VM6 Motori

Hi all
Just purchased a 1986 Land Rover 90 which has a few interesting quirks. As well as having a sailsbury back axle fitted with a weird prop that has two different sized yolk's (yet to be identified), it also has a VM HR 692 HT motori straight 6 engine in it. Information on this conversion is very slim on the ground and the only info I can find on the engine is in regards to it fitted in boats. Sounds beastly, pulls well but seems to run very hot (just under 3/4 on the gauge but doesn't go above this so may be something to do with the sensor compatibility??
Only other thing is loads of smoke on start up, but is clear as day when it's warmed up a bit and isnt loosing water or oil.
Would love to hear any thoughts advise with regards to the conversion. Thinking about adding an intercooler maybe??
I'll try and work out how to add pics too (ask wife)

I'm a fan Of the VM oil burners, my only tinkerer experience is on a 425 but still a fan, they have most if not all torque below 2k and pull nicely..

Quite refined too, more so with a 6 pot i'd imagine..

What colour smoke does she produce?

Black?
White?
Blue?

Is the coolant clean?

Oil is it clean?

I'd say this conversion is great, something I would of done myself, always fancied putting a VM in a 110 much better than the 2-300 tdi's IMO more torque accessable at low RPM and significantly smoother!!!

Some say they do lunch Headgaskets every 70k and they sometimes do, but their HG replacement coincides with a 2-300 tdi T-Belt change and it takes around the same amount of time to do, so it's subjective as to what you'd rather do

What some forget to do is, the VM after a HG change requires after 1000mi of varied driving to have the headbolts retorqued, most don't do this and the HG's suffer as a consequence and don't last as long as they could do..

Anyway YEP IT'S GREAT!!!


Whats the cooling system like in regards to parts?

Viscous fan or electric?

If it has no intercooler i'd definitely fit one

Smoke is kind of very light grey, nearly white and smells like diesel. Water and oil are both clear. I have to run the glow plugs through about 3 cycles before it will start (haven't pulled them and checked if there all working yet), so I wonder if they may be the fault. Sounds odd but it sort of feels like the engine has flooded before it starts. It does feel like it has a lot of torque. Only have to blip the throttle and pulls well. You can't feel steep hills either. Sounds lovely too. Here comes a straight through exhaust!
Cooling system is standard landy rad with a viscous fan.
The heads look interesting. Met some old fella the other day while waiting for parts in craddock's who said it was designed like that so if one head screwed you could remove it and still run on the others to get your boat back to port.
Can't be a bad engine as BMW put their name to it as a boat motor!

ChrisBduck said:

Smoke is kind of very light grey, nearly white and smells like diesel. Water and oil are both clear. I have to run the glow plugs through about 3 cycles before it will start (haven't pulled them and checked if there all working yet), so I wonder if they may be the fault. Sounds odd but it sort of feels like the engine has flooded before it starts. It does feel like it has a lot of torque. Only have to blip the throttle and pulls well. You can't feel steep hills either. Sounds lovely too. Here comes a straight through exhaust!
Cooling system is standard landy rad with a viscous fan.
The heads look interesting. Met some old fella the other day while waiting for parts in craddock's who said it was designed like that so if one head screwed you could remove it and still run on the others to get your boat back to port.
Can't be a bad engine as BMW put their name to it as a boat motor!

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Each pot has it's own cylinder head

Quite an unusual design..

cool though

That smoke will be diesel..

In my experience of vm's the glow plug light goes off too early try glowing it past the light 'tis about 10-20 seconds and listen for an audible "click" once you hear that.

turn the key and see what happens

ChrisBduck said:

Hi all
Just purchased a 1986 Land Rover 90 which has a few interesting quirks. As well as having a sailsbury back axle fitted with a weird prop that has two different sized yolk's (yet to be identified), it also has a VM HR 692 HT motori straight 6 engine in it. Information on this conversion is very slim on the ground and the only info I can find on the engine is in regards to it fitted in boats. Sounds beastly, pulls well but seems to run very hot (just under 3/4 on the gauge but doesn't go above this so may be something to do with the sensor compatibility??
Only other thing is loads of smoke on start up, but is clear as day when it's warmed up a bit and isnt loosing water or oil.
Would love to hear any thoughts advise with regards to the conversion. Thinking about adding an intercooler maybe??
I'll try and work out how to add pics too (ask wife)

Click to expand...

smoke on start up is often valve guides or compression dropping,compression if it takes longer turning over

Henry_b said:

Each pot has it's own cylinder head

Quite an unusual design..

cool though

That smoke will be diesel..

In my experience of vm's the glow plug light goes off too early try glowing it past the light 'tis about 10-20 seconds and listen for an audible "click" once you hear that.

turn the key and see what happens

Click to expand...

not uncommon in other engines not fitted to cars,they are indirect and heads prone for cracking

jamesmartin said:

not uncommon in other engines not fitted to cars,they are indirect and heads prone for cracking

Click to expand...

Yes heads do crack, most due to overheating though i'm sure?

Henry_b said:

Yes heads do crack, most due to overheating though i'm sure?

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combustion temps its common on turbo diesels too, they chrome coated heads at one point but it wasnt a cure

jamesmartin said:

combustion temps its common on turbo diesels too, they chrome coated heads at one point but it wasnt a cure

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Oh thanks JM cleared that up
They also run rather high oil pressure aswell?

And also have an odd crankshaft arrangement, looks beefy from the heads down..

Henry_b said:

Oh thanks JM cleared that up
They also run rather high oil pressure aswell?

And also have an odd crankshaft arrangement, looks beefy from the heads down..

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oil pressure is high more 90 psi than 50 or 60, block doesnt have bolted split bearing housings ,you bolt a split bearing housing round the crank journal which is circular and feed the assembly through the block which has a machined tunnel through it so block is one piece no bolted bearing caps,wet linered too

It is quite slow to turn over, and will only fire if I run the glow plug cycle 3 times in succession. No smoke once it's warmed up though. Runs clean as a whistle and starts fine then too.
Hopefully not a compression issue but ho hum these things are sent to test! I'll keep my fingers crossed for buggerd glow plugs

ChrisBduck said:

It is quite slow to turn over, and will only fire if I run the glow plug cycle 3 times in succession. No smoke once it's warmed up though. Runs clean as a whistle and starts fine then too.
Hopefully not a compression issue but ho hum these things are sent to test! I'll keep my fingers crossed for buggerd glow plugs

Click to expand...

engine needs a lot of heat for good combustion plus good injection of the diesel ,cranking speed ,poor glow plugs .poor injectors and compression affect that ,ie if compression drops a higher or longer cranking is needed,same with glow plugs , the longer the cranking the more fuel there is unburnt in the cylinders ,but not vapourised for complete burn, this is true of all diesels but especially indirect diesels

Spanners out tomorrow then! Cheers James
As it seems there is very little you don't know about all green oval, my rear prop has different sized yolks at either end. I know it will have to have been something different to accommodate the sailsbury. Does it sound like a bit of a diy mix up or is this sort of prop known to you? Maybe a front off something else?
Cheers again

JM is "THE" expert regarding LR's..

Toss a Q at him and you get an answer..

salisbury has a std sized flange,and props have equal joints, sounds like a diy fix