The ultimate production diesel engine

[Logos24492]

Hey guys looking for some brainstorming. Just a little side project/daydream

I've been building and driving 4x4 expedition vehicles for almost ten years now and nobody seems to make the "perfect" engine. Toyota comes very close but i feel like things could be refined and maybe even simplified even further.

If a person was to build the most reliable and simplest ultimate utility diesel engine how would you go about doing it? what features and characteristics would it have?

Heres what I've got

Turbo Charged intercooled I4
120ish hp 160ish ft/lbs
2.5-3L

cast iron/head/block
Gear driven SOHC
Crossflow head
Wet Sleeve
oil cooled pistons
external oil sump/pre-oiler/remote oil filter


Gear driven Mechanical Injection Pump mounted on intake side
Gear driven Power steering pump mounted exhaust side
fully external gear driven water pump (perhaps driven off the front of the cam geartrain)
starter mounted intake side
sensors/wires mounted intake side
hand crank option in case of starter/battery failure


anything else you can think of? If you had to work on your own truck in the middle of the baking hot dessert or knee deep in a swamp or river you would want the simplest most reliable, easiest to work on engine ever right?

What would you add or change?

 

[kvom]

It's hard to imagine a hand-crank diesel starter. Dual battery system would be a better choice.

 

[a274]

you will need compression release in order to use a hand crank and then you might brake some bones trying to crank start the engine.
also you will need some sort of compression warmer (glow plugs or intake air pre hearer).

 

[1dbweldor]

If you want to put a simple diesel engine in a jeep take a good look at a 353 Detroit. Now don't get me wrong, I am a cummins guy myself, however about 25 years ago I traded for a willy's jeep with a 283 in it. I also had a low time 353 Detroit sitting in my back yard that I had picked up in a trade. After about 2 months a friend of mine wanted a good small block to put in an impala so I traded it to him. When we pulled the engine and put it in his truck to take home I left the jeep in my shop and looked it over for a couple days. I then decided to put the Detroit in the jeep. Didn't take too long and we fired it up and set everything. It was a fun little toy to play with and apretty good 4x4 once we got decent tires on the ground to hold the torque. She wouldn't run very fast(65) but a lot of fun and dependable off road.

 

[bobsymack]

You could fit a Lucas spring starter ,just wind her up and away you go.
Vince