1998 Disco 1 Resto
- Thread starter atlcruiser
- Start date
Hmmmm.... interesting thread!
I personally don't see the wisdom of putting the 300TDi or the 200TDi for that matter into anything that is going to be used for daily driving. It is underpowered, noisy and although cheaper to run than a V8, the maintenance costs are higher and the driving experience is somewhat pedestrian to say the least.
Here in the UK, land of the Land Rover, fitting 200TDi's or 300TDi's into Series III's is a popular mod as many Disco 1's are now being scrapped with bad body rusting, but very few are playing with the 300TDi to go into a D1 or D2, the Mazda or Isuzu diesels are more popular and have approriate grunt for the job.
We can 'play' much more with vehicle builds as we have fairly relaxed testing for the older Series III's and so on. My son had a Series III with a 19J diesel fitted, running with 3.54 Range Rover diffs, great little truck, but if I had to drive further than 50 miles, I'd take my Discovery every time!
Don't forget also that none of the Rover diesels ever really got properly sorted out. The 200TDi went into the 300TDi which got dropped for the TD5 which just got dropped, period.
I'll stay with my 4.0 D2 manual box 1999, good ol' truck
Peter
I personally don't see the wisdom of putting the 300TDi or the 200TDi for that matter into anything that is going to be used for daily driving. It is underpowered, noisy and although cheaper to run than a V8, the maintenance costs are higher and the driving experience is somewhat pedestrian to say the least.
Here in the UK, land of the Land Rover, fitting 200TDi's or 300TDi's into Series III's is a popular mod as many Disco 1's are now being scrapped with bad body rusting, but very few are playing with the 300TDi to go into a D1 or D2, the Mazda or Isuzu diesels are more popular and have approriate grunt for the job.
We can 'play' much more with vehicle builds as we have fairly relaxed testing for the older Series III's and so on. My son had a Series III with a 19J diesel fitted, running with 3.54 Range Rover diffs, great little truck, but if I had to drive further than 50 miles, I'd take my Discovery every time!
Don't forget also that none of the Rover diesels ever really got properly sorted out. The 200TDi went into the 300TDi which got dropped for the TD5 which just got dropped, period.
I'll stay with my 4.0 D2 manual box 1999, good ol' truck
Peter
Last edited:
Mongo said:
"Newb"- you are too old a man to be retreating to that sort of nonsense....and I really would have thought your skin to be thicker being a truth teller and all...
My point was that the guy (a full grown man, one presumes) made a decision to modify his truck and share the experience with us here. There was no saving anyone by reducing the thread to an infantile argument. All you did was remove an interesting contribution.
As far as Disco web being the center of absolute truth...we are all deluded....look what we drive.
You are still an ass.
Leaks said:"Newb"- you are too old a man to be retreating to that sort of nonsense....and I really would have thought your skin to be thicker being a truth teller and all...
My point was that the guy (a full grown man, one presumes) made a decision to modify his truck and share the experience with us here. There was no saving anyone by reducing the thread to an infantile argument. All you did was remove an interesting contribution.
As far as Disco web being the center of absolute truth...we are all deluded....look what we drive.
You are still an ass.
He's building it with the goal to sell it. I agree with the guys who told him he should be concerned with regulations.
Leaks said:
Yea that's not how dweb works.. And the op could have just admitted he was wrong and claimed it as off road only build but instead he fell prey to dweb regulars.. Oh well!
Jake1996D1 said:
+1
I missed that fact up until now. Its one thing if you're building a truck for your own personal use in a state that doesn't care, but if you're building it to sell, that is an issue and presenting it as 'completely legal' is dishonest, IMO.
On a side note, I personally love the fact that Dweb'ers call BS what it is. It keeps this place a source of very usable and valueable info.
Have you guys ever driven a 300tdi that is not a completely clapped out POS? They have no issue with Highway speeds.
Sometimes I wonder if this forum has people who actually know things or just spout the BS they read on the net. A 300tdi is no more underpowered than a 3.9 v8. Anyone who has driven a nice one can feel free to disagree.
Sometimes I wonder if this forum has people who actually know things or just spout the BS they read on the net. A 300tdi is no more underpowered than a 3.9 v8. Anyone who has driven a nice one can feel free to disagree.
I find in general, most car forums are that way. Little to no fact/first hand experience but a lot of repeating what they've heard or read. My vehicles vary quite a bit, and I find most the forums to be the same.tmodler said:
The greatest thing about the the internet/forums is also the worst thing I guess.
I also find Diesels in general in NA get a pretty bad rap compared to Europe/Australia etc. I've personally never driven a TD5 so maybe that particular diesel is a pile of crap.
tmodler said:
You've got to look at the basics.
300TDi: 113bhp approximately with 2 tons of vehicle, against V8: 180bhp approximately.
Which one is going to feel underpowered?
The diesel is better at low-down torque, but the V8 will pull sweetly at much lower rpm than the diesel. The diesel top rpm isn't that different to the V8, but it is rev limited rather more severely than the V8.
If you are towing at maximum weight (3.5 tons trailer) then the differences are greatly magnified, nearly 6 tons with 113bhp is a lot different to 6 tons with 180bhp. Trust me, I HAVE been there and done it. If you have the auto box then you'll lose even more in the torque converter until it locks up.
The TD5 is slightly smoother, has a host of issues with heads cracking, fuel injector looms, dual-mass flywheels and fuel pressure regulators, and still only gives 135bhp, not a big improvement over the 300TDi but it can be chipped.
I have driven all three, and apart from fuel consumption, the V8 is by far the best of the three. It is complex, it is thirsty, but most run well for a long time if looked after, like most engines.
The guys in North America should be very grateful that the diesels didn't come over with the Disco's.
Peter
AuZZZie said:
Yeah, only those that "have actually done it" should speak.
We've heard that one before: http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36736&highlight=front+detroit
AuZZZie said:
I agree, and also find that on forums related to less expensive vehicles with an enthusiast following you find many high post count users that claim a lot of general experience wrenching who then say things like " this is harder to work on" or "this part is so strange/unique" when it's actually quite common on other cars/platforms, betraying the fact that they've never done more than change the oil on anything other than the $5000 shitbox they are posting about.
on a related note i have a pretty decent 1998 300tdi disco sitting here for sale. the guy never had to smog it where he lived, so you'd have to figure that out on your own.
i believe $12k. its black. needs a passenger window regulator and panhard bushings, but both things i'm sure we'd have fixed before it left. the only other big drawback is that it still has the high ratio lt230 in it so its a bit sluggish. i'd definitely look into replacing that. bought the engine package out of england himself and we subsequently had to rebuild the whole thing. if you're really interested shoot me a pm with your email and i'll hook him up with you.