Canada diesel engine swap
 

I have been ready some posts that they are a few Canadian Dakota owners that have gone to a diesel engines. I was wondering if they could be pointed out as I would like to do the same and have many questions to ask them.

I'll give you the first one, the rest you can find yourself using the search button on the top of the page.

Select advanced search. Enter "diesel" for the search word and select "3rd gen dakota" in the forums list to limit the search to this section.

Hi Bandito.
I have converted a 1999 Dakota, 2008 Dakota and my 1993 Grand Cherokee to diesel.
Lots of work but fun projects.
What would you like to know?

BFN
Randy

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the reply. I read your thread on the turbo cummis diesel but that is much more then I want. I didn't realize that you have put an Isuzu 2.8 in a 2008 Dakota or I would have contacted you. I guess my questions would be more about my needs which is mainly fuel economy and the stay with at least the same power that I have with the 4.7. The Isuzu 2.8 sounds awesome.

Question:

How much is involved (new tranny, new rad, new mounts etc)?

About how much did it cost to do it yourself?

What is the mileage that you are getting?

If I wanted to use a different engine such as the VW 2.5 or the new Mazda 2.2 Skyactiv diesel how would I find out if the engine will bolt to the current tranny?

It was the Jeep Grand Cherokee that got the little 2.8L.
The 99 Dakota has the 3.9L Isuzu and the 08 Dakota has the Cummins 3.9L ISB170.
All of them are a TON of work.
All new mounts and transmissions or in the case of the Jeep we built an adapter to use the stock AX15 trans.
Check out the link to both the Jeep and 99Dakota and you can see the challanges.
Now with the 05 and newer trucks the electronics are very hard to fool. Many late nights got my 08 to run and most of the dash to work but still lots to figure out. It did drag our 5th wheel from coast to coast and back this summer with hardly a hickup.
The little Cummins is a nice setup but the Isuzu 2.8 is the most economical.
The Jeep gets a bit over 40mpg and lots of power. It would be under powered in a Dakota if you were to try and tow or haul much.
Hard to have power like the 4.7 and great fuel economy like a 2.8.
You will have to give up something to get something.
The Cummins engine cost me about $2K which I thought was the bulk of the cost. Boy was I wrong. It was about $10K more to get it on the road!
The little stuff really ads up.
Things like: Radiator, new NV4500 Transmission, Custom South Bend clutch, stanless exaust, gauges, motor mounts, customize oil pan, body lift to clear the new engine and trans, leveling kit to pack the extra weight, replacing the in tank fuel pump with a pickup tube, and still a whole pile of littel stuff.
It gets about 25 MPG and about 20mpg towing an 18 foot 5th wheel for 16,000km.

BFN
Randy

Where do you go about finding dimensions for the different parts?

Not quite sure what you mean?
I had all the parts sitting on the shop floor before I started.
Just a matter of making them fit. You can make anything fit of you cut, weld, beat and move enough metal. :D
On the Jeep I had to move everything back 2 inches which meant a shorter rear drive shaft and a longer front one.
On the 08 Dakota it was only 1 inch so a front drive shaft spacer and I got lucky with enough spline on the output shaft and rear drive shaft.
This is a very big job no matter what engine you swap.
Welding in new motor mounts, Modifying the oil pan to clear the front diff, not to mention the electronics. Lets not mention the electronics!

BFN
Randy

I was wondering that before purchasing an engine how do you go about finding out the bolt pattern, where the engine mounts go. What I'm getting at is I would like to be able to research this kind of data so I don't end of buying something that's going to take alot extra work to do the swap.

You often need to do things the other way around, especially if you can't get parts or a kit that are designed for a swap (engine, tranny, etc.). You pick what you want to install, buy it, do a lot of measurements and trial fabrications until you get it right, and then you need to have another vehicle to drive because now you need to park what you're trying to change & start to fit things for real. It takes a lot of patience, cash, and experience to make a large swap - they don't always work perfectly, so you need enough background to be able to diagnose what needs to be done to solve things. These type of projects are often marginally tolerable (cost & time wise) if you like this type of work and are reasonably good at doing it. To hire someone to do much of it for you would be prohibitive from a cost standpoint.

Just my opinion, based on experience - I enjoy the redesign & rebuild process.