Hi, i have also been googeling for hours about these V8 diesels I find evry story/persons view is different to the next, as for the weight issue , Well think of the 300tdi discovery fitted with a bigger inter cooler ,twinbaterys , abs,air con, HD winch bumper ,winch + 30 m of cable, couple of spot lights ,skid plat/steering bar protection, roof rack + alloy box's and roof tent, not to mention the fat bloke driving it ( no slagging intended )
mmmm.... now how much more weight is that than one of these 6.2 diesels would that be???? probably less than the above, funny thing is land rovers will put up with all the above weight ,and still everybody says it doesn't fit it's to heavy !!
another thing the 5.7 over finch V8 also cast steel block and heads and is lighter ( so far found ) by 68 KG compared wit the diesel 6.2 and they don't have torn spring mounts broken boxes ,half shafts etc.
as for reliability the USA army used them still do , a 4.6 rover V8 can put out more power and a Little more torque than a 6.2 yet a mate of mine (he has a 4.6 in a two door classic on an lt77 ) has never broken anything yet and he is no careful driver otherwise he could of kept the 3.5insted ,but he wanted for wheel drifting to be possible
Of coarse the diesel has lot's more torque than a 3.5 and does have a different firing order but all diesels are harder on the gearbox, as the bang from the ignition stroke is a lot harder than the slow burning petrol bang
You will need tougher front springs and harder shocks and a radiator with a decent cooling capacity ,and if your really worried you could beef up the spring mounts just in case.
other than that if you start with a decent engine you should not have any troubles as long as you maintain it properly ,spares should be available for years to come all over the world, it was used by the military after all.
economy wise i read of figures between 20 an 35 mpg in range rovers and discovery's alike (5 speed box and standard 230 transfer box) i have bee looking into this for over two years now.
I have now decided it will be fitted to my two door classic in 2008 , as i intend to galvanize the chassis and body and Any thing else that can be galvanized without distortion this next year.
I am also fed up with the fits an niggles in the V8 constant Little troubles and rising fuel prises even gas is almost half of the price more than it was a year ago and my boot is full with the 120 liter gas tank, and 12 mpg on gas at best is useless.
I intend to do the swap over and make heaps of foto's of the whole project as there is to little information on the net about land rovers with this conversion an how its done all this i intend to put up on a dedicated website for people to view.
Hope this info helps
Cheers, Andrew
