Engine choice - please help!

I had a long chat with Warren yesterday about my plans to pull the Discovery apart and use various bits in my Series 2. Now I'm really spoilt for choice.

The options are

i) fit my 3.9, convert my R380 to long stick and swap the axles, plus some kind of coil conversion to the chassis (it's a brand new galvanised chassis on the S2)

ii) fit 3.9 to existing gearbox, use the Disco diffs to up the ratios in the axles and fit good parabolics.

These two both require varying degrees of chassis mods and lots of work, including wiring loom, engine mounts, front panel moving, steering changes to accommodate the CV jointed hubs etc.

iii) fit a 200TDi which is currently on offer, again with Disco diffs. The engine is known good, but very high miles. And it's diesel.

iv) fit a new 2.5 Turner Engineering petrol engine. Drops in and with a good carb setup should be substantially better than the 3 bearing

2.25 petrol with minimal compression that is currently in there.

I don't really want to lose the look of the S2, nor do I want to butcher it and go to coils. If I'm doing that I might as well torch a write-off Rangie and put the Series body and my powertrain on it.

So current favourite looks like the Turner engine (or equivalent from LEGS or whoever). Anyone got any experience with their full engines?

I don't know what I'm asking here really - just for opinions I suppose!

Thanks

Reply to
Tim Hobbs
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The 2.5 petrol would indeed be the least amount of work with it being a striaght swap, and that does make it sound pretty appealing. More expensive though since you dont have that engine already.

However, is it that much work to fit a 200tdi? Will a 200tdi mate straight onto a standard gearbox?. The series box is the same pattern as the LT77 (as fitted to 90's). If it does fit then that engine becomes a nice simple option. More economical than a 2.5 and similar performance (if not better?).

My mate has just put an automotive 2.5 petrol (or maybe its a 2.8?) in his S3. It shifts pretty well now! He's got fancy cams and carbs and exhaust too, and i think it should now be more powerful than a standard v8 (and was a lot less work to put in).

He also put in a 5 speed 90 gearbox. Seems so much nicer than a standard series box!. Makes it seem a lot more refined. I think that the next item on the list of nice improvements for my own landy would be a 5 speed box. even before a new engine. (fairly straight forward to fit too, ignoring the permanent 4x4 issues)

What are you aiming at with your series?. Do you just want to make it run, or do you want to improve it some more? I've used mine as my everyday vehicle, and think that a better gearbox would make it a lot nicer to drive (so i'd choose one of your options that involved a gearbox swap, or add one using an LT77). I also prefer the economy of the diesel engine, so would be tempted by the 200tdi.

Reply to
Tom Woods

Tim Hi,

if you decide you do not need the 3.9 Efi engine I may be interested for it provided it comes complete with all bits like radiator, wiring loom, air filter housing etc.

Take care Pantelis Giamarellos LAND ROVER CLUB OF GREECE

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

Tim hi again,

Actually I may be interested into buying the 3.9 engine and the gearbox and transfer box out of your Discovery.

Please contact me direct at pantgATotenet.gr (replace AT with the known symbol)

Take care Pantelis

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

On or around Sun, 25 Jul 2004 10:47:37 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

remind me why are you pulling apart the disco?

oh, and are you open to offers on the R380 if you don't use it in the series?

better gearbox would be handy for mine. well, and T-box, too. especially if it's a cross-drilled-gear type one.

Anyone who's got a decent one such and prepared to part with it for reasonable money, as well - I'm assuming that the R380/LT230 combo is a more-or-less straight swap for a LT77/LT230 here.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Sun, 25 Jul 2004 10:47:37 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

mean to say go with the 2.5 in the series, unless you fancy one of those 2.8 conversions, and can afford it - alleged to give V8-style power/torque.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Where are these 2.8 engines? I know about the 2.8 variant of the

300TDi, but didn't realise there was a petrol option.

Warren reckons I should fetch £1500 at least for the engine and transmission. It is just rebuilt with new cams, lifters etc and it is very clean indeed for a 130,000 mile unit. A good advert for proper servicing I guess!

To answer Tom's point, I've been giving the 'what do I want from this truck' question some thought. I originally fancied a big, powerful V8, but I think that would probably be a horrible mess without coils and good brakes and handling kit etc. So now I think I want a decent, modernised S2, still true to the overall look and philosophy. So good engine on good chassis, followed by disk brake conversion, PAS conversion etc in due course.

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

Tim Hi,

the 2.8 petrol engine is in fact a BMW engine, straight eight cylinder. It was a South African Land Rover production model but it required some serious job in order to make it fit the manual gearbox, adapt the electronics and make the ancillaries fit properly.

Mind you though the way it drove and the fuel consumption were an astonishing improvement over the 3.9 Efi LR engine.

Take care Pantelis

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

Automotive sell them. Thats the one my mate has that i mentioned in my post.

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'Power plus2.8 engine' about 2/3rds of the way down that page. I cant find aprice for it though, but i think a couple of grand would be about it. They reckon 117bhp. comes with their fancy SU carb and manifold and fancy cam on it too. This is more power than the v8 in the 101 isnt it?

Sounds like the start of a plan!. Kinda what i've been trying to do with mine. I've just put a servo and LWB front brakes on and it now stops better than my car, which is nice!

Reply to
Tom Woods

"> Automotive sell them. Thats the one my mate has that i mentioned in my

Forgot about it. But on the other hand at a couple of grants you can get yourself three secondhand 3.9 Efi engines and still have some change for your beers to be consumed during the installation of the engine in your series vehicle.

Take care Pantelis

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

I've not bought a full engine from Turner, but I did buy a 200Tdi crankshaft + mains, big ends and various belts seals etc from them.

They were excellent: friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They are at the top of my list for similar jobs. No connection except as a satisfied customer.

Pete

Reply to
Pete Young

On or around Sun, 25 Jul 2004 21:13:45 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

erm... I should know the answer to that, as I got onto them once. It's rather a serious re-work of the 2.5, with a long-throw crank and special short pistons, and a choice, IIRC, of heads.

darnit. I was sure I had email from them, but I can't find it. 'twas one of the types that advertise in LRO etc., I don't think it was Turners.

can't find it right now. It might be that no-one bought 'em, so they've stopped doing it - it was quite pricey.

aha!!

formatting link
scroll down a bit to find "2.8 engine", they're about 2 grand though.

"This unit is based on the 5 main bearing 2.25 or the

2.5 engine. It features 95 x 97 mm bore / stroke and is supplied as a stripped unit with the Stage 2 Head, Power Plus © SU carb and Camshaft. Where it replace a 3 main bearing unit the parts (Fly wheel etc.) required to convert can be added. For customers who have already some or all of the Power Plus © system installed on their Land Rover, in most cases this can be re used.

Power Plus © 2.8 Stripped Engine with Stage2 Head SU carb and Camshaft produces the following output:

177 FtLb @ 2300 RPM 117 BHP @ 4100 RPM."
Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Mon, 26 Jul 2004 01:43:42 +0300, "Pantelis Giamarellos" enlightened us thusly:

the BMW is a straight 6, and isn't what I meant. see other post for what i

*did* mean, located eventually after about 10 minutes hunting through old emails.
Reply to
Austin Shackles

It is on the site, just a bit hidden.

2.8 Power Plus © engine (117 BHP) Series 2A/3/90/110 £2846 exch

That's a grand more than Turner want for a standard engine. 117 bhp is hardly rocketship, but then again Turner won't quote a power figure for their engines at all.

117bhp seems to fall between two stools - if I want big performance then the V8 option seems more sensible, if I want smooth and reliable then an overbored 2.25 is perhaps not so great.
Reply to
Tim Hobbs

On or around Mon, 26 Jul 2004 17:26:04 +0100, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

the main thing the powerplus does is generate rafts-full of torque.

177 FtLb @ 2300 RPM 117 BHP @ 4100 RPM. is what they quote.

Mind, the 2.8 powerstroke diesel makes even more. I'd love one of them in a disco. Trouble is they cost lots of $$.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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