Engine options for XJ... Diesel swap?

Hi all, I have an '89 XJ with a (currently disassembled) 4.0L and am considering buying a '85-'86ish XJ with a trashed 2.8L. I'm having frustrations with the mechanic I took my 4.0 to to get rebuilt by, and I'm now tossing around the idea of using a diesel engine. Suggestions on engineor on how sane this idea is? Which of the 2 would be easiest to do this with? I'm guessing if anything that the tranny on the GM would be since it's not computer-controlled... Thanx in advance...

Brian
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I've always wanted to swap a 3.9L Cummins I4 (think of it as the 5.9L I6 in the Ram's less two cyls) into an XJ. Taking a guess that the 3.9 uses the same bolt pattern for the bellhousing as the 5.9L, so a NV4500 should work (if the bolt patterns are the same). I wouldn't expect it to be cheap or easy though.

The swap from the V6 to the I6 has been done before, so at least you could get a close idea of what needs to be done and how difficult it would be.

Swapping in a 3.4L V6 from a Camaro/Firebird is as easy as you can get. It's basically the bigger brother of the 2.8L, and doesn't require much to swap in. IIRC the biggest issue is external ballancing vs internal balancing of the two engines. And the 3.1L GM V6 is a similar swap.

Been there, thought of that. From what I can tell of dimensions, the 3.9 diesel looks to be about 8 inches taller than the 4.0, which is not short. I would worry about the hood closing, and then the axle slamming the oilpan with each speedbump on my street.

Chuckie --

Jump onto www.car-part.com and find a low-mileage used 4.0L. End of story. It's bay far the easiest way to go. If your XJ is set up for a 4.0L, you do NOT want to go backwards and convert it to a Chevy V-6 with less displacement and far less torque.