Thread: V8 v diesel

Originally Posted by ADDO110

i,ve had my V8 85 county for a while now previuos owner spent a mint on it gal chassis n firewall 4.6 v8 on dual fuel r380 box and much more its a great truck.running cost aren't that flash even on gas.would it be worth while converting to diesel and any ideas on which would be a good option just saw td5 and r380 for $4500 dont no much bout them heard good n bad bout the isuzu and are the tdi's a good option any help and advice would be good.

start thinking about conversion costs; depending on how much is practical to do yoursself, I imagine $10k+ would be needed....

surely much simpler (and cheaper) to sell yours and buy a diesel (either a 4bd1county or tdi defender)

hope that helps - Laurie

Personally im running the 2.5 TDi great motor plenty of torque and economy is great! i average 10L per 100 around town but have managed as low as 7.7 on a long!!!!!! highway trip sitting on a happy 100kmph, that was with just average luggage for two!

I was shocked to the economy i got out of it!

The Td5 does have more power and torque but isnt as economical but if i had a choice id prob go with the isuzu as they are very reliable!

if you know nothing about spannering then selling and buying one with the diesel will be cheaper....

if your deft with the spanners then its not that bad if you want to goto a tdi a bit more involved for the suzi and forget it for a TD5 transplant. theres other diesels but you wont be able to take advantage of the swapability of parts to make the drive parts marry up.

there will be fire wall + radiator bulkhead mods and the custom fabrication of engine mounts.

all in all by the time you sell the one you have and buy one with what you want it is cheaper BUT if you have all the accessories you like and you like the particular truck youve got then it can get a bit sentimental.

As indicated, the cost to convert is likely to be around $10,000 by the time it is all done, perhaps less if you do a lot of the work yourself. With diesel about 20% higher than unleaded and around 100% more than gas ..... OK, you will get better mileage, and that helps with range. But that $10,000 will buy an awful lot of either unleaded or gas.

John

THANKS GUYS FOR ALL THE HELP I NEW IT WOULD BE COSTLY WOULD LOVE A DIESEL BUT CANT JUSTIFY THE COST JUST YET.ANY SUGGESTIONS ON BETTERING THE ECONOMY ON THE 4.6.BEEN WORKIN IN MACKAY THE GUYS AT LANDY SPARES UP THERE HAVE BEEN HELPIN ABIT BUT ALL SEEMS TO COST A PACKET.WAS THINKIN A KN FILTER AND SUM EXTRACTORS TO START WOULD THIS HELP.BEEN WITHOUT COMPUTER FOR FEW WKS SO THANKS AGAIN FOR YA COMMNTS IT ALL HELPS.

I don't profess to know much myself..... but what about gear/transfer/diff ratios ? and for that matter, tyre size ?

If you do a bit of hwy km's it might be worth it.....

Good luck.

Pete

Go buy a winch and a fridge.

Upgrade your headlight wiring, put in a second battery.

Lockers.

Oiled wheel bearings.

All great things to spend some mad money on and get a chance to fiddle with the truck.

I don't like V8's much, but it sounds like someone has done all the hard work already, and if it's all to the level of galvanising the chassis and firewall, then they have probably done a brilliant job of it.

I can't imagine there's a way to do a conversion to that level of finish, etc. and not be spending years worth of petrol money.

Though, gal chassis and Isuzu diesel does sound like a lovely combination...



Simon

I think the cheapest and easiest would be the Tdi and they don't go too bad, parts are easy to get and it all stays LR.

The think with the Isuzu I think is that you need to buy a LR fitted one to start with so you get all the bits you need, 12v starter, alternator, bell housing flywheel etc to make it worth while as if you were to do it from a truck version you then have to find all those bits and even though they are available (most of them I hear) they are not cheap (I also hear).

Although It is the pick of the engines for reliability, economy and grunt I also hear........and vibrations noise

As far as economy out of a V8.......it's impossible, there are folks with 3.5's and 3.9's that on one trip or another have got good numbers but all you ducks have to be in a row to get it.

Any load and your economy is shot.

Have you thought about putting it on LPG, the good systems these days get reasonable range and the price savings bring it in line with Diesel but you just wont have the range.

Also, the best quality leads and plugs you can buy, I'm sure one of the V8 owners will fill you in for what brands etc give the best results and make sure your ignition system is always working at a premium is more important to economy than you fuel mixtures so spend some time making sure all that is right before you do anything.

Chipping and reprogramming computers can give you power benefits but rarely do they translate into fuel savings.

And last but not least, you best fuel saving feature in your car is you right foot, the less you hear that wonderful bark out of the exhaust the more fuel your not wasting.......(but I don't think hearing that great noise is wasting fuel, it is worth every cent )

Hope this is helpful