Could I fit a different engine other than a LR/RR engine?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
B

Basic

Member
Posts
40
Location
Newton Abbot, Devon
The reason for this, I have been doing quite bit of searching around at vehicles for sale.
Plus looking at all the engine derivatives and I don't want to go down the diesel route but there doesn't seem to be many options with the petrol units either.
Could I fit a Japanese engine instead?

(I'm really sorry if this offends anyone) :)
 
You can fit anything to anything if you have enough expertise/money...

You say you dont want diesel, is it power your after? Diesel tuning is fairly cheap and whack a big turbo and intercooler on a diesel lump and it will have a fair whack of power...

If you really want petrol then why not the 3.9 V8? Its one of the easiest engines to get parts for as its a UK special really, its tunable, cheap and sounds rather tasty...
 
Last edited:
In a series I can understand why people fit none landy engines.but to be fair if you've got a 300tdi or v8 theres no reason you couldn't keep them going for as long as your wallet alows. Their both infinately tunable and spare are always about and very well priced.Engines aren't a landys weakness,rust and not servicings is. Keep up with both and there'd be no need to fit any other make engine.
 
Jongould said:
You can fit anything to anything if you have enough expertise/money...

You say you dont want diesel, is it power your after? Diesel tuning is fairly cheap and whack a big turbo and intercooler on a diesel lump and it will have a fair whack of power...

If you really want petrol then why not the 3.9 V8? Its one of the easiest engines to get parts for as its a UK special really, its tunable, cheap and sounds rather tasty...
Click to expand...

I have never owned a diesel powered vehicle and have limited knowledge about them.
I have driven plenty with diesel engines in from the early Transits to the latest diesels that are out now.
It's not until I joined a Forum about L/Rovers did I discover that not everything I heard about them is true.
Friends of mine own them and say their's never break down but it seems they do suffer with several problems.
I know from own experiences which japanese powered vehicles that they are extremely reliable.
Hence the question.

V8's are beautiful and have had a lot of fun over the years with many V8 powered vehicles.
One of my favourites being my late Father's 500SL Mercedes Sports in Spain and travelling down a deserted dual carriageway doing 240kph for 10k. (he was driving)
I could have brought it back to the UK in 2006 but being LHD I sold it.

3.9 V8 will look at which vehicles have these then.

I sort of now know what I am after, something smallish as there is only me, I don't have family anymore with a V8 but must be an automatic.


Dr_evil said:
no its never been done before, no one has ever fitted a non standard engine into a vehcile that it wasn't designed for :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have done it several times....:D
 
MPfive said:
In a series I can understand why people fit none landy engines.but to be fair if you've got a 300tdi or v8 theres no reason you couldn't keep them going for as long as your wallet alows. Their both infinately tunable and spare are always about and very well priced.Engines aren't a landys weakness,rust and not servicings is. Keep up with both and there'd be no need to fit any other make engine.
Click to expand...

That's it in a nutshell, servicing!
I have read several horror stories where people are not having their vehicles serviced due to the credit crunch.
I can do a lot of stuff myself but when I'm feeling lazy or I'm not in good enough health then I have a really good garage that does things for me at a reasonable cost as well.
 
Ok, well a little more research into the problems that you read about may ease your woes. The most common fault that people have with the diesels are overheating and this is due to the nature of how these are being used (rads filling with mud, hoses getting caught in dodgy mods e.t.c.)

I have got a bit of experience with all sorts of engines, the 200TDi engine is one of the most reliable engines going, they run cool and are a very basic design i.e. no electronics e.t.c. to go wrong. I know what you mean by jap engines being strong BUT there is a massive drawback with them, parts are expensive and maintenance generally requires specialist knowledge/tooling to do correctly.

If you are insistant on a V8 then the 3.9 all the way, the earlier 3.5's suffered with overheating and oil feed issues, the later 3.9 ones are alot better. There are loads of tuning parts for the V8's however bear in mind where it will be used. The best mods personally are to the cooling and oil systems, off roaders use lots of power at low speeds and so dont get the air flow to them like a performance V8 car.
 
Jongould said:
Ok, well a little more research into the problems that you read about may ease your woes. The most common fault that people have with the diesels are overheating and this is due to the nature of how these are being used (rads filling with mud, hoses getting caught in dodgy mods e.t.c.)

I have got a bit of experience with all sorts of engines, the 200TDi engine is one of the most reliable engines going, they run cool and are a very basic design i.e. no electronics e.t.c. to go wrong. I know what you mean by jap engines being strong BUT there is a massive drawback with them, parts are expensive and maintenance generally requires specialist knowledge/tooling to do correctly.

If you are insistant on a V8 then the 3.9 all the way, the earlier 3.5's suffered with overheating and oil feed issues, the later 3.9 ones are alot better. There are loads of tuning parts for the V8's however bear in mind where it will be used. The best mods personally are to the cooling and oil systems, off roaders use lots of power at low speeds and so dont get the air flow to them like a performance V8 car.
Click to expand...


3.5's are better as they're not over bored aren't they ?

Could always see if you can lay your hands on a 3.2 or chevy small block!
 
Dr_evil said:
3.5's are better as they're not over bored aren't they ?

Could always see if you can lay your hands on a 3.2 or chevy small block!
Click to expand...


From what I know the 3.5's suffered with oil feed issues which resulted in overheating, this was solved with the 3.9 I believe, this is why I would prefer the 3.9...
 
I was lead to believe that the 3.5 was the better option as it was the most basic, the 3.9 could slip liners etc like the 4.0 and bigger ?

Either way I'm happy enough with the 3.5 if it dies then I will replace it with a non rover engine anyway
 
Theres one engine I always thought would be a good choice, the vauxhall 2.0 16V petrol engine. Its an extremley reliable engine, has loads of power and torque, loads of tuning bits for it, the plug leads can easily be made waterproof and its just an all round great engine...


...but I would rather the V8 still...
 
Jongould said:
Ok, well a little more research into the problems that you read about may ease your woes. The most common fault that people have with the diesels are overheating and this is due to the nature of how these are being used (rads filling with mud, hoses getting caught in dodgy mods e.t.c.)

I have got a bit of experience with all sorts of engines, the 200TDi engine is one of the most reliable engines going, they run cool and are a very basic design i.e. no electronics e.t.c. to go wrong. I know what you mean by jap engines being strong BUT there is a massive drawback with them, parts are expensive and maintenance generally requires specialist knowledge/tooling to do correctly.

If you are insistant on a V8 then the 3.9 all the way, the earlier 3.5's suffered with overheating and oil feed issues, the later 3.9 ones are alot better. There are loads of tuning parts for the V8's however bear in mind where it will be used. The best mods personally are to the cooling and oil systems, off roaders use lots of power at low speeds and so dont get the air flow to them like a performance V8 car.
Click to expand...

I bought September's issue of Land Rover Monthly and it has a supplement in which outlines all the pitfalls of the various models and types.
To be honest it's enough to put me off alltogether.
But every vehicle has it's issues even my car does, nothing is ever completely reliable.

In LRM it said if you are going into deeper water then a diesel is better than a petrol, I can understand that as there is less electrics with a diesel.
Diesels don't require electricity to start,
(old ones didn't, the days of starting handles on Transit Vans in the middle of winter springs to mind!)
I understand things have changed over the years, thank goodness.

That's interesting though only basic modifications to the airflow side of things.

The 3.9V8 is the one to go for.
I have made notes of everything that has been recommended.
Thank you very much for your help.
 
Dr_evil said:
A GM 6.2 V8 diesel will fit

A Rover V8 would be the easiest to fit anyway,
Click to expand...

A really serious engine for me is the 427 which was shoehorned into the Shelby Cobra.
It was 7.0L V8.
But I don't expect there are many of these around these days and I hate to think how much a fully built engine would be.
Just a pipe dream this is in all reality. :)

Have gotten a bit sidetracked here...lol

200TDi - Seems it can be updated quite easily and for not much money in comaparison to the V8.
The other thing I seem to have forgotten is Torque, diesels generally have a lot more than this compared to a petrol engine.
Ideally I would like something that at the very worst did 25mpg but preferably more.
 
Last edited:
Basic said:
I bought September's issue of Land Rover Monthly and it has a supplement in which outlines all the pitfalls of the various models and types.
To be honest it's enough to put me off alltogether.
But every vehicle has it's issues even my car does, nothing is ever completely reliable.

In LRM it said if you are going into deeper water then a diesel is better than a petrol, I can understand that as there is less electrics with a diesel.
Diesels don't require electricity to start,
(old ones didn't, the days of starting handles on Transit Vans in the middle of winter springs to mind!)
I understand things have changed over the years, thank goodness.

That's interesting though only basic modifications to the airflow side of things.

The 3.9V8 is the one to go for.
I have made notes of everything that has been recommended.
Thank you very much for your help.
Click to expand...


I am running a 200TDi and to be honest if it wasn't for wanting to ford I would run a V8, I still think about getting one anyway and just not going into deep water, maybe one day...


The beauty with diesels is they are easy to tune, more fuel/air in + more power, the pumps can be turned up in about 5 minutes, the exhaust can be made straight through and so the only other things to do are cooler/turbo which if done well should add a fair chunk of power. I would expect the standard 100bhp to go up to between 150-175 with the correct stuff done to it (I say that loosely, I know the VW AAZ can hit over 200bhp without internal mods so I expect the 200TDi cant be far off). If you want to you can look into water injection, bigger diesel injectors and nitrous (nitrous works rather well on diesels) but then your getting silly


V8's need a bit more to tune but if you wanted to you can take a rover unit over 500bhp (big ol' charger hanging out the bonnet :D)
 
Basic said:
A really serious engine for me is the 427 which was shoehorned into the Shelby Cobra.
It was 7.0L V8.
But I don't expect there are many of these around these days and I hate to think how much a fully built engine would be.
Just a pipe dream this is in all reality. :)
Click to expand...


Get a shelby crate motor, they are still about, 800bhp in a box :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Is a D3/D4 less "bouncy" than a D2? What about a L322 2002-2011?
Replies
7
Views
1K
Gord Wedman
G
R
1998 defender pickup rebuild. I need help.
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
re-volt
R
I
I brought a very rough running v8 90 the other day
Replies
1
Views
343
Loafer61
Loafer61
S
What Temp sensor/sender is right for 2.5 Petrol 17H?
Replies
11
Views
785
scott3933
S
G
Conversion of an oil bath air filter to run a snorkel
Replies
6
Views
828
grewth
G
Back
Top