Good buy?

Thanks for the replies I'm reading and re reading
I haven't clicked that link yet but I fail to see why people remove the turbos when they are designed to improve power and fuel economy?I think I'd definitely have to go and see it in person if it seems good in the pictures I'm waiting for.

I would be selling a pair of ford mondeos in order to buy it, transport it and buy a tdi engine etc for it. I was planning on
Fitting overdrive to help bring fuel economy up a bit but can't afford to have it breaking half shafts or boxes, can they not be replaced with series 3 ones (if they're stronger) or anything else. Sorry for all the questions I'm still learning and have been reading through other people's projects on here all week!

Gavlaa said:

I haven't clicked that link yet but I fail to see why people remove the turbos when they are designed to improve power and fuel economy?!

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Because you dont really need much power in a series, they are slow, and the brakes and handling average even for their time. And economy isnt bad either, again due to low performance.

And a turbocharger has to be fitted in somewhere, as does its intercooler,and produces a lot of heat, and is something else to go wrong.

Nothing wrong with NA diesels, engine in that is likely the best thing about it!

Just read that page about the 200di engine and found it very interesting although I don't see why fitting and intercooler or oil cooler are a problem, probably because I don't have a series Infront of me to look at! I'm not expecting a fast car or one with amazing handling, but even with the non turbo 200di engine it would have more mpg than any car I own apart from my 1.4tdci fiesta which gets 60mpg if you're lucky!

Are series 3 wings a direct fit onto a series 2? I love the quad headlight look although I'd have to consider if it would ruin the looks of the station wagon

Gavlaa said:

Just read that page about the 200di engine and found it very interesting although I don't see why fitting and intercooler or oil cooler are a problem, probably because I don't have a series Infront of me to look at! I'm not expecting a fast car or one with amazing handling, but even with the non turbo 200di engine it would have more mpg than any car I own apart from my 1.4tdci fiesta which gets 60mpg if you're lucky!

Are series 3 wings a direct fit onto a series 2? I love the quad headlight look although I'd have to consider if it would ruin the looks of the station wagon

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I used to get 30 mpg out of my Perkins engined series, I had two, lwb station wagon with Ashcroft tbox, swb with Fairey, both 4/203.

Its not a problem to use S3 wings if you are going to keep it long term, and if you have space to store the old ones. They do fit, the very last 2as had the headlights on the wings.

I would certainly be keeping it for at least a few years! I have 7 cars for this reason haha. There's always more I want to do! What do you mean by 4/203?

Gavlaa said:

I would certainly be keeping it for at least a few years! I have 7 cars for this reason haha. There's always more I want to do! What do you mean by 4/203?

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4/203 is a Perkins engine.

Gavlaa said:

I would certainly be keeping it for at least a few years! I have 7 cars for this reason haha. There's always more I want to do! What do you mean by 4/203?

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Perkins engines are named by the number of cylinders, and the cubic capacity. 4 cylinder, 203 cubic inches, about 3.3 litres. About the same horsepower as a series diesel, but with the torque of a carbed V8.

Injun in that series might be a 4/192, you can do the maths fer yerself.

4/248 in my tractor is also a great engine, thirty two years old, still swings the muckspeader up a steep hill no worries.

blue beasty said:

4/203 is a Perkins engine.

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Nice, but for the serious diesel landy enthusiast, the 6/354 is the Holy Grail!

If it is a running perkins dont swap it for a crappy modern one.
The gearing on a series is so ruddy low that even at 40mph the engine is doing 70. Changing the engine aint going to improve speed its just going to ruin a tasty series. The more original you keep it the more it will be worth when or if you ever sell it. Ive spent a year trying to turn my 2a back into a 2a after some twunt stuck half a 3 all over it

If you don't pull the trigger, it would make a good LZ crowd funding initiative.

Was the owner planning to replace the chassis with the one parked next to it?

The chassis is a defender.

That landy looks quite interesting actually. Quite original from what you can see but I still wouldn't pay much for it.

John S said:

That landy looks quite interesting actually. Quite original from what you can see but I still wouldn't pay much for it.

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It is unmolested for that age, but a lot of time and money to be spent on it to make it useable and reliable.

plus if you have to pay someone to bring it to you, unless you have a trailer or hire a car transporter, that's going to be 3 or 4 hundred.

and we all know restos are more about love than making money, if you cost in your time you won't make anything

I too have had a Perkins 4.203. Wonderful engine, but slow and noisy. Would drive up the roof of a house, it had that much torque. Unfortunately it twice broke the transmission - once the gearbox mainshaft, then pulled the middle out of the clutch plate. I loved it, but it's much stronger than the rest of the vehicle, so go carefully!

RobertP said:

I too have had a Perkins 4.203. Wonderful engine, but slow and noisy. Would drive up the roof of a house, it had that much torque. Unfortunately it twice broke the transmission - once the gearbox mainshaft, then pulled the middle out of the clutch plate. I loved it, but it's much stronger than the rest of the vehicle, so go carefully!

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You really need higher gearings to make use of a Perkins in a landy. Ashcroft box, Fairey overdrive, things like that. As you say they can break various part of the trans if you arent careful. Torque tends to wear out transfer boxes as well, and halfshafts.

Noise can be reduced by servicing, they get very knocky if the injectors are never serviced. Lot of soundproofing under the bonnet and in the footwells helps as well.

Despite all that, I always had great sevice out of mine, too!

I wouldn't have a problem keeping hold of the parts I swap if they are original so the next owner can have it more original however I would be wanting the best mpg possible whilst under my ownership if I do get it

I assume you will be doing decent mileage if you're concerned about MPG?
With a project like that which will need lots of money spent on it, MPG is small money in comparison

each weekend I do a 200-300mile round trip and do 50miles per weekday so about 500 miles per week, in the fiesta mk6 1.4tdci that comes to about 10p per mile, in my Mondeo 2.0 petrol its 30-50p per mile dependant on how heavily loaded it is and traffic conditions so for a car with decent mpg there's a fair bit of money to be saved over time