Has anyone considered a diesel motor swap?

[GreenMando]

Has anyone considered a diesel motor swap? Isn't there a diesel motor that would fit, Styling99 put a 5.4 in place of the 4.7. I know they were basically the same size block wise. I bet we could get 30 mpg or better on diesel.

 

[FLOffroad]

Mercedes has some pretty compact diesel engines and a lot of people seem to use them for swaps. I know a lot of people use 300 series diesel engines in swaps on Jeeps.
The additional torque would be pretty nice too.

I don't know about getting a Benz engine to work with a Ford tranny, but I would think all the Ford diesels that we can get domestically would be too large for our engine compartment.

 

[Gus Gorilla]

FLOffroad your not kidding. Can you imagine trying to shoe-horn a 7.3/ 6.0/ 6.4/ or new 6.7 into any Sploder? A 6.7 would require torch work. You'd have bits and pieces coming out the hood, both fenders, and no firewall whatsoever. "Careful honey, that's hot."

 

[GreenMando]

Had a friend shoehorn a Cat motor and tranny into a duelly, a lot of firewall rework. Doubled up the frame, 2 1/2 ton axles.
He basically had a tractor with a F250 shell when he was done. He tows empty shipping containers to buyers when they are sold. He breezes by the weigh stations as he tows, it looks so wrong. The sign at weigh stations does say "no pickups". Highway Patrol knows him now, they used to pull him over each load.

I know Volvo used to install a VW straight 6 diesel in the 240's. Never heard of a single Volvo with a blown diesel, ran forever.

Ford does have a diesel Ranger, not for sale in USA.

 

[IZwack]

Has anyone considered a diesel motor swap?

Just get the diesel engine and start the swap - cauz many have considered and have talked about doing the swap, but very, very few actually accomplish it.

 

[FLOffroad]

Well, in trying to research this I may retract my previous statement. Given that you have a V8 (so I figure comparing diesel's power to ST V6 power would be unsatisfactory for you), the only Mercedes diesel that I see as a real option would be from an 05-07 E320 CDI. The engine from the E320 is an inline V6 (3.2L, hence 320) with 201hp and torque of 369 ft-lbs (V8 ST - 292hp, 300ft-lbs).
V10 4.9L Diesel Touaregs (04-05) are rare and most likely expensive, but that would be really nice (310hp, 553 ft-lbs). Despite that, the engine might be a bit too big to fit under the ST hood (from what I can muster it would be extremely tight if not impossible).
Also, I can't find any Volvo diesels in the US market that aren't basically brand new.

Other than that, I really can't find any other diesel engines that would be fairly easy to acquire in the US that aren't too big or have descent power gains (most diesels from US cars are comparable to the 4.0L V6's performance, a bit better, but in most cases torque, and in almost all cases, HP are less than the ST V8's.

 

[GreenMando]

But with diesel you are trading off horse power for more torque.
I know there are smaller V8 diesels, my dad had one in his GMC. But the smaller ones are more or less gas motors converted to diesel.

I want to wear this motor out before doing such a swap. Maybe a nice small diesel V8 will develop before then. Subaru is bringing out a diesel that is the talk of town for VW conversions. I have a few friends eyeing them for VW Thing's.

 

[willsey]

Im looking into this as well, anything new?

 

[JohnnyO]

Some Jeepers have used the Cummins 4BT. It's a big 4 cyl, doesn't weigh a ton (literally), and is commonly found in junked bread vans. Easier swap than using a Powerstroke, Dodge Cummins, or whatever. Downside, it's going to be kinda slow and you probably can't make it work with an automatic.

One of my buds at www.therangerstation.com did put a GM 6.2L V8 diesel in a Ranger. I don't have any pics but let's just say that there is a lot of custom fab work and there isn't a whole lot of Ranger left and it ain't real pretty. OTOH it wasn't real pretty before he did the swap either.

*EDIT*
Found a thread.
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35931&page=3

 

[snoranger]

Im looking into this as well, anything new?

Check my build thread below, I'm in the middle of a 4BT swap into a '95 Ex.
Dave over on TRS (screen name: Cummins_Ranger) has a 4BT in his '94 ranger.
Mooktank has a Cummins 3.3 in his '95 Sport.
Someone has an Isuzu 4BDT (not sure if its a 1 or 2) in his Sport-trac. I dont recall his screen name.


Check out 4btswaps.com, theres a few Ranger/Explorer swaps over there. Dont be fooled by the name, there is more to the site then just Cummins swaps.

 

[tmsoko]

The best option and something I will likely do in the future is a V6 4.5L International VT275 engine. This is available as a "powerstroke" in the 2006-2010 Ford LCF truck, as well as the International CF trucks. Others likely. I have found for as cheap as $3k for the engine or $7K for complete truck.

Engine is a 6.0L with two less cylinders, but the sequential twin setup from the 6.4L Powerstroke.

This would be PERFECT for our trucks.

I just need the time and availability to have my STA down for a few months to complete.

 

[snoranger]

The best option and something I will likely do in the future is a V6 4.5L International VT275 engine. This is available as a "powerstroke" in the 2006-2010 Ford LCF truck, as well as the International CF trucks. Others likely. I have found for as cheap as $3k for the engine or $7K for complete truck.

Engine is a 6.0L with two less cylinders, but the sequential twin setup from the 6.4L Powerstroke.

This would be PERFECT for our trucks.

I just need the time and availability to have my STA down for a few months to complete.

AH, all the problems of the 6.0l and only 2/3s the power! LOL.

I too have looked into using this motor. I think it would be a pretty good option for a RBV. They are starting to become a little more available now.

 

[tmsoko]

Yeah, that is always a concern. I would hope by now, there are proven methods to solve all the 6.0L issues though! My thought is this is the best package to fit in the Explorer engine bay and have potential for the most power. Not many large V6 Diesels out there. With this being integrated to Ford vehicle / trans, the conversion into the truck should not be too bad.

I just need to find the right deal on an LCF to take the plunge and start figuring this out.

 

[JohnnyO]

A lot of the 6.0 problems, frankly, can be traced back to improper maintenance due to the fact that diesel maintenance is costly. Not that it's a great engine to begin with, I realize. A lot of people changed the oil according to mileage when in fact the engines in many cases had a lot of idle time and the oil was friggen' cooked. Second, a lot of people never think to change the coolant which is important to do on diesels to preserve the head gaskets. Ditto for gas engines but it's more critical on diesels.

 

[john weeda]

I have a 1995 ford ranger with a 1995 1.9 turbo deisel from a vw and it works great!

 

[FLOffroad]

That's really cool, but I think our ST's are too fat for the 1.9 or even the newer 2.0TDIs.
Our curb weight is like 4600lbs, and I guess one could say we'd drop maybe 400lbs (if you being really really hopeful), but I still wouldn't want a 2.0 diesel in a 4000lb vehicle. I've seen turbo upgrades for the 1.9tdi online, but then we'll be putting a good amount of stress on the engine 24/7.

Still really cool to hear about though. Thanks.

 

[GreenMando]

I recently read that Ford built a small V8 diesel but it went into Range Rovers instead.

 

[JohnnyO]

I recently read that Ford built a small V8 diesel but it went into Range Rovers instead.

Ford does build diesel Rangers in South America. I don't know what would be involved in getting the parts here though, or shipping a wrecked one.

 

[FLOffroad]

For a while the South American Rangers used the HS2.8 International (not made by International truck co, different company). It's a popular swap for Rover guys - lots of info. online.
Given its power spec.s, you could probably get an adapter fabbed up and re-use the stock tranny even (compared to v6, if my memory serves me right, you gain a bit of torque and loose a bit of HP (but not a crazy amount)).

This British company called M&D Eng. sells full Landy swap kits with new engines. You could google them, I think it came out to like $12k for the engine and swap kit (maybe you could bring it down to $10k, if you ask them to leave out the swap kit (since we don't have Landy trannies, etc.))