The Rover-Landers of BC

Hey Doc,

I read a couple of articles from old Land Rover magazines (and one recent one) about putting the GM 6.5 TD into various Land Rovers. You should be able to find a rusted out running 93/94 pickup truck up there for about 2 grand.

Now that's a swap that would be worth considering, I think, provided you get the 93 or 94 which still retained the mechanical fuel injection. In 95 they started electronic fuel injection which is a major headache and a heavy burden on your wallet every year or two when you have to replace the injector pump.

Your idea of hotrodding it american style is really worth looking into, since the engine is originally based on the Buick 215 CID from the 60's and used to be highly sought after by hotrodders as is was so light and very short stroked -- in other words it was very free revving. You may still find suppliers like Edelbrock for intake manifolds and such. Aart Vanderstar in langley has done a fair bit of work on them in his time as well.

Dave

Hi James,

I have been considering a similar upgrade / engine swap for my tiring 91 RRC engine and have been looking at the possiblity of a Diesel conversion. The most popular Diesel seems to be a new 2.8 but it doesn't come cheap!
Here is an example from DiscoTech
http://www.disco-tech.ca/engines/
The 6.5GM diesel I have heard is too heavy & a lot of mods required, Quote - The 6.2/6.5L weighs approximately 650 pounds. The Rover V8 weighs approximately 400 pounds (bare engine with manifolds, 330) with all ancillaries

The best way to go in my opinion is find the lowest milage RRC with a 4.2 V8 for sale, do a good road & mechanical test & inspection of the engine & transmission. (these are now often up for sale for between 5-10 Thousand) Pull the complete engine, transmission, computor & place into your RRC (to replace the old 3.9).
Then you get to sell / keep all the other parts left over to get your money back or keep the second vehicle for spares.
I never like the idea of parting out & killing off any Land Rover :cry: but if taking one apart keeps another going for many more years then its worth the sacrifice! With the price of RRC coming down so low then the whole vehicle is cheaper than a new engine!

Hope this helps, always nice to chat,
cheers,
Andy

Headers would be my choice too, but having had several sets on various north american V8s before, I can tell you they rust out really fast. If you can afford the stainless steel variety, it's worth the extra investment. I think most of the north american Land Rover aftermarket suppliers carry them.

Make sure the headers work with your O2 sensors.

Dave

I like my 3.5 fine but better fuel mileage would be great. Gets any where from 12mpg to 21mpg depending on load and how heavy my right foot is. The GM would be nice but I'm not in the mood for trying that agian right now ;)

Hi James, I don't know what you have tried but here is my experience with my 1991 GDE RRC.

I really wasn't satisfied with the performance. It was an embarassment on the Coq so I quit driving it and starting driving the Fraser Canyon.

I had the vacuum checked up, down, backwards and sideways. I had a complete tune-up with the injectors specially cleaned. My fear was that the Cam was shot but the cruise control still worked so I felt that it couldn't be that. I started looking into new engines and had pretty much decided on a brand new ECR 4.6 which would cost $6,500 plus shipping to and from their shop. But I love the truck so what is a guy to do?

Then a very smart mechanical friend of mine explained that if the sucking wasn't the problem then maybe the blowing was. Low and behold we found that one of the cats was plugged. That saved me a ton of money in both the new engine and speeding tickets. My Rover also has the Flow-Master exhaust and as far as I know the only thing it does is give me headaches on the highway.

I sure you have, but if you haven't check out Rangerovers.net or give Greg at Silk Cat in North Van a call. I was at National 4X4 last month and Martin was selling a few used RR engines.

I personally wouldn't mess with conversions as they can cost a lot and really reduce the value of your vehicle if you ever decide to sell it.

Good luck and please let all the rest of us RRC owners know how you make out.