Fitting 80's diesel engine to 2008 Jeep Wrangler.

connemaragerry

Guys, I am thinking about fitting a 2 litre diesel engine from a 1980's Nissan or Toyota to a 2008 Jeep Wrangler. The original Wrangler engine is a 2.8 diesel and beyond repair. Anybody know the story about insurance after doing the conversion? Also, I wonder if there is any other 2 litre diesel engine that may be easier to fit? Regards to all.

_Brian

It’s a major modification and so the insurance company will need contacting.
From there engineers report I expect.

Then it’s think of a number for the policy renewal if they even accept modified vehicles.

connemaragerry

Thanks Brian. I did a few diesel conversions back in the 80s and no problem with insurance. I suppose things have moved on since then. Anyone else have any ideas? Gerry.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Wasn't the Nissan 2.8 diesel engine a very common conversion done back in the 80's/90's? I remember a few Jag XJR's running about with the 2.8 straight 6 diesel lump under the bonnet. I think it was a fairly simple conversion as the Nissan lump was as simple and straight forward as they come.

You'd probably need an engineers report but I cant see any other problems with it.

blackbox

Will the vehicle still be expected to meet 2008 emissions standards?

mgbgt1978

It's the same test for diesels from 1st Jan 1980 up to 1st July 2008. If the OP's Wrangler was first registered prior to 1st July '08 then he should be fine for the NCT.

connemaragerry

Yeah, the Nissan 2.8 diesel was indeed used in almost all of the conversions back then but I also used the Nissan 2 litre diesels and even a few 2.3 diesels. Those engines were amongst the best diesel engines ever made. Never gave trouble. Difficult to find them now though. I'd like to convert this Wrangler with one of them. Would I be able to get an insurance company to cover it then though? I'd have no problem getting an engineers report.

Even if the smoke test is the same it doesn't mean that Euro 1 engine from 80's is an acceptable engine to fit to a Euro 4 car from late noughties that would be equipped with DPF etc.

mgbgt1978

The diesel emissions standards tested by the NCT from 1980 up to 2008 did not change in any way.
DPF's became pretty much mandatory in 2009 when euro 5 was introduced.


What is your point ?

edit. Sorry, a quick glance shows the vast majority of your posts are in the EV Section. I'm out.

Nekarsulm

Does anyone produce a conversion kit for this transplant?
Have you the engineering skills to produce an adapter plate, or know someone who can?
Final thought, the Fourtrak 2.8 turbo engine was a great unit, and was the basis of many conversions, especially into LR 90's before the 200tdi became common secondhand.
All fourtraks are rotten now, cheap engines!
Perhaps put engine and box in as a unit ( if front diff is the correct side on a Jeep)

mgbgt1978

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

The diesel emissions standards tested by the NCT from 1980 up to 2008 did not change in any way.
DPF's became pretty much mandatory in 2009 when euro 5 was introduced.


What is your point ?

edit. Sorry, a quick glance shows the vast majority of your posts are in the EV Section. I'm out.

If it makes you happier I also have a 2014 diesel sprinter van and until recently I motorcycled too.

What I mean is that by law you can't fit an euro 1 engine to an euro 4/5 car. And there is a good reason for it.

mgbgt1978

Why can't you fit a Euro 1 to a Euro 4 Vehicle?
The Test requirements are identical.
You even said yourself that "the smoke test is the same".....this is the only emissions test on a diesel, so please tell me all about this Law that wont allow this modification.
BTW the OP only asked about Insurance implications. You jumped in to say it's not acceptable, and now you are stating that it's against the law.

This is pretty basic stuff mgbgt1978 (not my favourite vehicle of all times by the way).

If a car scrapes through a NCT diesel smoke test it doesn't mean that the emissions are actually even anywhere in the same ball park from what they are supposed to be. The diesel testing is black art and the current testing is not really sufficient but it's best that can be done without a dyno and careful analysis of the resulting exhaust gases. The NCT can just about weed out totally broken cars. For example my previous Sprinter (Euro 3) was smoking quite a lot at idle but still managed a smoke result of 1.0 so passed with flying colours but I was actually ashamed to drive it in public. After new injectors there was no visible smoke and the test result was 0.40.

The current Euro 5 van had result 0f 0.00 from it's last DOE.

Let's just say that fitting an 80's engine would definitely be classified as modification to the emission control systems. After a brief search I could not find any definite Irish emissions legislation but the EU legislation that is followed here by default explicitly forbids any modifications to the vehicle emission systems that make the vehicle perform worse than when new. If you for example convert from petrol to diesel you have to install every bit of emission control hardware and the bits have to be from the same emission category or better than before.

Here's a nice graph that illustrates the issue. I was actually wrong and the Euro 1 only became the thing from 1992 so an 80's engine probably has even worse emissions than euro 1:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards#/media/File:Euronorms_Diesel.png

I'm sure you could find a tester that turned a blind eye and passed such a modification without batting an eyelid but why would you even want to go to such an effort to create a dirty bastard of a car? Just replace the dead engine with the same as was there before.

fancy pigeon

I will ask...

How will you get the body computer to communicate with the engine that isn't there? Have you an emulator at hand?

I can point you in the right direction (full mechanical setup in a heavy networked car) if stuck

connemaragerry

God be with the 80's when you could follow your hobby and dreams without euro dictat.

pablo128

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.carsireland.ie/2080278&ved=2ahUKEwiRocLGwZjfAhVPUxUIHdqnDR8QFjARegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1PP2SrLjEQSwSZOadr5xL2
There's a 2.8 crd engine for 1500 euro. No modification or messing about required.

gctest50

300td 5cyl merc engine from way back ?

connemaragerry

How about if I used a 2 litre petrol engine for the conversion instead of diesel?

pablo128

You may as well put another 2.8 into it. 2008 onwards if you change an engine for a different size the tax band will not change. It's a quirk in the system.