d1 v8 to mazda sl35

mruffle · Jan 25, 2015

Hi all Im mike and about 4 months ago i thought this thing.
Its a long ranger cab tray back disco 1996 es v8 3.9 auto.
I love it apart from its auto box and its thirst for fuel, 100 mile to a tank

So ive come to the concusion mostly due to its petrol drinking issues, it will no longer be a v8 or a petrol.
for a while hiding at the back at my workshop was a mazda slti35 that came out of a range rover.

Id had it for about 3 year but never had the right project to drop it in until now.

I started it on the bench ran well made all the right diesel noises so shes a gowa.

But i wanted to have a look at the water pump and other bits, see how it loooked inside.

Well there was some fairly horrible looking rusty bits, which made me concerned about the turbo being water cooled and didnt want to have any other probs down the line.

I took the head off, turbo , inlet, sump and started painting and cleaning and here I am now. after painting re Assembly new gasket set.

I need some info does anyone know the valve clearance measurement, cant find it on the new anywhere, wound be much appreciated?

MJI · Jan 26, 2015

In your situation I would just have chucked an LPG system on

dieseldog69 · Jan 26, 2015

That looks ultra heavy compared with the Rover V8

Nice project though, no idea on valve clearances but google is your friend as that lump was around when Noah built the Ark

tetsu0san · Jan 26, 2015

I had one of these engines in an auto 110 that I bought. Very nice, good power delivery and economical too. I wish I had kept it and put that into my current 110 as the 200Tdi in there is OK, but this is nicer.

Keep going with the updates and pics!

mruffle · Jan 26, 2015

The whole Idea of the vehicle was to be a worker not really an offroader. but to drag around a 3.5 ton digger trailer.
Ive got a disco 300tdi es that has done 185k and done my towing and random farm adventures for 3 years now. lets just say I think its had enough of the hard life and needs replacing before it reties itself.
Ive had the oil pressure light drama that ended up being just the being faulty pressure switch. when I inspected the mains and big ends they were on there past there best so it had a set in situ.
so in theory it should be good for a while .
But I needed more power so that really the reason if it can handle the weight and returns decent mpg ital stay.

I was going to buy a defender double cab for the job but could really justify paying 4, 5 times the money for something not as comfortable, and seeming to be the top vehicle to steal at the moment which is sad, for all the devoted defender owners.

So any way today I got the valve clearances from M and D 0.30 inlet and 0.35 exhaust,

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adjusted them up, bolted the turbo up and that was all for the evening play time

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Had to split some timber for log order
bolted the turbo up

mruffle · Jan 26, 2015

sorry to the photo sizes of the last to ive resized them like 5 time on photo bucket and its not changing them

mruffle · Feb 1, 2015

So the weekends fun started with bolting the last of the bits and pieces on to engine

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Put the sump on and found a goosed stud

. and I really wanted to run the engine up, so I threw it up on the lathe,

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[/URL][/IMG] turned it down and welded a new over sized nut on the top.

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It's a bit gash but I've no idea where I'm going to get another funny stud from.
After the joys of the damaged stud, sump on time to start.
I had massive problems getting enough power to the starter to spin the engine over.
In the end I had a set of leads on the forklift a set of leads off my van and another set of leads of the dual batteries on the disco.
It fired instantly sweet as I ran water through it to get rid of any rust from the engine sitting .

Then the next problem was I had a lt 85 bell housing that came with the engine, with the modified bit for the starter, and my r380 box needed the mod for the starter. So I cut the mod bulge out of the lt 85 and cut a lump out of the r380 to make the bulge bit fit

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mruffle · Feb 1, 2015

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSIXsIUOykk video of the engine run smokes a bit but I think it's due to the turbo not being connected

mruffle · Feb 7, 2015

Nothing exciting to report , the fly wheel was quite badly pitted, so it's been sent to a local machinist to have a lick taken off it.
The discos on the ramp and by the end of tomorrow it should have the engine gearbox and transfer box out yay

mruffle · Feb 7, 2015

mruffle · Feb 7, 2015

Retroanaconda · Feb 22, 2015

Some nice work here. Paint job looks good, I'm assuming you got the gasket set from M&D?

I'm in a similar boat, trying to get my SL35Ti running on the workshop floor to prove its worth before I build a 110 round it. Can't get it to go though. I'm struggling to get enough power to it to crank fast enough I think, does the below video look like it's cranking too slow to you based on your recent experience?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYXsxwUzJ54

Cheers

mruffle · Mar 2, 2015

Hi retroanaconda no I didn't get the set from m and d I've bought a bulk load of gasket sets and starter motors for the engine from my American parts supplier.
You have to have at least 2 12v batteries connected through proper battery leads and terminals connected to get the starter to throw the engine over fast enough. Or just do what I did 3 sets of jump leads and 3 running vehicles. But be careful because you will be producing some serious power making it easy to melt things.
It doesn't look too slow not to start but bear in mind if the bores are dry and your fuel system is not fully bled it will take several spinning attempts to get a fire.

Retroanaconda · Mar 2, 2015

Thanks for the reply.

I've had it linked to the two batteries in my 90 and that made it crank nice and fast, it coughed and spluttered for a bit and ran for about a second. Got fuel at the injectors with the juts cracked off so should be bled up. I think it'll go, just need to get a decent power source to it as you say. Big cables and big batteries are the order of the day, going to source a big truck battery and link that up along with the 90's pair and that'll hopefully do the trick.

Assuming I get it run up and all is ok I'd like to do similar to you and strip the manifolds etc. off to give it a paint. Are you planning to sell on some of the gasket kits etc. you purchased from the U.S., as I'd be interested if so?

mruffle · Mar 3, 2015

Hi retroanaconda yes you got it, when I first bought the engine and run it up I originally thought the starter was shot when, it wouldn't spin fast enough and try to burn my jump leads out. But it's allot to do with the size of the engine being 3.5l diesel and fair size flywheel crank, ect.
I Can Source you a gasket set I'm in America at the moment won't be back till next week drop me a pm when you need it .

mruffle · Mar 3, 2015

So I've been busy, the engine gearbox and the box are in, well have been in for 2 weeks now, been to busy to post, and here's how it all fell together.
The flywheel came back from its kick all good.
The bell housing cam back from welding.

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Changed the input seal on the r380

When the ball housing came back from welding I didn't realise, M and D had machined the bell to make the fly wheel fit. (it's that tight) Out came the grinder and a couple of trial fits it was ready bolt up.

Next was removing the v8 engine andboxes which wasn't so bad.
Had to cut the heads of the exhaust manifold downpipes, as standard they didn't like being nicely removed with a socket.

Retroanaconda · Mar 3, 2015

mruffle said:
Hi retroanaconda yes you got it, when I first bought the engine and run it up I originally thought the starter was shot when, it wouldn't spin fast enough and try to burn my jump leads out. But it's allot to do with the size of the engine being 3.5l diesel and fair size flywheel crank, ect.
I Can Source you a gasket set I'm in America at the moment won't be back till next week drop me a pm when you need it .

Thanks, will give you a shout next week.

mruffle · Mar 5, 2015

All out now ready for a jetwash get rid of all the filth.

Next was the exciting job of swapping pedal boxes, which was a bit of a job firstly finding all the bolts in the cab and out on the bulkhead.
Then get the steering shaft to split without damaging it was a nightmare, and finally getting the pedal box out.

Had to drop the steering column down to get the pedal box to slide out.

Next was engine in mounts bolted up let see if it fits.

To be fair in sat in nicely very tight against the bulkhead but a good fit. Next the r380 and transfer box

mruffle · Mar 5, 2015

Made up a clutch pipe couldn't use a diesel one the slave on the gearbox is on the wrong side

The finished pipe

Bled the brakes and clutch ran a temporary fuel supply , fired it up and yes we have drive.
The torque even on tick over is impressive. With the discos front wheels chocked up on the ramp I release the clutch thinking it would stall, but no you could see it climbing over them.

mruffle · Mar 5, 2015

This was nice I started to put the diesel rad in looking at pipe work, took this full sized intercooler off my old disco and though it just see if it holds pressure. Blocked one end and fed the air line in the other.
I could hear a small hiss thought it was just the air line and found this.

And that is a pin head hole in the corner must of had it from being made, there was no damage. Do all and not pressure test there product when the make them?
So off it went for welding.

This is where I am so far.
Radiator and intercooler are tempary piped
Every thing is wired but I can't seem to get a rev counter to work does anyone have a picture of the wires that go in the back of the alternator?
Center console and gear stick area need finishing.
And need to order a load of various silicone pipe for the cooler and radiator, any recommendations?
Thanks
Mike

d1 v8 to mazda sl35

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