Driving impressions : V8 vs. TDi

from england i assume?? i didn't think the uk army had any 110 V8s?? is someone going to correct me? i was under the impression that they only put the V8s into their 130in rapier tractors and ambulances, and of course into the 101 fc's. i believe they only had 110's with 2.25/2.5 petrols and 2.5 na/turbo diesels. but i am sure their are plenty of ex-mil 110's that have subsequently been converted to V8. it would not be hard to do yourself either.

cheers.

sam.

On or around Mon, 09 Feb 2004 23:00:53 +0000, Brian Ellis enlightened us thusly:

V8 on LPG. for all the hassle, and extra maintenance and engine changes and so on, it's *fun*.

my views are biassed, and if you get a good 'un, you shouldn't have the hassle and engine changes, it has to be said.

a good TDi is however pretty good, and there a certain amount of scope for tuning it; initially to get it up to rated performance and then it can be given a bigger intercooler and the boost turned up and the fuelling turned up and so on, if you've a mind.

The 300TDi we have in our disco is supremely competent, does everything that's asked of it, will propel the disco up to about 100 mph, but it ain't such fun to drive as my V8 auto. V8 auto 110 is quite doable using an RR

4-speeder; a donor RR is a good bet for the bits, or given the budget, a nice new recon box from someone who knows what they're doing.

note that the 110 V8 isn't necessarily so highly tuned as a disco/RR version.

There are ex-army 110's out there with V8's , when I bought my ex-army 2.5 n/a 1991 defender 110 they also had a couple of ex army V8 110's. I was very tempted at the time to go for V8 but having been a previous owner of a V8 range rover I went for the diesel, I had also owned a petrol 21/4 S3 lwb and a diesel S3 swb before this. My main reason for the diesel choice was the mileage I was doing on a day to day basis at the time. If I knew then that I would not be doing that much mileage anymore I would have gone V8. The diesel S3 to say the least was very slow. the petrol S3 was ok . As for my defender 2.5na well its takes its time to get to about 65mph but its quite happy to go at that all day as long as the hills are not to steep on the motorways. :o) .As a guess i reckon 75mph would be about flat out. If I compare it to the S3 diesel then the 2.5na is a regular speed freak :o) Although i must admit if a TDI came my way i might be tempted to get it fitted. GGJ

When I was looking to buy last year I saw lots of ex-mod 110 V8's available. Trouble was that they were pretty much all soft tops.

Twas Mon, 09 Feb 2004 23:00:53 +0000 when Brian Ellis put finger to keyboard producing:

I'd say if you can afford to run a V8 then get one, if not then get a tdi, I run a n/a and I'd put a tdi in if I could afford to, I thought about a v* but the running costs are too high and I fear the days of LPG as a cheap option are numbered. If I won the lottery I'd have a word with the nice folks at overfinch regarding a V8..

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

I have just gone from a 200Tdi Disco to a 4.6v8 Range Rover, and I have to say I'm going to buy a Tdi next time. The thing with Tdis is, they work. No ignition problems, no timing problems, no electronics to go wrong, no plugs to get crappy, etc etc. Of course, they *do* go wrong, but compared to the V8 there's a lot less complexity to cause problems. It's like a computer vs an abacus - the computer is a little faster and more powerful but you don't often crash an abacus.

Austin's right, the V8 is fun, but I'd rather have dependability than fun. Having said that, the RaRo is great for overtaking...

David

Ah now you see, that's one less decision you have to make in a 2.5n/a 110. There is next to no chance in hell of overtaking anything on a standard "A" road if its going more than 40 mph :o) unless you can see at least 2 miles ahead on a dead straight road.

GGJ

Twas Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:16:54 -0000 when "GGJ" put finger to keyboard producing:

and it's down hill with a following wind.

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

Good point, i completely forgot about the wind factor, should not have done really as driving up the A10 the other weekend into 50mph + head winds slowed me down by a good 10 to 15 mph. GGJ

Thanks, the consensus seems to be get the V8... my bank manager may never forgive you.

I know the mil V8 is restricted to 90 hp with the aid of a couple of restrictors in the inlet manifold, but is that the only restriction or did they muck about with the engine in any more significant (ie hard/expensive to put right) way?

Twas Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:02:34 +0000 when Brian Ellis put finger to keyboard producing:

The army muck about with an engine in an expensive way, I doubt it. I have heard of range rover v8 parts being added to give it more oomph, efi bits maybe.

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

On or around Tue, 10 Feb 2004 14:12:36 -0000, "GGJ" enlightened us thusly:

interesting wind factor effect once going over the new severn crossing on a windy day with 30 mph speed limit - at the time, the LR had an electric fan working off a switch, so you could turn it on if it was getting hot - mostly it ran fine without a fan. On this occasion, the strong *tailwind* mean that it was effectively getting no airflow through the rad, hence it overheated while doing 35 on the flat (albeit with a trailer). wasn't expecting that.

since then I've gone back to an engine-driven fan.

On or around Tue, 10 Feb 2004 10:58:00 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

having said all that the earlier versions of the engine using an ordinary distributor and no engine management have a damn' sight less to go wrong. I suspect there's a deal too much electronics on 'em these days. The TD5 is the same - by all accounts a nice thing, but it's lost the "bodge it with string and a coat-hanger" feature in the process. TDi with a non-EDC mechanical pump has almost-nothing to stop it.

OK, I had problems with sparks, but that was a silly fault (leaky rotor arm); with the electronic distributor back working it's cured the poor cold starting and erratic idle (which must've been down to weak sparks) and it's now going like a good 'un again. I dare say it'd benefit from a set of plugs, with that in mind, but the nice fat electronic sparks seem to be extracting life from the old ones OK...

3.9 on carbs/LPG would I think be my favoured option, but the 9.35:1 3.5 which it's got at the moment seems pretty good, even so.

On or around Tue, 10 Feb 2004 19:02:34 +0000, Brian Ellis enlightened us thusly:

check on compression ratios. derestricting the inlet manifold is a good and easy thing to do, but it may be a low-compression one which is more difficult to alter.

either that or hunt an ex-RR 9.35:1 engine to go in it, which should be a fairly straightforward swap.