Thread: diesel into P38

Originally Posted by JPC

I have not towed large loads, so cannot comment on that.
Steep hills do not present a problem, a bit slower than the V8 though on the steep hills, but the auto box does the work. I have an EGT monitor and do back off on the fuel at 720 deg C, to save the engine.
I chucked the electronic pump for a manual pump as I had no ECU or wiring loom, and also wanted to eliminate some of the electronics. The manual pump is not as efficient as the electronic, so there was a small loss in power and torque, however that was made up with a much larger than OEM intercooler and tweaking the pump timing.
I picked this engine mainly because it fitted so well. A bonus is that this engine has a internal heat exchanger which eliminated the engine oil cooler, thus one less radiator and thus space for a large intercooler. The engine also has no timing belt or chain, has gears instead which I prefer.
Noise level in the vehicle is not a problem for me, although it is a bit louder than with the V8. This is more noticeable at idle as anything a bit loose like doorlock pins etc, rattle profusely.
As for driveability: living some 1700m above sea level, the V8 performance was affected by about 17% whereas the diesel has the turbo to compensate for that. One's drive style does have to change though as the diesel is obviously not as quick on the power as the V8.
Hope this helps.
JP

Just in case you're up for more future tinkering. The Nissan BD30 and ZD30 are direct injection (more efficient and capable of taking a lot more boost) and very closely related to your engine.
There's a possibility you could bolt your mechanical pump and all ancillaries (incl gearbox and engine mounts) onto either of those engines and straight away pick up ~15-20% more power and economy.

@ Dougal. Future tinkering will probably be in this order:

1. Fit VGT, to get to 400Nm, that is if the current turbo goes FUBAR.
2. Fit Autobox valve body from 4HP-22 non electronic. That is to eliminate yet another ecu.
3. Build new rear bumper with twin spare wheel fittings.
4. Fit a large tank in the rear load compartment instead of the spare wheel well, 100 litres diesel, and 50 litres water.

But all this comes at a price and I wonder if it is worth it, as finances are very tight.
BTW, so far this conversion cost me ZAR 3250.00 as I sold the 4.6V8 for ZAR 15 000.00 , thus for me it was a very cost effective exercise.

Originally Posted by JPC

@ Dougal. Future tinkering will probably be in this order:

1. Fit VGT, to get to 400Nm, that is if the current turbo goes FUBAR.
2. Fit Autobox valve body from 4HP-22 non electronic. That is to eliminate yet another ecu.
3. Build new rear bumper with twin spare wheel fittings.
4. Fit a large tank in the rear load compartment instead of the spare wheel well, 100 litres diesel, and 50 litres water.

But all this comes at a price and I wonder if it is worth it, as finances are very tight.
BTW, so far this conversion cost me ZAR 3250.00 as I sold the 4.6V8 for ZAR 15 000.00 , thus for me it was a very cost effective exercise.

I VNT/VGT turbo may not be your best option for that engine. I've got to crank out some promised 2.5tdi turbo sizing results and then I'll have a crack at your 3.2 idi.
Do you know what the current turbo is?

@ Dougal. This feels like hi-jacking the thread.....hopefully Finallyrangy can get some mileage from this.
Current OEM turbo: Hitachi 12HT-11B.

When doing my conversion, I helped a friend do a similar engine transplant in his Defender 110 auto, yes, auto. We fitted one from a Disco 1, and then the QD32, with a slightly modified TD27Ti pump. On the dyno he got 405Nm @ 1604 rpm, EGT was 512degC. This high torque could be the result of the autobox but me personally, I doubt the dyno,s calibration, but when driving the truck you REALLY want to believe it!
To get 400Nm I would also upgrade the plunger to 12mm, and the delivery valves on the pump.

Originally Posted by JPC

@ Dougal. This feels like hi-jacking the thread.....hopefully Finallyrangy can get some mileage from this.

Hi-jack away, it does us all good to get any relevant information in the same place, I'm hoping for 450 odd Nm after a tune up so feelings on how it goes in the real world are always useful, how much is enough?

The 2.2L SD4 in the latest Freelander/Evoque? puts out 420nm.... should be a few around in the near future would you notice -30Nm ...it's late and I should be in bed...overlooked fact that the FL2 gearbox is for transverse mounting. Then again I guess the engine is as well...damn!

Originally Posted by JPC

@ Dougal. This feels like hi-jacking the thread.....hopefully Finallyrangy can get some mileage from this.
Current OEM turbo: Hitachi 12HT-11B.

When doing my conversion, I helped a friend do a similar engine transplant in his Defender 110 auto, yes, auto. We fitted one from a Disco 1, and then the QD32, with a slightly modified TD27Ti pump. On the dyno he got 405Nm @ 1604 rpm, EGT was 512degC. This high torque could be the result of the autobox but me personally, I doubt the dyno,s calibration, but when driving the truck you REALLY want to believe it!
To get 400Nm I would also upgrade the plunger to 12mm, and the delivery valves on the pump.

It's a 3.2 litre engine, only ~600ccc different to a 4BD1T. 400Nm shouldn't be too much drama and I can believe your mate got there. The 512C EGT however sounds like a post-turbo measurement.
Unfortunately data on the Hitachi turbos is non-existant. But I'll see what I can correlate it to.

So you want to take a smooth comfortable upper luxury market (at launch) vehicle and bang a tractor/truck engine in?

Why don't you just go buy a disco or a toyo-san and leave the P38's in one piece?