BMW Diesel

[KWM338R]

Does anyone have any experience with a diesel powered BMW. if so what are they like, any particular year to look for. I have a plan to put my TR6 back together with a diesel engine and run it on waste veggie oil so am looking for a suitable engine that will work nicely in the Greasy Six. A friend of mine did it with a <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.madhouseminis.com/projects/g ... /index.htm" target="top">mini</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>
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Cheers<br>
Mark<br>
<br>


<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[dollysteve]

The 3 litre diesel is an absolute power house, fabulous engine and propels a 3 series to 60 in 7 ish secs, trying to graft one in to a TR6 will be a living nightmare I shouldn`t wonder, you`ll probably need the ignition lock assy and the instrument binnacle to get round the immobilizer aswell as the wiring loom and ECU. The mini you attached used an old pug lump which would have been a simple mechanical rotary pump and therefore relativeley simple to install as it doesn`t rely on electrics to make it run.

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[ecurie]

Try to avoid early 2.4 turbodiesels. The cylinder heads have the tendency to crack.<br>
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Later 2.0 and 3.0 engines are really good and certainly the 2.0 are plentiful.<br>
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Benoit

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[KWM338R]

Thanks for the info Gents. BMW diesels are not available stateside so it won't be an easy proposition, my best bet might be to buy a salvage vehicle so I would have all the gubbins together. The other option is to go VW TDI which are available over here but then I have the agro of trying to adapt it to RWD. I'm still a little way off from the power plant side of things as the car is in pieces and needs a floor and sills. could be a good fun project though. <br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[KWM338R]

How about a mid to late 90's rover diesel, they seem cheap and plentiful for a complete car on ebay, what is the source of these engines and are they any good?<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[davepoth]

A lot of late 90s rover diesels will be BMW motors, the L-series for the Rover 75 only came along a bit later IIRC.<br>
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I wouldn't discount the VW route out of hand. A lot of the big audis have their engine fore and aft, but driving the front wheels, just like the 1300fwd. If you are spending a big wedge of cash on the conversion this would be a good way to go as the audi engines are now very powerful (as the losers at Le Mans wil testify!)<br>
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Of course the easiest thing may well be to toddle of to the handily named<br>
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<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.dieselenginetrader.com/" target="top">www.dieselenginetrader.com/</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>
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Where you'll find all kinds of motors, mainly for marine applications, but US based and pretty cheap to boot.

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[SprintMWU773V]

Actually much more difficult than you might think. Firstly most BMW diesel engines are far too complicated to run on pure oil. Used vegetable oil does not contain the lubricating properties of diesel and will quickly turn you fuel pump, seals, lines and injectors to mush. <br>
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I have converted a friends Citroen BX to run on a blend of 80% oil and 20% diesel and it seems fine. However this is an old tractor of a diesel engine that will take anything you can throw at it. <br>
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Best bet is twin tanks so start up with regular diesel and switch when warm to the bio. This is the complicated bit. Pure oil or too high a mix is also useless in the winter, switch to 25% oil to 75% regular diesel.<br>
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"Bio-diesel" if you call it that is also likely to make you fail your MOT on smoke emissions if you you get the mix wrong and produces more soot than regular diesel.<br>
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there's nothing wrong with the BM units though, plenty of power. Find a 2.5 TDS engine in a breakers at least it has the right number of cylinders. This engine can also be found in some Vauxhall Omegas by the way.<br>
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Why not take the regular TR engine and run on Bio-ethanol? Has a higher octane value and doesn't mean trawling the chip shops for old grease.<br>
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Incidentially Rover diesels by the way are as follows:<br>
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Early 200/400 (89-95)- peugeot sourced ala BX etc<br>
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Late 200/400/25/45 (95-05)-Rover designed L-series- also in 600's.<br>
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800's (90-1999)- VM diesel engines<br>
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75 (99-05)- BMW 4 cyl sourced diesel engine<br>
<br>
mark

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[KWM338R]

Thanks for that info Mark. Have a look at the <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.greasecar.com/" target="top">Grease Car</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> site for info on the kits they sell. It does indeed start on diesel until upto temperature. There are alot of veggie cars running around the area, ranging from old mercs and vw golfs to more modern vw tdi's. Another good source of info for anyone interested is a book called From The Fryer To The Fuel Tank. Once the diesel is in the car the actual wvo conversion is not that difficult. As modern diesels get more complex in there electronic management maybe the conversion will become more difficult so i will be on the look out for a slightly older diesel. <br>
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cheers<br>
Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[Stan Part]

There is a guy in my home town who runs an Escort with a diesel engine on oil from the chippy.<br>
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He has a sticker on the back that reads "XR3 -Fry" <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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[KWM338R]

The only problem following a WVO vehicle is the smell makes you hungry.<br>
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Cheers<br>
Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[alun n]

What about the Jag 2.7 litre jobbie?

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[KWM338R]

oooo good point Alun, I never thought of a Jag with a diesel in it.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Mark

<p>1979 Dolomite Sprint<br>
1972 TR6 (now breaking for spares to fund the Dolly)<br>
1993 Mazda Protege ($250 Winter Hack)<br>
2000 Mazda MPV (For Sale)<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[SprintMWU773V]

If you can find one it'd be a great engine to have in a car. Bet they ain't cheap though. Of course also found in various pugs, shitroens and Landies now.

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[dollysteve]

How about one of these, you might have a problem getting it to fit though.<br>
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<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.bath.ac.uk/~ccsshb/12cyl/">D ... <!--EZCODE LINK END-->

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[alun n]

The engines not that big really, its just that Japanese folk are really small<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>
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Try pushing those shells in with your feeler gauge!!

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