Diesel 1978 Wagoneer?

[AggieZ71]

Howdy! I have a question on a Jeep my friend owns. It is a 1978 Jeep Wagoneer but the thing that makes it different is its a diesel. We know that AMC owned Jeep during that time and that the engine offered should have been a 360 or a 401 V8. Our first thought was that someone dropped one in sometime later, but it has matching decals on the sides. Im sure someone could have put them on but it seems to match everything including the Golden Eagle package it has. Has anyone ever heard of one of these? I dont know of a diesel engine AMC used in the Jeeps at this time?

 

[AggieZ71]

Here are a few pics. Might as well introduce myself as well. My names Travis and like my name says im an Aggie, ive got a lifted RCSB 02 Z71 and im looking for an XJ project to tear into right now. Anways here are a few pictures of the wagoneer:

Thanks for your insight!

 

[cal]

http://www.ifsja.org/

They can help you.

 

[AggieZ71]

awesome, Ive never heard of that site, thanks for the link man

 

[cal]

No worries.

Also sent this thread to a waggy friend of mine who may have some info.


What diesel engine does it have in it?

 

[cal]

The font on "diesel" is not the same font that was used on "golden eagle". The "l" and "d" letters are not the same height. That is consistant on both sides.

That badge was added later.

 

[AggieZ71]

I think its an Izuzu diesel but im not 100% sure. It even looks to have a turbo coming off one of the manifolds, you can see it on top of the engine but its a small one, we cant even hear it spool or anything.

We took the Jeep out today and its on the weak side to be honest. It lacks power and even under full throttle it is a huge slug. Plus we cant seem to get it over 45-50 mph. Plan is to regear the axles to 4.88's or 5.13's but that will destroy the tiny amount of top end it does have. My bud wants to run a set of 37's or 38's but i dont know if thats gonna work with that powerplant

 

[AggieZ71]

ya know we compared letters just glancing at it, and i can see the difference in the "d" now. Im a bit embarrassed we didnt catch that.

 

[cal]

Depending on how fast that motor likes to spin, you may find regearing it low will increase the top end, but then going with bigger meat will kill it again.

A lot of motors will spin fast when they won't work hard.

Unless you're looking to run veggie oil, I'd probably pass on it and find a 360 or 401 based rig.

 

[AggieZ71]

motor spins to about 3500 RPM tops, and i think its only got a 3 speed in it. He bought it for only 1000, and he might turn around and sell it again but we have had fun playing with it for a bit.

Im in the market for an XJ with a 4.0, this is his playtoy we just didnt have much info on it. That other site is awesome, thanks a lot for the link man

 

[AggieZ71]

Here is what the owner drives, my buddy Tate:

Here is my baby! (Just throwin these out for the hell of it)

 

[kevin s]

Yeah, never a factory option. Common swaps are the GM 6.2 and the Cummins 4bt or 6bt. FWIW, the CJ10a airport tug had a Nissan diesel, but that's a whole other animal.

 

[FlexdXJ]

man that would be sick with a cummins in it!

 

[RNMedic]

engine pics??

 

[Hammered]

kinda looks like OEM done decals... WTF do I know.

 

[redneckboarder]

those chebbies are nice lookin....ever seen mud? hehe

 

[AggieZ71]

engine pics??

no, i dont know why i didnt get any, just wasn't thinking. we are doing and engine swap and suspension lift on my truck out there where the jeep is so ill grab some more pics when we go back out tomorrow or Tuesday.

Hammered- yeah thats what we thought, tryin to figure out what else they might have come from.

Yeah both chevy's have seen mud. Some seriously hardcore high school mudding :laugh3:, and some body damage on mine. Since then ive found out that IFS flexing just doesnt exist, and my close to stock suspension (bodylift at the moment) really doesnt compare to what i could be wheeling. Because of that ive started to develop a love for the XJ's! Im on a college budget and they can be found running for under 1000 regularly so its perfect. I cant wait to find one and start to strip it and rebuild it into a wheeling rig. I spend my free time browsing this site actually. Im obsessed with anything auto. I work in a machine shop for the Texas A&M Nuclear and Aerospace Engineering so i get to play with metal in between class. Im dyin to find somethin i can weld and wrench on

 

[Sherman_thetank]

man that would be sick with a cummins in it!

x2....but then the tree huggers would really be up in arms when you add lots of black smoke to wheeling

 

[AggieZ71]

I found a vid earlier of a Cummins in a wagoneer, ill try and find it, can you embed youtube vidoes on this site with these tags? [yt] [/yt]?