From owner-xj-digest-at-digest.net Wed Mar 24 01:11:12 2004 From: xj-digest xj-digest Wednesday, March 24 2004 Volume 01 : Number 1805 Forum for Discussion of XJ cherokees and wagoneers Brian Colucci Digest Coordinator Contents: xj: supporting our Top Truck XJ contender? xj: delusions of Diesels... :) XJ Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/jeep/xj/ Send submissions to xj-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to xj-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to xj-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 10:23:25 -0700 From: "Aaron Storms" Subject: xj: supporting our Top Truck XJ contender? I'm assuming all you faithful xj'ers in the clan here have torn out the "Top Truck" entry form from your "Four Wheeler" magazine and voted for our Seattle-based friend Dan Starc's khaki exo-caged xj and the other contenders? For quicker search reference, it's the April edition with the blue f150 on the cover. Dan said that if you don't have a copy, go buy one and vote for him and he'd even refund you the cost of your magazine! He promises to thoroughly thrash his xj if voted in, plus has Richard Gauthier (CA-NAXJA trail leader) as his spotter - both are mature and seasoned guys and know what they're doing! The original magazine page form has to be sent before April 1st to be counted - no copies either, so you're going to have to cut a half-page out of the blue ford lightning story...I know that's going to really hurt you guys...:) Gotta' support our own! Thanks, Aaron ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 01:06:53 -0800 (PST) From: john Subject: xj: delusions of Diesels... :) I shouldn't be left unsupervised in a Diesel powered vehicle on I-5 for 5 hours... :) It gets me to thinking... and that is not always a good thing. ;) Shadowfax did great on the trip down to Eugene, OR. Not sure of the mileage yet, only used half a tank coming home... (310 miles) the cruise misbehaved so I controlled the throttle... at 3,000 rpm it's doing 77 mph... that 2.5L Turbo Diesel is very happy in that range and will zing up to 4,000 surprisingly fast. I had to work at keeping the speed down, it creeps up quite easily. Very responsive on the freeway. Trying to get around some trucks before the lane ended heading up one pass it jumped up to nearly triple digits rather quickly... surprising little 2.5L Diesel... The way they set the turbo and gearing up makes this thing quick off the line and responsive at freeway speeds. With specs that claim 0 to 60 in 12 seconds and a top end of 124mph it seems pretty amazing to me... especially at 28-32 mpg in town and close to 39 or 40mpg on the freeway! Anyway, it got me thinking about using a 3.0L Turbo Diesel in SuperDawg... instead of the 4.0L gas engine... So I'm acquiring a used Benz from a friend on the list and we're going to make a feasibility assessment on using the Mercedes 3.0L Turbo Diesel in my '83 J10 Stepside. (Of course a 2.5L TD would be even cooler, but unlikely... ;) The specs on the 3.0L are quite close to the original 4.2L gas engine and with the gearing change should permit economical results. And phenomenal range with dual tanks. :) SPECS: - ------ '83 J10 4.2L - 115hp-at-3,200 - 210 ftlbs-at-1,800 rpm - original engine '83 MB 3.0LTD - 125hp-at-4,350 - 170 ftlbs-at-2,400 rpm - the econo motor '96 xj 4.0L - 185hp-at-4,600 - 220 ftlbs-at-2,400 rpm - the engine I have already '91 MB 2.5L TD - 147hp??? - ???? need to look up the specs... The plan for the last 3 years (has it been that long already???) was to use the '96 xj 4.0L. It would be an increase in power and likely increase in fuel economy. However, my desire has always been to have a Diesel powered FSJ. With fuel prices the way they are and the offer to get a running Benz right now just seem to make sense. Performance isn't the objective, economy is so I can afford to drive my FSJ daily. A 4.0L in it would get pretty close to what an XJ gets, my '87 is typically 16 to 17mpg in town and almost 21 on the freeway. It's got 249,000 miles and along with all the other XJ's I've owned the 4.0L impresses me. However, with the 3.0L I-5 Turbo Diesel in a vehicle weighing close to what my J10 weighs (the '83 300SD tipped the scales around 3,600 or so pounds while the J10 tips it at 4,100lbs - remember it's the stepside, fiberglass fenders and a six cylinder) was getting 26mpg in town and around 30mpg on the freeway... ok, so there is a bit of a difference in wind resistance, but I'm guessing that I'll see 20 to 22mpg in town and close to 26 to 28mpg on the freeway if I keep my metric size 43's out of the injection pump. (yeah, like THAT will happen. ;) However, the technical issues abound... main issue will be mating the Benz TD to the AisinWarner 30-80LE 4 speed automatic... I'm kind of committed and partial to it since I paid over $350 so far to create an adapter to mate it to the NP219. I will consider using the Benz AT with a divorced xfr case. The Benz engine is straight forward, simple, reliable and easy to work on. Anyways, we'll see... we'll have to do some math, measurements and a major reality check. While I'm picking up 10 hp it comes at a higher rpm, which may not be a problem since I'm changing the gearing from 3.31's to 4.10s and using the AW4. The torque is the part that has me mildly concerned. I lose 40 ft lbs and the peak sits 600 rpm's higher... Have to do the math with the gearing of 4.10, 235's and an od of .75 to see what my rpm will be at 60mph (or so). if I don't reply to the follow on chatter it's because I'm taking off for Texas on Thursday, then Missouri and won't be back until Apr 3... then I start teaching the next quarter the next week... way too busy... kind of funny seeing as how I don't have a regular job. ;) later, dieseljohn ---- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** http://wagoneers.com ** ** http://freegift.net ** Snohomish, Washington USA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of xj-digest V1 #1805 *************************