MPI

[karloss]

Just as a matter of interest, where does the MPI engine come from? Is it a Rover engine or was it just for the disco? Do they put it in anything else? It seems rather a powerful lump for a 2 litre. Just been reading the tech spec in lroi sounds quite good for what it is. Only ever heard bad things about it but then again I've only ever heard bad things about the 2.5 td and mines OK.

[hobbit]

Dont know anything about them, but when i first saw one, thought they had missed the top half of the engine out, it looked lost in there

[matthew]

As far as I know it is the same engine as fitted to various Rovers of a similar age including 600 and 800 for which there was a turbo version.

[karloss]

Would that be the rover 220 turbo engine then?

[Bush Tucker Man]

It is indeed the 400/600/800 engine, albeit not the Turbo version.
It was introduced in about '93 to try & beat the company car rulings (bands & engine sizes), plus they also tried to sell it in Italy.

Not too sure how successful it was, but LR did sell quite a few Mpi 90's to the Italian Police Force on the back of it

[pantg]

People Hi,

The Mpi engined variant of the Discovery series 1 was also produced for the Greek market where it sold in considerable numbers.
Actually almost 90% of the Discos sold from 1993 up to 1998 in Greece were Mpi ones.

This engine when combined with the Discovery bodyshell resulted in a vehicle that could move quite nicely on the road (around 100 mph top speed and 13 to 14 seconds for 0-60 mph.
Off road it required some use of the low gears on the difficult (steep inclines, mud, sand) spots but apart from that it was decent enough.

Its main problem was the performance and torque feel that it was lucking when compared with its bigger engined brothers (the V8 and the Tdi which incidentaly was never sold in the Greek market due to restrictions of use of diesel powered cars by those morron politicians of ours)

The engine is in fact used also on the 220, 420, 620 and 820 Rover passenger cars of this age.

Here in Greece several tuners have developed turbocharger and mainly compressor (supercharger) kits for it, increasing the power output to at least 165 bhp and going up to 220 bhp (but this requires extensive tweaking of the engine's internal bits)

Fuel consumption is quite lower from that of the V8 but only when using it with grace. If asked to deliver all its performance it tends to consume about 90% of the fuel required by the V8.

The main reason the Mpi has found such a good market in Greece was because of the crazy car taxation system which made it cost around 18.000 pounds new back in 1993 while a V8 engined one would cost you about 3 times this amount (vehicles with engine capacity larger than 2.000 cc were levied with car import duties about three times their factory invoice price)

Was it a good car?

For its money it was the best buy of its time.

Take care

[karloss]

HHMMM, all very interesting. He says, like a man with an idea! 8)

[Bush Tucker Man]

Not much good for towing though, as the torque is produced further up the rev-band.
It also has a reduced towing weight 2750kg (I think) against 3500kg

One point & I might be being silly here Karloss, but you do realise that it's a petrol engine & not a diesel?

[karloss]

One point & I might be being silly here Karloss, but you do realise that it's a petrol engine & not a diesel?

Aye, cheers Richard. :lol:  Just thought it might make a more economical and cheaper to buy alternative to a v8.

[Bush Tucker Man]

Aye, cheers Richard. :lol:  Just thought it might make a more economical and cheaper to buy alternative to a v8.

Will it be though?, as I guess it's not an overly-recognised conversion.

Will engine mounting/bell-housing adaptor kits be available?

Are the Italian 90's given a 're-mapped' ECU box of electrickery? (in comparison to the Discovery/Rover car ECU)

Will it be more economical than a V8?, allowing for the overall gearing & (lack of) aerodynamics.

Will you miss the low down torque of a diesel, or a V8?

[Bush Tucker Man]

How about stopping with a diesel & using the Montego/Maestro 2.0litre turbo? (made by Perkins)

http://www.integerspin.co.uk/landrover.php

http://www.landrovernet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15346

[turtle]

I used to own a Mpi Discovery, a little under powered when under load or towing, but a great car, its been slated quite a few times in the LR press. But I enjoyed the motor, until it got rear ended by a driving instructor. I have a few pics on the gallery.

http://members.mud-club.com/profiles/muddyplugger/gallery/60