Cummins-Repowered Jeep Starts on First Try - And Then Drives Straight Into Pond

Remember the Cummins ISV5.0-Powered "Mad Maxxis” Off-Road Runner? Fred Williams, host of Motor Trend’s “Dirt Every Day” series is at it again, this time using a 2.8L Cummins Turbo Diesel to repower his 1997 Jeep® Wrangler® – and then driving it 12 feet underwater.

Cummins Exploring the  'Crate Engine' Business

The project is part of Cummins’ growing presence to the enthusiast market as the company explores launching a ‘crate engine’ business where consumers would be able to buy 50-state legal Cummins engines for swapping into their older iconic vehicles.

The build took place at Advance Adapters Inc. in Paso Robles, Calif. After several test fits and lots of measuring, our friends at Advance Adapters made an engine-to-transmission adapter to work with a stock Jeep 5-speed NV3550 manual transmission as well as custom motor mounts for the frame. No firewall modifications were needed in order to fit the 2.8L into the Jeep engine’s factory position making the swap go very fast.

Wiring the project was made easy with the help of a slightly modified industrial QSF2.8 wiring harness from Cummins Power Products, waterproofing every connection with gobs of electrical grease, and modifying watertight ammunition cans from an Army surplus store to protect the control panel and ECM.

Bringing the Cummins-Powered Jeep to Life

On the second day of installation, the engine successfully fired and after finishing the rest of the install, it was time to shake it down out on the hillsides in order for the little Jeep to earn its Cummins badges.

The Jeep was built to drive under water first, so with no fans, charge air cooler, power steering, power brakes, or exhaust, we couldn’t do much driving on the road – so up and down the hills of a vineyard it went as if it were waiting for us to attach an implement and give it a job to do.

Now the time had come to attach the 16’ tall intake and exhaust snorkels and get the Jeep wet. With no shortage of Cummins power at the vineyard in the form of Ram trucks and B3.9 grape harvesters and pumps, the Cummins-powered Jeep was among legendary family and the 2.8L was ready to prove itself to its older siblings.

Into the water it went…