If I want to change the engine in a 94 3.9 Disco and put in aDiesel engine, which is the best way to do it? Do I need to get a 94 Disco I diesel engine and replace it? or can I put there another diesel engine? What happens with the electronics? Do I need to change/adjust the computer of the car to work with the new engine?

Thanks!

 

Not worth it. You can buy an 04 for what you will spend on the conversion...

 

A '94 Land Rover diesel would be a Tdi - no computers on that mate, pure (and I might say lovely) mechanical everything, even the injection pump. You can run it on a single wire to the injection pump, another for the glow plugs and a final one for the temperature sender, although that's optional.

You'll most likley need to change the position of the engine mounts, you'll need somewhere to hide the intercooler and you're likely to need the gearbox for the Tdi or at least the bits to attach the engine to your existing gearbox. You'll need to be sure the fuel tank has a return, some of the Tdi discos have a pump in the fuel tank, I'll check which for you. Some ancilliaries may need to be replaced - exhaust down pipe is a certain one, highly unlikely the V8 downpipe would mate to the Tdi manifold as there's a turbo to take into consideration. Your existing alternator might fit a 200 Tdi as the drive belts are separate, but the later 300 has to be able to take the single serpentine drive belt that deals with alternator/waterpump/power steering pump all in one.

The remainder of the electrickery shouldn't need to be touched - trickiest bit will be mating your existing gearbox to the Tdi and moving the position of the engine mounts. Anything else I think of I'll post up when I think of it.

There's plenty of other diesel options - Tdi from a Toyota (2.8 four cylinder turbo diesel, called a TDV if I remember correctly), Cummins B series from the Dodge Ram pickup (5.9 litres, straight six turbo diesel 230+ hp and over 300 lbft of torque as standard and real simple to tune for a lot lot more) although with engines from other manufacturers the complexity of mating it to your existing transmission increases kind of dramatically

Cheers,

 

To give you an idea what a donor vehicle can be had for in the UK...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1990-LANDROVER...QQcmdZViewItem

If that goes for more than about £750 to £1000 I'd be very surprised.

 

Probably a lot easier across the pond. From what I hear, it is uneconomical to do a conversion, but it would be very cool. The only problem is registering it and passing emissions tests, and all that, in the states. I think most states are different, but you may not be able to run it on the street. Seems like you might be okay with an older vehicle though.I'd check with that first.

 

A turbo diesel Discovery would be nice. The land cruiser guys are using the cummins 4bt 3.9L, Its a 4 cly version of the 6 cly found in the dodge trucks. They make about 350 ft. lbs of torque. Stay away from non turbo diesels, way too slow. My dad had a 6.9 ford diesel van, it was really sluggish. Here is a site with some diesel swap info. Anything is possible with enough time and money.

http://cruisers.shoumatoffmedia.com/index.html

Willie

 

If you live in Virginia, no emissions test is required for a diesel. Would it be possible to fit the 5.9L Cummins in the disco. Those things can be upgraded with a Banks power system, basically upgraded intercooler, turbo,intake and exhaustto put out ridiculous amounts of HP and tourque and still get about 30% better gas milleage than a rover.

 

Can the rest of the drivetrain/frame even handle that much torque? You would probably have to make improvements back to the tip of the exhaust. Too much trouble in my mind.

 

For an engine like that I would buy a running doner vehical. Then swap all the drivetrain to the new vehical.You would need tohave theaxle narrowed. The engine weighs 960 lbs so you would need some heavy duty springs.I don't know about the lengthof the engine though. You also needto fit a big intercooler and radiator. I don't think any of the stock drivetrain,fuel system, electrical or cooling would be compatible with an engine like that.It would be a major project. It would be fun to drive though. Heres some diesel swap info.

http://cruisers.shoumatoffmedia.com/comparecummins.html


Willie

 

Go to www.discoweb.org, there is a guy on there who turned a Disco 1 into a diesel. He bought a International engine from Brazil, total cost was under $4,ooo and now he gets like 800 mpg.
I e-mailed back and fourth with him and the engine was $2k? and the kit to mate it to the tranny was less than a grand and the electrics was just changing/reprogramming the ECU.
I will see if I can find the link.