Quote:
Originally Posted by Hersbird
That Cummins 2.8 I posted above weighs 500 pounds with all accessories. It can make a lot more power with a tune and intercooler too.
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I own an old toyota winnebago and explored the idea of swapping my 22r to this engine. There is a company that specializes in diesel swaps into toyotas called “dieseltoys”. The following quote is from their website and changed my mind.
https://dieseltoys.com/4bt-engine-conversions
“When Cummins announced the R2.8 crate engine program at SEMA in 2016. These sounded like the ultimate setup. Among the many features promised, we were told that these brand new crate engines would carry an emissions compliance certificate, and legendary Cummins reliability. We were excited! The Cummins reps that we spoke to at the SEMA show were also touting a $5000-6000 purchase price which was really unbelievable. So, we quietly began researching anything we could find on the platform. We purchased a complete 2.8 ISF from overseas, flew overseas to speak with people with real-world experience with these engines, explored reliability numbers, and even completed a prototype conversion. Our findings were NOT good…
The R2.8 is entirely built and assembled in China. Starting in 2009, the 2.8 ISF engines were licensed and installed into Chinese Foton Tunland pickups. The 2.8 ISF has an absolutely TERRIBLE reputation overseas. Premature connecting rod failures, bad injectors, turbocharger failures, the list goes on and on. In fact, everyone we spoke with about the 2.8 had nothing but bad things to say about them. Next, we went at this from a parts perspective. We wanted to know once the Cummins warranty runs out, how difficult are parts to get for these things? Impossible in fact. We found that the ONLY vendors selling parts are Chinese vendors on Alibaba.com and they all wanted wire transfer payments and none of them spoke English. Since these engines are not sold here, nobody stocks parts. We asked Cummins directly if they would sell us parts and they don’t even find most of the parts for these engines in their system. So, on parts that was also a FAIL.
In late 2017, Cummins finally released the R2.8 Crate Engine Program. Sadly, Cummins had almost doubled their initial price estimate than what we were told at the SEMA show, the engines carry no emissions compliance certificates for vehicles newer than 1999, and incredibly only carries a 90 DAY WARRANTY! We were floored…With a purchase price just shy of $10,000 and a warranty that will run out before you get it installed, what is their target market? The R2.8 Crate Engine Program includes no provisions for transmission, no controllers for anything, no cooling system, nothing. For $10k all you’re getting is an engine with a piggy-back wire harness and accelerator pedal. That’s it. This means that putting that engine into ANYTHING other than a 20 year-old Jeep will require a ton of development, a standalone transmission controller, air conditioning system provisions, cooling system, air cleaner, intercooler system, mounting system, adapters for the transmission, the list goes on and on. Most modern (2005+) vehicles have computers for pretty much everything. Getting cruise control, air conditioning, ABS systems to all work with the R2.8 will require custom computer boxes with custom-code written in them. This means EXPENSIVE…
Sadly, in our opinion the Cummins R2.8 Crate Engine Program is DOA. They are crazy expensive, will be an extraordinarily difficult installation as everything will need to be hand-built, and only carry a 90-day warranty. We have been in the diesel conversion business for almost 15 years so our experience is unmatched in the industry. From a professional conversion company’s perspective, the Cummins R2.8 conversions will LOOK like conversions and will not have the stock fit & finish we’re known for. Franken-swaps are not in our DNA and we don’t feel that is something paying customers want. We asked ourselves, “who on earth wants to pay to install a Chinese R2.8 engine into their Toyota when they can get a factory Toyota D-4D engine with legendary reliability and power for less money”? Our approach has always been minimalist as nothing can compare to the factory designed stuff and the more one deviates from this the more the conversion starts looking like a franken-swap and the reliability of the finished product goes way down.”