Engine Coversion

Having had the head gasket confirmed by LR, does anyone know if i can covert my freelander to take a different engine? ie swap the 1.8i for something else?

I think you are best off fitting the same engine it already has. or replaceing the gasket/head with a new one.

Trying to swap petrol ECM driven engines is a nightmare if you dont understand the electrioncs that run them.

The KV6 should be a straight swap for your engine.
By straight swap you will need to change your engine bay wiring loom all the ancillaries and gearbox and suspension (different weight engine) and brakes (more power) and exhaust.

That's not a complete list and you may find that engine and gearbox mountings are different because the KV6 is a short block engine (only 3 cylinders wide not 4) and the 1.8 is a big block.

It's a big job to do.
However, if you want more reliability and more power out of your k-series you can get a 300bhp conversion for £10k. Lesser specs are available and you should contact them with your query.

www.qednet.demon.co.uk

They can work wonders with a k-series or simply rebuild it in standard form but make it more realiable if you want.



Sorry to ramble on....

Thanks for the info Treev, but I think thats too big a job to take on. It's a real shame we love the freelander but this head gasket thing is a nightmare. We can't afford to get it fixed every 40K!!!

speak to QED in the morning as them to rebuild an engine with standard output but with with greater strength internals.

See what they say.

Treev150 said:

speak to QED in the morning as them to rebuild an engine with standard output but with with greater strength internals.

See what they say.

Click to expand...

Sorry but I dont know what QED is or where but is there a company or someone who can make a custom head gasket? Coz I heard it is the quality of the head gasket which causes this problem.

dearot said:

Sorry but I dont know what QED is or where but is there a company or someone who can make a custom head gasket? Coz I heard it is the quality of the head gasket which causes this problem.

Click to expand...

oops sorry about QED question...I missed the undeline!

let us know what they say.

This is what QED said:

Hello Neil

We offer a remote thermostat kit that stops all the thermal shocks to the head which we believe contributes to some of the head gasket failures with the K'Series head gaskets. We also offer a better than standard head gasket that is about the same price as the O.E Rover head gasket.
regards
Simon.

rcsurfer said:

This is what QED said:

Hello Neil

We offer a remote thermostat kit that stops all the thermal shocks to the head which we believe contributes to some of the head gasket failures with the K'Series head gaskets. We also offer a better than standard head gasket that is about the same price as the O.E Rover head gasket.
regards
Simon.

Click to expand...

Sounds great!! do they have one for KV6?

Does the kV6 have the same problem? Does the K stanf for K series?

It is a similar design in theory. The earlier engines as in the rover 800 were virtually hand made and they had a terrible life span. 50-60,000 miles before total failure.

These were changed in 1999 when the Rover 75 was released. This was also when they fitted it in the Freelander.

Hopefully us V6's should have good reliability because the engine has had further developement when in the 600/800