Anyone had their 2.4 tdci engine reconditioned?

[POD]

I'm still considering the options for rejuvenating my 310,000km 'Puma' 130. I've been told by an engineer that modifications I had been considering such as a BMW engine swap are getting very difficult to get approved in Oz due to the government push to have us all electric by the middle of next week. An obvious option is to rejuvenate the vehicle in bog-standard form, and with a renewed bottom end I'd be more confident installing a remap and larger intercooler etc. My gofast needs are fully met by my other vehicle and the 130 in standard form has met our other needs very well.

Has anyone here had their 2.4 engine reconditioned? I'm interested to know what sort of cost to expect and any good or bad experiences with this.

[DazzaTD5]

just some info...

*When I've done top end overhauls at typically 200K the bottom end as in the bore doesnt even show signs of wear.
*I think its a good strong relatively simple engine that so much can be done to them with no issue (within the realms of a diesel)
*I could image round $20K would rebuild the engine, but you could easily push a lot more than that.
*A brand new engine is round $25K, but... as FoMoCo is soooo global it will likely come out of a plant in china.
*A rebuilt engine for any major supplier in the U.K is round $10K.
*The cost of getting an engine from the U.K is expensive


rebuilt engine:
Items total AU$ 6880.00
Shipping AU$ 2221.44
Duties & Fees AU$ 452.20
Total For Your Order AU$ 9553.64
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new engine Land Rover:
Items total AU$ 23615.57
Shipping AU$ 2072.36
Duties & Fees AU$ 1384.62
Total For Your Order AU$ 27072.55
----
new engine from Land Rover:
Items total AU$ 14057.58
Shipping AU$ please contact us to arrange shipping
Duties & Fees AU$
Land Rover dont calculate GST or import duty, you will pay that when it's here. GST and DUTY is more expensive once it's here than dealing with a company in the U.K that charges GST and DUTY before it leaves.

[MLD]

Can't speak for outcome of an engine refresh.

Pre covid you could buy a 2.4 long motor for under 7k. Transit Automotive in Vic were doing drive in drive out long motor swaps for not much more than the cost of the long motor. I haven't seen a long motor advertised since Covid and can't say what the going rate is. At the time, the price difference between a refresh and a new long motor was too small to mess about with the inevitable time delay for the vehicle to be off the road for a refresh. It's worth a call to Transit Automotive for a quote so you have a benchmark.

I've read mixed stories that you can and you cannot machine a duratorq engine. Might be worth investigating if there are oversized pistons available. Be a RPITA to find your bores need a machine but there are no oversized pistons available. In that scenario, you could put the cost of the engine strip down towards a new long motor.

Having approached a few engine machine shops of late to machine an LS engine for me, the wait times are 3 months. You might be able to find a machine shop that will book you in without the engine and pull the engine when they have a time slot. If not, 3 to 4 months is a while to have the car off the road with the engine out. I did a gearbox a while back and it took the gearbox specialist 6 months to rebuild it for me. Seemed an age the car was laid up.

Seems odd that you are getting feedback from an engineer that a M57 is difficult to engineer in light of a change in Government policy. VSB14 hasn't changed and my engineer made no mention of a pending change that would affect an engine conversion. I'm doing an LS conversion and was told to meet VE commodore emissions and i'd be sweet. Petrol is different to diesel but the need to meet emissions of your MY remains the same. Being a 130, you could fit a 10L engine and still be in the VSB14 guidelines. If you do a GVM increase to over 3.5T you can be reclassified as NB1 and your compliance is that of a light commercial truck. Much easier than M class. There are many ways to skin a cat with some lateral thinking.

A M57N1 & N2 conversion is a bit more involved. The ECU is harder to program to be stand alone but i think they have cracked it in the UK with reliable success. Post 2007 the M57 engine was transitioning to Euro 5 with DPF. There is an anomaly in the emissions around this time. IIRC the 5 series was DPF and Euro 5 but the X5 was non DPF and Euro 4. With some lateral thinking you could fit a Euro 4 engine and avoid the DPF and Euro 5 emissions standards. Probably a solution that has passed you by.

best of luck.

[big harold]

I bought a full rebuild kit including pistons and oil pump from Lyme Engines in the UK for $1200 landed granted this was pre covid.
Mark

[DazzaTD5]

I bought a full rebuild kit including pistons and oil pump from Lyme Engines in the UK for $1200 landed granted this was pre covid.
Mark

If you are doing the rebuild yourself, that's prolly a good starting point, then all you need to do is bore it out, then get all the rest of the parts that aren't in the "full rebuild kit"

What brand are the parts? I assume at that price point you dont know.

[POD]

I must be getting old, $20k to rebuild a four cylinder engine....not going to happen. Fortunately I have the skills and equipment to do the majority of the work myself but I will compare the cost of a new long motor. I'm wary of buying a reconditioned engine, impossible to know what has gone into it and I trust people less and less unfortunately. Memories of when I was in the trade 30+ years ago, sweat shops with unskilled labour pumping out 'reconditioned' engines of dubious quality.

My contact with engineers regarding a conversion was discouraging, one bloke telling me it probably couldn't get approval and others wanting $500 to have the conversation. Part of the problem is I want to do a chassis swap at the same time, a replacement chassis from the UK despite all their overseas approvals apparently won't wash here and all manner of testing would have to be done ($5k-$10k was mentioned).

If anyone knows of a vicroads approved engineer who has a positive attitude to this kind of thing please point me to them.

[chuck]

My contact with engineers regarding a conversion was discouraging, one bloke telling me it probably couldn't get approval and others wanting $500 to have the conversation. Part of the problem is I want to do a chassis swap at the same time, a replacement chassis from the UK despite all their overseas approvals apparently won't wash here and all manner of testing would have to be done ($5k-$10k was mentioned).

I thought when you ordered a new chassis it came with your existing chassis number on it - which should mean it isn't a problem as long as supplier can verify is as good or better than original.

[POD]

Probably the case if one buys a genuine chassis from LR but I expect the dealer would need to be involved in the replacement to verify the original has been destroyed- my eyes are watering just thinking about what a dealer would charge to swap out a chassis. Might be worth enquiring though. The enquiries I have made about chassis were from Richards in the UK and Maher in Poland, both of whom manufacture replacement chassis in a heavier wall thickness and galvanised. Both responded that they cannot apply a chassis number. Richards also offer a gal chassis set up for the BMW m62 conversion, which is a very attractive proposition but the engineer I spoke to made it sound like a virtual impossibility; whilst the non-genuine chassis manufacturers certify the product, apparently that certification doesn't wash here. Again, if anyone knows an engineer who takes a more accommodating attitude to that kind of thing I'm all ears.