My D1 Diesel swap adventure!
#11
#14
Should be a fun ride when you're done. Hummers got horrible fuel economy because of their weight, box-like aerodynamics, and of course their gear-reduction hubs designed for low speed crawling, not highway travel. I think the DD will be a great match for a Disco. BTW I have a 7.3 IH turbo diesel in my pickup (not a Powerstroke, an older IDI), and the dressed weight of that motor is in excess of 1000 lbs. I'm sure it would be fun to stuff into a LR once one replaced the entire front end. Can't imagine fitting a large enough radiator to handle that much motor, I don't think there's enough surface area on the front of a Disco. But the fuel economy would be impressive: my 6500+ lb. truck gets an average of 17.5 MPG, and even towing over 6k gets 14, just a little worse than our D1 averages. I would think that DD would easily get in the mid to high 20's. Good luck!
Re: axle loading, from what I've read the 6.2 is only ~200lb increase from the TDI equipped models, so nothing too crazy there. I'll probably fab a slimmer style winch bumper to minimize overloading the front end. In one of the previously linked threads there was a mention of a 6.2 disco being weighed and finding nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution, so handling if anything should improve.
I've heard that the 4.6 converter stalls at a lower speed, but I'm not sure it will fit the front of the 4HP22. AFAIK the 4.6 models were equipped with 4HP24's.
#15
Shop update:
Spent a few hours working on the engine. First things first I made some front supports to help my overloaded engine stand cope with the weight. Used some scrap wood and leftover steel tube I was hanging onto for a possible roof rack build, and control the tension using wood wedges on the floor.
Managed to remove all the accessories and water pump adaptor plate and start the long process of cleaning everything.
From what little I've seen so far the engine looks pretty good inside. Turns by hand and I can feel compression - not that I know what I'm feeling for.
It looks like the later model engines with the serp belt used a much higher capacity water pump and dual thermostats. GM says it improved flow through the block by ~70%. I'm thinking that might be a very worthwhile upgrade!
I also think I figured out how to do the motor mounts: once the LR motor is out and the GM bell housing is installed, I'll take a huge framing square and measure from the face of the bell to the stock LR motor mounts, then from the rear of the diesel to the diesel mounts. From there it should just be basic arithmetic to figure out where to drill for the adaptor plates. I know it's simple, but for whatever reason figuring that out was keeping me up at night.
I could also do a sloppy measuring job and mill out a slot in the adaptor plates so there's room to slide back and forth, but I'm not sure it'll hold it's position (#8 bolts and washers torqued down super tight w/ locktite & safety wire? maybe?).
Managed to remove all the accessories and water pump adaptor plate and start the long process of cleaning everything.
From what little I've seen so far the engine looks pretty good inside. Turns by hand and I can feel compression - not that I know what I'm feeling for.
It looks like the later model engines with the serp belt used a much higher capacity water pump and dual thermostats. GM says it improved flow through the block by ~70%. I'm thinking that might be a very worthwhile upgrade!
I also think I figured out how to do the motor mounts: once the LR motor is out and the GM bell housing is installed, I'll take a huge framing square and measure from the face of the bell to the stock LR motor mounts, then from the rear of the diesel to the diesel mounts. From there it should just be basic arithmetic to figure out where to drill for the adaptor plates. I know it's simple, but for whatever reason figuring that out was keeping me up at night.
I could also do a sloppy measuring job and mill out a slot in the adaptor plates so there's room to slide back and forth, but I'm not sure it'll hold it's position (#8 bolts and washers torqued down super tight w/ locktite & safety wire? maybe?).
Last edited by kingsly; 02-18-2014 at 12:24 PM.
#18
#19
"Old" is relatively speaking LOL. When I was young, those Energy Crisis engines were the new engines we dealt with on a regular basis. However, I was into muscle cars with "old" engine platforms such as the 289, 302, 352, 390, and 428 for Ford, and 383 and 440 for the Dodges I had. Those were engines! Not that later crap like the 305.