Member Since: 23 Aug 2015
Location: nairobi
Posts: 286
crankshaft failure, possible conversion on the way.
So luck found me again. three years ago i had the luck to experience a snapped oil pump. had to replace left head. given the chance I've changed all shells and piston rings.
on Friday as i was driving in the middle of nowhere (4 hours outside of Nairobi) i was lucky enough to experience what i believe a crankshaft failure. i could hear the pistons knocking and the engine stopped.
after a lot of effort and time car was in the back of a tow truck and finally back home. now i have to investigate my options. i really don't want to scrap the car as i love it dearly. having that said i think that i will have to separate my faith from diesel engines and go back to petrol. i nairobi there are a little few V8 so the option of scraping mine and buying a V8 is NOT there.
i really want to investigate of getting a 4.4 engine from Dubai and ship it here. with little research i have done i think that i would need:
a. engine
b. torque converter.
c. new plumbing (radiator plus hoses).
d. fuel lines and pump
e. exhaust (that will be done by me).
does anyone has diagrams of the water system, box cooling system, fuel lines, etc? does the 4.4 has a separate oil (engine cooler).
any help will be really appreciated.
thanks,
Kostas.
13th Jul 2020 5:08 pm
KostasA
Member Since: 23 Aug 2015
Location: nairobi
Posts: 286
In August 2020 my crank decide to part from me. By that time i had already made my mind that diesel engines are a past for me. Given that i leave in Nairobi and scraping my car to by a V8 is not a viable option i decided the right next step to convert mine to a V8.
so initially found the car in Dubai a 2006 V8 with 120.000KM on the clock for the extraordinary price of $1.500. The car was in full running condition
Sort trip to Dubai dismantle the car and keep, engine, gearbox, looms, ECU, cluster, etc, etc to make the convertion. Package lands in Nairobi a few months down the line.
first step separate the body from the car
of course with the precious help of my little supervisor
next step is to remove all diesel hardware and install petrol ones
Click image to enlarge
once all hardware were in it was time to marry the body and the chassis
Now once everything was back its time for the real work to start, the electrical. First task was to remove and fit the loom in the engine bay. Two basic problems the donor loom is 2006 and my car is a 2008 so we have difference in the connectors. Stupidly i didn't salvage the chassis loom from the donor car. Second problem Connor car is LHD my car is RHD.
Anyway with a little bit of positive spirit and soldering warring things do happen.
Second in line are the looms inside the car, but first we strip.
Click image to enlarge
Cluster loom goes in nicely. Problem comes with the body loom. RHD and LHD really don't like each other. So decision is to keep the diesel body loom on.
Connect everything and the car does not respond. Now we start looking socket by socket. i identify two sockets that brings problems. After a bit of de pinning and moving wires around we land into this:
And yes we have life!!!!!!!
Now all i need is to continue and put the things back and hopefully after all this time will have my disco back.
a special thanks to DiscoMike being the only person that told me go ahead this is doable, thanks mate!!!
18th Apr 2021 3:33 pm
pjm-84
Member Since: 04 Oct 2016
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2575
Nice and hats off to you. Thats a lot of work.
18th Apr 2021 5:18 pm
lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
Nice work, cant have been done many times if at all before?
18th Apr 2021 5:38 pm
garrycol
Member Since: 06 Dec 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1128
Surely it would have been easier and cheaper to bring the car from Dubai back to Kenya and convert it to RHD using parts from your old car.
19th Apr 2021 2:56 am
KostasA
Member Since: 23 Aug 2015
Location: nairobi
Posts: 286
if that was the case i would have done, believe me.
19th Apr 2021 9:15 am
loanrangie
Member Since: 18 Jun 2017
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 685
Well done, not an easy task considering your location.
20th Apr 2021 3:16 am
Kilovolt
Member Since: 29 Jun 2015
Location: South Derbyshire
Posts: 1057
Wow, that's dedication. Above and beyond what most would ever attempt "Track day running - Don't put your foot back on the accelerator until your absolutely sure you don't have to take it off again"
Current Ride: D4 XS Commercial Baltic Blue SDV6 fully loaded with heated everything
Track Days: BMW E36 M3 Evolution MY 1996 (3.2 Litre 377 BHP sat in 1,250 Kgs of car, with a pro safety cage and some serious braking power)
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