R2.8 Cummins Build

What have you guys done to protect the intercooler,

I’m planning on getting some of the make your own grill sheet off of amazon or something like that.

Either that or I’ll head over to Alaska tent and tarp and have them make me a pin on grill cover. Since I’ll need one for winter anyway.

I run the two different covers on my tow rig. Some mesh for rocks and other road debis and a winter cover to try and keep some heat in the radiator. And has anyone ordered a block heater. They didnt have any on the Cummins website last I looked.
 
I think this engine is a good choice. I can't fault anyone for most of the V8 swaps, but I'll always feel like it's not the best fit for your non-racing TJ. They certainly have areas I can't argue with, especially when it comes down to parts availability.

I think as far as the kits/crate engine stuff is concerned, this is the BEST package for almost all users. It is not the go to racing kit though. It's got less hp than OEM, but that's not what you need in a Jeep. Typically we have to get way too much HP so we can get the right amount of low end torque. I wouldn't trade someone for a brand new JLR for my Cummins TJ (well I would only if I could sell the vehicle and buy another TJ that I can take to Axis to build me another Cummins TJ). I still keep looking for the diesel Jeep to hit the dealer as well and for like the 30th year in a row it hasn't happened, so I've really got no interest in their offerings. I've been hearing for the last few years that they've officially got them as well. Maybe they do, but I'm not trading my house for one either.

Of course the R2.8 isn't your 5.9 or 6.7 Cummins either. Without the turbo kicking in it's just a NA 2.8L diesel engine.

I might add that a similar drive with my 4.0 with some off-roading and then heading back home, which was the exact thing I did with my truck when I towed my Jeep the other day from where the starter/adapter plate failed I got 14 MPG in the truck by the time I got home vs about 12 MPG I used to get with just the 4.0L empty with mud tires and stuff. I'm running oversized KM3s on the truck too. So basically 8,500 lb truck +2k lb trailer +4k lb Jeep and better MPG and I could maintain speed better in the truck pulling the Jeep than the Jeep could do on the highway empty with the 4.0L.

Kevin is very helpful when he's not deep into a wiring job. Chris is helpful too, but I'm guessing they're all fairly swamped most of the time between promotions, new/exciting engine, company, etc. I was one of the first for the kit when they switched over to a more substantial engine cooling package. It seems like there's still been more updates since my kit arrived.
 
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As a self proclaimed gear head, with far too many projects. My wife still doesn’t understand how I can have so many projects while being on active duty. (13 months to go).

I knew nothing about diesel swaps of small diesels for that matter. Or I would have been searching 4bt swaps in 2013 when I pulled the 2.4L. I acquired a 2006 hemi GC that was rolled over. But with 6 weeks to return from Afghanistan to move to Alaska. Needless to say that swap never occurred. And when I had a four week notice to spend a year in Korea the products started dropping for this diesel swap.

I agree with you. The 80s ruined America on the diesel. If I won the lottery today. The first thing I would buy would be an Audi Wagon Turbo Diesel with Manual Trans. My wife and I both absolutely loved the one we had in Germany. Yet it’s not available here in the US. Then of course a High HP Ute from Australia. Because I still miss my ElCamino my mother gave away.
 
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NDSpeed said:
As a self proclaimed gear head, with far too many projects. My wife still doesn’t understand how I can have so many projects while being on active duty. (13 months to go).

I knew nothing about diesel swaps of small diesels for that matter. Or I would have been searching 4bt swaps in 2013 when I pulled the 2.4L. I acquired a 2006 hemi GC that was rolled over. But with 6 weeks to return from Afghanistan to move to Alaska. Needless to say that swap never occurred. And when I had a four week notice to spend a year in Korea the products started dropping for this diesel swap.

I agree with you. The 80s ruined America on the diesel. If I won the lottery today. The first thing I would buy would be an Audi Wagon Turbo Diesel with Manual Trans. My wife and I both absolutely loved the one we had in Germany. Yet it’s not available here in the US. Then of course a High HP Ute from Australia. Because I still miss my ElCamino my mother gave away.
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A guy at work has a collection of El Caminos/Rancheros. Cool cars, but I think I'd toss in a 4bt or something than the big blocks. RPMs might be an issue, but getting 10mpg doesn't impress me for a daily driver.

Really politics killed the diesel (on both sides). Emissions regulations killed a bunch of nice cars and small SUVs. But most 80s diesels go for high prices. Green illusions essentially killed MPG and kept the junkyard full. MPG is still being faked and it's not a direct correlation of much either.

Thanks for your service. The military keeps us safe and it's the reason other countries base everything on our currency and it's why our debt is treated like gold to other countries.

I just stood up, I may need to add some water to my bourbon....
 
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Here's some of the random fuel swap footage I had for the R2.8 Cummins swap. Should be similar for other diesel swaps, just note the R2.8 Cummins doesn't need a lift pump, since the injection pump can handle it. I didn't show priming it either, but it's just pumping until your arm falls off for the most part. I may show that when I do my first fuel filter replacement.
 
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I haven't updated anything on this TJ build in awhile, but I have been working on some accessories for the Jeep.

I finally got around to fixing my backup battery charge controller. I broke it down into 2 parts. Simple stuff but it got annoying to always have a dead battery. Btw, I didn't catch it until maybe a couple months ago, but the battery I put in the Jeep as a backup is too small for what I was going for. I have no idea how I got those batteries confused, but sometimes it happens I guess.


 
DieselJeep said:
A guy at work has a collection of El Caminos/Rancheros. Cool cars, but I think I'd toss in a 4bt or something than the big blocks. RPMs might be an issue, but getting 10mpg doesn't impress me for a daily driver.

Really politics killed the diesel (on both sides). Emissions regulations killed a bunch of nice cars and small SUVs. But most 80s diesels go for high prices. Green illusions essentially killed MPG and kept the junkyard full. MPG is still being faked and it's not a direct correlation of much either.

Thanks for your service. The military keeps us safe and it's the reason other countries base everything on our currency and it's why our debt is treated like gold to other countries.

I just stood up, I may need to add some water to my bourbon....
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I've always wanted an old Camaro with a diesel swap.
 
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I'm sure someone has done it. Seems like I saw some kind of twin turbo newer muscle car lately, but I don't remember.

For stuff that's meant to go fast, it seems to me that diesel would be harder to get to go as fast as your standard gas race engine in a lightweight vehicle, if that's what you're looking for in a camaro. Just for the cool factor, I'm all in. I kinda feel like the R2.8 unless modded wouldn't be my first choice. I think the Cummins 5.0 V8 would be pretty cool, but to get the 2.8 up to par, I think you'd need to go all the way down to the bottom end and beef it up and stroke it. Not sure what's possible, but maybe you could get 300 hp twin turbo and I suspect it would absolutely move and likely get pretty good MPG ie 30s.

I did want to build my old VW GTI into basically a TDI version of the R32, but that's as close as I've really come to doing a swap that wasn't based mostly on just being utilitarian in nature. When it comes to the US and off-road/on-road 4x4, diesel just makes the most sense, since it's hard to buy, that's when I actually do get motivated to build. However, the Gladiator, is kinda calling my wife and I's names, but until they've got a diesel version, no way am I even thinking of taking the plunge. In all honesty, I'm probably better off just getting the wife a newish quad cab, short bed 3/4 ton with the 6.7 Cummins. Lift it a bit, bigger tires, lockers, winch maybe, etc. I want a flat bed, but she doesn't seem to like those as much as I do. Heck I don't think she likes trucks that much either except for kayaking.
 
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DieselJeep said:
I'm sure someone has done it. Seems like I saw some kind of twin turbo newer muscle car lately, but I don't remember.

For stuff that's meant to go fast, it seems to me that diesel would be harder to get to go as fast as your standard gas race engine in a lightweight vehicle, if that's what you're looking for in a camaro. Just for the cool factor, I'm all in. I kinda feel like the R2.8 unless modded wouldn't be my first choice. I think the Cummins 5.0 V8 would be pretty cool, but to get the 2.8 up to par, I think you'd need to go all the way down to the bottom end and beef it up and stroke it. Not sure what's possible, but maybe you could get 300 hp twin turbo and I suspect it would absolutely move and likely get pretty good MPG ie 30s.

I did want to build my old VW GTI into basically a TDI version of the R32, but that's as close as I've really come to doing a swap that wasn't based mostly on just being utilitarian in nature. When it comes to the US and off-road/on-road 4x4, diesel just makes the most sense, since it's hard to buy, that's when I actually do get motivated to build. However, the Gladiator, is kinda calling my wife and I's names, but until they've got a diesel version, no way am I even thinking of taking the plunge. In all honesty, I'm probably better off just getting the wife a newish quad cab, short bed 3/4 ton with the 6.7 Cummins. Lift it a bit, bigger tires, lockers, winch maybe, etc. I want a flat bed, but she doesn't seem to like those as much as I do. Heck I don't think she likes trucks that much either except for kayaking.
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It's strange to me that outside of the US you can buy the JK8, and diesel Wranglers with no issues, yet, the mere mention of that causes the US dealer to laugh

I've had dreams of a nice Diesel R32 for a long time. Almost pulled the trigger on an unfinished R32 diesel swap last year, but too many headaches with transfers and NY being a dick for diesel. In a perfect world, an R32/Audi B3 Coupe drive-train under a Corrado skin would be about perfect with a diesel. Always loved the lines and stance of the Corrado. Shame they really never pushed it.

Ken's Hoonicorn is a good example of the twin turbo and 4x4 concept I was talking about with the Camaro. This with a diesel in a Camaro body would just hit all of my buttons. :love:
 
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Ephry73 said:
It's strange to me that outside of the US you can buy the JK8, and diesel Wranglers with no issues, yet, the mere mention of that causes the US dealer to laugh
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When I was India doing some work, it was crazy how the standard vehicle there got like 50+ MPG and diesel was cheaper than gasoline. They seemed to have a bunch of off-road capable vehicles around too that we just couldn't ever imagine getting. Their vehicles cost like a tenth of our vehicles too. They just used known, simple and good parts and much of their stuff looked like our old models. They didn't have anything large though. Minivan was the typical large vehicle. It's crazy what you can have with very little regulation unlike what we have here. However where the government there had heavily regulated, the bureaucracy was an absolute nightmare to work with. At time I had no idea if I was paying bribes or if I was actually paying legitimate fees.

There aren't many vehicles in the US I haven't envisioned being diesel. Anything with 4x4, or anything with a hatchback/stationwagon or van I've so wanted to convert. However, conversions on the weekend when I've already got SO many things to work on is just something I admittedly just don't have much time for. Maybe one day when I retire or something, though at that point internal combustion engines will likely be banned in the US.

I have btw seriously contemplated an EV swap, but if you think diesel is expensive, EV is crazy unless it's like a simple DC motor with some DIY charge controller stuff. Ultimately I've kinda put that on the backburner. I was hoping to do something kinda like a DIY Cybertruck, but to get it to do highway speed and have any life, the battery cost is just insane and you can't just use an ordinary generator to recharge it. It's gotta be a pretty large generator unless you plan to be there for days charging. Same with a solar recharge.
 
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Diesel Jeeps are here from the factory now even in California, (the land of the fruits & nuts) and the HEMI V8 is coming shortly......

JL's are available now with the 3.0L Eco Diesel V6 and have more than 400 Ft. Lbs. torque. I looked at one at the dealership a month ago and the test drive was pretty impressive. More torque than either the 4-cylinder turbo or the Gasser V6 had by quite a bit. I love that 8-speed transmission, it definitely made the Jeep scoot well!

It will cost you around $6,500 extra to get the 3.0L Eco Diesel & 8-speed slushbox though it may be worth it to have 25MPG+ economy with all that down-low torque. Plus the range is better than either of the gassers per tank on big tires.

I'ts got me seriously thinking of trading our JKUR V6 gasser in for the JLUR 3.0L Eco Diesel with 8-speed transmission. If I did that then both of my Jeeps would be diesel powered since my CJ has the Cummins 3.9BT in it.

RR
 
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There's almost no way I'd get a new Jeep of any kind without a diesel engine. You'll get that $6,500 back. It may take a combination of resale, smiles, lack of buying a bunch of rotopax and other containers used because gas engines are not the right engine for heavier vehicles that go off road or really even on road, but diesel is worth it. The JLUR diesel has me drooling. That's on Jeep though, because they teased it for years and Cummins made the move first and I prefer the TJ for what it is and how cheap and simple it is to repair vs all the EPA stuff on the ECO Diesel. Had a buddy with the Eco Diesel and he got rid of it pretty quickly, but he needed 3rd row seating and doesn't ever go off-road or tow or do anything a diesel is great for. Basically he went from about 30 mpg truck diesel and DEF to a 26 mpg gas van and that's fine for him. He did have a few issues with the fuel filter sensor always sensing water on the ED, but he wanted something different.

If the wife and I bite at anything new Jeep it'll be a diesel Gladiator. The wife and I are looking on maybe adding in another 4 door truck and she likes the Gladiators and we both like the idea of a small truck (admittedly I like it more than she does, but she'll like it eventually). Often when the wife and I are going somewhere together other than like a family visit it's almost always in my truck. The bed and the range in a 3/4 ton diesel truck makes it extremely convenient and it goes anywhere and does better in our mud for whatever reason, especially with all the stuff we can pack in. It's so easy to load kayaks and fishing stuff in a truck bed and be gone and with the topper it's basically a DIY RV we use a few nights of the year and I use for several nights of the year.

The Eco Diesel will move the bigger JLU and Gladiator around very reasonably, but for the cost, I'll probably just go for a used shorter bed Dodge 2500 with a Cummins in it coupled with the infamous auto transmission, which will give me some backup towing options as well. It will be old enough so the emissions stuff isn't such a pain to remove as well. It's nice being able to tow anything and still get around 20 mpg empty. The Jeep will get better MPG, but I won't be out $50+k. The towing I do, I wouldn't trust with the 8 speed, eventhough the torque is adequate. When many of the trucks started switching to lots of gears in their automatics, we really saw transmission failures shoot up and we ended up having to go to larger displacement engines with less gearing to meet our demands. That doesn't mean the many gears will fail, just that they're more picky on vehicle weight and towing. For what a Jeep is designed to tow and carry it's likely a non-issue, but they can't handle the towing I do several times a year so for me it's likely something I'll continue to drool over and not purchase.
 
DieselJeep said:
When I was India doing some work, it was crazy how the standard vehicle there got like 50+ MPG and diesel was cheaper than gasoline. They seemed to have a bunch of off-road capable vehicles around too that we just couldn't ever imagine getting. Their vehicles cost like a tenth of our vehicles too. They just used known, simple and good parts and much of their stuff looked like our old models. They didn't have anything large though. Minivan was the typical large vehicle. It's crazy what you can have with very little regulation unlike what we have here. However where the government there had heavily regulated, the bureaucracy was an absolute nightmare to work with. At time I had no idea if I was paying bribes or if I was actually paying legitimate fees.

There aren't many vehicles in the US I haven't envisioned being diesel. Anything with 4x4, or anything with a hatchback/stationwagon or van I've so wanted to convert. However, conversions on the weekend when I've already got SO many things to work on is just something I admittedly just don't have much time for. Maybe one day when I retire or something, though at that point internal combustion engines will likely be banned in the US.

I have btw seriously contemplated an EV swap, but if you think diesel is expensive, EV is crazy unless it's like a simple DC motor with some DIY charge controller stuff. Ultimately I've kinda put that on the backburner. I was hoping to do something kinda like a DIY Cybertruck, but to get it to do highway speed and have any life, the battery cost is just insane and you can't just use an ordinary generator to recharge it. It's gotta be a pretty large generator unless you plan to be there for days charging. Same with a solar recharge.
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I would like to see someone put a dual motor tesla drive train in a wrangler. Front and rear motors and the battery tucked between the frame rails. That would be pretty sweet and could probably see 150 miles range still. You could probably also set it up with a single electric motor connected to an output shaft to the transfer case and run stock axles. Battery location may be an issue then along with an efficiency drop .
 
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I started looking into this for another Jeep I've got, but I've abandoned the idea for EV. I was going to go simple and use a DC motor in place of the engine. The likelihood of highway speed for that setup is just not going to happen and the other stuff, we're talking probably $30k or more to make the setup work OK. Sure maybe I could find a way to steal stuff from pieced together vehicles, but everything is just too expensive for a lot of maybes.

I still want to go EV, but at this point I'll probably just run a couple fat tire E bikes, I can carry with me on my Jeep or maybe go with an EV UTV I can tow.

I might add that really what I wanted to do was integrate some type of generator system on board the vehicle, so the EV might have some chance for extended range and not just a big wheels toy around the house. I found that the generator size I would need was much much larger than I just simply had in my head, if I didn't want to charge it for a week to get to even 80%. I really think many of the EV only companies are doing a major disservice by not integrating some small engine on board with like 5 gallons of fuel to recharge the batteries. If they had a system like that, which is way more simple than a hybrid, then I think we'd see much more adoption of these EVs. Plus batteries weigh so much and are so expensive, they could save a lot of weight and cost by going with this method. Batteries are no where near the density of gas or diesel and generator costs are cheaper than battery costs too. But it would end up with a more versatile solution and I'm just not sure why some of these manufacturers won't use known technology to make up for a lack of infrastructure and battery design.

While I was looking at the EV stuff, I looked at the Cybertruck some and was kinda hoping maybe we could budget it, but the only possibility we could get away with was starting at $50k and I'd have to have a way to charge it remotely. I then talked some with a buddy that's and engineer as well and he claims the EVs really drop off their range when towing, which means in reality I couldn't even think of any Cybertruck that wasn't starting at $70k. Then I was told the weight was 7,500 lbs and you'd still need a several hundred pound generator to charge when you're out and it's a vehicle that looks like a crossover SUV, so you're gonna have to tow a trailer, but at that point I would often be towing other stuff and I'm not sure where I could put the generator and that's just too many compromises for starting at $70k.

I feel like this market is setup for local businesses and normal errands ie known and small ranges however I've started doing a little bit of accounting from the hip and the concept may work, but so far the accounting doesn't work out. I may actually get a spreadsheet together which would be better for businesses actually trying to decide on which direction to go when buying fleet vehicle stuff. Preliminarily the only benefit would be advertising, but I'll have to research more and see if there are actually vehicles out there smaller businesses could even utilize anyway and more and more I don't think there are yet. I'm really not sure how these companies plan to make money unless it's all just free government research money and a handful of rich people trying to look cool, but never put pen to paper.
 
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I've been looking at making a nice fat tire E bike for a bit now. crank driven. There are a lot of kits out there that can be used and should work well and stay in a nice tight budget. Particularly if you have a starter bike already.

For the Jeep, a strong diesel and re-gear is the most elegant and simplest solution for ME. The problem is modern diesels and all the electronics associated with them.
 
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DieselJeep said:
There's almost no way I'd get a new vehicle of any kind without a diesel engine.
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FIFY.

From my perspective, gas engines are an inefficient waste of resources. I'd prefer a diesel in anything/everything, up to and including my lawn mower. Why Americans insist on screwing around with inefficient gas engines when the rest of the world has gone diesel, I'll never be able to fathom.

Of course, "they" have ruined diesels to a large extent with all the damn electronics - what else is new? Everything is now ruined with "technology"...
 
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Zorba said:
FIFY.

From my perspective, gas engines are an inefficient waste of resources. I'd prefer a diesel in anything/everything, up to and including my lawn mower. Why Americans insist on screwing around with inefficient gas engines when the rest of the world has gone diesel, I'll never be able to fathom.

Of course, "they" have ruined diesels to a large extent with all the damn electronics - what else is new? Everything is now ruined with "technology"...
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I don't mind the technology on modern diesels, but emissions technology is taking us in the wrong direction.

In tractors I've had buddies with small diesels have to pay $3k or more to fix mechanical injection pumps. The mechanical lift pumps seem to fail more often than the electronic ones and the newer common rails pumps last for an extremely long time without hot tunes in your truck. The injectors are WAY more expensive but most people that aren't getting fancy seem to get 100s of thousands of miles without incident, especially with a good filter system.

The electronic stuff is obviously more picky with fuel, but it's very nicely and robustly integrated on most diesels.

I certainly love mechanicals, but when it comes to stuff like a Jeep, where weight is more critical and there's very little sound dampening and I think electronic makes more sense because of the power you can get for the displacement and you can pretty much tune out the black smoke and still have the power.

My 2.8 can technically be tuned to put out what my 5.9 can unleash, but unfortunately it's a much much lighter duty diesel that I wouldn't recommend turning up more than about 10%. And that extra power and torque is high in the rpm range and essentially useless for me.

In a truck where you can get away with a massive high displacement engine, then mechanical would be ideal. It wouldn't be bad in a Jeep, but not quite my preference on paper. I would still really really like that Jeep though.

I don't care for gas engines, but the fuel is so easy to get that I don't mind it once a vehicle it piece of equipment has the proper sized tank and once you're getting 20s or higher mpg. Below 20s and I just don't understand having a gas engine.

We have a gas powered tractor and 2 diesel tractors. I'd always heard how much easier gas engines are to start, but we could let a diesel sit 3 years and use a fresh battery and it'll start within a few cranks. Every morning starting a gasoline tractor is fingers crossed it'll start and it's easy to get an ignition wire pulled off while doing work. And gas is just awful to deal with vs diesel. Gotta have valves with gas tanks it risk problems and problems occur from because of the valves.
 
My #1 consideration for ANYTHING is long term reliability, and lowest cost of ownership over time. I just don't see it with electronics. Yea, when they work, they work VERY well, but when they don't, its $1,000+ to replace $50 worth of electronics. See the "WranglerFix" thread for but one example.

When I was in college learning my eventual trade of electronics/computer tech, I was taught how $5 microprocessors were going to change the world - and they did! But not for $5!
 
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