NRS91

Cheers! It may help the economy but the main improvements are that it will run cleaner, cooler and feel more responsive in the mid to high rpm range.

Yes it will help make the engine feel more "eager" at those speeds and help maintain cruise.

Yes the spacer will still work as intended if its a standard spec pump besides the timing being set a little advanced. Only thing to watch is if the the overall timing advance then becomes a little too much for the engine, it will rattle and diesel knock a bit and would just need the static timing retarding a little but its highly unlikely it would go this far as often they a little retarded to start with.

I'm honoured to be so well spoken of, I always try to use the best components possible and back it up with speedy customer service for those that need support, it is nice to see it paying off The shim provides the preload and controls the rate of timing advance, without it the timing would advance quickly and your vehicle would respond like you had moved the static pump timing which negates the benefit of using the timing spacer in the first place. The shim I provide is custom CNC machined to a specific thickness that allows the maximum preload while allowing the full range of timing advance travel. Too thick and it will become coil bound first, too thin and the timing advances quickly. Hope this helps.

Ive sent him a link to this topic so hopefully he can guide you a little.

As yours is a 200TDi it might be ok, 300TDis and later UK Cummins VE cant run the American DTAS kit. Mine will fit them all.

Some vehicles like my 1975 Scammell Crusader even have it as standard tbh! (the radiator swings out on a pivot at the front so its needed)

Thanks for the tag. Yea the OP is talking about the engine speed governor which lives in the top of the bottom half of the pump (just below the AFC housing which contains the boost pin). The VW and Land Rover pumps use a "cage" style governor set up to resist the movement of the governor weights whereas Cummins uses a pull type spring. Joseph Buswell shimmed the governor cage in Drew Wrights challenge truck and it went really well!

Slip joint stops you being impaled on the steering column or having the steering wheel crush your chest... id like to improve my odds where possible

My main concern would be the lack of a slip joint in the event if a crash

You missed two important words... its a 5700kg off road truck, if you start putting a few hundred kilos of sloshing weight up high you could become a cropper on side slopes as the weight transfers off to one side. Keeping the heavy stuff low down will pay dividends later on. If the water tanks can go under seats/beds or between chassis rails that would be ideal, and will make it easier to fill too.

Personally I wouldn't have a considerable weight of fluid above chassis level, for both static and dynamic stability reasons

Getting back to the original question, check out TFL (The Fast Lane) on Youtube, they did a range test of a Tesla towing a box van trailer... after the popularity of that video they also took a camper trailer away for the weekend into a woodland with one to see if it was viable. Basically they are capable but the range when towing is hopeless... (To make life easier I dug out the links)

A manual transmission is around 90% efficient from memory but then the engine isnt constantly running in its peak efficiency range so you loose efficiency there... then if you have a bad driver you loose more... trains and mining trucks have used Diesel/Electric drive system for decades due to efficiency and reliability... combine that with the modern advances in EVs and small automotive diesel engines it would be interesting to see a modern Diesel/Electric 4x4! It would give you the range and usability of a smaller Diesel running peak efficiency with the opportunity to run electric only or boost modes via supercapacitors. Long term it means the EV platform gets dialled in and the customer gets used to it... when battery/charging tech and UK infrastructure improves you yank the diesel generator and fuel tank out and install batteries and a charger so your platform lasts longer!

My main thoughts would be the mud collected in there tbh