Thread: a fuel efficient Series 3 ??? a dream??

Hi Jim,

I have some interest in this topic as we have a SIII 199 with a Holden 202. These days it's mainly the "hobby farm" truck but I'd still like to make it more efficient.

A Fairey overdrive would be a good starting point but they're scarce in good conditions and apparently a bit fragile with a more powerful engine in front of them. A better way to raise the gearing is a high-speed transfer case conversion. Also scarce second-hand but a very good mod for a Holden-engined Series truck. They raise high range by 28% but leave low range gearing as standard. I very luckily found one going second-hand with very few km on it a few years ago. (The owner had tried it in a 2.25L 109 wagon but found the engine couldn't pull the high gearing.)

I have an idea to improve the efficiency of the Red Motor that I'd like to try some time: The early EA Falcons ('88 - '90ish?) could be bought with a 3.2L version of the 'new' OHC six. These had CFI (Centrepoint(?) Fuel Injection).

I reckon the complete CFI system from one of these could be adapted to a red motor without too much trouble. The system from an EA 3.2 manual should be quite well suited to a 202, and probably not too big for a 186. So, if any AULROers happen to have a dead EA 3.2 with it's CFI system intact, please let me know.

Regarding the diesel route, a Tdi would be ideal but as you say, not cheap. The Pommie magazines have often referred to fitting the Perkins Prima 2.0L turbo-diesel (from a UK-market Morris/Austin Maestro or similar) to Series vehicles with satisfactory results (especially in 88s) but I don't suppose they would be easy to find around here.

Did any of the later 2.5L five-bearing land Rover diesels ever come to Oz? One of those should be economical, if not overly powerful. The UK market ones were mildly turboed in the mid '80s, I believe.

Interesting topic - let us know what you decide.

The 200Tdi seems popular, and can be a lot less expensive if its fitted as a 200Di. There is a website about fitting a 200Tdi minus the turbo somewhere. There is also a video on youtube of it running, a lot less noise without the turbo too.

How about an LPG system?

Range Rover differentials?

My 161 is lucky to get 14 MPG.

2.25 diesel engines are very economical to run.

I converted my IIA to a 2.25D in about 2001.

I bought a fully reconditioned, late model (ex mine) short motor for $800, a buggered long motor with all ancillaries for about $250, and probably spent another another $250 or so on miscellaneous parts for the install (filters, hoses, extractors etc).

It has consistently returned 9-11 l/100km. The higher figure is only when pushing it hard on the highway. With a few tweaks it will perform as good as a 2.25P or better.

In the time I have owned it, I had the injectors rebuilt just for peace of mind, I have replaced a couple of leaking pump seals (put a full seal/rebuild kit through myself - pump seems to be in good nick). Apart from that I have just serviced it.

I recently drove from Bris - Perth - total of 7000km - without any problems.

Nissan cabstar 3.3 ltr 4cyl diesel motor and 5 speed gear box , if you can find one ,

I have a mate that has 2 series with these motors and gear box combination,s fitted and a couple of spare motors and gearbox,s which he will not part with for love or money

They are a great combination for the series landy and a torque monster to boot
And very economical

How many k's will you have to drive to recoup the cost of the conversion which could run into $3000 or more? Petrol today in Brisbane is 134.9 and distillate is 159.9. My County-Isuzu uses average 10l/100k's. I imagine a well tuned and correctly modified for the application Holden would be using 18l/100k's. So petrol cost for 1000k's is $242.82 and distillate would cost $159.90 based on these figures. You will have to drive 36000 k's just to recoup the cost of the conversion which may be quite a bit more than $3000.Have you thought about putting the Holden onto Autogas?

I've had 4 series LR's and the problem is they are low geared,they use fuel because they rev hard.I have had a Toro and a fairey O/D and they are very loud and don't really solve the problem as they just make the T/C gears spin faster.For me,the best solution was RR diffs centres,you can get them for a couple of hundred dollars or one of my friends fitted Rover saloon centres that were 3.9 ratio from memory,they are harder to find but they are around.I didn't find the offroad performance suffered much but on road they were great. Pat

The best little diesel for efficiency (least fuel burnt to create a kilowatt hour of shaft power) is the VW 1.9 tdi.
They have efficiency better than most full size trucks, at best point they beat an Isuzu 4BD1T by almost 10%.

And Jimfoo on pirate has fitted one to his series, so it has been done.

The 2.5tdi's would be your next choice. Stay away from any indirect injection diesels, they're around 20% less efficient than direct injection tdi's.
Isuzu did a 1.7l non turbo diesel in honda civics in europe. Not sure where you'd find one though and a turbo would certainly be worth the extra.