Here in the UK vehicle duty is going up in line with engine size/ emissions etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions of possible engine swaps for my 95 Limited that would work in conjunction with the standard auto transmission?
Supply of 2.5 engines here is fairly short.

Please advise.

 

If you really wanted something unique you could swap an Isuzu deisel, though you wouldn't be saving much on displacement (its a 3.9L) but maybe duties are a bit lighter on a deisel? Either way it's a really fun idea to entertain! I sure have been thinkin about it. Here's a great forum filled with info on cummins/isuzu swaps...

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/index.php

Hope this helps, or at least gives you something fun to dream about, lol.

 

just get a new car if it is that big of a deal.

 

a guy on fordtrucks.com put an izuzu deisal in his old truck and gets 32 miles to the gallan, good swap i think

 

That's just what I don't want to do, as over here it would mean replacing the Jeep, which I love, with either a Land Rover which has it's own problems (build quality, reliability, comfort) or something Japanese that doesn't thrill me either.

The bottom line is my yearly road fund licence is going to go up from £180 per year to over £400 per year if I stick with the 4.0ltr. If I can swap the motor with something around the 2.0ltr mark, my tax stays at around £180. This is for a vehicle that has a re-sale value in the UK market of around £600.

I don't know about you guys, but I resent giving the government 66% of the value of the car every year just to drive it. The Isuzu engine option, although an interesting proposition, doesn't address the tax issue.

Aparently the British government are soon to introduce a scheme where-by they discount the price of a new car by £1000 if you scrap a high capacity gas-guzzler. If I can't find an economically viable alternative to this, that's probably the way I'm going to have to go, which would be a great shame as an otherwise brilliant vehicle will end up on the scrapheap.

 

dude your car is a 1995 correct?? they arent gonna be offected by the new laws, if your car is a 2000 or newer it will be affected.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/index.htm

gives you the info.

john, birmingham. england.

 

Well I was betting on the laws being different for diesels but if it's purely a displacement issue and you still want to retain some torque a diesel would probably be your best bet, perhaps a VW 1.9L TDI 4cyl, or a smaller Isuzu diesel 4cyl than the 4BD1T. I'm trying to think of things that may be more available over there. I'm sure there are many small diesel powered cars to source an engine from as they are more common there. I just don't think you would be very happy with the miserable torque numbers a small gasser would provide after being used to the 4.0L I6's excellent torque curve. A deisel would probably provide great fuel mileage figures as well, so you can rub that in the eco-freaks faces too!

 

a good friend in the club im in in england runs a factory 2.5 turbo diesel, its great but reliability can be a problem due to overheating.
you will still be taxed the same as a 4 ltr on a 2.5ltr. and if you wanted to drop in another engine out of a difrent car, by the time youve fabed up the brackets and adaptors you could proberbly have paid for 4 years tax.

have you thought about fitting lpg and registering it as so. there are loopholes in the tax system for alternative fueled vehicles.
j

 

get a 2.2 ecotec and turbo it.

 

Any consideration for powering that 4.0 with propane? Does your Gov't give credit for alternative fuels?

 

Apologies Guys, and thanks for the heads up Sluggy, I had no idea that the changes were only on post 2K vehicles. That fact must have passed me by in the heat of my rant about how the UK government treat motorists worse than granny rapers

I'll still look at an LPG conversion, but the fact that my tax isn't going to radically change means I might be able to afford to do the work I've always promised I'd do to the Cherokee.