80 Series Petrol to Diesel Engine swap ?

[Tom Mc]

Hi - currently have an 80 series (Petrol) that's getting the once over at Greg's - (waiting to hear the good/bad news one of my first mods was going to be LPG conversion for fuel economy round town (switching back to Petrol when off-roading/towing etc)

However - have had some mixed reviews about the benefits of LPG - considering it costs circa 2K - not sure the ROI is going to happen ..or if it's even worth spending the money...

Plus LPG is impossible to find outside Europe and in remote parts of the world Diesel is always available...but sometime Petrol not quite so easy to come by - so any long term plans for the cruiser over-landing might be compromised if I stick with Petrol/Lpg

So while I wait on the outcome of the 'base-lining' by Greg - (and Ecky-Thump's LPG conversion ) - I was wondering if there is any views out there on swapping the Petrol for a Diesel - and if so - what Diesel ?

I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone who has looked into this or even swapped a Petrol for a Diesel

Long term it would seem to make sense - but am I underestimating the benefits of LPG,and is consumption on diesel much better than Petrol ?

Any views much appreciated.

TMc

 

[Graham]

A good friend of mine, Ian, (not on any forums) has had a few 80 series, both petrol and diesel.
He told me, that a few years ago, he had both a petrol, and diesel, at the same time.
The diesel was in a big smash, and body wise, was pretty much had it.
So, pull the 2 engines out, and drop the 4,2 diesel, in place of the petrol.
I am not sure if he did the gearboxes even, may be he did.
Any way, the mechanical swap, was a pain, but not half as much as the electrical swap.
He did what you want to do, and he told me he would never do it again.
He told me half the electric looms are different, for the differing ECU's.
Transplanting the mechanicals, was not to big a job, but the electrics, he told me, were another thing entirley.

Graham

 

[Andrew Prince]

I think Graham's point is well made! If you want a diesel, then sell the petrol 80 and buy a diesel one - I can't see the conversion being (much) cheaper than this route and the converted truck will have a lower resale value and may give untold trouble because of gremlins with the electrics and other bits not working properly.

The conversion might be a starter IF you had a petrol 80 with a dead engine and a good diesel engine to stick in. But your 80 sounds like it's running and you don't have a spare diesel engine lying around
Most of the conversions you hear of are either in countries that didn't offer diesel 80s as an option (US/Canada) or the value of 80s is substantially higher than here (i.e. Australia and South Africa).
IMHO what you're proposing to do makes no financial sense and has a number of downsides on the finished product.

I think your options are to spend the £2k and fit LPG or save the £2k, flog the petrol 80 and buy a diesel one.

Cheers,

 

[Paul]

Greg is doing this to a 90 at the mo. It is quite an undertaking and as mentioned, i would only consider it with a donor vehicle as so much ancillary equipment has to be changed over too. Being as it has not been done often there are not many avenues of advice to look to when things are tricky.
If you did try it i'm sure many on here will be as helpful as possible.

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

There was a link posted on here somewhere, I think Andrew posted it, to an Oz website where a guy did a deisel conversion on a petrol 105 (Very similar to the 80) but he went with the new 4.5 diesel V8 from a wrecked 70 series ute.

If you have the money, time and resources to put into a conversion you may as well go the full nine yards and look into the potential of importing a motor and ancillaries from Oz...

Either way a conversion wont be cheap, but if you have enough resources an 80 with that 4.5 V8 would be insane

I also think he posted fuel consumption figures along the lines of 11L/100km = approx 25mpg. Not bad for V8...

Found the link: http://www.australianimages.com.au/conversion/

I have an LPG conversion on my 80, it was installed prior to me buying it, and i have had no issues related to the LPG to date. But with the way the price of LPG is going and the cost of the conversion it would take a good few miles before you have recovered the costs of the install. At the moment I am getting about 10MPG on LPG.

At the end of the day it all depends on what you want to use the vehicle for. If mileage and fuel economy are a prime concern the the petrol 80 isn't the one to have. An seeing as Deseils are readily available in the UK you would need a pretty damn good reason to bother with the conversion, V8's have been known be very good reasons

The petrol is a pleasure to drive though...

Later
Ryan

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

But with the way the price of LPG is going and the cost of the conversion it would take a good few miles before you have recovered the costs of the install.

My local supplier tells me the price always goes up during the winter months when they know there is big demand and then falls back the rest of the year so some of the current price is due to that. It had gone up to 72ppl round here when I filled up a couple of weeks ago from 52ppl not many months ago.

To the OP: I wasn't convinced LPG was worth the trouble but having installed it myself I saved enough for it to have paid for itself (now you've made me check ) in about another 400 miles and I only installed it early last year. I'm not much of a fuel price worrier, I put it in mainly for extended range in the UK / Europe and the cheaper fuel compared to an extra petrol tank made sense for what is probably 98% of my mileage. If I have to carry cans and pay over the odds at some point of the other 2% then so be it. It wasn't a factor in my choice of a petrol 100 series but for my driving style this is cheaper running costs than the equivelent diesel.

I'll get shot down in flames I'm sure but if I bought another 80 I'm not sure I wouldn't look for a petrol. I liked my diesel 80 but it was not economical by any stretch of the imagination and I'd forgotten how much my driving style was compensating for the TD's sluggish power delivery until I compared diesel and petrol 100's (I've never driven a petrol 80 but I'm assuming the difference is similar). In a drag race there may not be much overall difference but 'off road' there's no turbo lag and no need to get the RPM up high enough to be getting boost or running out of puff because the revs are dropping and with it the boost vanishing (and yes I am making allowance for the fact a 100 series V8 gives more power and torque than the I6 in an 80).

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

(I've never driven a petrol 80...

Wanna swap for a day at the next Lincombe I go to...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

[quote="Jon Wildsmith":yjf220n8]
(I've never driven a petrol 80...

Wanna swap for a day at the next Lincombe I go to... [/quote:yjf220n8]

I don't know who to be more worried for, your truck or the trees

 

[Tom Mc]

OK - sounds like something I should definitely do NOT.

Was just a thought, but the advice is clear - so thanks to all...was wondering why there wasn't a ton of info on this forum about this conversion - now I know.

will try the LPG route and let you all know how I get on - if worst comes to worst, take the LPG conversion to Belgium - sell it there and get my money back then look for a white Diesel

Rgds
Tom

 

[mettisse]

Hi, I've had my 'Bruiser about 5 years now, and after the turbo grenading itself very inconveniently in Morrocco,( it did get me home after a second hand turbo was fitted) I've had nothing but expense and heart break. I had the engine rebuilt by a reputable company, (£loadsadosh) the pump and injectors "sorted" and now after 18 months she is FINALLY all good. I have often thought about "what if it happens again in the future?" I would seriously consider the GM V8 Diesel 5.2 turbo coupled to late ZF auto box as fitted land rover V8 and a transfer box from very late Defender, NO electronics, proven reliability and available at probably less than a comparable Toyo unit. All this is simple mechanical fit, simple electrics. The obvious hiccups being exhaust, propshaft and engine mountings. This obviously flies in the face of "yota" loyalty and reputation, but may be an effective alternative to your dillema. I have a friend who is planning to use a late diesel unit from a Sprinter van in his Patrol. that'l be interesting.

 

[Reg Potter]

We have a 92 Diesel motor in a 94 Petrol body, it runs fine but we can't get the speedo, tacho or centre diff lock if any one has any advise would be appreciated.