2.4 Deisel or Rover V8

[Danno]

I've been thinking.

Is it worth sticking with my lovely 2.4 td or do I consider the Rover V8 route?

I've done over 35000 miles this year and yeah ok the fuel consumption isn't great but I do like V8's! mmm rumbly exhausts!

Is the fuel consumption going to get horrendously worse if I fit a V8 with a view to a poss. gas conversion at a later date or stick with the oil burner?

Plus is it worth all the hassle?

Still thinking of rumbly exhausts!

[Guest]

I've been thinking.

Is it worth sticking with my lovely 2.4 td or do I consider the Rover V8 route?

I've done over 35000 miles this year and yeah ok the fuel consumption isn't great but I do like V8's! mmm rumbly exhausts!

Is the fuel consumption going to get horrendously worse if I fit a V8 with a view to a poss. gas conversion at a later date or stick with the oil burner?

Plus is it worth all the hassle?

Still thinking of rumbly exhausts!

Fuel consumption will be worse, but probably not as bad as you would initially think. A V8 will work less hard for the same driving experience. I used to get 21mpg out of my Camaro which weight almost the same as a Surf and had a 284 ci (4.6 Litre) Corvette engine (Small Block Chevy). I didn't used to hang around in it either. When being really lead footed it used to drop to 15 - 16 mpg but then my 2.4 Surf will do 23 mpg as long as I don't really nail it but that will drop to less than 20mpg when hammering it. An LPG conversion on the V8 will make the effective cost go down considerably (until the government put up duties on LPG) although the fuel economy will stay the same or go down slightly.

If you don't mind the hassle, then it would be a great conversion, however you will never recoup your money, the Surf though would be much more fun to drive.

However off road a Diesel takes a lot of beating, no waterproofing problems and bags of torque.

Now a V8 Diesel would take a lot of beating.

Cheers

[Damian]

V8, V8, V8, V8, V8...!

And if you wanted, stick a LPG tank where the spare fits under the back!

Imagine how gooood it would sound especially when driving with the back window down, lub, lub, lub, lub......

Damian

[TAZMAN]

Take the easy life.....go with a rumbly exhaust.

[Danno]

Well I'm not known for my light left foot anyway. I seem to end up doing 90mph everytime I hit the motorway!

If we are looking at figures of 21mpg thats not as scary as I first thought! So that'll still make it better than my brother inlaws Range Rover!

So do I go for the SD1 Vitesse ( with lots of electrical injection to get wet ) or look for a 3.9 and lob a pair of SU's on it. ooh ooh HOLLEY 4 BARREL!

Now I'm being silly

~wanders of thinking of big carbs and NOS kits. Must stop reading dragracing Mags~

[Guest]

Well I'm not known for my light left foot anyway. I seem to end up doing 90mph everytime I hit the motorway!

If we are looking at figures of 21mpg thats not as scary as I first thought! So that'll still make it better than my brother inlaws Range Rover!

So do I go for the SD1 Vitesse ( with lots of electrical injection to get wet ) or look for a 3.9 and lob a pair of SU's on it. ooh ooh HOLLEY 4 BARREL!

Now I'm being silly

~wanders of thinking of big carbs and NOS kits. Must stop reading dragracing Mags~

Not saying you will get 21mpg, probably more in the line of 18 - 20mpg but that should be readily achievable. It all depends on how you drive it but V8s don't have to be as juicy as sometimes they are thought to be.

I'd go for a 3.9 if you could get one and you want to go the Rover route. The Vitesse engine is good but more tuned for top end power which is not what you need.

Personally I'd go for a Small Block Chevy - 350ci engines are relatively easy to come by for a few hundred quid, mate it to the Toyota box, you can get adaptor plates from the US - or go with an early TH350 auto box (however the TH350 is a big box and will need some clearance work done on the transmission tunnel and the transfer box may need to be moved back as it is fairly long).

The 350 Chevy engine is as strong as a cast iron elephant, is easy to waterproof and hasa enough Torque to pull down my house. If you want to go that route, best bet is to get a copy of Classic American from Smiths and look in the ads. An alternative may be a 318 Chrysler or a Small block Ford. The Ford engine has been done before:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jonhel5/

Once you have driven behind an American Small Block you will never want to go back to a Rover (Sorry Tony) bacofoil V8. The Small blocks go on forever, are amazingly forgiving of poor maintenance and parts are very cheap. Parts are also easy to come by as there are a lot of specialist American parts suppliers - e.g on my Camaro I had to fit a new water pump, did it in my works carpark in under 1 hour, and the water pump cost £40.

Cheers

[Danno]

Although I like the idea of small blocks, I am thinking rover coz I know of a complete is scrapper SD1 in a garden not to far from me. Not sure if its a VP or Vitesse but its a V8 and TONY's not to far to go for a BUILD.

( reckon he'll get the hint? )

I dont really want to go down the chopping the tunnel out route for a big auto box. Can't be arsed with all that carpet retrimming!

Is'nt the Chevy or Ford for that matter heavier though?

[Guest]

Although I like the idea of small blocks, I am thinking rover coz I know of a complete is scrapper SD1 in a garden not to far from me. Not sure if its a VP or Vitesse but its a V8 and TONY's not to far to go for a BUILD.

( reckon he'll get the hint? )

I dont really want to go down the chopping the tunnel out route for a big auto box. Can't be arsed with all that carpet retrimming!

Is'nt the Chevy or Ford for that matter heavier though?

Yep it's heavier but not too bad for the front springs - and you can get uprated ones for that anyway. You could fit the toyota box to it bit not sure how it would cope with around 250 lb ft + of torque.

Cheers

[Elvz]

The Chevy V8 is too big to fit without a lot of bodywork modifications. There are Chevy/Buick V6's that are similar but fit a lot better and all the parts you would need to fit them into a 4Runner are available ready made.

From memory the 3800cc Buick engine is easier to fit and suits the car better than the bigger Buick (4.1L? 4.3L?) and Chevy V6s (4.3L & 4.6L?) but all of these engines are now old and a bit pathetic compared to most 90's performace 4 cylinders.

I also looked into fitting a Lexus UZ-1TE V8 into a Surf but although a guy in australia has built one it doesnt look too practical to me. Its a very nice car but I wouldn't want to service it....

http://www.geocities.com/deonsv8hilux/

[europa88]

Fuel consumption will be worse, but probably not as bad as you would initially think. A V8 will work less hard for the same driving experience. I used to get 21mpg out of my Camaro which weight almost the same as a Surf and had a 284 ci (4.6 Litre) Corvette engine (Small Block Chevy). I didn't used to hang around in it either. When being really lead footed it used to drop to 15 - 16 mpg but then my 2.4 Surf will do 23 mpg as long as I don't really nail it but that will drop to less than 20mpg when hammering it. An LPG conversion on the V8 will make the effective cost go down considerably (until the government put up duties on LPG) although the fuel economy will stay the same or go down slightly.

If you don't mind the hassle, then it would be a great conversion, however you will never recoup your money, the Surf though would be much more fun to drive.

However off road a Diesel takes a lot of beating, no waterproofing problems and bags of torque.

Now a V8 Diesel would take a lot of beating.

Cheers

Chevy 6.5 turbo diesel v8!!
Dont know if It's practical but they got huge!!!!! amounts of torque!

[Linda]

Once you have driven behind an American Small Block you will never want to go back to a Rover (Sorry Tony) bacofoil V8.
Cheers

We actually thought long and hard about doing a chevy v6 in the grey surf, but the rover V8 was cheaper, easier to get hold of and he'd done it before so knew all the pit falls... Hence we'll be a 2 x v8 family soon.