4bt is a tall ****.

Wanna swap a cummins into a ford Destroke is the shiz nit.
I want to do a common rail 5.9 into the 97 ford in my signature.

 

My dad has a 2002 TDI Jetta wagon. I would strongly recommend 2002 or newer. Brothers 2000 TDI has turbo problems and other weird issues when he had it. Both were dealer serviced. The 2002 is trouble free. I don't know the weight of the wagon, but the power in the car is AMAZING. It is a torque generating machine! My dad said he'll give it to me in a few years. Part of me is hoping to get it with the body rusted so it will accelerate my swap plans into the XJ! I love diesels and diesel SUVs! We also had a 84' MB TD in the family. 350K-ish miles too. Trouble free....

 

VW TDI would be the best swap. A kid I know has a mildly modded Jetta TDI (turbo upgrade, injectors, tune), and it feels like its making over 300ft-lbs to the wheels.

Read this thread:
http://www.wranglerforum.com/f118/tj...-a-254279.html

You will probably want a manual transmission though, I wouldnt really want a diesel mated to an automatic (just my opinion though). And one of these with some meth:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/280618494476?lpid=82

EDIT:
Found this on ebay as well :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/04-05-06-Volkswagen-1-9-TDi-COMPLETE-ENGINE-MOTOR-SWAP-BEW-jeep-yj-tj-suzuki-/330811250317?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d05e3168d&vxp=mtr

 

Th OM is super simple but is a little pricey to mod as the large elements for the injection pump are not readly available state side. But for a few grand you can have a pump with 7.5 or 8mm elements that will give you the fuel for 300-400hp shipped in from Europe.

 

+1 OM617. Good fuel economy, much smaller than a 4BT (less work to fit), easy to bolt up to an AX-15, cheaper than either a 4BT or VW TDi.

 

the 2000 tdi and 2002 tdi are the same exact motor and turbo so something happened that caused the turbo issues they dont just go my car has 248k on oem turbo i know a guy has 320k on oem turbo the easiest to mod tdi engine is the 1999.5-2003 alh....stock in a jetta they have 90hp and something like 150 lb ft torque but you can easily double the hp and torque with turbo, injectors, ecm tune, egr delete, intercooler, etc...

 

i could very well be wrong but i dont think there is aftermarket support for 4bt and they are very large...i know nothing about mercedes i know their sluggy and last a long time lol...but as stated before your best bet is the alh its one of the most dependable and easiest to mod and an adapter plate could be made to put ax15 behind tdi but i dont think it would last long you would need a performance one or go with an nv3550 best bet is nv4500 with granny 1st (stock behind 6bt's)

 

http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/cto/4281858152.html
Found this on craigslist. Looks like he has plenty of info on the swap. Hes willing to do it if it gets bought.

 

Eeeeexpensive... if you have a lot of cash it's a great choice. Otherwise you're looking at a decade to break even on fuel savings, if that's why you're doing it.

Yup. A big reason the OM617 is considered sluggish is the absolutely terrible transmission in the W123 sedans, not to mention they're actually HEAVIER than XJs!

The cool thing about the OM617 is that power on a stock turbo engine is rather similar to a 4.0L. You can keep your gears Might be a different story once you turn up fuel and slap a bigger turbo on though.

Don't need an NV4500 until you start making that 6BT torque... which even then is a pretty crappy transmission. They're only real advantage is they're easy to find mated to a 6BT already. They're very expensive 5-speed light-duty transmissions that take very expensive special oil. I'll take a Spicer 3053A any day, even with the stupid shift pattern.

But anyway that's off topic here lol.

 

an nv4500 is a nice swap for a jeep due to granny 1st (rockcrawling) lol and the nv4500's have 5th gear problems that shows up behind 6bt's cause their vibrating torque monsters

 

If it won't be taken offroad, why even bother with an XJ? Just seems from a commuter standpoint, I would just get a VW diesel and leave it in the VW. Those Jettas can get like 50+mpg.

The 4bt can be modded very easy to produce a bunch of power.

I fell in love with the idea of a 4bt swap after owning a Dodge with a 6bt in it. I just came to the realization it wouldn't work the way I want in a vehicle as small as an XJ. It's just too big (tall) and too heavy.

I think if you're dead set on a diesel swap into an XJ, Look into the VW TDI.

 

actually i have a cheaper better idea! import a diesel xj from europe problem solved

 

A year ago a 2000 showed up that was imported when someone moved here... 2.5L TD, stick, LHD, only like 160k KM on it too. Kicking myself for not jumping on it.

Though the head thing does kinda suck. A vehicle with the name Jeep should have something more reliable.

 

There were 2.5 diesel cherokees for the US, mainly postal jeeps. Not to mention, these motors are fairly underpowered, nearly impossible to find parts for and not the pillar of reliability.

None of this is first hand knowledge, I've never even seen a diesel xj, I've just seen a few threads about them .

 

The 2.1Ls were under powered, definitely not the 2.5L. 2.5 was never sold domestically.

The rest about reliability and parts applies though lol