MB OM617 powered Wrangler or VW TD powered Sidekick?

[saburai]

Hi gang! It's not going to happen anytime soon, but I'd eventually like to put together a smaller, more fuel efficient, rock solid dependable, go anywhere vehicle. Mechanical diesel injection, turbocharged of course. Four-wheel drive, hardtop, removable okay. I'm thinking Suzuki Sidekick with a VW power plant or an older Wrangler two door with a Mercedes Benz five cylinder. I love the look, competence and simplicity of the Suzuki Samurai but I've spent some time on the highway in one... Although I want this vehicle to be extremely competent off road it also needs to be completely highway worthy and comfortable for long road trips. From what I understand, the sidekick is the choice between the samurai and the sidekick. Also, the four-door sidekick would give a little more hauling capacity. I currently have a 99 Jeep XJ lifted with ARB lockers. As much as I hate to do it, I could probably **** the XJ for the built four-wheel disc locked axles and put them under the Wrangler. Financially, it would probably make sense as I doubt that I could build ARB locked axles under a new Wrangler for much less then I could sell my current Jeep for... I like the Wrangler Mercedes-Benz combo, it's bigger and I am already familiar with everything except the om617. The Suzuki would of course be able to go down even smaller trails and from what I understand have plenty of power and get great fuel mileage whereas the MB powered Jeep would not have gobs of power and by today's standards get mideling fuel mileage... Do any of you have experience with a VW turbo diesel powered Suzuki? In general what does everyone think of my theoretical dilemma? Thanks for listening to me ramble and I look forward to your responses...

 

[subway]

just reading through the question, why is re powering the XJ not on the table? i am a big Jeep CJ fan (even wranglers are ok) but it sound like a lot of work building a re powered wrangler, engine and drive line swap. the XJ also has a larger more stable/comfortable wheelbase and suspension and has been proven to work off road.

can't say i am really a fan of anything suzuki lol some are neat but they really don't seem to have the overall build strength if you want an all in one solution. they are around but not nearly as readily available as a more common platform.

you also have to consider your tools/skills/area to work. have you done repowers and custom work before? if not i would try to keep the project smaller. i have had to slug through the details when the project gets long and i have seen many a internet cool project stall out when the going got hard.

good luck sounds like a cool idea!

 

[Tristan]

I have always wanted to build a VW turbo diesel powered Samurai. Might happen one day...
Check out Cal Mini.
https://calmini.com/brand.php?b=2

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[Clb]

With over 10 trips thru the rubicon trail in norcal, I can say that I have seen 1 sidekick body, multiple sammy'$.
Diesel is starting to pop up more often.
I was a cj man all my life, ( turned Toyota) the yuppie jeeps (wide body, longer wheelbase get more stability in serious rockcrawling situations.
Air rocks, the wrangler is leafsprung whereas the yuppie jeeps have coils right?!
Links are the futures of the sport evolution(imho) I have a bud who put a merc i n a toy....
Then pulled it for a 4.3

 

[saburai]

just reading through the question, why is re powering the XJ not on the table? i am a big Jeep CJ fan (even wranglers are ok) but it sound like a lot of work building a re powered wrangler, engine and drive line swap. the XJ also has a larger more stable/comfortable wheelbase and suspension and has been proven to work off road.

can't say i am really a fan of anything suzuki lol some are neat but they really don't seem to have the overall build strength if you want an all in one solution. they are around but not nearly as readily available as a more common platform.

you also have to consider your tools/skills/area to work. have you done repowers and custom work before? if not i would try to keep the project smaller. i have had to slug through the details when the project gets long and i have seen many a internet cool project stall out when the going got hard.

good luck sounds like a cool idea!

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We love Goldie the XJ! I had considered repowering the XJ with a om 617 there is an outfit in Pennsylvania that makes all of the parts necessary to adapt to the ax15 5 speed and they sell a modified oil pan to clear the front axle. However, I'm about sick of unibody Construction! My XJ does not have too much unibody rust, but at 20 years old does have some. I am wanting to have a frame and body construction along with mechanical diesel Injection on the primary vehicles. Is there much difference between an old CJ and a more current Wrangler? I'm not totally conversant in Jeep speak... To answer your question about my abilities, in a word yes, I can. I have owned a VW and Porsche restoration shop in the past and have worked on all manner of vehicles including engine swaps and ground-up builds. The one thing that I am lacking right now is a shop. I have lots of hand tools, probably more than I need. Before undertaking such a project, I would at the very least secure a covered workspace to do the swap.

 

[saburai]

Roof top tent deployed and rear kitchen edited to add that the reason for the solar panel is for the 12 volt fridge mounted in the rear seat area

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[saburai]

http://www.mercedesdiesel4x4.com
It looks like they are doing a few more adapters for other MB engines as well!

 

[saburai]

With over 10 trips thru the rubicon trail in norcal, I can say that I have seen 1 sidekick body, multiple sammy'$.
Diesel is starting to pop up more often.
I was a cj man all my life, ( turned Toyota) the yuppie jeeps (wide body, longer wheelbase get more stability in serious rockcrawling situations.
Air rocks, the wrangler is leafsprung whereas the yuppie jeeps have coils right?!
Links are the futures of the sport evolution(imho) I have a bud who put a merc i n a toy....
Then pulled it for a 4.3

I'd love to do the Rubicon Trail! Not really so much into rock crawling per se, just really like to do some off-grid exploring and camping. More Expedition travel oriented if you will. Our XJ is overbuilt with full skids and rock , ARB lockers and a winch, dual AGM batteries with a solar panel on top of the roof top tent with extra Fuel and water storage. All that along with an overabundance of caution allow my wife and myself to venture far away from the roads and civilization. We travel alone and have been cautious enough to never get into a jam that we couldn't self extract from.

 

[saburai]

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[subway]

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We love Goldie the XJ! I had considered repowering the XJ with a om 617 there is an outfit in Pennsylvania that makes all of the parts necessary to adapt to the ax15 5 speed and they sell a modified oil pan to clear the front axle. However, I'm about sick of unibody Construction! My XJ does not have too much unibody rust, but at 20 years old does have some. I am wanting to have a frame and body construction along with mechanical diesel Injection on the primary vehicles. Is there much difference between an old CJ and a more current Wrangler? I'm not totally conversant in Jeep speak... To answer your question about my abilities, in a word yes, I can. I have owned a VW and Porsche restoration shop in the past and have worked on all manner of vehicles including engine swaps and ground-up builds. The one thing that I am lacking right now is a shop. I have lots of hand tools, probably more than I need. Before undertaking such a project, I would at the very least secure a covered workspace to do the swap.

wow, just learned about that outfit. funny, they are only about 20min from me.

one of the biggest things between the CJ and the newer Wrangler is that the CJ has the round headlights. the square headlight wranglers had improved rust prevention and better engines with fuel injection but i don't think that is a concern here lol. i am not very familiar with the newer wranglers where they went back to the round headlights.

i hear you on the work space, i did my major engine swap in my driveway so weather was a big hindrance. i still dream about building a nice pole barn to work in, i am not getting any younger lol.

 

[saburai]

I built a 2 liter Weber carbureted VW race motor in the second bedroom of a duplex I rented before I had my first shop. We put the engine in the driveway. Of course two guys can easily carry an air-cooled VW engine. We had to turn it sideways and take the carbs and the fan shroud off to get it through the door. All I know about two door Jeeps is I hate the rectangular headlights!

 

[Jason1377]

Has any one looked at black mountain jeeps owned by the Colin's brothers in Texas, might get a few ideas.

On my bucket list is another military land cruiser turned crawler for rock/sand/trail set up so if I want to live off the gridnfota week I'd be good. had a 1977 Toyota Milt landcruiser when I lived in corpus Christi about 17 yrs ago

 

[saburai]

Has any one looked at black mountain jeeps owned by the Colin's brothers in Texas, might get a few ideas.

On my bucket list is another military land cruiser turned crawler for rock/sand/trail set up so if I want to live off the gridnfota week I'd be good. had a 1977 Toyota Milt landcruiser when I lived in corpus Christi about 17 yrs ago

Does black mountain do diesel engine conversions?

 

[Jason1377]

I would think they do all converions, what I have read about them not fully done researching them they are a leading force with new idea for jeeps both old n new ones n ranked 2 or 3 over all in Texas

 

[saburai]

Nice Wrangler conversion

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