Garrycol wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2019 8:37 am
If you are going to all the trouble of doing a conversion, the 300TDi just does not provide the grunt needed for this type of vehicle. This has been shown time and time again when Landrover FC 101s have been converted to the TDI. The standard V8 in the 101 has trouble getting it moving along and the Tdi struggles even more, albeit a lot better fuel consumption.
The go with the 101 is a 6 cylinder Cummins
Cummins 4bt/6bt are great engines but a poor choice for Volvos, they are just too tall and all transmission/t-case options are very loooooong when Volvo 6x6 needs an especially short driveline because of the "mid" engine design, the engine sits completely behind the front axle and the middle axle shortens everything from the rear. The resulting available space is less than that of even SWB 4x4's.
I'm not too familiar with the 300tdi so can't really comment on its suitability for a Volvo except to say I've heard about a few converted Volvo 6x6's/300tdi getting around Europe and UK...can't say I've read anything too negative about its suitability.
I don't know a great deal about 101's either but I suspect it's difficult to compare these two vehicles in the way you outlined. What's the final drive ratio of a 101? I'd be surprised if it was even close to a 6x6 13xx Volvo at 7.1:1 or even with Roobars modification at 5.99:1 is probably still a heap lower than the 101 ratio which is probably (guessing) around 4.6:1 or even as high as 4.1:1, please correct me if I'm wrong. But if I'm ball park correct about the gear ratios then these vehicles are too different to make any kind of comparison like... The 300tdi doesn't work in 101 so won't work in a Volvo either.
A successful petrol to oil burner engine conversion is all about the gearing, get it wrong and it will be a resounding failure, this is why so many Diesel engine conversions actually become conversions of the entire driveline...trans,t-case and ring and pinion ratio changes are very often all required to make a successful conversion...Roobars plan uses all these methods and appears to be well considered.
Roobar, It looks as if the "spotted" Volvo will stay hidden a while longer.