I have been checking Ebay regularly for the last couple months, never seen anyone selling a LR diesel or LR conversion parts. Do you have any contact information for this party? I was talking to a Land Rover repair shop owner Saturday and he told me he just had a similar setup shipped over from UK and was anxiously awaiting its arrival. The engine is rebuilt and he figures he has about 9K in it before duty and customs fees. Also he he is a little nervous as apparently its a crapshoot as to whether it will clear customs or not. If it doesn't it gets sent back or scrapped. He had a OM617 that he was going to put in his P-38 and decided that he wanted the factory setup and it would be more valuable when done.

 

Yes the OBDll issue is definitely something to consider. Frankly didn't think about that. I can register my Disco in Yavapai county which doesn't have an emiss test program but this might be an issue if I ever went to sell it. Hmm, I wonder if there isnt a way to reprogram it to ignore missing inputs.

 

You would have to get an engine from that year or newer with an OBDII already setup .. but that would be replacing the ECU and other components... I dunno if fthe ECU contains the vin # somewhere too, smog checking is the bane of any engine swap

 

Each to his own on the gas/diesel argument. For me I like the low end torque and 25 mpg aspect + I have yet to talk to anyone that is successfully making his own gasoline but there are thousands of people around here making their own biodiesel. This Mitsubishi engine is rated stock at 165 with its peak torque at 1,600 rpm, if I wanted 300 Hp that can be done by turning up the pump and playing with the turbo. Plus I kind of doubt 20 mpg would be likely with an LS engine. FWIW I did look at the LS conversion idea and also have not found anyone that has done one successfully or not. This said the possible advantage of an LS conversion might lie in the OBDll issue.

 

After my first post on the OBDll question I got to thinking that maybe a an ECU from a UK `98 diesel disco might be the trick? They are OBDll arent they? Or did the brits do something different regarding their emissions. I am going to call the AZ MVD emiss compliance dept tomorrow too, see if there is a waiver or a way to re-certify the vehicle as a diesel. Might just be a matter of changing the fuel on the title and having it inspected manually. Might be a cluster**** too. The idea of being forced to stick stupid money into this 4.0 just to make it reliable and then having a truck that would not bring the cost of the engine if I wanted to sell it chaps my ***.

 

there are a few defenders out there with a LS, and there is a guy on this forum with a LS in a LR3. Low end torque? try 315lb/ft for the earliest, lowest output 5.3, to 400lb/ft in 6.0s.. and thats stock, expect well north of that with add-ons and a tune. Corvettes get 30mpg STOCK on the highway, my buddy got 15 mpg towing a trailer cross country in a LS swapped '78 J10 on 40" tires. so yes, 20 mpg is more than achievable.

 

For whatever it's worth, I'll chime in since I'm also looking hard at a diesel conversion for my 02 Disco. I've been quoted a price of 9k that would put a TD5 in, complete with five speed manual transmission and all electrics working. That seems like a hell of a good price to me and I happen to trust the shop that made the quote. The only part that I haven't figured out yet is how to get it through emissions testing.

I understand that it can and has been done here in Oregon, but I haven't confirmed it yet.

Why do I want a diesel? Just read the last sentence of Dach Savage's post above. That plus I'm tired of waiting for my engine to implode. (140k)