Soren Frimodt Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Well.. have since I bought it been running a 3-main 2,25P engine from a S3, have shaved 2,5 mm off the head, ported it and fitted trick manifolds and dualport weber. All fine and dandy and it runs well and smooth. BUT I really need some more horsepower, I love the way it pulls from way down low, and the very low idle, but it all comes to a halt way too early for the longer climbs. And I could turbocharge it and so on, but am afraid it's a loosing battle.. So what do I put in there? Do not wan't to mod the hell out of my chassis and engine-bay, so not really fond of the usual RV8 swap, sure it's a nice engine, but it is very big in that small room and hard to keep cold in there. Love the 6 Cylinder rover engine, but afraid it's just a heavier version of the 2,25 and won't give me much more horsepower. Then there's a 2,5P from a Defender, maybe worth it? Could go extreme and built a 2,8, but don't think they are that powerful compared to the price that it all adds up to.. So what do I do? would prefer to keep it rover, and no diseasel for me please Is there something I haven't thought about?? Any suggestion is welcome, have anybody ever turbocharged a 2,5P ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I used to have a 2.5 petrol in my series, which was created from a 2.5 TD block and crank, with 2.5 pistons and conrods, and a 2.25 head with 2.5 valves. Compression was 9:1, with a webber 2 stage carb and LPG conversion. quite good power and torque, but I have to say, if you like offroad with a lot of slow controlled stuff, theres nothing like a TDI (landrover, or an isuzu or whatever). Power is good from a TDI, I clocked 160km/h (or a ton in imperial units) on roadtyres and high ratio gearing, and my previous petrol engine wasn't in the league. Your series will fly with a tdi for sure. Diesel all the way, basically. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangeyRover Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 What about the 6 cylinder M52 bmw unit as used in south african spec? Still a factory engine.... almost If you want petrol, there really isn't many options other than the RV8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPLP Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Im guessing that you might be restricted as to origionality with regard to registration? TDI land rover is probabily the best (and cheapest) bet. Otherwise V8..... H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcc1979ian Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 V8 all the way, after finding out that if you do less than 18'000 mls per year its cheaper to run a petrol im planning on dumping the L200 in favour of something petrol but as yet havent decided what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 You're missing a trick - don't swap it, megasquirt it. The driveability that a decent EFI & EDIS system adds is quite significant, and allows you to get much better tuning too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=jon= Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 I've got a 2.5 petrol in my S3 88 - it's significantly quicker than the old 2.25 it replaced (although it was in a bad way). Off road it seems to have plenty low down - I'm not as extreme as you but I've not had any power probs, and it's happy pulling itself from tickover... I'd imagine in an 80" with some mild tuning it would be pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jai_landrover Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 You will hate the delay in oomph between pedal and output you get with Tdi's. Its like driving a tank compared to a decent well setup petrol engine. V8 all the way just got a 3.5 rebuilt for my 80 inch just go to put it back in!! Especially for trials type driving/low end driving you can drop the tickover under load down to 550Rpm on the v8 and still pull hard and instant squirt the pedal and response no TDI I've seen can do that. maybe if you used a hybrid turbo it'll be better but petrol all the way!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmerboy_y2k Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Just to be different I'll say 2.0 mpi from a discovery, or the turbo version from a rover vittese or 620ti if you fancy 200bhp that fits a lot easier than a v8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 i'd go for a tdi with the fueling faffed with.. Or maybe the ford v6 that use to be popular in the series landies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 2.8 v6 Efi a la Capri or daimler sp250 v6 or 3.9 serp v8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Volvo 240 (or similar age) petrol engine... always lovely torquey units. Or an Audi 5cylinder, maybe a bit long though Dare I say it, barring any HG problems, an MG Montego 2.0 engine? Very torquey little unit, and possibilities of bolting to a series gearbox IIRC. Then you can turbo it too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Thanks for all the great input guys, and as most of you, it seems like the end conclusion is always the RV8, and boy have I thought about it a lot, but there are just so many space issues, not made less by the fact it's LHD. I do have the perfect RV8 kicking about for it though.. And jai_landrover you seem to have exactly the same experience of TDI's as me And those are exactly the reason why I do not wan't it. And then there is the nice quietness of the petrol engine when you chug along in idle at the camping grounds with the car filled to the brim with mates, looking at all the other landies, you just can't do that with any diesel. Regarding 6 cylinder engines, there definitely are some nice ones around, in particular the 4.0 High Output that I have in my Cherokee banger, it basically is the perfect engine in my book, very respectable mileage, quiet, smooth all the way from idle to the limiter and with 193bhp and PLENTY of torque. BUT it is long and heavy like nothing else.. Ford V6, oh yes it has been done a lot over here too, and is very compact so shouldn't be too much of a hassle installing, just don't know how much low down grunt it has? have only ever tried one in a 2,9 Ghia, seemed nice, but hard to say in such a different vehicle. The volvo engines are great too, and actually smaller in size than rover 2,25s and with better BHP numbers, but they seem hard to find in good nick nowadays. Although I'm sure you could rebuilt them for not much money. But as HPLP mentioned, I do have to think somewhat about originality, and would really prefer to keep it Rover, and if it's not something that you can fit to the series gearbox I fear having to chop into my bulkhead, which would probably leave me sleepless for weeks! So all in all, maybe the Volvo is the best bet as you can get an adaptor to mate it to the series box, and being neighbors to Sweden parts shouldn't be hard to come by But it's just not a Rover engine With the 2,25 you can barely see its not factory fit as it just slips in perfectly.. Ohh I don't know.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmerboy_y2k Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 You missed my suggestion of the Rover T-series used in the discovery mpi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Yeah well, not really, I've driven a disco with such an engine, and boy was it gutless, and adding turbo's and what not only gives more power and torqueat higher rpms, not near tickover. So not something for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=jon= Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Or maybe the ford v6 that use to be popular in the series landies. 2.8 v6 Efi a la Capri or daimler sp250 v6 or 3.9 serp v8 I've just bought a defender that's had a 3.0 ford essex v6 transplanted into it. Are these actually any good off road then - I did some searching and the only opinions I could find were from one guy who said that they were rubbish off road as they had no engine braking and they'd run away down hills... (Sorry for the hijack!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 the ford v6 is a lovely engine with lots of low down grunt and they are bloomin tiny! other option is the vw vr6 engine, extremely compact and beautiful flat torque curve from idle to 7k rpm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 So why not just bolt fuel injection to your existing engine as I suggested? For those discussing Essex engines, further reading: http://www.ep90.com/index.php?id=29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSD Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I've just bought a defender that's had a 3.0 ford essex v6 transplanted into it. Are these actually any good off road then - I did some searching and the only opinions I could find were from one guy who said that they were rubbish off road as they had no engine braking and they'd run away down hills... (Sorry for the hijack!) Not much engine braking and an over lively throttle (due to the carb design), but other than that they are a great engine off-road. Even better when squirted and EDIS'd. My MS'ed 3.1 88" had more power, lower fuel consumption and better emissions than Ford claimed when it was in a Capri! Edit : Fridge beat me to it... wonder why he's surfing and not working Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Frimodt Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hmm some varied experience with Essex it sounds like, but you can still buy an adaptor right? Re: injection, sure it's great and it'll allow me to get a much smoother curve. Bit this is really not the problem here, and making horsepower with a carb. Is by no means difficult, it's when you want to make those horses controllable the efi has the edge. The thing is that megasquirt won't move the cam to the top, shorten the stroke, lower the friction and all those other parts that makes the 2,25 outdated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 True, but I still think the 2.25 has a lot of love to give with a bit of an update, and it's by no means a bad engine for the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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