What deisel engine?

[Pharb]

Thinking of building up a Defender/110 or Gen 1 4D RR for a outback/long distance tourer. I'm not really keen on the 200/300tdi/td5 engines, a bit undersized/overstressed for longterm and cheap reliabilty. The old 4cyl 4L isuzu motor would be good but what is their performance like? Are they available in turbo form? How hard is it to mate up a decent 5 sp box?
What other deisel options might be possible? I think one of the 6.5L V8 yank deisels would be interesting but a bit of overkill, especially in the tareweight equation.

Peter H

[tiggr]

The Isuzu 4BDIT indestructable ! the S.A.S have them in their long range patrol vehicles , a mate of mine fitted one to his 88 mod RR and travels Aust pulling his Kimberly Kamper he left 3 years ago and regularly emails me telling me - bragging - about fuel econ and power / torque .He brought it froma truck wreckers for $3500 and we stuffed around for 2 weeks to get everything right .

[lowbox]

They're pretty agricultural, rattly and heavy. They are hard on engine mounts( with the weight and vibration) and the lighter gearboxes wear quickly from the vibration at idle. But if you are doing a lot of miles and you don't need power then they are fine. Maybe one of the powerstroke 2.8s would be better (essentially a 300 tdi bored out to 2.8)

ct

[HSV Rangie]

There is a guy on the Bellarine peninsula who has a 6.5 lt chev diesel in his defender.

Bought the car picked it up, took it back for the first service with 6.5 in it.

performs very well.

Michael.

[Thonger]

If you mean the 3.9 litre Izuzu then yeah they can take a turbo, the 6x6 models are turbo'd and most 4x4 ones are n/a. Have been driving them for 8 years with 4 speed boxes, they can pull a heap of weight and take a lot of abuse. Fuel economy isn't to bad either even with a four speed box.

[manitou]

The Army 6x6 landrovers have the turbo version in them with a 5 speed and we never seemed to have any problems with the gearbox. I don't know which gearbox they have in them though. They were put in the Australian built defenders built for the Australian Army and for civilian use also so you might be able to ge a bellhousing from one of them and them it should pretty much bolt up to the gear box with few problems.

[ISUZUROVER]

I have a 110 county with a 4BD1 (3.9l ISUZU 4cyl). It is a great engine and gets 9-11l/100km. It needs a turbo though - especially mine which has the LT85 5speed and is really high geared. All the military versions have an LT95 4speed (with integral T-case).

You can fit a turbo to the na (4BD1) version so you don't have to hunt around for the almost impossible to find turbo (4BD1T) version. Chuck (strangerover - Sam's business partner) has a turbo'd 4BD1 in his RR mated to an R380 (latest 5-speed gearbox).

[RaginRover]

I have a 110 county with a 4BD1 (3.9l ISUZU 4cyl). It is a great engine and gets 9-11l/100km. It needs a turbo though - especially mine which has the LT85 5speed and is really high geared. All the military versions have an LT95 4speed (with integral T-case).

You can fit a turbo to the na (4BD1) version so you don't have to hunt around for the almost impossible to find turbo (4BD1T) version. Chuck (strangerover - Sam's business partner) has a turbo'd 4BD1 in his RR mated to an R380 (latest 5-speed gearbox).

It is running a subaru wrx sti turbo and intercooler, makes it run really well !

[modman]

for the cost involved has anyone put a larger intercooler in front of the 300tdi and used a 3" exhaust. this would cost $1500 max. with all conversions you suffer problems with high km's.
another option would be 4.2 turbo patrol (90's) with aftermarket intercooler.

[Bush65]

I bought a 4BD1T from an Isuzu truck for my rig (not rolling yet). Has a different sump, flywheel housing and bigger clutch than those in rovers.

The turbo motor has a tufftride treated crank, oil cooled pistons and (from memory) a bigger oil cooler.

The 4BD1T was replaced by the 4BD2T and now by a 4.8L 4 cyl. There were also 6BD1T (5.9L 6 cyl but too long for rangie engine bay).

[rick130]

for the cost involved has anyone put a larger intercooler in front of the 300tdi and used a 3" exhaust. this would cost $1500 max. :

Been on the agenda for a while, and now on the backburner as have to buy some acres.

There is also this alternative......
MTQ Engine Services, (formerly DTS Turbo Systems) do a turbo upgrade for the 300TDi, replacing the Garrett T250 with a Mitsubishi TD04 and a new exhaust manifold running less boost (12psi vs 15.5psi) for 20% more power and torque, with the thing coming on boost much earlier than stock.

Torque goes from 265Nm @ 1800 rpm up to 335 Nm @ 1650 rpm, and power goes from 84 kw @ approx. 4000 rpm up to 101 kw @ 3500 rpm, with both curves much flatter. Who needs a TD5 ?

Of course you can just get a 2.8l Powerstroke from Brazil which pretty much bolts up, if you have the dosh

Rick.

[Scooter]

Is it possible to do these kinds of transplants including an auto box?

[red90]

A friend of mine recently converted his 110 V8 to the Isuzu diesel. I think he just recently added the turbo.

He was able to find a good used engine fairly easily and cheaply. His main problem was finding some of the bits to mate it to the LT95. The problem was that some components were specially made just for the run of 110s that had the engine/gearbox combo and they are no longer available new from LR. Finding the correct used components was difficult....

[red90]

Maybe one of the powerstroke 2.8s would be better (essentially a 300 tdi bored out to 2.8)ct

Actually, I believed they are a stroked 300TDI, not bored. That is why they have so much more torque (277 versus 195 lb-ft). A great choice if you want to spend the money. Should be around $12000 for the full new engine, gearbox, intercooler and all bits. You could get it down to $10000 if you source the non engine bits used yourself.

I think my friend spent around $3000 for the Isuzu conversion, but had to spend a huge amount of time chasing parts.

Another popular option is the old GM V8 diesel mated to the newer NV4500 5 speed and custom fitted to the LT230. It will be about the same weight as the Isuzu, but more work to fit.

[modman]

i believe andersons landrovers in qld. have bellhousings for the isuzu motors pretty cheap.
they always advertise in those 4x4 sale books with pictures that come out every month.

david

[Nugget]

A friend of mine has a 110 with the 4BD1 Izuzu and 5 speed LT85 Santana trans. The engine has good fuel economy and exceptional reliability (done 440 000 km without any probs). The only drawback with the engine is flexibility as it only revs to 3200 rpm. It does have great torque though that does help overcome this problem somewhat. He has had some problems with the gearbox which was chewing out the front mainshaft bearing on a regular basis. It was eventually discovered that the bellhousing was out of alignment and since being aligned correctly the problem hasn't re-occured.
I used to own a 110 with a 6.2 V8 Chev diesel. It is a great offroad engine with fantastic mid range torque (1200-2000 rpm). It certainly filled up the engine bay and wasn't the quietest of engines either. Fuel economy wasn't that bad after I fitted 1.003 high range gears (2100 rpm in 5th gear @ 110 kph). These two engines weigh roughly the same at 320 kg.
If I had the choice between the two I think I would have a turboed 4BD1 Izuzu with the LT95 4 speed with 0.996 high range gears.

[bobtail]

i,ve got a 3.9 turbo with a 727 auto out ofa rangie Bolted into a scout and it flogs defenders

[landy_man]

i,ve got a 3.9 turbo with a 727 auto out ofa rangie Bolted into a scout and it flogs defenders

did you do the conversion yourself ?

[modman]

and where are the pictures

david

[Bush65]

I think Mal Storey does a bearing conversion for the Santana LT85 when used behind Isuzu 4BD1. The army use the stronger LT95.

[isuzu110]

Spoke to Mal some time ago when deciding what to do about my whining LT-95 mated to a retrofitted Isuzu 4BE1 (was V8). I asked about the uprated LT-85 5sp box and he advised that 5th gear was still the weak link (I towed a camper trailer round Oz for 4 months) and suggested doing up the LT-95 and changing the hi-ratio transfer case gearset to 0.996. That's exactly what I did and I'm happy with the result. Round 2100rpm at 100km/h.

[ISUZUROVER]

My LT85 (behind a 3.9 NA) was reconditioned by Mal Story before I got it for a cost of about $4k. Mal advises to change out of 5th every so often on a long highway run as this re oils the 5th gear bearings. Apparently if you do this you won't have any problems.