Fair enough.

 

Theyclaim it was really good handling because the shortening made it a lot stiffer and it held turns really well. You could power thru. It was on a closed track and they compare something like 30 different cars. They even ran the newest Porsche Supercar against the newest Corvette Supercar.

But the Nissan 370 NISMO caught my eye. Especially the body style. It is a return to the original Z appearance. The 240, 260, and 280 all had that long lean look. That all changed a lot with the 300 and up.

I enjoyed my 280ZX2+2. Almost as much fun as my 928 was.

 

The only reasons I would ever consider a swap is if the engine and parts were much cheaper and readily available (and locally) and/or improved fuel economy and power/torque for off-road performance.

So either a cheap american alternative and parts-a-million available, or a diesel that will run for half-a-mil miles and get 20+mpg's.

I would think it would be worth while to creep on an old buick forum with a bunch of old hot-rodders that could easily tell you the possibilities with these blocks. Less guessing needed.

 

300TDI with the EGR blocked is said to get 35mpg average and increase hp. Just some info I read on the web and on different 300tdi and 200tdi websites. The 200tdi can't block off the egr but is a lot simpler to fix. Like I said it's all hear say I have no personal experience...yet.

 

i would want to see fuel receipts before i trust that number...

 

So why not spend the $1k on an adapter including shipping from Chevy V6 & V8
to drop a SBC under the hood? Best bang for your buck if you want to stick with a petrol engine.

 

Gallons are bigger in England.

 

ah, imperial gallons. good point.


looks like theyre ~16% bigger, which could bring that 35mpg down to ~29. still a lot...

 

out of all things why not go 4 or 6 cylinder turrbo diesel ehh. good trque to ge tteh rover rolling and lower fuel consumption. the only reason i'd swap is to get the almost or the same power with a more efficent engine.

i have often thought of putting a toyota 2L Lte in a rover and mod it a little bit. that little engine cranks out 200ftlbs and its a 2.L diesel.

or a toyota 1u from a lexus . more hp for torque and its a pretty efficent 32v v8. my ls 400 gets 26 on the freeway but it also only ways 3800lbs .

untill i can figure what to do. the rovers sbv8 will do.

a 1j would move a rover pretty good. too

 

There are only 3 routes to go in the NAS market. One is diesel(200-300TDI, Mercedes om617, cummins 4bt, 6.2L...) for fuel economy(mainly so you can go farther on each tank of fuel), and second for parts availability(small block chevy drop in). The third is for a customized/one-off LR.

As for option #2, Only engine that makes sense is the SBC because of parts availability and cheap proven performance. Any other engine would be a waste of time and money given the fact that the parts are not as readily availabale inexpensively. That, coupled with the fact that an adapter already exists and is available commercially for the SBC swap.

As for option #1, the most desireable engine swap, it is expensive...either mucho buckos, or mucho time invested.