...BTW your Bieber avatar is awesome.-Malone
Those jeeps *IMHO* were gutless from stock with whatever 4 banger they had in there. The older ones were better. Still the only jeep I was ever impressed with that had a AMC/jeep powerplant was the 360 in a fiberglass tub my friend had. It was built very well, would pull the front tires off the ground 8 inches when he had 33" on it. Many friends have done the SBC in one that ran good, and one pal had a built 460, but it wasn't as impressive as the SBC or the 360.That said, the TDI I am building should have plenty of oomph and weigh 1/2 as much as the OM617. Plus I don't have to learn another engine platform and get the engine and parts. I have to buy a head, pistons, and that is it. I have injectors and a turbo or 2 currently for the TDI. I am just looking for jeep info as to which years rust more, wheel bearing issues, axle/transfer case issues, electronic activated stuff to deal with etc.
I figured whatever I had that was decent...T18 4 speed if it would work.
I do not know anything about mercedes OM617 or how to mod them. I just did a quick search on ebay and the only one I found was 1,200 dollars plus freight, so I think I will stick to the M TDI plan. If one could be had cheaper I would go that route as the extra displacement would be nice. I would still have to learn, but for 1,000 dollars or more I can build a great running TDI out of what I have.