bankz5152

Well-Known Member
Mainly posting this because I am bored ****less at work....

With the anti diesel brigade coming down hard who knows how long before it'll be too expensive/difficult to drive one anywhere near a town, let alone a city. So got me thinking on petrol engine conversions to keep the 110 running!

LS3 - £25 - £35k to have it done properly. Too much money, could buy another car for that
Ford Coyote V8 - £10 - £15k - Cheaper but still bloody expensive

Then I saw that Shabs/Syncro are doing a 1UZ-FE adapter for the R380 box, had a look. Not a great engine for a Defender but has potential. Mainly as the torque is much higher up the rev range, plus its a pretty old engine now.

Bit of research and found the 3UZ is very similar just improved, more modern with more torque lower down the rev range and generally more power overall. Especially the VVTi version. Apparently an extremely reliable engine as well, reports of hitting 500k miles before needing to be rebuilt on standard tune.

Best part? Engines around £800 - £1500 turn key, should put out around 300bhp & 440nm torque. More HP than my TD5 but around the same torque so should perform in a similar way, thats the hope anyway. Plus loads can be done to up the power with twin turbo or supercharging. Coupled with Shabs' Duraspec R380 (which I expect I will have fitted between now and then) & plate I can't see why this wouldn't work and could be done without breaking the bank or too much fab/conversion work. Also means I can keep it manual :D and very little change to the drive train

One thing is though, how to all the gauges get wired up? Mainly the speedo, I guess the temp can just be changed to an aftermarket one, same for a tacho.

Ridiculous or decent idea?
 
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People will always want to eat, food gets delivered by artics and mine does 12 mpg on a good day. I regularly carry 27 tons of stuff so I'm maxed out at 44t. Diesels will be around for many years as electric trucks aren't viable due to their weight implications and range. Relax and enjoy your oil burner as I do :D
 
12mpg check you out.
I'm lucky to see 9 out of my straight 6 :eek:

I also agree that diesel would be phased out for a long time, one day probably but a very far away day.


However I still say go forward with the engine idea because I bet a 300bhp power defender would sound awesome, go like stink and stick two fingers up to the anti-diesel brigade :D
 
12mpg check you out.
I'm lucky to see 9 out of my straight 6 :eek:

I also agree that diesel would be phased out for a long time, one day probably but a very far away day.


However I still say go forward with the engine idea because I bet a 300bhp power defender would sound awesome, go like stink and stick two fingers up to the anti-diesel brigade :D
Euro 6 Mercedes actros 450:D
 
I shall admit Im using anti diesel as a bit of an excuse :D I quite fancy a V8

Was mainly excited to find a reliable engine with just the right power for a Fender! Imo LS3s and the like are too powerful for Fenders, its great having 600bhp but not in a car that could never put it down properly!

Not saying I wouldnt fit a supercharger to the 3UZ :D:D:D
 
Friend of mine is think of doing a similar conversion, just with the 6.5 GMC, last I checked it was going to set him back just shy of 10k.

I must say atm i am quite set on the 3UZ seems to be a perfect transplant imo
 

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