1980 cj5 Mercedes diesel powered

[justin'sbig7]

Well, I can't leave well enough alone and the jeep bug is impossible to shed. I bought this last weekend not running, the guy said the starter was out but it was actually the starter ring gear. Yesterday I pulled the trans and replaced the starter gear, now it's running like a top! I pulled all the junk off of it and it needs lowered... Bad! 4" is too tall for a cj5.

I actually found the build photos of this jeep, the conversion was done by Koch enterprises, so it's all done well and correctly. It has a t170 4speed and Dana 300, was originally a renegade and the frame is perfect. The body is not bad but has some spots. It has a new supertop, smittybilt xrc seats, and brand new 4" lift... The floors are in amazing shape for a northeast CJ, although some jag cut the wheelwell to fit the seat in. Plans are to lower it back down to stock or 2" and DD the crap out of it!

[PatF10]

looks like someone wanted some more leg room

[Azzy]

Koch does good work. Spent a bit of time chatting with them at york, they had the booth right next to us. If I had the cash, I would have bought the old display setup they had, and tossed it in an XJ.

[RalphDogg]

That's a cool Jeep (I rarely admit)

[Christopher]

What year and model/size is the engine? Is the power decent?

[justin'sbig7]

It's supposedly a 1983, it's an om617 turbodiesel it makes about 120hp/170tq from the factory but it's also supposed to have been tuned by Kochs to gain some more power. After driving it last night for the first time, I am not sure what it makes... It's very different for a diesel, it seems to have a higher end torque curve and not as much on the lower end. It will take some getting used to.

the 4" lift needs to go away holy stiff springs batman! It's too tall and too rough, makes it a bit squirrely.

[highlandercj-7]

My firend put the same engine in his CJ-7 about 10 years ago. Stock its about the same weight, size, and power as a 258. He custom built his own bell housing and clutch to put an AX-15 from a XJ behind it the built and indexing ring and flat mounted a Dana 300 behind that. The rest of the drive line was D-44 D30 with 373 gears 4" lift and 33's. Rite out of the box it got 29 MPG! Up for about 12MPG with the 258. He had the same issues your experiencing, it wouldn't spool up quick and it had no bottom end. He went to 456's and it put it into a using power range and fixed the bottom end torque curve. It's still pulling 29-30 MPG.

[2002wranglerX]

It's supposedly a 1983, it's an om617 turbodiesel it makes about 120hp/170tq from the factory but it's also supposed to have been tuned by Kochs to gain some more power. After driving it last night for the first time, I am not sure what it makes... It's very different for a diesel, it seems to have a higher end torque curve and not as much on the lower end. It will take some getting used to.

the 4" lift needs to go away holy stiff springs batman! It's too tall and too rough, makes it a bit squirrely.

ya it needs lowered for sure. Spacers or wide trac axles would be nice too

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I would take it back to stock height, maybe widen it out, and drive the heck out of it.

[justin'sbig7]

I'd love to go back to stock, but the oil pan comes in contact with the differential. They say you MUST run a 4" lift to have this engine... I have a few tricks up my sleeve to try and make it work with 2.5", after measuring a bunch I think I can make it happen, then I could always cut and weld a relief into the oil pan and shave a little of the differential side webbing too.

[gonecheenin]

That is freaking awesome!!!

I still wish I hadn't let the 4BT powered CJ-7 I found a couple years ago get away.

[Azzy]

Could you ad on a remote sump for the oil and shave the pan down?

[justin'sbig7]

I'm looking into whether or not there is enough clearance to shave the 3/4" off of the side to make it clear. Also, yj springs push the front axle forward on a cj, it may just work out. I have the 2.5" lift on it now and it's not bad and still has 4" of up travel till hitting.

[justin'sbig7]

Top is with the 4" springs, bottom is the 2" springs... Huge difference

[Deadman 94 xj]

Looks right at home at 2". Nice work

[Azzy]

That looks a lot better. Got the oil pan sorted?

[gonecheenin]

Looks real good, always said CJ5's don't need anything more than a 2.5" lift to work well and remain fun to drive.

Bump stop it for worst case up travel and run her.

[PatF10]

I run 2.5 lift on my 5 with 33s and overall it does pretty good, hill climbing it can struggle at times.

[justin'sbig7]

Haven't been able to get to the garage this week, working double crazy shifts. I think I'm going to leave the pan alone and bump stop it.

[DMG]

Very cool jeep. Would the pan interference issue be helped by pushing the axle forward?

[justin'sbig7]

Very cool jeep. Would the pan interference issue be helped by pushing the axle forward?

Maybe a little bit. The support webbing on the side of the differential is what will come in contact. Koch's said some people were cutting the webbing off of the diff, but I don't like that idea. Right now I have 3" of uptravel before hitting the pan, I build bump stop extensions that will keep it from smacking so I think this problem is solved for now.