Typical fuel consumption with Perkins 4.203 diesel in a Series?

23 to 30 mpg depending on gearing. Marginally better than 2286cc Landrover diesel engine but lots more grunt. Slower revving than Landrover diesel so needs Range rover diffs and overdrive. Noisy but a good one will last for ever. A bit outdated now and doesn't perform as well as 200 Tdi. Fitting requires adapter plate and mountings, modified clutch, alteration of exhaust and wiring and slight modifications to chassis.

Martin

Thanks Martin.

The Perkins is already in a 1968 2A 109" station wagon I have acquired but which is not yet roadworthy, hence my question about the likely fuel consumption as it's going to be a while before I can check it myself.

The 109 currently has a Series III gearbox with overdrive, both of which seem to be in good order, and what look like standard Series diffs.

I've picked up a workshop manual for the 4.203 and that tells me it develops

60bhp at 2600rpm, with max torque coming in at 1400rpm so I would guess that at the moment it's good for no more than 55mph flat out, even with the overdrive engaged.

I can therefore well understand the attractions of Rangie diffs, but as it's a LWB, I'm also contemplating diffs from a Rover P4, preferably the 3.9 ones out of the Rover 95 if I can find a couple of good ones, or possibly the 4.3 ones from the other P4s, but I doubt the 4.3 ones will be sufficiently different from the standard ones . What do you think?

The engine sounds good (reminding me very much of the sound of a Massey Ferguson 35 tractor), starts instantly and does not smoke, so I think I'll leave it in there for a while and see how it goes.

The other option would be to swap it for a Prima diesel as I have a spare one kicking around, or possibly a 200TDI with the turbo removed, but I think I'll live with the Perkins for now until I see how much of my budget the work on the rest of the vehicle absorbs.

Thanks again. Simon

That's a pretty accurate guesstimate, just working off the figures, especially having no experience of the engine, but it will definitely cope with 3.54:1 diffs.

The 4/203 will outlast the Prima IMHO and the 200 Tdi without the turbo is lacking in power. Seeing as it's already fitted and working well I would stay with it but put the high diffs in, the 4/203 doesn't last or like it if held at high revs for long periods but will last forever if the speed is kept down and the torque destroys series gearboxes if abused with the bigger Perkins engines. The only problem with the engine is the price of parts, but used properly you will never need any.

Martin

I agree with keeping the 4/203 in place, but it sounds as if it's definitely going to have to have Rangie diffs fitted.

I'm not sure what you would define as "high revs" for a 4/203 but, if peak power is at 2600rpm, I assume you probably mean anything over about 2400 rpm?

Am I right in my assumption that, with 32" tyres, 3.54 diffs give about

23mph/1000rpm in top gear, and about 29mph/1000rpm in overdrive top?

If so, that should give me about 32mph in top and 40mph in overdrive top at the 1400 rpm peak torque.

And presumably enable me to keep up with the trucks on the motorway at around 60mph with just over 2000rpm in overdrive top, or 2500 rpm in direct top, both of which are hopefully well below what you call "high revs"?

Simon

On or around Fri, 4 Jul 2008 21:32:00 +0100, "Simon Oates" enlightened us thusly:

it's the half-shaft consumption you should be worried about.

although if you have a salisbury or other HD axle, it ought to be OK.

don't be tempted by the bigger output of the 4.236, as that really does eat half-shafts...

heard of a rangie once with a 6.354 in it, god knows why.

Hehe, you can say that again. :-)

Friend of mine had one and used to pull a sodding great trailer with it, nice and smooth though but not as quiet as the P38 with BMW but probably twice as much get-up-and-go.

Martin

On or around Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:05:27 +0100, "Oily" enlightened us thusly:

main thing about the 6.354 is it was designed for lorries up to about 16T gross weight, so the fact that it probably weighs half a ton is not really a problem.

I ran a SWB 2a on standard gearing with a 4.203 for a while. Fuel consumption was high 20s to low 30s, with or without the caravan. Top speed depends on where the engine came from, as they were fitted in vans and all sorts of plant. The most memorable thing about it was the amount of noise it made at 40mph.