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Originally posted by yorker
So are the days of focusing on each upcoming hill, gaining as much speed as possible before the hill and watching the tach to down shift at the best RPM. Now I ignore the hills and enjoy the scenery.
And no more failed ascents because the engine just ran out of power and ground to a halt.
The 302 has more torque and HP at idle than the 2.25L has at peak and can outrun 4.6 Range Rovers uphill. I have no problem going the speed limit anywhere. The funny thing is that with the carb on the 302, I have been getting identical fuel mileage as I got with the SIII 8:1 2.25L engine that the 302 replaced. And since I have the low compression heads, I do it with regular petrol.
The primary purpose of the EFI conversion is to see if I can get even better fuel mileage and a little smoother engine operation at high rock crawling angles. As it turns out the EFI conversion ended up being less than half the total project. I'm just now in teething phase.
During the previous start up phase I discovered that I had forgot to put the fuel pump relay it its socket and had purchased a dead computer unit off ebay. It started right up with those two items fixed.
So far in teething phase I've discovered that the throttle body I bought on ebay was mislabeled and wrong for my application. I'm in the process of replacing the plugs & plug wires today (I remembered that they are almost 8 years old and probably not at their best). My new exhaust headers leak on the right side. When checked I noticed that the collector flange was solid up against the corner of the starter motor. The muffler shop put a notch in the collector flange to accomplish the connection. The exhaust leak is upstream of the O2 sensor so is causing the computer to feed the wrong air/fuel mixture to that bank of cylinders. I have a smaller reduction geared starter on order and will reseal everything when it arrives. I'm finally starting to focus in on a proper intake air filter system.
My hope is to pick up 2-3 MPG highway and a 50-70% increase in fuel mileage around town and on the trail. The EFI is a LOT more flexible than a carb. The Ford system even has a atmospheric barometer that adjusts the air fuel mixture for altitude as I drive. I should end up with more HP & torque as well, but since I have enough already it is irrelevant to me. Cars that came with this same EFI on a 302 were stickered in the area of 26-27 MPG highway, 18-19 MPG city. I figure the LR's lack of streamlining will reduce those numbers somewhat.
I figure the advantages of using an American small block engine in North America over a GM/Rover V8 are numerous. The cast iron engine is way more forgiving of overheating, the American engines can be set up for better fuel mileage and more power on regular than Range Rovers get on Premium fuel. I can buy a water pump for $30 and a rebuilt distributor for the $60-70 range. Every auto parts store in North America has engine parts on the shelf and every shade tree professional mechanic in North American can rebuild the engines in their sleep.
I have yet to see anything except a weight advantage by installing a GM/Rover aluminum V8 in North America.
2.25L petrol engine (3 main) - 450 lbs
Ford 302 - 460 lbs with cast iron heads, 425lbs with aluminum heads
Chevy 350 - 575 lbs with cast iron heads, 525 lbs with aluminum heads
GM/Rover 3.5L engine - 318 lbs
Sorry I don't have weights for the 3.9 & larger GM/Rover engines or for he Jag/Rover engines. Weights depends upon accessories attached. US engines lighter with aluminum intake manifolds & headers.
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