omega engine swap

Hi all. I have just fitted an omega engine into my p38 to replace the knackerd engine that i got stiched up with when i bought it !!! I took it up the road for a quick spin this evening and it seems a bit gutless (more so than usual anyway) I havnt had it running for very long yet and havnt checked everything so could be somthing simple but does anybody know if there is any power difference between these engines and if there is, is there easy way to upgrade it ? Thanks in advance
Luke

Presumably you are talking about the 2.5 diesel, if so, yep they re a bit gutless, did you have the car running for long on the old engine to know how it used to go? The cam might be different in the Range Rover engine to provide more torque to pull the heavier car? I would stick a Van Aaken smart box on it anyway!

I replaced my engine with 1 from an omega over 2 years ago and I find it rather pish too, dont know if there is something wrong with it as I had no engine when I bought the RR so cant compare.

Yes it is the 2.5 diesel. The big ends were so shot that i couldnt bring my self to run the engine for very long so i never got to drive it. I have another 2.5 dse but that one is automatic and has a psi power box fitted so cant really the two (the new engine one is manual) Im gona swap the psi box over and see what happens. Has anyone had experience of the van aaken box and the psi box togeather ? My psi box dosnt seem to make much difference untill you get to about 2000 rpm.

p38owner said:

Hi all. I have just fitted an omega engine into my p38 to replace the knackerd engine that i got stiched up with when i bought it !!! I took it up the road for a quick spin this evening and it seems a bit gutless (more so than usual anyway) I havnt had it running for very long yet and havnt checked everything so could be somthing simple but does anybody know if there is any power difference between these engines and if there is, is there easy way to upgrade it ? Thanks in advance
Luke

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I'm in the process of changing my fooked dse lump for an Omega one myself, I think any differance will be in the ecu, the heads and cams are the same (as when was looking for a head for my RR I did a lot of checking) the inj pumps are the same the other anoying differances are sumps, oil pickups, front pulley diameter, and turbo apart from that they are indenticle!! as are BMW 325 and 525 td and tds's.

The other thing I noticed was one of the temp sensors (the single pin one) is blue on the Vaux and green on the RR (or the other way about, can't remember), can't see that being too much of a problem tho.

Thanks for that geekfreek. Put my mind at rest. I have taken it for a better run tonight and i am actully quite impressed with the performance the only problem now is i think the head gasket is fooked. Sometimes I just hate range rovers !!! The engine swap was straight forward and went back together much easier than i anticipated. Let me know how you get on with your swap.

p38owner said:

Thanks for that geekfreek. Put my mind at rest. I have taken it for a better run tonight and i am actully quite impressed with the performance the only problem now is i think the head gasket is fooked. Sometimes I just hate range rovers !!! The engine swap was straight forward and went back together much easier than i anticipated. Let me know how you get on with your swap.

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Although its a pain in the arse having to do the head gasket its not that bad, I bought an engine in bits from an omega and had to build the whole thing up with no way of knowing if it was a good un, you do get the chance to replace the timing chains etc so it gives you assurance that its done.

rangiep38 said:

Although its a pain in the arse having to do the head gasket its not that bad, I bought an engine in bits from an omega and had to build the whole thing up with no way of knowing if it was a good un, you do get the chance to replace the timing chains etc so it gives you assurance that its done.

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Do you have to use the special tools as described in the rave manual ? Can you remember how much it was for the head bolts and gasket ?

p38owner said:

Do you have to use the special tools as described in the rave manual ? Can you remember how much it was for the head bolts and gasket ?

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My advise would be to sniff test it before you go the way of changing the head and or gasket, well worth it and it will make certain you have a combustion leak or not.

There are loads of other reasons why these overheat (just look at the other threads in this forum) have you checked the waterpump? they have a nasty habit of breaking up at around 100k and stopping water flow.

The special tools are useful but not essential, you can get away with a bit of coathanger wire for the timing chain tensioner retainer, you just need something to hold the camshaft in position while you do up the NEW bolt (£8) which will be a 2 man job without the tool.

I'll have a look for the receipt for the stretch bolts and let you know but about £30 IIRC, the head gaskets I've used were genuine LR ones £75 a pop! but I've had so many problems with pattern head gaskets on diesels in the past I don't risk anything less than OEM head gaskets now, all in all the head is a piece of cake to change.

Try not to mess with the pump timing if you can help it as without the proper dial gauge it's tricky to get spot on, unless you make up your own tool (I did it using a DTI from an Astra diesel timing gauge).

Let us know how you get on

Go on ebay for the timing tools this will lock the cam and flywheel about £26 I didnt have this at the time so it was eyeballed by removing no1 injector and other crap but better to do it right but then like geekfreek said check it over first.