ging360

ging360

Active Member
Hello every one, My 1972 88 station wagons 2.25 diesel is nearing the end of its life if it is not given a major rebuild soon, it drinks oil and there is blow past from one or two of the cylinders, i think the compression is so low on one it runs as a three cylinder until up to temperature when the fourth will finally start doing something . As for now it runs but for how much longer i do not know. I plan to undertake a massive strip down and rebuild of the land rover in 1-2 years time and was thinking of getting another engine to rebuild in the interim time period up to this point. It was originally a petrol and has had an ex mod diesel slung in at some point down the line. I know this must have been covered a thousand times but any ideas as to the way to go. A point to ad this will serve as my only vehicle and my daily run around when I'm not away which is in 3-4 month stints so i need an engine which can handle a lot of use over 2 months I'm home but won't mind sitting with little use while I'm away.
 
if you have the money you could give your engine to turners before you go and pick it up when you get back. or just buy one of their recon diesels and stick it in, then refurb your existing one in your own time.

http://www.turner-engineering.co.uk/

or maybe buy a working 2.25 diesel on the bay then either refurb it and swap it or swap it and refurb your existing one.
 
Or convert back to petrol with a turners exchange.....a damn site less flaffing around than a diesel for maintenance and passing MOT's. When it got converted, were the front springs upgraded? If not, it's sitting on petrol and not diesel springs (10 instead of 11 leafs). Also if it was a straight swop out, the fuel tank and sender unit are all for petrol. Do you have the ancillary bits (air filter hoses to carb, carb, manifold etc.)?
 
John S said:
Or convert back to petrol with a turners exchange.....a damn site less flaffing around than a diesel for maintenance and passing MOT's.
Click to expand...
eh???

Can you explain that one?

John S said:
When it got converted, were the front springs upgraded? If not, it's sitting on petrol and not diesel springs (10 instead of 11 leafs).
Click to expand...
Can't see that it would matter. They are the same blocks. Is the diesel really any heavier? And plenty of people run Series Landy's on 3 leaf para's, regardless of engine.
 
Thanks guys. No i don't have the original ancillary bits as it was a pretty thorough conversion form what i can tell apart they kept the petrol ignition barrel so the glow plugs are on a separate button that has been mounted to the instrument cluster and the engine shutoff is the petrol choke.
 
ging360 said:
Hello every one, My 1972 88 station wagons 2.25 diesel is nearing the end of its life if it is not given a major rebuild soon, it drinks oil and there is blow past from one or two of the cylinders, i think the compression is so low on one it runs as a three cylinder until up to temperature when the fourth will finally start doing something . As for now it runs but for how much longer i do not know. I plan to undertake a massive strip down and rebuild of the land rover in 1-2 years time and was thinking of getting another engine to rebuild in the interim time period up to this point. It was originally a petrol and has had an ex mod diesel slung in at some point down the line. I know this must have been covered a thousand times but any ideas as to the way to go. A point to ad this will serve as my only vehicle and my daily run around when I'm not away which is in 3-4 month stints so i need an engine which can handle a lot of use over 2 months I'm home but won't mind sitting with little use while I'm away.
Click to expand...
The biggest questions here are:

1. What sort of budget do you have in mind?
2. What are you wanting to achieve with the vehicle?


For instance, you could simply chuck in another used motor. Plenty about, would be cheap and fairly easy. But you'd not improve or alter performance.

There really are a lot of options, ranging from £50 and your time, to many £1000's.
 
Right well Achievement wise it will become the daily driver only car as it won't get used all year. petrol or diesel doesn't concern as I'm millage is not the biggest concern and any petrol would get an LPG conversion. Budget £300 for an engine in a condition that needs repairing and a further £800 to rebuild it with (this doesn't include budget for LPG conversion for petrols). Of course any money leftover from buying the engine will be included into the rebuild budget.
 
Yeah, but do you want it to go better, faster, smoother, quieter or don't care?

Will you use it off road, towing?

You say mpg doesn't matter, then why bother with the cost and hassle of LPG???

Will you be doing this work yourself, or getting someone to do it?

Does it have to be a rebuilt motor, or would a good running used unit be ok?


Basically:

-swapping in another 2.25 diesel is easy
-swapping in a petrol 2.25 is fairly easy
-swapping in a 2.5 NAD is fairly easy
-swapping in a 2.5 petrol is fairly easy

All of these will pretty much bolt in and replace what you have now. The 2.25D being the easiest. But also the slowest and least powerful.

-200Tdi fairly easy, but more work
-Rover V8 fairly easy, but slightly more work again
-300Tdi, bit more work than an RV8
-Td5, possible, but a reasonable amount more work again
-2.0 Mpi, probably similar to an RV8 amount of work


Other LR engines will be more work again, but many quite possible:
-L-Series diesel
-2.5 BMW diesel
-2.8 BMW petrol
-3.0 BMW diesel

And may require additional mods.

Or there are other engine swaps from other makers. Most will be more work than swapping in a Land Rover engine however.
 
I am a mechanical maintenance engineer so doing the work my self is the way things are going to be happening. Off road and towing are things i would like to be able to do but are not the most important considerations going to be doing a lot of long distance driving. I get quite long periods off my work so i would like an engine to rebuild to keep me busy in my down time up until the point i can afford to full rebuild the land rover. LPG is only a though for cleaning up a petrols emissions a bit as the local test centre insist on putting petrols through emission tests instead of the visual check for the vehicles that are old enough.
 
What country are you in? An MoT test should adhere to the MoT test guidelines.

If you are wanting to do long journeys, then a petrol will be quieter, more refined and smoother than a diesel. So that would get my vote.

You may also want to consider gearing as another avenue to look at. Taller gearing will make for a more pleasant cruiser.

Personally I think I'd look at:

2.5 petrol from a Ninety
2.0 Mpi conversion
or V8 conversion
 
Me I'm up in the far reaches of the north of scotland where the mot testers know there is a rule book but follow it as and when it suits. Ok then i have been considering a V8 or a turner 2.25 uprated petrol so i am thinking down the same lines. The other option for me as there is a lot of them around hear is to de electronic an 2000-2004 Vw tdi passat engine as they were a popular car and there are quite a few lying in the local scrap yard. Know this will be infinitely more work in the long run but travel to collect the engine has to be taken into account.
 
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Afraid I don't know about putting a VW engine in a Landy, unless someone does an adapter kit, then it sounds like a very custom setup. You'll need to somehow mate the engine to the gearbox, or use an entirely different gearbox. Custom mounts, custom exhaust, custom intake, custom cooling system, custom wiring. Might have to R&D to get it fit around the steering, bulkhead, etc etc.

Also I think the VW unit is used mostly as a transverse engine, so you may encounter more issues converting it to longitudinal.

But as I say, I've no idea on this or if it's been done before. It should certainly be possible. But might cost masses of time and money. And at the end of the day you'd end up with a somewhat undesirable VW powered Land Rover.

A 2.25/2.5 petrol will keep it the most Series. And you can indeed spend a fortune on these engines. And they can perform ok. Around 110hp and quite grunty and refined. I think the big claim from the Tuners is, a massively modified one of these can just about exceed the torque output of a standard Low CR 3.5 V8 @ 1500rpm. They don't exactly express the claim like this, and personally I don't really feel it's much of a claim.

The petrol engines however are iconic of Series Land Rovers.

A V8 is an easy way to get reasonable power, smooth refined running for a sensible budget. Series drive trains are not really up to heavily modded V8's, but a 3.5 or sensibly driven 3.9 should be fine for the most part. And mpg is unlikely to be all that different to the 2.25/2.5 petrols, maybe slightly better.

If petrol appeals, I'd still say have a look at the 2.0 litre Mpi from the Discovery. It's a Rover T Series engine, Very nice and likely more economical than any of the other petrols and with a 134hp stock ,it'll go plenty quick.
 
John S said:
Or convert back to petrol with a turners exchange.....a damn site less flaffing around than a diesel for maintenance and passing MOT's. When it got converted, were the front springs upgraded? If not, it's sitting on petrol and not diesel springs (10 instead of 11 leafs). Also if it was a straight swop out, the fuel tank and sender unit are all for petrol. Do you have the ancillary bits (air filter hoses to carb, carb, manifold etc.)?
Click to expand...

mine started out as a petrol, I shall count my leaves tomorrow. now you have said that about the tank it probably explains why my tank is relatively new c.f. the age of the rest of the car, I just assumed the old one rusted out or something, never occurred to me it might have been done when the engine was changed.
 
Right so it is looking the likely route is petrol. This will becoming interesting if i go this route as i have never owned or driven a petrol engined vehicle. Though finding one that is not to far away may be difficult.
 
300bhp/ton said:
eh???

Can you explain that one?


Can't see that it would matter. They are the same blocks. Is the diesel really any heavier? And plenty of people run Series Landy's on 3 leaf para's, regardless of engine.
Click to expand...

I was coming at this from an authenticity viewpoint regarding the springs; it depends on whether it matters for the standard of restoration. Sure you can put all manner of fandango engines and suspension on a landy. Depends what you want. As for the diesel, its heavier (just) but its got to be one of the world's worst engines; a smokey low powered unit prone to tuning problems with obsolete fuel pump. It's problems are well trained in this forum, particularly getting it tuned and running. From experience they are also a right **** to sort out for emissions for MOT compared to a petrol engine, which is so conventional they can easily be serviced and tuned. It's all down to personal preference but if your wanting to a lot of road miles the petrol may be better.
 
I like my old diesel, well it is a bit smokey, in terms of starting and running etc I have had no problems with it in the 6 or 7 years I have had it :D but I only do a couple of k miles a year so it isn't really getting worked
 
Alright thanks guys for all the points, yeah the old 2.25 diesel isn't that bad an engine especially when its well setup like mine appears to be.
 
i love the petrol engine the best, you dont have all the knocking noise and is much smoother, i know petrols are not good going down hills as they dont have the compression, but id rather the petrol, and they dont have the diesel smell, which now is classed as a possible carcinogen.
but everyone has they own favourite engine so its up to them in the end.

Tony
 
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