RobSmith

Hi All, I am still contemplating what engine to put in my tax exempt LWB Series 3. A 200Tdi seems to be a good easy installation but I also could install a Volvo petrol lump which I like but might be thirsty. Our driving will be mostly short runs carting things about the village and towing things around but will get some long trips too. Can people reply with the miles per gallon they get from their series 3 with different engines? Rob

I am thinking I will put in a standard Volvo B230FB engine to start with. That is a 2.3L normally aspirated engine. The engine is externally the same and much of the wiring the same between N/A and turbocharged. It simplifies a few things and the turbo version could come later. I have a great deal of work to do on the rest of the landrover so simplifying the engine installation helps a bit. The big pile of parts is now sitting at my father-in-laws waiting for me to go and collect them. Rob

I do not have a ready source for second hand 24v parts which is a part of the problem. My series 3 has quite a heap of bits missing....no alternator, no batteries, no 24v starter needs headlights etc. The few 24v things it does have are not a good enough reason to go down the 24v route. I do have the wiper motor, heater fan, indicator flasher, and a few other things and it was these I was wondering if I would need to change. Rob

Yup, I mentioned that some of my list was overkill. I will be doing very much what you listed yourself. It is interesting the big difference in veiws on the gearbox being able to take it. I shall not be driving it hard. I like the way my current 940 Celebration drives. I rarely give it any welly.. I like just having the lazy power available. That is a 207k mile engine so I will not be using that one in the landrover so will hunt around for a good one. Rob

Great Rob

Hi All, I will be converting my 24v series 3 to 12v. I am wondering if the wiper motor, guages, heater fan and maybe a few other things are made for use on 24 volt or did they run on 12v from some sort of voltage splitter? I have not investigated the actual parts yet but thought someone might know. Also the temperature and fuel guage also has a third oil temperature guage seemingly added at a strange angle in the bottom 1/3rd of the guage. It looks like a proper addition but was wondering if anyone can shed any light on this? Rob

I have previously 'pruned' a Volvo 940 wiring loom down to the engine wiring.. The engine wiring.. (It is not too bad once you trim it down to its bare bones) The remainder... (this does not show quite how much there was and how heavy it is too) Rob

Thanks for the replys. Thanks Smokey88. I am glad you are a reblock fan too. A B230FK is what is in my 940 now but after a turbo failure got another from a B230FT so is a B230FK but with a bit more boost than it should have. That was not intentional it is just what was easily obtainable, unbolted and bolted on without much finese. It also does not look much like a nice redblock either. It looks more like a neglected black, smelly, oily, leaky block I am going to go for a B230 setup. It will either be a B230FK or FT setup on about 10PSI boost. I will possibly build it around a B230FB block as the normally aspirated engines do not get the same side thrust on the pistons the turbo engines get and hence the bores and blocks are a better start point. 1992 or later engines also got piston cooling oil squirters. This is my previous recipe for the engine I have in the shed although I will now 'de-tune' the recipe to a standard B230 bottom end and change other things and keep it more sensible..... 1992 Penta AQ151C block with oil squirters added. 96mm bore 86mm stroke = 2500cc Forged Penta crankshaft Penta Pistons from the AQ151C 531 head rebuilt with sodium filled valves from Turbo head. Compression ratio somewhere around 9:1 and head matched to block. LH2.4 0 280 213 012 3" Air Mass Meter E5ZE-A3B injectors Std Fuel pressure regulator TD04HL-15G flat flange turbo keeping the standard intake bypass valve fitted. Custom exhaust through large free flowing cat and large free flowing silencer. 90+ ported manifold Standard 940TDi clutch setup. Clutch disc 940TDi, organic, 20 splines, 228mm, Sachs p/n: 1862 468 031 Pressure plate, stock, 228mm, Sachs p/n: 3082 204 033 Side distributor. MBC set to about 10 PSI boost pressure 98+ octane fuel. 0280 000 984 ECU or 983 with Freds chip 0227 400 207 EZK with Freds chip NGK BP7ES plugs 'A' Cam although I now have a 'V' cam I could use Lightened Dog-dish flywheel with LH2.4 drillings. Aftermarket intercooler. I will keep you posted Rob

That ties up with what a friend has told me. He said that they usually break at low speeds. As for the Volvo lump being more 'whizzy' than a lazy V8 I would think there is not much in it. The volvo lump is a heavy lump with heavy internals and a big heafty flywheel. I think all this rotating mass on the later engines was going someway towards smoothing out the lumpyness of a 4 cylinder. The latest engine has a dual mass flywheel which is realy heavy and tends to fall to bits so I will be using the much more common 'dog-dish' flywheel. Dog-dish is just a way of identifying that flywheel that just looks like a dog dish when laid down. Rob

It will be prety much the same as the 4 cylinder engine from a 7 series. It will be the best bits from all the years to give me the best performance. I will also be doing things like fitting an earlier intermediate shaft in the engine and using the distributor on the side of the block rather than the later horrid one on the back of the head. I will also be fitting it with an early aluminium cam cover and belt covers instead of the more modern black aluminium and plastic ones. These 'touches' will keep it looking more in keeping with the landrovers age. Rob

Hi All, I have found this on another web site relating to the DVLA points system.. Chassis/bodyshell 5 points Suspension 2 points Axles 2 points Transmission 2 points Steering Assembly 2 points Engine 1 point It seems 8 points are needed to comply with the historic status. I have not been able to find an official source for this information. This was found here: http://www.classicroverforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6964 If I were to install the Volvo B230 engine it would be only 30cc bigger than the original landrover engine. I would be deducted 1 point for the engine change. I am not sure how they judge it having a turbo bolted to the side of it that near doubles the power output If I were to replace the gearbox to take the extra power then that is another 2 points so I would be down to 11 points. That seems ok to me. Does anyone have an official source for this points scoring system? Rob

Here are a couple of dyno graphs from one of the Volvo forums of the same engine in various states of tune without much in the way of engine mods. Turbo at about 15 psi... It seems they all follow a similar trend. I would keep my engine down at near stock performance so about 170hp and about 220ftlb of torque. I have found the gearbox number on my series 3 gearbox and it is marked S for syncromeshed gears and C. Does anyone have any ideas about the likelyhood of the gearbox withstanding this? Rob

I have just been outside and found the gearbox number.. S 95102814C I am not sure if that helps tell you what the gearbox is. I shall have a search now to see if I can find out. Rob

Hi All, I am concidering installing one of the Volvo engines I have floating around into my 1972 Series 3 landrover which has its original petrol engine siezed solid. I want to use the turbocharged version of the volvo engine as it is much nicer to drive and has proved to be more economical than the normally aspirated ones I have had. My main concern is that I might break the landrover gearbox. I can get dyno curves from the chaps in the US who like to modify and 'dyno-race' their volvos. Can anyone provide a revs / torque curve for a landrover engine the standard gearbox is happy with? That engine might be the rover V8, 200TDi or something else the gearbox is fairly happy with. I can then compare the two and see if I am way out in the explosion zone or if it might be fine. Kind Regards Rob

I am quite fond of the fairly battered look and having it tax exempt. I do not think the chassis is too badly corroded. Looking through the big holes I made in the bottom skin of the chassis rails I can see black paint or clean steel inside across the top and about 2/3rds of the way down both sides. The rear crossmember and spring hangers are toast but it looks easy enough to be able to chop these areas back to good steel. I am concidering finding all the intentional and rust holes in the chassis and welding them up and entirely filling the chassis sections with waxoil, leaving it in there for a few weeks of hot weather and then draining out the excess. I did not realise the old V8 was so de-tuned. The volvo 2.3 turbo engine in standard form is about 160hp and being turbocharged has lots of low down torque. The non turbo version is about 120hp but is nothing like as nice to drive as you need to use more revs. I would use the standard fuel injection system on the Volvo lump which is Bosch LH2.4. It is quite easy to understand, tunable and reliable. The latest ecu also has the immobiliser built in so that might be a good point to security. The gearing and fuel economy issue make me lean towards a 200Tdi conversion. My Volvo sits at 85mph at 3000 rpm. I suspect the landrover will be more like 60mph at 4000rpm so not using the smooth low reving nature of the volvo lump. But then I do like the idea of having something a bit different so still thinking about it. I shall not be fitting power steering or any other unecessary complications. Can anyone tell me what sort of motorway speed you would be doing in a series 3 with 7.5x16 tyres at 3000rpm? Rob

Hi All, I have been dragging things around with my old Volvo/s for years but recently have found I am towing bigger heavier things across muddier fields. I have also fancied something tax exempt and also cheap to buy so the choices for such a vehicle were quite slim. My uncle sent me an email asking that I look out for a tax exempt landrover for himself to use where he lives in Wales. Whilst looking I came across an ex MOD Series 3 that looked like it needed a home. It requires too much work for my uncle to do but after a couple of days thought I decided to buy it myself.... It is 24 volt and has lots of large braided cabling and electrical boxes so I think it was a Fitted for Radio vehicle. There are not many things that should be 24 volt left and the wiring is in a mess so I shall re-wire it as 12 volt. I bought it thinking that the engine was probably knackered as it was sitting in the engine bay but not bolted in but just resting on the front axle. It looks like it had been abandoned at a stage where the engine was either being removed or going back in. Once I had got the front pulley off the axle I found that the engine was completely siezed solid so I will be looking to install another engine. Much of the front bodywork was dangling off. I have slung a few bolts in holes to make it look respectable to sit outside the house. The bulkhead looks like it has been repaired by someone with a welder permanently set at 900 amps and then filler in the resulting holes. I might pull out the bulkhead and do the bulkhead properly at some point. The chassis requires quite a bit of cutting, grinding, new setions, welding etc from the rear axle front spring hangers rearwards. I made quite a few torch access holes with a hammer yesterday so I could see inside the chassis sections Once I get cutting I will be able to see more and more I need to chop out I am sure but it looks like about 2/3rds of the depth of the chassis is good so should hold its shape while I get stuck in chopping off the bottom 1/3rd. It will get a new rear military style crossmember and replacement spring hangers. I am thinking of neatly cutting out two access holes in the floor of the rear tub to allow me to weld across the top of the chassis properly. I would then make up a couple of neat panels to cover the holes. Has anyone else done this? I do not have the space to put the rear bodywork if I were to remove it so welding the chassis in situ under the body is my only real option. I am concidering two engines to go in. A 200TDi or a 2.3 turbo Volvo petrol. I have quite a few of the Volvo engines and I know how all the fuel injection system works and it would be a nice smooth engine. My only concern is how economical it would be. I am presuming the gearbox in a series 3 landrover is the same whether it had the small petrol, diesel or the V8. My theory being if it can take the torque from the V8 then the volvo engine should be ok too. I was wanting to find out the axle ratios and gearbox ratios of the gearbox and axle. I have had a bit of a look around, under and over both but could not see any ratio numbers or gearbox numbers anywhere. Can someone tell me where these are on the axle and gearbox. That will save me having to clean the gloop off of the whole thing. It was registered in 1990 and declared manufactured in 1972 and has Historic Vehicle on the log book so that is fine. How does the DVLA look upon an engine change to something more modern and possibly more powerful? There is much I need to learn about but I have found it to be a very simple, although heavy, box to work on. Rob