What engine would you put in a 72 SIII?

[roverrick]

I have a 75 lightweight with a 4.203 perkins, luv it

[REDrum]

I have always advocated a system approach to engine swaps. If you increase power you need to go through the rest of the drive train and strengthen the weakest parts to be able to handle the additional power.

The weakest parts of your drive train are the gearbox, 2 pin Rover R&P carrier, and 10 spline rear axles.

Your easiest upgrade path is to go to ACR and buy a rebuilt 2.5L petrol engine with one of their flowed 9:1 cylinder heads and SU intake manifold. That would be about as bolt in as you could get on an engine swap and The go pretty good. I would suggest upgrading to an aftermarket carrier and 24 spline rear axles to go with that. And I would suggest being easy with the clutch.

This needs to be stickied, by far the best cost/benefit option for a series truck.
I have run costs every which way on 200Td and 300Td swaps into an 88 and just doesn't make financial sense. (I know, I know either does owning a rover....)

If I wuz hauling a lot of gear in/on a 109, I may consider with some US small block V8 and upgrade all 4 drive shafts and gear box

[Andrew IIA]

Another option I have been exploring is a Turner Engineering swap of even just the head that they performance tune. My guess is that will give you a decent boost.

http://turner-engineering.co.uk/html/cylinderheads.html

Here is an article with on the swap.

http://turner-engineering.co.uk/html/articlepw.html

I love my Turner HO 2.25. Great original-esque style :-).

[TeriAnn]

I have run costs every which way on 200Td and 300Td swaps into an 88 and just doesn't make financial sense. (I know, I know either does owning a rover....)

Back in 1998 when I was costing out various engine conversions for my Dormobile I had a strong preference for a turbo diesel. I also was insistent about starting off with a fresh engine and not one that already had 100,000 or so miles already on it with an unknown maintenance history. I found that the 200/300tdi engines had a reputation for being cheaply made and easily damaged by overheating. Kits for swapping in non LR diesels that produced 130 HP or more seemed non existent at the time. Most of the likely engine swaps were never offered in the US so parts would have to be ordered from overseas with the delays and probability of receiving the wrong part.

I was considering a Nissan diesel engine that found limited use in the US. Just the parts to completely overhaul one was slightly over $6000. At the same time I could make a deal to purchase a Ford 302 V8 remanufactured long block for $1000 + exchange. The remanufactured engine came with a 30,000 mile/ 5 year warranty. I looked at the price differences for a complete engine swap & drive train upgrade verses the expected fuel savings on the diesel for the first 150,000 miles. Throw in the price differential between regular petrol and diesel fuel and I could not break even in the first 150,000 miles. And the V8 had more power for climbing mountain ranges at the speed limit. With a popular American V8 any part on the engine is available on the shelf or by next morning at any North American auto parts store at a small fraction of the price of the corresponding diesel part.

By every method I could think of to compare the cost of a fresh engine conversion and running a diesel vs petrol engine in an LR engine bay the petrol engine was the cheapest for greater than 150,000 miles. There was one method, but it included a diesel engine that could drive on biodiesel, building in a dual fuel system into the truck, building a biodiesel plant at the house and spending my weekends going from restaurant to restaurant begging for used cooking oil then filtering it and getting it ready to put into a fuel tank.

I think today I would strongly consider the Mercedes 617 diesel conversion kit that Rob as come up with. These are well regarded reliable engines with good parts availability in the US. But I'd be very leery about putting one in front of the weak Series gearbox. An engine with compatible gearbox swap still makes the best sense to me and Advance adapters has made this a lot easier with a range of adapters to fit different popular gearboxes to a Series transfercase.

So here I am running the same 302 for 16 years.

Also, If I were considering shelling out the big bucks to buy a European performance rebuilt petrol engine I would insist on a 2.5 engine. That longer crank shaft give you noticeably more torque which is badly needed in the hills.

[o2batsea]

So here I am running the same 302 for 16 years.

And with regular oil changes and routine maintenance there is no reason not to expect another 16. Then, when it finally does go south, drop in yet another rebuilt 302 for probably another couple grand and back in bidness. Although, a nice 427 would really wake things up and would bolt right in with virtually no mods, except maybe bigger injectors and a chipped ECU. Call it a CobraDor!
Pound for pound, nothing makes HP like a gasoline engine, at least not for practical purposes.

Imagineering aside, the safest route is with a 2.5. Fits, runs well enough, and doesn't require a lot of modification.

[Revtor]

My dad's truck has an ACR "stage 2" 9:1 head on the otherwise stock 2.25 and it has very noticeable pep compared to my stock 7:1 2.25. Might go that route.



~Steve