I've been selling my P38 ECUs as a set with BECM and cluster. Looks like I will start selling them to D2 owners, even if it's only 3.5 HP... It's something.

 

RR also have a higher compression ratio than discovery.

by the way there is another location that modify ecu it is on the eBay UK site right near the tornado ad.
he is about a 100 pounds cheaper approx.$150 and he did accept best offers, so if your looking for a group purchase, that is were you will get you big discount. Same deal you must send your ecu to them.

 

Good point. Without that additional .02-.03 there's less potential in D2 engines.
......

 

Soundguru, did you send your ECU out or what?

If not, I will! The anticipation is killin. Me.

I will say, coming from a 4.0 to a 4.6 I notice a mass difference in acceleration rollingng 265/75's down the road. I can only imagine the smile on face with 20-30 more giddie ups.

 

No I haven't sent mine in. Like I said I'm trying to put everything together for hopefully February. Sorry I haven't been on the forums as much, my son had to have two surgeries this week so I have been trying to keep him comfortable and help with his recovery.

Mark said he is super busy this month with trade shows so his replies have been somewhat less than what I would like. I will try and reach out to him again and keep the ball rolling.

 

I'd be interested in more information confirming that this actually works and doesn't hose up your engine.

 

Alright guys I finally heard back from Mark and wanted to share with you his exact words so you can determine for yourselves if this is something you are interested in.

Here is the email I sent him...

Hello Mark, this is Justin. I have tried to reach out to you a couple times over the past months to get more information about a potential group buy for the forum. Since I have not recieved a reply to any of my other emails, if I do not hear back on this one I will assume you are not interested in taking part in a group buy.

What we would need to know at this point is how many ecu units you would need to receive to do a specific group buy price? What power and fuel impacts would be for Economy, middle of the road and performance tunes on both the 4.0 and 4.6 bosch engines? I understand that the graphs can be difficult to aquire but I need some kind of numbers to prove this isn’t just snake oil. What would be the expected turn around time ? Lastly if you want them all shipped at once or staggered? Please advise on how you would like to proceed.

Justin Weidner

Here is his reply.
Hi Justin

Sorry for the lack of response, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m not interested. Far from it in fact!. I have been working away from the office a great deal on the rolling road, and sadly things do slip through the cracks.

The thing that threw me out of my stride was trying to work out the best way of handling shipping. As with all things there are no right ways, just different compromises.

Whilst it would be very convenient (and certainly cheapest) to simply put all the ECMs in one box, I can certainly see that this could cause an interesting situation with the Customs Export paperwork. There is also the issue of what would happen if the box were to get lost on the way here, and although extremely unlikely (if we used a courier) it has to be considered.

Losing the ECMs on the way here to the UK is very bad news, as they each contain the programming records for the individual vehicles. The journey home is less of a problem, as once I have extracted the software I can reproduce clones easily.

A combined shipment also produces a issue for the person who collects them together too, as that covers a lot of territory! You are probably best placed to ponder that one.

Regarding the difference between the various tunes, they all produce the same torque and power at full throttle. The difference is in how highly you have to load the engine to access the increased performance. From the driver’s seat, this is most obvious around the 1500-2500 RPM range.

The performance version offers only a modest improvement in economy, typically around 5-10% depending on how you drive it. The real pleasure is the strong surge of torque that is evident as you gently press the throttle around 2000 RPM. It’s very seductive, and makes you do it just for fun! This version is not recommended for people who tow, or have roof racks or body lifts. The reason is that due to the extra drag present from these configurations, it is very easy to get into the higher load operation area which will cause an increase in fuel consumption on longer journeys.

Very few people go for the economy version, as it doesn’t feel a lot different until you get to around ¾ throttle. However economy can be improved by up to 15%. Most clients go for the happy medium tune, which combines the benefits of both, and indeed this is what I use in my own P38 Range Rover. Although I love running the performance tune occasionally, I really appreciate the extra economy of the medium tune.

Of course there are extra factors involved here, not the least of which is the ability to convert the 4.0 Litre Discovery to use the larger 4.6 MAF sensor also used on all models of the P38 Thor engine. Then we have the conversion of 4.0 to 4.6 motors too.

Now to prices which are all in UK Pounds Sterling, excluding any applicable Taxes and Duties. The normal price is £385 for any of the standard upgrades, or £415 for conversion to the larger MAF or larger engine capacity (or indeed both together). If you can order four of them in any combination, I will do them for £325 or £365 respectively. If you get as far as eight, I will offer them for £285 and £325.

How does that sound?

Regarding the “proof”, I totally understand the need for this. As I have said before, I’m not trying to be evasive but this is really hard to document. Most of the upgrades I do are actually overseas, and done by post. Sadly it is incredibly rare that I get an opportunity to do a back-to-back test on the dyno. When you factor in to this that most of the vehicles are automatic and therefore hard to get an accurate figure from, then the picture becomes even more cloudy.

There are many of my clients who have posted their results on the various forums, not the least of which is AULRO.com here:
D2 4.6 conversion owners. 4.6 ECU swap & EOI. - Page 15 - Australian Land Rover Owners

Another of my clients who has done the 4.6 conversion with the bigger MAF has put up his own website about the experience. It's worth a look:
Engine and Driveline - Discovery 2 Upgrade

I do have a printout for one of the first Disco 2 4.0 Litre V8 Autos that I ever did, and I will try and find that for you. Sadly it doesn’t tell you a lot, as we have to dyno in third gear to avoid over-speeding the rollers. This has the unfortunate side effect of the car pretty well always choosing to kick down right where the peak gains are, thus rendering the result rather uninformative. In all these years, I am still seeking a 4.0 Litre manual to put on the rollers fro some proper research and comparison.

What are your thoughts?

Kind Regards – Mark

So what do you guys think? I personally would love to do it even if we don't get a group involved, but that is where I need your help figuring out the process. Let me know and we will see what we can get worked out.

 

$412 dollars for 8 or $470 dollars for 4 for the standard upgrades. Didn't convert the MAF upgrades. Normally $557. The number I initially had in my head was $350 plus shipping and import/export. I'd do it for that much. If we can get to the $412 I'll consider it, but truth is that's nearly the cost of a 5.3 Chevy to still have less power, gas mileage, and reliability. Of course a swap is considerably more than that, but its food for thought.

 

I'm in. I have an '04 D2 4.6, and ready for the medium tune.

 

Did anybody do this?