There was a thread about that tank a few months ago. Or one like it.
Yeah! Thats the one I meant.
Yeah! Thats the one I meant.
My 318 (5.2) with 35" tires and 5.13 gears got 15 MPG mixed driving... So no not as much as a diesel would get.
I'm sure on a Samurai (used to have one) a TDI would be nice. I'm not sure even on a super light TJ (under 3500lbs) a TDI could move larger tires. I'm talking 37" or larger even running smaller axles. But I'm not as worried about my fuel mileage.... Sure I want to go as far as possible but I've got a 23 gallon tank.
I don't have enough time with my Hemi to tell you what kind of MPG I'm getting.
Alright, you're going down the same line of thought I did with my builds. I needed more range and more power. the poor little 1.3L 4 banger had 64hp from factory at sea level in 1988, so probably 40 hp now... I was limited to 180ish miles on a full tank. Going from 17 to 32MPG helped a ton but its still easier to just carry more fuel. If you're going with some other people, take their range into consideration as well. No point in your rig being able to do 600km in a single fillup if theirs are only good to 450km with extra fuel.
There really is something to be said about using the engine a vehicle was designed around over shoehorning something else in entirely. You start running into strange issues you'd never expect. I've had alternator housings crack and fall apart because they weren't designed for the vibration. Bolts will fatigue and fail on things you wouldn't expect. Parts become a problem as a vehicle becomes a hodgepodge, and if its a custom built part that failed and you're in the middle of nowhere, what is your plan to get out?
None of these things are insurmountable by any means, but its for sure less reliable and more logistically difficult when things go wrong. Thats why my TJ is going to get a rebuilt 4.0 when this one dies, a new AX15 when the nv3550 kicks the bucket, and name brand replacement parts for everything else.
A TDI in a TJ can absolutely be reliable as well. Its also a hell of a lot easier to fit in a TJ than a samurai. It will be a lot of work to make a TDI swapped TJ as reliable as a factory built TJ though. Thats where buying the parts from the kit really help, is they've been developed already. I do know the cotybuilt stuff isn't cheap, but to put it into perspective, the cheapest swap I've done personally was $7000 and i bought every damn part that was available to make it easier and quicker.
The tank is a great idea but if you're goal is to go really remote locations I'd suggest not going with a turbo gas motor. A lot of the remote places I've been to, if there is any fuel available at all (an old farmer, passerby on the road, whatever), it may only be regular. Turbo gasser will require premium and can kill the engine in short order with regular. Another point of concern is reliability. More power is always more fun, but personally when I'm 60 miles from the nearest pavement, and 100 miles from the nearest town.... I want to know full well I'll be getting out. Where you may be going, 100 miles would be a short jaunt.
Cheap, Fast, Reliable. You can only pick two.
Now, from experience, this is what I'd consider the bare minimum to do the ALH swap into the TJ.
You're still going to need all of the cooling system, all of the intercooler piping and an intercooler system ( an intercooler is NOT optional, you will need it or your EGT will be stupid high) You'll still need the ECU tuned to shut off the antitheft system and remove any other things you're not using it for (I think this can be done for around $400-$500) and you'll have to make your own standalone harness or pay someone to do it. All of the stuff thats still needed needs to be mounted, wired, plumbed, etc.
The front truss motor mount thing is probably the easiest way to mount the ALH in the chassis.
if you decide you want to build your own motor mounts and adapt the VW accessory drive to the TJ, here is an idea of what the mounts would look like. I eliminated the VW AC compressor as well, no AC in the samurai so it was power steering and alternator only. I did have to make a custom idler to tension the belt still. You might be able to avoid the drama of the coolant pipe running past the motor mount, the Samurai was quite tight and had no room to drop it in the front of the motor but a TJ will have miles of space.
Thats what the driver side mount ends up looking like.
here is the passenger
So, with that, if I were to do the swap myself I'd order the Cotybuilt parts I listed, and then start figuring out the rest. As mentioned, water to air intercooling would be my preference, and I'd probably buy their harness and ECU tune as well. thats another 2,000 bucks. All in, I'd anticipate about $8-10,000 USD. It might be able to be done cheaper, possibly as low as $6000 if you're willing to do a less clean and more messy install. Compromising on things like AC will help cost but make the swap less complete.
They put out more torque than the 4l and a tad less hp without much effort. Theres a guy on YouTube running a tj on 40s with a tdi, and he towed a ranger with a tdi swapped Tacoma.
I think even bleepinjeep raced his against a v8, and it won. Its not apples to apples, but interesting that it can pick up and move as fast as it did
I think that truss assy doesnt work for the ALH if i remember correctly from the site. You could probably deal with the fueling yourself to save money, but all in all thats a very put together swap list.
I hope I get to meet someone at some point that's done a TDI swap so I can see how it does.
Believe me I'm not knocking it. I'd wanted to do a diesel swap from a GC or KJ. I'm a diesel fan too.
Why not just get or fab a larger fuel tank , a 38 liter larger tank would give you the range you want .
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