Converting petrol motor to diesel.......

Does he mean to replace a petrol motor with a diesel one or actually convert a petrol to a diesel. I would think at the least of all probs with this that the petrol conrods wouldn't handle the extra compression to well.

Hi Darrell,

Try www.aulro.com this is a fantastic forum for landrover owners.

Regards
Andrea

darrell

Without checking on old info now mostly forgotten ....

The series II landy 4cyl petrol and diesel engines shared a lot of basic components ....

Might be where your mate got his thinking from. ????

The early series I & I think II Landys were the same engine, firstly a petrol then they converted it to a diesel, just goes to show how strong the petrol engines were!

I don't think the same applies to the series III but I could be wrong?

There are so many reasons you wouldn't want to do this. I do not believe in any form of conversions unless you are a mechanic doing it for yourself, you end up chasing your tale and spending a tale.

It could be done, but there are sufficient diiferences to make it impractical.
It will require a diesel cyl. head, injection pump, injectors and glow plugs/activation cuircuit, fuel lines/filter assembly.
Then diesel pistons which have a grooved crown to suit the flame propagation, also 3 comp. rings plus oil control ring.
The w/shop manual specifically says "no undersize" on crankshaft, it is 3 main bearing and not that robust for diesel application.
You could possibly find a good diesel head, but with a complete block under it for not many $'s!
I have a very good 2.25 diesel which I could be persuaded to part with, but it comes complete with the '76 s111 cab/ch. it is installed in.
furph

Darrell,
The short answer is, yes it can be done.
But at great expense as outlined in previous replies.

What gets me is, why anyone would ACTUALLY WANT TO.

The original Series 2 and S3 Landrover petrol motors were only 86bhp when in top condition and even in those days the 2.25 diesel was a real snail in comparison. They weren't an economical motor either. The fuel consumption was only marginally better than the petrol units. Made a good small boat mooring though.

Most conversions using Landrover motors went the other way (petrol motor into diesel vehicle) or else the venerable Holden red motor was shoehorned in.

There were plenty of other motors slotted into the old Landy's as well. (Slant Valiant, V8 253 and 308, Falcon 3.3 and 4.1, even the Leyland P76 4.4 V8, and a range of the small 4cyl diesels (Mazda Perkins etc)

Be aware that Landrovers had notoriously weak axle shafts and bigger power units generally meant plenty of broken axles, usually in the most inconvenient places.

Disco.

Sure can! Cheaply too.

Check out this website

greendieselcorp

Ian

Yes it is possible to convert a petrol motor to Diesel in a Landy. Don't know why you would though as the exercise would be expensive beyond belief and a real headache to set up. I have had several S2 & 3 and fitted holden red 186& 202, Rover 3.5 V8 and the last and most successful 4.1 Iron head crossflow ford, all gas / petrol. All worked well but the transfer case and gearbox were replaced with Nissan units, Landy ones are very problematic and run hot even with the standrad engine, hence premature bearing replacements. The conversions are easily done, cheaper and less headaches than trying to re-engineer a petrol engine.

The venerable Land Rover 2.25L engine was produced in both petrol and diesel formats. Which probably explains why the petrol version in particular, has a reputation around the world as an incredibly tough little unit. (They didn't have the same reputation in Australia as the Toyota equivalent had a much bigger and more powerful 3+ litre six-cylinder engine and the little LRs had to rev their guts out traveling long distances in Oz.)

But there are very important differences between the petrol and diesel versions. For a start, the diesels all have forged steel crankshafts while most of the petrols had cast steel cranks. Also, of course, the pistons, heads and camshafts were quite different, as well as the fuel/ignition systems.

So, while it might be theoretically possible to rebuild an original petrol engine block as a diesel, the practicalities would be horrendously expensive.