living with a 200tdi in a series

[ian_s]

so i've been driving my series 3 every day since the 1st of november.
i thought i'd share a few things i've noticed about it, after the conversion

top speed is about 65mph, up from 55 with the old 2.25d :)
fuel economy is no worse, but i've only covered a few hundred miles so dont really know. :)
you hardly need to rev the engine to accelerate nicely, its more powerful than the 2.25d across the whole rev range. :)
let the turbo boost in 1st or 2nd it will probably wheelspin :D
drifting is possible, if slightly frightening.:D :shock:
the brakes are more than enough to stop the thing.

the gearbox has held up to the abuse so far, and i have been driving it hard cos its soooooooo much fun. i'm starting to calm down tho.

got a few niggles:
the 200tdi seems to vibrate the car more than the 2.25d did. that could be due to a lower tickover, but at 30mph in 4th, my CD player now skips  :(
the throttle is too lightly sprung. easy to change tho, just not got round to it yet.:?
got no way of cutting the heat off from the heater matrix :?
the temperature guage reads very very low, as in the needle only just reaches the bottom of the "cold" part.

I will be fitting rangerover diffs, LWB brakes and some decent dampers.
the diffs should up the gearing by about 30%, which makes 80mph possible.  :shock:
i'd like an overdrive, rather than changing the diffs, but thats too expensive.

oh, still needs a respray

[Fuddy as muck]

I would have thought that fuel economy would be better. N/A diesels have always been more juicy than turbo models due to engine needing to be worked constantly harder. This is one of the reasons that i'm seriously cosidering the same conversion. What are the noise levels like with the TDI?

Darren

[ian_s]

mine is quite loud, but thats cos i'm cheap and bodged a straight through exhaust, and also the k&n filter straight onto the turbo whines like an emo kiddie.

its not excessively loud though. back off to cruising at 55 and you can hold a conversation with a passenger, which i couldnt do before with the 2.25d

a decent silencer and a bit more ducting on the intake and it will be a lot quieter.

[Rich_P]

I would of expected the TDi to be noisey, being a direct injection engine and not an indirect injection engine like the old 2.25 Diesel.

I imagine it's the lack of engine rpms that hold the TDi back even on Range Rover diffs, as a Series with RR diffs with a Rover V8 can theoritically hit well over 100mph.

A good 2.25 Diesel can still achieve 70mph even, but it takes time getting there and skill using the best torque and power available.

I've noticed from talking to several different people, that the LR diesels seem to give very similar miles to the gallon whether they are thrashed to death or not.  Just don't keep using the power of that TDi ian, or you will suffer the consequences in the near future. ;)

Sure the mainshaft may last for a few hundred miles like that, but it will most certainly not be happy taking such abuse.  

[ian_s]

on my 2.25d, the rev limiter cut in fairly harshly at 55mph.
it would accelerate happily if slowly up the there then stop dead!
its the same with the tdi, it gets to 65mph in no time, and then just stops accelerating.

i still dont think the gearbox is as weak as a few people think. opinion is almost 50/50 as to wether it will cope.

[tomarse]

on my 2.25d, the rev limiter cut in fairly harshly at 55mph.
it would accelerate happily if slowly up the there then stop dead!
its the same with the tdi, it gets to 65mph in no time, and then just stops accelerating.

You should definately look at your gearing. I can do more than than in a 2.5 n/a d with an overdrive and normal series diffs.

When i put my overdrive on my mate put a pair of high ratio diffs on his (2.25petrol). He later took them off and fitted an overdrive instead...

[Yoshi]

I was going to say i get 65mph out of my series 3 2.25 petrol on 7.50's!

[Rich_P]

The 2.5 N/A in a Series, on standard transmission gearing with overdrive can achieve 75mph, leaving a bit of poke to go to 80ish if needed.  Without overdrive you should be able to achieve about 65-70mph.

[ian_s]

yeah, 75 MPH is possible with an overdrive,
i dont have one, and i cant afford one at the moment, whereas i can afford a pair of diffs.