the transmission.

View attachment 144245

View attachment 144246

With all that said, at the end of the day I'm ever closer to getting this Kubota V2403 diesel powered TJ Wrangler on the road and trails!

Thanks
Grant

That looks awesome dude!

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

That looks awesome dude!

Thank you so much!

Also a bit of a preview from the next video that I'm working on! It's not running yet but this makes me happier than you could probably imagine! I've had this image in my head for my Wrangler for years and it's finally a reality!

If a TON of things go correctly this weekend, I might have the Kubota V2403 diesel engine running by the end of the weekend!

-Grant

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

IT RUNS!!!

I've got a video coming Tuesday on getting the fuel tank wrapped up and then on Thursday I'll post of the video of everything I had to do to get the Kubota V2403 diesel engine running in my RHD TJ Wrangler but IT RUNS!!!!

-Grant

 

[Mike Alfano]

Grant,

Sounds great....! Congratulations...getting her running is a major milestone! Great work.....cant wait till she's mobile.

 

[RustyAutoholicGuy]

Hey TJers,

Got the fuel tank installed and plumbed on my diesel swap TJ Wrangler! I was able to get a fuel filler neck off of a Jeep Liberty CRD Turbo Diesel and easily modify it to fix the Wrangler tub!

Also I used a GM 15131046 Fuel Tank Filler Hose so that I don't have to worry about diesel fuel burping out of the tank when I fill the Wrangler a the fuel station. I finished off all of this work with installing a green diesel fuel cap that says "Diesel Fuel Only".

Thanks
Grant