Best classic diesel conversion

About 16 years ago I had a 300tdi conversion to my then 1986 manual classic range rover.the car was great and I covered many miles towing various TR's around the country.

Sadly I sold the car but have now bought a 1994 soft dash classic with a 3.9 and an auto box.

The vehicle is in good shape and the engine has done about 120k but I want to put a Diesel engine in the car.

I have been of the scene for a while are there better diesel conversions to put in my car I wil occasionally tow a sports car but mainly want a good consumption.
Any views

What about the M51 BMW out of the P38?

goldersboy said:

About 16 years ago I had a 300tdi conversion to my then 1986 manual classic range rover.the car was great and I covered many miles towing various TR's around the country.

Sadly I sold the car but have now bought a 1994 soft dash classic with a 3.9 and an auto box.

The vehicle is in good shape and the engine has done about 120k but I want to put a Diesel engine in the car.

I have been of the scene for a while are there better diesel conversions to put in my car I wil occasionally tow a sports car but mainly want a good consumption.
Any views

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Datatek said:

What about the M51 BMW out of the P38?

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How about an M51 IN a P38?

300TDI - as factory,its easy,reliable,recognised by insurance companies and saleable when the time comes.

I can thoroughly NOT recommend one conversion - a Perkins 4.236

Used to have one in my classic. PITA

Tractor engine. Pull a house down.

dave4x4 said:

I can thoroughly NOT recommend one conversion - a Perkins 4.236

Used to have one in my classic. PITA

Tractor engine. Pull a house down.

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4.236 was bad enough but even worse was a piece of junk a mate of mine bought which had a york 6 cylinder thrown into it , that one even made the perkins conversion look refined ound:.

rick.

I had a 1976 p reg 2 door with a Belarus in it. Proper tractor engine!!

Belarus ? Enlighten me.

Belarus. From a belarus tractor. Fantastic it was. Once it started!

or do you mean....."it started ONCE ?"

v8 rick said:

a mate of mine bought which had a york 6 cylinder thrown into it , that one even made the perkins conversion look refined ound:.
rick.

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I'm not a fan of diesel conversions & would never put one in a RRC but I think the clue to the York's problem lies in the phrase 'conversion'. I drove an A series 'beavertail' recovery truck back in the 'eighties & once you got the thing started (24v through the starter did the trick) the truck drove well & would cruise at the legal limit all day, & that's with a car/van on the back & passengers in the crew-cab.

I've just purchased a 200 tdi engine for my '92 classic vogue, will be converting it in the new year. I love the V8 but it's just not practical these days.

This is just my thoughts on the subject of removing V8,s for diesel engines but it just seems to me that unless the engine is knackered or its a daily driver and doing many miles, it may not be as clear cut idea. I mean lets say a decent all round figure is 17mpg on the V8 and 30mpg on the Tdi so if you do 5000 miles a year on current prices of £1.30 and £1.38, that would be 1337 litres of petrol = £1738 and 754 litres of diesel = £1040, a difference of £698.

A fair size difference but I suppose it comes down to how much for the replacement engine and if you are doing the job yourself, how long will it take and how expensive is your own time.

And of course after all this, you then have considerable less power, more noise and less refinement. Just my thoughts tho.

:kettlepot:

shandonman said:

This is just my thoughts on the
A fair size difference but I suppose it comes down to how much for the replacement engine and if you are doing the job yourself, how long will it take and how expensive is your own time.
And of course after all this, you then have considerable less power, more noise and less refinement. Just my thoughts tho.

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My sentiments exactly!!

I just can't get near 17mpg, trip to the lakes yesterday and some green laning it did 13.6mpg, my friend who came with me in his disco 300tdi did about 30mpg. Massive difference and with the price of fuel it leaves me with no option but to convert to diesel.

I've run both - and for long periods of time,if you actually work them for a living there is no comparison,the v8 would only get more than 18mpg on a long run with no trailer going down to 8mpg whilst doing firewood with a big trailer on short journeys.The 200Tdi by comparison did 30mpg locally with a best of 37.5mpg on holiday around Devon.I dont think it ever got below about 24mpg which makes my 300TDI Disco auto very expensive at 23mpg locally.
The other thought is reliability,the 200TDI is far more reliable than a v8,no plugs,leads,rotor arms,caps,carbs,electric fuel pumps to play around with.

rangie1998 said:

I just can't get near 17mpg, trip to the lakes yesterday and some green laning it did 13.6mpg, my friend who came with me in his disco 300tdi did about 30mpg. Massive difference and with the price of fuel it leaves me with no option but to convert to diesel.

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Ouch I see your point. I've never off-roaded my 3.5efi auto but on a return trip of 630 miles, 2 summers ago, it averaged 22 & that's two-thirds motorway/dual carriageway (legal limit driving) & the rest A roads.

Mine has got mud terrain tyres, which won't help! but so has my friends disco. I used a full tank of fuel on the trip to the lakes, my mates disco used about a quarter and my other friends 2.5 td 90 used about half. At least when its converted to diesel I'll be able to use it more often

Thanks everyone happy new year

2.8 TGV ? 4.2 Nissan ? Me and my mate are planning a landcruser running gear engine axles gearbox ect under a discovery. Could be immense