6cyl diesel 4 val

im_andrew, Mar 10, 5:16am
You can get a 318 and auto for a hell of a lot less than 2g.
pge, Mar 10, 8:40am
You will probably find that, overall, the difference in overall cost is negligible, given that you will enjoy the 318 power more than the boring economy of the diesel, but, have none of the extra expenses diesel imposes.

Drive the 318 sensibly, and the economy from it will be reasonable, no RUC hassles, and power "on-tap, on demand" will more than compensate for the extra fuel.

Good luck with your project.

Spelling edit
im_andrew, Mar 10, 8:57am
I found the 245 in mine was economical enough, I did 600km in my vj the other weekend on just a little over $250 of fuel.
thejazzpianoma, Mar 10, 10:32am
What exactly is this going in!
twit7, Mar 10, 11:06am
have a mate with a diesel in an ap5 think its the 4.2 patrol motor ,was thinking the same for my ve wagon .i have a 4.2 patrol as an every day driver and do a lot of towing with it. the motors have heeps of power and in a lighter car like a vc should go very well
thejazzpianoma, Mar 10, 11:12am
I would suggest looking into the possibility of putting a properly efficient and responsive common rail diesl in it. If you are going to go to all of that trouble you may as well be getting a proper fuel saving and some decent performance.

Also. restricting yourself to 6 Cylender Diesels may not necessarily be a wise move. The Valiant is probably not actually that heavy so a 4 Cylinder common rail may give it some surprisingly lively performance.

I know the wicked 1.9 Fiat Common Rail is used in Lada Niva conversions etc in a North South position. You can even buy kits for fitting them. You should have a good chance of picking one of those up within budget.

Possibly even better might be the bigger 2.4 Common rail units used in the Ducato etc.

The Fiat Diesels are my personal favourite but unfortunately they are natively easy west mounted which may limit gearbox options etc. There are some other very good Euro Diesels around though which are possibly used north south so it might be worth looking into should problems arise.
thejazzpianoma, Mar 10, 11:16am
Remember, from the sound of it economy seems to be the driver here so I fail to see the point in using an ancient diesel that sucks 10l/100km or more when you can get one thats more responsive and uses 6l/100km (or less)

The only drawback is that you will likely be blazing a new path for a Valliant conversion so its going to be a bit more tricky. But if you are up for it the rewards are great.
hotrodtodd1, Mar 10, 9:42pm
We recently bought a xj6 with a LD28 & turbo (to wreck) and admittedly it was pretty tired, but it was truey gutless.

I know its really wrong, but have you thought about a turbo Skyline motor with an overdrive trans. I think the top gear in the 5 speed is well under 1:1 and I suspect that the trans will get you more economy than any other change you can do.
scoobeey, Mar 10, 9:44pm
250 dollars OUCH!my 2c corolla does neally that for 50 buk!
pdc1, Mar 11, 1:12am
It was either a really fun 600km, or lots of round town stuff, or towing a big load, or something is really wrong. You're right, they can be economical enough. I have one in a VJ and nursing it on a trip will give about 800 km on a tank. A tank is approximately $200 to fill. Driving it really hard on a trip will still give 600 km to the tank.
pdc1, Mar 11, 1:31am
I agreed with the 4 cylinder diesel comments. Even a old Nissan TD27T or TD32T will provide enough power, but these motors aren't that economical. Best with common rail, but these motors are probably out of your budget, which is good because I would say don't do it.
Diesel is pretty expensive now and the savings really won't be that much if you pay your RUC's.
Repowering with a diesel will cost a bit the time you get it all fitted and certified. Once finished you have totally ruined the character of the vehicle and no doubt halved the value, of the car (or more) in the process.
Stick to that lovely Slant 6 (or V8 ! ) and keep the car as a Sunday driver. buy yourself another economical car to drive every day. Will work out alot cheaper in the long run.
There is stuff you can do to make the Slant 6 a little better on fuel. Fitting webers off mid 80's falcon is popular at the moment. Also fitting a fuel injection system is another option. Alot of stuff is available for these engines now. Check out www.moparmarketforum.com and www.nzmoparforum.co.nz
I don't know if you are aware that LPG with a Rockgas card is almost half the price of Petrol now. It would be very easy to find some good second hand gear and fit it up. I'm sure you could get it going for $500 - $1000
thejazzpianoma, Mar 11, 1:39am
+1 Beautifully said.
BTW, our Alfa runs twin side draft's and its amazing just how efficient you can get them running if you tune them properly. On a trip our 1975 Alfa will beat many modern cars of the same displacement. Admittedly it has weight on its sidebut even so.
big.b-lil.c, Mar 11, 2:29am
just don't do it
peasgood, Mar 11, 6:59am
Ever had a td42 hanging on an engine crane !!my 1.5 tonne one just lifted mine outa safari!
im_andrew, Mar 11, 7:08am
Yeah I had just got it, so lots of round town stuff. My tank only costs around $120 to fill though.
im_andrew, Mar 11, 7:09am
A VJ valiant is a bit different to a diesel corolla.
scoobeey, Mar 11, 8:30am
im_andrew wrote:
A VJ valiant is a bit different to a diesel corolla.[/quote
Yes it hasnt got 10 saudis for wives lol
pdc1, Mar 11, 4:21pm
I haven't purchased RUC's for a while but suspect that you need to add on another $25 bucks, which will make it $75. Have you quoted the current diesel price too. It's moved alot recently. You will probably be more accurate if you told us it is $100, and then add your extra servicing/repair costs, licencing (Diesel rego compared to cheap 40 year rego) Cheap classic car insurance, appreciating asset compared to end of it life scrap metal car, etc.
I have a Terrano, with a TD27T motor, which is the 4 cylinder version of the TD42.(that the op suggested) I know it's not the same as a Valiant either with 4wd and a little bit of extra weight, but to put things in prospective, I get roughly 600-650 km per tank on a good day. A tank is about 65 litres. If you said Diesel is about $1.50 a litre and then add your RUC's you are getting up to around $125 for the 600km. I know my Valiant will do this distance on a similiar trip on Petrol for $175. Í don't believe there is alot in it, especially for the cost and work in involved in the conversion.
While we don't like petrol/diesel costs, it is still actually a very cheap part of the running costs of a car.
It the owners car so he welcome to do what he likes to it, but personally I wouldn't. A good VC now will fetch more than $10,000. Put a diesel in it and I think it would be lucky to fetch $2,000.
thejazzpianoma, Mar 11, 10:15pm
Following on from pdc1, aside from whether you do it or not, it outlines why if you were to do it, going common rail makes sense. By my calculations (which are approximate) you would likely be around $87 for 600km incl RUC for general running round using something like the Fiat 1.9 unit.
mottly, Jul 12, 4:16am
.thought we sussed this last nite.like your username on here.lol