Engine Upgrades

[GreenChileNM SIII]

Greetings gear heads. I'm the proud owner of a '76 SIII in great shape that is currently running off of biodiesel and veggie oil. Yup, the farmer I bought it from near Cambridge, UK was not only a big Series fan, but also liked to use his local fish-n'-chips left over oil for fuel!

Anyway, I shipped the truck back here to Albuquerque (I'm in the Air Force, so it was pretty easy to do) and now I'm finding that I just don't have enough HP to take my babe off the local streets and onto the highway. I can get 50-55mph on the flats, but any incline takes me down to 40mph, which just won't cut it to get into the mountains/skiing/fly fishing.

Has anyone put in a more powerful engine into a Series III and if so, what do you recommend?? Any advice on how to get some more MPH into the bonnet would be grand, especially since I'm not the most engine-inclined (unless we're talking about turboprops!).

Thanks in advance- Rob

[Roverowner]

My SIII was upgraded to the 2.5 petrol Defender engine before I got it. I understand it's a straight drop in replacement and it has enough get up and go to get me up to 70mph on 32 inch tires. Hills do continue to be a problem that I believe could only be solved with a modern diesel or v8 swap. I'm happy with it in my area, though (the foot hills of the Adirondack Mountains).

[rovertek]

have you tried real diesel fuel? and also a high sulfur diesel will give you more power and or a cetane booster additive from your parts store,

[LaneRover]

I know that the a Rover series diesel aren't all that powerful and will sometimes get passed on an upgrade by a 68 VW microbus filled with linebackers but there are definitely a few things to doublecheck.

When you put the pedal to the metal, is there still room for more? For example, if you have someone press the pedal to the floor is there still some movement where the linkage terminates that at the 'engine end' hasn't been taken up and thus by adusting the pedal you may get a bit more oomph out of it?

Any chance that anything is dragging? No, not behind the vehicle, but the transmission brake? Brakes adjusted a bit too tight?

Could the injectors be all gummed up?

For a huge change, from what I have heard, you will need to make an engine change. But check a few things, try a few things and it might make it a bit more liveable until you figure out which swap you want to do.

Brent

If you decide to part with it, I may know someone that would be interested as his commute is on mostly back roads and he is in Albequrque.

[luangwablondes]

Once you put in a more powerful engine, you might as well look into putting in a decent gearbox. The std gearbox won't take the increased horsepower. I put in a toy 2.4L and Range Rover difs on my shorty. But the weak link in the drive train was always the gearbox. The toy 2.4 was still a little underpowered probably for what you want.

[rovertek]

the other thing you can try is advancing your injector pump timing a (little), just mark the base with a chisel making a line across both surfaces so you know where you started.....

[Tim Smith]

Hi Rob and welcome.
As far as I've heard pretty much most all engines out there have been squeezed into a series truck at one point or another. Sometimes it's with a kit like a Robert Davis(http://www.lrfaq.org/Series/FAQ.S.op...onversion.html) or for diesel there's the SeriesTrek kit (http://www.seriestrek.com/) and I know there are plenty of others out there. I think the LR 200tdi is in fact a near direct drop in, if you can get your hands on one... As it's been mentioned there are some side effects (like drive train issues) that can crop up if you try fitting too much power in there. So planning and figuring out what you really want is your first step before jumping head deep.

Try taking a look at what you have already. I like LaneRover's advice. I can't tell you how many times I've found the throttle being out of adjustment and robbing me of that break-neck top speed with the 2.25 gasser. Another thing I'd mention is cleaning the injectors and intake system.

As much as I hate touting "snake oil" type stuff, I do have to recommend Diesel Purge. I've used it on 2 diesels and have been happily surprised so far. First was a merc with about a quarter million miles on the clock that was sluggish. The purge smoothed out the rough idle and gave it a definite kick off the line. Second was a Ford f350 with similar mileage that was blowing smoke real bad. I tossed it in because I didn't want to take the injectors out or worse the heads off. 2 cans later and the smoke is gone and it idles smooth from a cold start again. Make sure you run the motor directly from the stuff though as it just gets cut down too much if you toss it in the tank. If you decide to try this then also do some googling on it for prices (and application). Some places sell it for 25-30 bucks a can and others sell it for 7.

If you do go for a motor swap then please document it as much as possible so we can all follow along.

Cheers,
Tim

[GreenChileNM SIII]

Great info so far, thanks to everyone. While I'm leaning towards finding a new engine to put in, I'm most certainly going to look into the throttle setting and also do a flush of the system and all the other quick fixes ya'll suggested. It seems to me the system is giving me everything it can, with full travel of the throttle. I've seen 62mph, which I felt to be extremely fast (just by engine sound and vibration), but that was going down a decline. It's the hills that kill me.

As for the biodiesel/veggie oil, I don't find it to give me less power. To make sure, I've run it on both regular diesel and then on the alternatives around the same areas. Pretty cool when your exhaust smells like chinese food!

I notice that Rovers North has rebuilt engines that would give me lots more HP, but they're all petrol and I'm really hoping to stick with Diesel. So, if anyone has had any success with putting in a more modern diesel, like a Cummin's B or anything like that, please post! (PS- I checked out Seriestrek.com and will contact that guy w/ my situation. The Mercedes engine he put in isn't too different in output from the SIII stock, but it's a start!)

Right now I'm just working on replacing transmission seals, as the trip from England to the USA seems to have helped her spring some bigger leaks.

[scott]

hey badvibes, looks like there's a new rove in town and he claims it's running! welcome aboard greenchile. i just left. heading to the corps favorite sand box. when i get back, you'll probably have your new engine in by then, badvibes and i'll show you some of the trails we take our iia's out to. albuquerque, 3/4 of a million folks and only 3 with the sense (or not) to own a series

[Tim Smith]

...PS- I checked out Seriestrek.com and will contact that guy w/ my situation. The Mercedes engine he put in isn't too different in output from the SIII stock, but it's a start...

Yup, Jim is a nice guy and shows up on this list every once in a while. If you are leaning that way, I'm sure he'll have all kinds of advice for ya. I've seen his truck with the 4 cylinder installed. It's beautiful! I'm also convinced that with some finagling the Merc 5 cylinder TD will fit in there without making it look like a bodge job or a defender. That's of course on my to do list for the 109, but I've yet to start that project yet.

Cheers,
Tim