Engine choices?

[Poodroo]

G'day all, something that has been on my mind a lot of late is the fact I will inevitably one day be faced with a decision on what I am going to do with the engine in the Pajero. It has now got 360,000 original klms on the clock and still showing no signs of blowing smoke of giving up anytime soon but that day will come I am sure. I have decided that it is still cheaper to keep the old car on the road seeing as I own it and I don't particularly want to upgrade and get into the debt cycle once again. So my question is when that day arrives where I have to take the car off the road to do something to the engine what are my choices? Ultimately I want a bit more performance out of the 3 litre so do I recondition the original donk and put a larger cam in it and do the motor up for more performance or do I look at the possibility of putting a small V8 engine in it? Is it possible to slip the bigger 3.5 litre Mitsubishi engine in it and couple it up to the same gearbox and drive system or do something unique and do up the old 3.0 litre engine and turbocharge or supercharge it? Which out of all these options would be most viable and least expensive? Interested in everyones' thoughts. The main aim is to get a few (or a lot) more torque for 4wd'ing applications like loose sand work on Fraser and for towing also.

Regards,

Poodroo

[Black_Rat]

Swap for a diesel Nissan is a good start

Alternatley you might be able to get a Reco Jap motor with more grunt and just slip it in.

[Poodroo]

Good suggestion there Damo. Do you know someone who is willing to swap a '93 Pajero for a newer diesel Nissan or were you going to swap yours for mine? Lol
Nah I will stick to the Pajero regardless. The faithful old girl still got me up "THE HILL" at Mt.Mee even with the trailing arm bushes all flogged out and non-existent. I am thinking that the engine will probably remain original and I will just recondition it and put a performance cam in it and maybe bore it out a little. Should go okay and not kill the economy too much hopefully.

Poodroo

[Black_Rat]

It's only the spare Pajero you could afford to reco your original motor if downtime wasn't an issue. Options would be a plenty, i'd imagine keeping it simple would be the way to go cost wise. I'd imagine it would have lost a bit of grunt over the years so any reco motor would feel like a V8

[RCG008]

Dont think boring out is an option with that motor. I have been wrong before.

Cant see why a 3.5 litre paj motor wouldnt slip in. Its all the same back then. I think if your flywheel and bell housing match up it shouldnt be a drama. And i think they will.

Option 3. I know you can supercharge that motor. Cost a bit more than doing a v6 commodore but its do-able. You would have to re-build the motor to suit the application if you want another 350000 out of it though.

Your Mits dealer shoould be able to help with matching donks.... if not a forum. My old man has found quite a bit he can do to his 3.5l magna on forums. And to my knowledge these donks are similar.

See what happens?

[Kleyny]

I'd be looking at cam and getting the head flowed a little.
IMO as an old sprint car mechanic/crew member, good cam and good flowing heads can give you anything from bottom end toque too high revs horse power.
these days cams can be ground to make low down torque and good horse power.
should be allot cheaper than buying a 3.5lt as you need computers and to rewire the hole shabang.
IMO if you modify things to much you are compromising reliability.
as someone else said basically what ever you do with 350k on it you will feel the difference.

just my thoughts

neil

[Poodroo]

I'd be looking at cam and getting the head flowed a little.
IMO as an old sprint car mechanic/crew member, good cam and good flowing heads can give you anything from bottom end toque too high revs horse power.
these days cams can be ground to make low down torque and good horse power.
should be allot cheaper than buying a 3.5lt as you need computers and to rewire the hole shabang.
IMO if you modify things to much you are compromising reliability.
as someone else said basically what ever you do with 350k on it you will feel the difference.

just my thoughts

neil

Thanks for the info Neil. I am open to guidance from people in the know. It does make sense to keep the original motor in it and just recondition it and perhaps put a performance cam in it for extra torque and rev range. Would a turbo be overkill on the 3.0 litre V6? If I were to put a turbo in it could I get away with the same fuel management system? Just curious!

Poodroo

[Kleyny]

Turbos are a great thing on the correct motor.
But i doubt the 3lt mitsu engine is one of these.
Turbo motors have things that normal engines don't. eg tougher bottom ends, lower compression ratios, some even have oil squirter's onto the underneath of the pistons.
IMO turbos make petrol 4X4 some what a hand full when in tricky situations for the average Joe blog ( climbing a hill need a bit more GGs put your foot down just a little turbo cuts in and all hell brakes loose)
IMO turbos have their applications in say diesels they are a lazy engine and need a boost to make them perform. And i forgot racers

If you wanted to put a turbo or supercharger on you would at least have to get your computer chipped to hold the injectors open longer or larger injectors to keep the air fuel ratio at the optimum. ( not that dear i wouldn't think, then again I've been known to be wrong "so my wife tells me" )
if i was dead set on giving the engine a helping hand I'd personally go supercharger. Why SCs are instant horsepower (no turbo lag therefore no surprises on that killer hill)

Find someone who can grind you a cam to what you want maybe even get your heads looked at (for flow, and larger valves) HP and torque is all about ease of entrance of the clean cool air fuel mixture and an ease of exit of the left over gases. See if you can get your computer chipped/tuned to ensure the best possible performance.
Also while your at it spend a little extra on a good exhaust and a snorkel if not already fitted.

With a little patience, correct people doing the correct job, a little knowledge/ guidance, and of course the good old bucks you will get great results, eg old 1100 motor cycle engine with roughly 100hp stock, to pumping out over 220 at the wheels. just with head work, the right cam for the application and a splash of methanol.

the last time i typed this much was doing a paper at tafe

hope this helps and i didn't ramble to much.

neil

[finga]

I'll be worth to consider the extra insurance with motor mods. like turbo and superchargers and also rego costs with the V8.
My preferrance for either turbo or super would be go super. Instant power and reasonably easy to 'adjust' for the week-ends.
No matter which way you go I'd be doing my sums as any rebuild, mods or wha-ever cost lots of money if you can't do the work yourself and in the end may be better to upgrade. Especially if you use the Paj. for work and is tax deductable.

[blaze]

just rebuild it and keep it standard, bigger engines often dont do what people think, end up with the wrong bore and stroke for the drive train ratio. Increasing extra hp from exsisting engine only loads up the internals more than there designed load. Fit a free flow exhaust and leave the rest. You been happy enough with it for a lot of km's, just keep remembering service rendered.
cheers
blaze

[Poodroo]

Okay, sounds like I should put the thought of supercharging and turbocharging aside and just concentrate on the original motor. Glad I posted this topic because I can always get the right advice from you guys with exception to Damo who thinks a Nissan would be a cheap option. Blaze thanks for the reality check. At worst I think I will recondition the original donk and modify the cam for a bit more torque. Any work on it will make it perform better than the 360,000 klm engine does now as people have already stated. Thanks again for all the advice guys.

Poodroo

[gone_fishing]

to spend the money on turbos and super chargers your better off putting the money to a upgrade 4x4
but as wish to keep it talk to some off the engine performance mobs they could knock up a hp increasse motor ready to go or supply the parts if you do it yourself
on another note mitsu's are quite grunty as is but get thirsty
depending on cercumstances $$$$ that would be my first option
or get a rebiuld and get the computer chiped probably the cheapest option

gone fishing

[RCG008]

So you have gone off forced induction. Not a bad move.

But just remember anything you do to that motor.... eg , grinding cams and doing heads. Will require re-mapping of the ECU. I forgot to mention before when you do these things that it is almost a must in all situations to touch up the ECU.

The only reason I mentioned the 3.5l donk is that it was a factory option and I dare say a lot of stuff will match up. The 3.5 had a lot more torque than the 3litre hence the cubes. Plus I think a rebuild will cost a few dollars compared to sourcing a decent motor thats imported/ or low K's.

So many ups and downs to this question.

As I said before Supercharger is the obvious choice for this motor. But you seemed to have swayed from the adventure side. Probably best. I dont think a Mits super/c donk would get you another 350000ks.

[Brett1907]

I would say supercharge, but that can cause reliability questions and is expensive. You don't want to put a V8 in, you might find one cheap but even with kits available nothing ever fits properly and it can get VERY epensive to connect new computers and all that.

Either basic mods as Neil said, or what about what RGC008 said about the 3.5L being a factory otion. If this is the case it may be cheaper than head/cam mods. But no matter what you do, include a good exhaust (with hiflow cats) and snorkel (I want to put a second one on mine).

Or wait and upgrade to either the new Jeep Rubicon (factory diff locks & electonic disconnectable front sway bar) or the TRD supercharged hilux!!!

Brett

[Poodroo]

Sometimes I wish that technology in cars wasn't so advanced. In the old days of motoring you simply ripped out the engine and whacked almost anything in the car and with some fine tuning it went like stink. You used to be able to make an engine sound lumpy by putting in the biggest possible cam and modify the engine to the point of crazy and not have to worry about the fuel management computer. Well when the time comes I am sure I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Thanks everyone for the guidance.

Poodroo