I'm curious about a comment Bill Shaw made concerning his 4D55 I guess he use to own. He commented that he made a modification to it, which allowed it pull about the same as a Ford 4.0 V6. What would this change have been? Advancing the injection timing? Something else? Any suggested mods to help the 4D55 put out more power? I'm mostly thinking about the 4D55 since it was available in the states and would be easier to obtain than one of the other diesels.

Hey Lee,

Not sure what Bill's done, but there's not a huge amount you can do to the 4D55,(which is a 2.3 ltr) except fit it with a head, inlet/exhaust manifolds and turbo off a 4D56 (2.5 ltr) From about '91 on, the 4D56 here in NZ came with roller rocker assembly which was a big improvement over the earlier ones. You could also fit a water to air intercooler off a early '90's Subaru Legacy, as it's never seemed to me to be much point having an air to air intercooler in a 4x4, as most of the time when you need it, you're not going fast enuff to force a suitable amount of air thru it! (unless you need it for towing). If you can't get the 4D56 stuff in the USA, there's plenty I can get hold of here in NZ for you.

There's always the option of LPG injection, but the 4D55 is not really a strong engine to begin with, so it may well end up like a grenade!

Cheers,

Chris