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series 3 engine conversion


IHenson

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All about tradeoffs, the two main choices are:

Any Rover V8 (3.5 to 4.6) or a 200/300TDi.

V8's are cheap to buy and hilarious fun in a Series, but drink fuel. TDi's are more money to buy but very sensible fuel-wise. Both options give a useful power & torque increase.

The third option is to go further outside the box - there's plenty of space to fit almost anything you can imagine with a bit of time & effort.

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Was recently told a 200 tdi minus the turbo was a good option.

Increase in power,good fuel economy and removing the turbo gets rid of all the problems of the turbo catching the chassis(?)

That's one version - the other version is that it's a frickin' pointless thing to do because you're too lazy/incompetent to make an exhaust pipe that fits. The excuse I heard was that removing the turbo was kinder to the gearbox (lest the fire-breathing power of the 200TDi wrench the earth from its axis), mine never seemed to mind with the 3.9 V8 in front of it :huh:

Oh and there's loads of people running 200TDi's in Series so evidently "all the the problems" are not beyond the wit of man.

Since GMC 6.2's and Perkins combine-harvester engines have been mentioned, it's worth pointing out that not all engine swaps are for the better, even if they do give you better numbers for power/torque. Just because you *can* fit anything doesn't mean you should. There's a lot to be said for being able to buy all your parts off-the-shelf from a LR dealer if nothing else.

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That's one version - the other version is that it's a frickin' pointless thing to do because you're too lazy/incompetent to make an exhaust pipe that fits. The excuse I heard was that removing the turbo was kinder to the gearbox (lest the fire-breathing power of the 200TDi wrench the earth from its axis), mine never seemed to mind with the 3.9 V8 in front of it :huh:

Oh and there's loads of people running 200TDi's in Series so evidently "all the the problems" are not beyond the wit of man.

You pushed one of his buttons!

No one start carbs vs EFI or else the south coast of England might be demolished by a small atomic explosion. :ph34r:

(I do agree with him though - don't pull the turbo off a 200 TDi just because it's difficult to fit.)

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I blew a turbo hose last spring in the cold weather, I thought it might have been concealed bio, but lots of diesel and warming up made no difference - until I looked under the bonnet and cursed a bit! Anyway, point is, the performance was awful, I couldn't get over 40mph, and struggled to get to that, having to use my OD as a half gear all through the box. The fault can't be blamed on restrictions in the system, as the pipe that blew was the one onto the inlet manifold, so she wasn't even fighting a filter. I agree with FF, not fitting the turbo is just plain lazy, EXCEPT! I think it was tuko who did this, because in Sweden you can't uprate the engines HP by more than 10% over original spec...or soemthing like that anyway.

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If I was swedish I'd demand a dyno test, think Jen's 300TDi Disco dynoed at ~30bhp at the wheels!

I'd imagine a tuboless TDi would need re-tuning to take account of the lack of boost etc. as it's fundamentally a 2.5 diesel so should be able to chug along quite happily all being equal.

My main dislike is claiming things are improvements when they're not, at least be honest about it. I don't claim leaf springs are comfier than coils, I kept them on the truck 'cos I want to keep it Series-ish and I'm bloody minded.

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There is a place for the 200Di version, but the engine swap would probably be forced because of dire condition of the existing engine and the need for a frugal and reliable replacement. A Di would have performance comparable to the 2.25 petrol engines, so the swap certainly wouldn't be for performance reasons.

The Di is a lot easier and cheaper to do than the full 200Tdi. It wouldn't suit all owners, including me, but there are some owners who's needs it fills perfectly - you can retain the standard Series rad and front panel, delete the oil cooler and intercooler and get away with using the original exhaust (Glencoyne's website shows how to make clamps to use the 2.25 exhaust manifold). Let people make their own choices without angry tirades.

The Discovery version of the 200Tdi has turbo clearance issues. On an 88", this can be resolved by rotating the compressor casing and drilling and tapping new waste gate actuator mounting holes. A 109 needs Defender manifolds and turbo. These are rarer and more expensive than the Discovery engines.

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The Discovery version of the 200Tdi has turbo clearance issues. On an 88", this can be resolved by rotating the compressor casing and drilling and tapping new waste gate actuator mounting holes. A 109 needs Defender manifolds and turbo. These are rarer and more expensive than the Discovery engines.

No clearance issues with my 88, no intercooler either, turbo is as LR built it, Series rad and original unmolested front panel. My 109 uses a 300 turbo, and makes fitting the exhaust a doddle, the 88 will be swapped to 300 turbo when the chassis swap comes round

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Let people make their own choices without angry tirades.

If you point me to the bit where I told him "don't do it" then I'll happily apologise. Everything else is just opinion.

@Rusty - A TD4 could be quite good, not sure how well it would lend itself to conversion. The Rover 75 CDTI(CTDI?) uses the TD4 minus the VNT, could be easier/cheaper lumps to find. That said, the Audi 1.4 TDi that someone did looked very good for a "light use" vehicle (as in not pulling heavy loads) as it makes good power and very good MPG.

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I put a standard 3.5 rover V8 in my 1970 series vehicle with original front (now has a fiber glass defender over the top) and original rad but I had to remove the engine fan and weld the water pump up to the pulley mount and only have an electric fan now which is probably easier on the engine anyway, no point running a fan all day when its not hot. Its a squeeze though with all the ancilliaries and power steering but looks good and pulls like a good un :)

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a 200TDI even with the turbo is more or less as straight of a conversion as you can do, so long as its an 88", i think on the 109"s in some cases the turbo hits the chassis leg?

the turbo does NOT need to be rotated contrarily to what most poeple say. mine aint and it fits just fine.

i dont particularly drive it soft sometimes and aint never had any gearbox problems. only clutches but thats more to the fact that its pushing what you can do power wise without spending big money. most series owners dont care for power like this, only want the useful increase in torque you get from a normal TDI.

try to avoid cut and shutting pipes wherever possible. i made up prototype pipes and then took them to a scrap yard where i searched for pipes that are the same. the only cut and shut ones now are the bottom hose (which ive never seen 1 piece in this conversion but could be done) and the top hose which i think ive found a replacement 1 piece for.

use the series engine loom it more or less fits straight on. and use the disco alternator though you will need to crimp on different connectors.

the rest is a piece of cake bar the exhaust which i had custom made but theres no reason an eblag special 90 tdi conversion downpipe wouldnt fit.

just dont use flexi!!

disco radiator mounts will need to be welded onto the chassis (or possibly drilled into front crossmember. and the intercooler will fit sort of staggered in front and across from it. make sure that the steering relay arm doesent touch the rad on full lock. you can use series 3 diesel standard fuel linesbut may need to connect to the pump with different thread connectors, the pipes should be long enough and make for a nicer looking finish.

front panel will need to be cut to make room for disco rad and intercooler but from outside will still look the same!

and ive never put a v8 in, because real trucks dont have spark plugs :P

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and ive never put a v8 in, because real trucks dont have spark plugs :P

Mikey,

Deep down you know real trucks have at least 8 spark plugs!

Diesel is fine for bilge pumps & anything that operates in a quarry.

If you disagree I know a good doctor ;-)

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I agree with FF, not fitting the turbo is just plain lazy, EXCEPT! I think it was tuko who did this, because in Sweden you can't uprate the engines HP by more than 10% over original spec...or soemthing like that anyway.

Jupp that would be me and yes the law/rules got in the way when it came to registering the series 3 with the new motor. 3 years on and still to this day when I get behind the wheel I'm not disappointed in anway with the landy's performance. It suits me perfectly.

IHensen,

you can ask a hundred people for their opinion and get a hundred different answers. I would suggest that you begin by asking yourself a few questions, how do you drive today and how will you drive later with a new motor? What are you expecting, what do you want and what do you need from your Land Rover? Maybe a 200/300 without turbo will be enough, or maybe the entire intercooler/turbo setup is needed and finally maybe a big whopping V8 is what you really need?

Do you know what you want and need?

Todd.

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