What kind of engine

[peter42]

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am looking for a landrover series 2a or 3. One of those that I actually saw is with a shop that restores them. They have various land rovers, most of them owned by people who bring them there to restore. Also he has a few that are for sale. One of them is a series 3 long wheel base station wagon. It doesn't have an engine. So (as is normal practice here) he would put in some Japanese engine. The question though is, what type would be best and also what brand:

- Toyota or Isuzu

- 2 or 2.5

- manual or automatic gear

- 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive

- and finally how old should it be. he had a few with older Japanese engines with no electronics (so easy to maintain). But also some with newer Japanese.

Btw, Toyota and Isuzu are the most popular Pickup trucks here so that's why these two brands.

And sorry, it is about impossible to get a land rover engine properly maintained here.

Looking forward to hear of some ideas.

Peter

[miketomcat]

The Isuzu 2.8 is supposed to be a very good engine that works well in a land rover.

Mike

[Boydie]

The turbo Isuzu 3.9 litre 4 cylinder diesel is the one used by the Australian Army in their Defender 110 series, it's almost indestructible and pulls like a 14yo reading a Black copy of Penthouse.

[Eightpot]

The 3.9 would destroy the transmission on a series though.

The 2.8 Isuzu 4jb1 is a very good compact engine, about the same size as a series diesel engine so will fit ok - you might even get away with a turbo/intercooled version as it should fit better than say a LR TDi engine.

[Bowie69]

3.0D Isuzu is also a very strong engine, just avoid the generation 3 engines, their heads split wide open for a living.

[Chicken Drumstick]

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am looking for a landrover series 2a or 3. One of those that I actually saw is with a shop that restores them. They have various land rovers, most of them owned by people who bring them there to restore. Also he has a few that are for sale. One of them is a series 3 long wheel base station wagon. It doesn't have an engine. So (as is normal practice here) he would put in some Japanese engine. The question though is, what type would be best and also what brand:

- Toyota or Isuzu

- 2 or 2.5

- manual or automatic gear

- 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive

- and finally how old should it be. he had a few with older Japanese engines with no electronics (so easy to maintain). But also some with newer Japanese.

Btw, Toyota and Isuzu are the most popular Pickup trucks here so that's why these two brands.

And sorry, it is about impossible to get a land rover engine properly maintained here.

Looking forward to hear of some ideas.

Peter

Without wanting to sound funny about this, but are you the best placed person to answer this? Frankly nobody in the UK is really likely to know the parts availability and local expertise for fitting, maintaining and running these alternative engines.

As for your other questions, well they really need clarifying for anyone to answer them.

Are you thinking of just mating an engine to the Land Rover gearbox or are you looking at a more comprehensive conversion?

You ask about manual or automatic? So I guess the latter. You also ask about 2wd and 4wd, although not really sure but assume you mean permanent or part time 4wd?

Series axles are not the strongest. Although for most moderate use they are fine with a 3.5 V8 or Tdi. So engines of similar power shouldn't be a problem.

As for the 4wd, well the Series uses UJ's at the front and really isn't designed for being 4wd on the road at high speed. I'm sure some people have done it, but LR knew enough to change the design for the RR and Defenders.

[tacr2man]

talk to the people who do the conversions locally , you dont want a short stroke high revving jap engine. As previously mentioned something in the 2.5 to 3 ltr 4 cylinder diesel range would be best bet . Also as previous post , the landrover drivetrain , (axles ) are not suitable for full time 4wd.