2008 Jeep JKU / TDI swap

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
My Daughter has been driving the Isuzu diesel ZJ since I built the TDI XJ for my wife but its getting pretty old so I asked her what she would like to replace it with.
JKU was the answer, yea who wouldn't. ;>)
So after a month of looking we found one that met most of the criteria, an 08 with 190Kkm, black with a manual 6 speed trans and at a reasonable price.

I have the adapter finished and mounts built so hopefully I can get the engine sitting in the chassis over the weekend.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
Got the engine bolted in place today.
Lots of clearance all around. About 2" from the back of the tandem pump to the firewall so nice to work on back there.
The mounts worked as designed which is unusual. ;>)
Got a good start on the exhaust downpipe. I think I need to offer some sort of downpipe kit?
I spent a good part of the day cutting, fitting, welding and redoing it over and over just to get good suspension, body and starter clearances.
Power steering line is in and the raised accessory drive system really works well at clearing the diff and steering box.
 

Rockwell

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Location
Manchester, NH
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI (R.I.P.), 1.6TD Toyota pickup, 2011 BMW 335d, 1996 Passat TDI
Awesome. Getting ready to put 37's on my JK, wish there was a 3.0 TDI swap available. Can't wait to see how this comes out.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
37's would be cool, we would like to go 35's but need to get it on the road to see how it pulls 32's.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
Its been a busy spring but I'm back on the JKU.
Had a custom flywheel build by Centreforce.
45lbs!


Engine is finally in for good and all the mechanical stuff bolted on.



Need to get the hoses figured out and then wiring.
The heater hoses were just a matter of cutting one of the stock JK hoses in half and it worked perfect for both hoses to the TDI.
 

Motohead1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Location
charlotte
TDI
2002 bug+telephone pole
I need a flywheel like that. The stock 4.0 jeep flywheel at only 27lbs lets the countershaft in the nv3500 make some racket at idle. I was gonna save up for a fluid damper but a heavy flywheel would work best I think. I assume thats your purpose for the heavy flywheel?
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
The NV3550 in my XJ also rattles to the point of embarrassment at stop lights but reading the forums it sounds like it is pretty noisy even behind the stock 4L.
My reason for it in the JK was bottom end power. The JK is heavy and I want to run at least a 33" tire. I was hoping the heavy flywheel would help with stalling at stop lights instead of an expensive gear change.
 

Exenos

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Golf
Man, I thought I was going heavy with my 30lb flywheel... Whats the diameter of the jeep flywheel?
 

Motohead1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Location
charlotte
TDI
2002 bug+telephone pole
Randy your flywheel revelation had me do some digging and sure enough February of this year, same time I got my swap running, Centerforce came out with a 40lbs flywheel for the 4.0. I just ordered one. PN: 700469 Tick performance has them for $293 shipped.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
I will be VERY interested to see how that works.
Will you get it changed soon?
Sure be interesting to see if it makes any noticeable difference, please keep us posted!
 

Motohead1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Location
charlotte
TDI
2002 bug+telephone pole
I will be VERY interested to see how that works.
Will you get it changed soon?
Sure be interesting to see if it makes any noticeable difference, please keep us posted!
I hope to have it back together by next weekend. I will report back.
 

A-man930

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Location
St. Louis
TDI
Planning Stages: ALH Jeep MJ
Randy your flywheel revelation had me do some digging and sure enough February of this year, same time I got my swap running, Centerforce came out with a 40lbs flywheel for the 4.0. I just ordered one. PN: 700469 Tick performance has them for $293 shipped.
Motohead1 is your Jeep TDi-swapped or still running the 4.0?
 

All Stock

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Location
Michigan
TDI
AHU
My AHU moved a TJ with the NV3500 on 33's and stock 4.10s very easily. However it was not stock. Not sure the weight difference from the JKU. I eventually sheared all the R&P gears towing a camper out west and in a pinch ended up with 4.88's. They are a little too tall and I feel the 4.56 would be perfect. However I think these 88's would be ideal with 35's. Then again... not going to happen in a D35 either. All that to say if your JKU is at least geared as a 4.10 from the factory it should move it along a lot easier than you might think. My camper weighed in at 1500lbs and it was shocking how un-noticeable it was behind it. If anything that's more than your weight difference. Also keep in mind you have an NSG370 with a shorter 1st.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
It has the 3.73's and weight is about 4500lbs but hopefully with that short 1st and the big flywheel it will pull away OK.
This is my daughters Jeep so acceleration is not the big deal, just don't want it stalling at every light.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
I'm finally getting some time to work on this again and making good progress.
I'm at the wiring stage and its going OK BUT When I stripped the donor car I either overlooked the glow plug relay or forgot where I put it.
Can I just use a standard HD 12V relay instead of the stupid expensive BEW "smart relay"?
I have a whole shelf of relays in stock up to 1000amps.
I can have the fault codes deleted from the ECU when I get a tune so that's not a problem. Which ECU wire would run the GP relay and is it a B+ or B- signal?
This is a BEW, not an ALH so the pinout is different on the ECU plugs.
 

xerootg

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2015
Location
USA
TDI
Mk7 Golf Sportwagen, BHW Jeep XJ
Randy, I'll mail you a relay for the cost of shipping if it makes life easier. I have a BEW smart relay somewhere...
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
Randy, I'll mail you a relay for the cost of shipping if it makes life easier. I have a BEW smart relay somewhere...
Thanks for the offer xerootg but its the base and wires that have me stumped at the moment.
I will try a few more auto wreckers and see if I can find it.
I'm pretty sure I don't need the "smart" part. Next thing you know we will be riding in self driving cars!! :<(
 

Reddok

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Location
Hamilton, Ontario
TDI
'00 Jetta TDI 01M, '02 Jeep Liberty Renegade ALH TDI swap
My Jeep has 31.5's on it - 4000lbs. 3.73 rear gears. Has no problems with stalling or starting out from a light. Even pulling a 5000lb loaded trailer. Running a stock 3.7 SMF from an NV3550.
 

A-man930

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Location
St. Louis
TDI
Planning Stages: ALH Jeep MJ
My Jeep has 31.5's on it - 4000lbs. 3.73 rear gears. Has no problems with stalling or starting out from a light. Even pulling a 5000lb loaded trailer. Running a stock 3.7 SMF from an NV3550.
And what does the 3.7 unit weigh?
 

Reddok

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Location
Hamilton, Ontario
TDI
'00 Jetta TDI 01M, '02 Jeep Liberty Renegade ALH TDI swap
No idea what it weighs. More than a TDI flywheel. The SMF flywheels for the 3.7 are unobtanium rare now anyway. No one makes them and there aren't any NOS ones anywhere that I could find. I had to use a used one and machine it even though the FSM advises against machining them due to a convex surface or something like that.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
Yes, I had the 1st 22R done back in May but then my long time machinist retired.
I found a new local shop to take over the machining but they are just now getting the fist batch of adapters built. The first ones out the door are going to be the Jeep and Ranger since there are a number of people waiting on them.
Next would be the 4 cylinder Nissan and new style 4L Ford.
After all that is done we will look at the Toy V6.
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
Yes, I had the 1st 22R done back in May but then my long time machinist retired.
I found a new local shop to take over the machining but they are just now getting the fist batch of adapters built. The first ones out the door are going to be the Jeep and Ranger since there are a number of people waiting on them.
Next would be the 4 cylinder Nissan and new style 4L Ford.
After all that is done we will look at the Toy V6.
good deal, might be in the market for a 22r adapter
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
Found a local auto wrecker with an 04 BEW Beetle and got the whole engine/chassis harness with glow plug relay for $50 so I now have the proper glow relay installed.
Spent the whole weekend wiring and late in the day it came to life!
Rolled over about 8 times and fired right up. No cooling system installed yet so I only let it run for 20 seconds to be sure everything worked.
Hopefully next weekend I can get some hoses installed and take it for a run.
 

evguy1

Vendor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Location
Erington, BC, Canada
TDI
2000 Jeep Cherokee TDI, 2008 Jeep JKU TDI
I was having a problem figuring out an intercooler solution for the JK and had bought a water to air unit but since this is a DD for my daughter I wanted it simple and reliable.
I found that there is an aftermarket intercooler kit for the stock JK V6 when you super charge it. I was able to duplicate that install with MUCH cheaper parts off the net.
My go-to supplier CX Racing had all the parts and installation went quick and looks good.
DSCF4574
DSCF4571

Also got the dlownpipe welded up.
DSCF4580
 

Motohead1

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Location
charlotte
TDI
2002 bug+telephone pole
Air2Air even on a smallish size out front will work fine especially in your neck of the woods.
 
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