right a bit of background into why im fiddling with this P38 engine, i have a camper a big 5th wheel Canadian one which ironically i got from the everglades seeing as its a winterpack one but hey ho thats irrelevant what is relevant is its weight its close to 5 tons with the tanks empty
thats puts it outside the towing capacity of most if not all uk pickups like the hilux,navara etc
so i had to use an iveco 59-12 which has a train weight of 10,000kg and as it only weighs 2.5 tons ive got 7.5tons capacity left to tow with, the 59 is 5.9 tons max vehicle wieght and the 12 is a very optimistic 120 bhp, in your dreams or ive got a very poor engine which i dont think i have as its flys along when not towing.
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right so thats the camper and the iveco i presently use but its god dam awful to tow with its so slow its dangerous, modern cars are to quick you go to pull out at an island it looks clear and wham the cars arrive before im out, its like being an old time trucker you look in the mirror and you have a convoy behind you so bad i havent taken it out for a while, so last year i stumbled on another iveco tractor unit same as the one above but the engine was missing and the cab was damaged but its saving grace was it was the 4 wheel drive version, axle difflocks as standard and twin rear wheels all sound good to me, with the cab off its just 2 straight chassis rails front to back same as any lorry, gearbox is still in it but the 3lt turbo diesel engine had been sold as it was worth money, now the gearbox is a ford item and on the back is an integral transfer box that drops passengerside, the interesting part is the transfer box is NP208 which would you believe is also fitted to many american motors including the 350 chevy with the th 350/400 autobox so there is a route to bolt the transferbox straight on to my chevy box and i wont have to alter my prop shafts etc, now a rover or chevy is not going to fit under the cab/bonnet of an iveco daily but as it was damaged its gone in the bin anyway and i ve bough a model AA ford fiberglass body which has a longer bonnet to hide the engine under, like this but with a 5th wheel coupling on the back instead of a body
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so its torque im after to get it all rolling which is why maybe the 5.7lt chevy might be better than the 4.6 rover, undecided on that one , so there you go you know as much as me now ..........................