Thanks for all the input guys. To me, it didn’t seem like a $400 job, but I’m not experienced with having machinists do stuff for me.
Garwood- that adapter is made by a guy named Ken out in California, he introduced me to the swap. He makes quite a bit of those adapters and he’s working on a full kit to swap one of these engines into a Cherokee. Yes, the V2203 doesn’t make a lot of power NA, but with the addition of a turbo pushing 20psi (they’re known to take up to 30psi reliably), these engines make 100hp and 300ft lbs of torque at the tire, which is a little more than a stock 4BT, and the Kubota weights half as much and is much more refined. I started the engine on two 4x4s and it didn’t shake whatsoever, except when I shut it off. Try doing that with a 4BT, they’re called paint shakers for a reason. And the Jeep the engine is going into has a gutless 2.5 four cylinder now, the diesel will make the same horsepower, twice the torque, and get realistically around 30mpg.
I’m not looking to spend $20 on the swap, but I’m not going to spend $10,000 on it either, I’ve spent a lot of time rebuilding the drivetrain I’m using and sketching up CAD drawings and models of all my adapters. This has been almost a year in the half in the making so far.
As for the flywheel, I’m using the Kubota flywheel and starter set up and I’m in the process of designing an adapter to bolt the Jeep flywheel to the Kubota flywheel. The Kubota flywheel is recessed in the flywheel housing, so I have room to play with. This isn’t a new idea, Phoenix Casting makes an adapter like this, but they don’t have a small enough adapter ring.
For anyone that wants more info on the swap, dieselbombers.com has a lot of these conversions. There’s a bunch of Ranger and S10 swaps, my YJ swap, two or three XJs, and a TJ. Ken at SPMachinig is also working on creating some new adapter plates.
Joe