As you may know by now I have recently got hold of a new engine for Tet recently, namely a Santana 6 cylinder diesel!!!! A rare engine in this country (unless someone will now prove me wrong of course)
Now those of you that have seen Tet lately will know that whilst the 2.5 n/a diesel fitted goes well, it does like to leave its mark wherever it goes, even right across Europe too
(as seen here in Kutna Hora)
Also Tet's chassis is getting past its best now too, since I'v own Tet (nearly 7 years now
) off the top of my head he's had new rear spring front mount outriggers on both sides, n/s bulkhead outrigger, both dumb irons repaired, cracks around the front cross member repaired, n/s of the rear cross member repaired (also been replaced by a p/o) as well as other patches etc, and as the pics shoe the o/s of the rear cross id going now too
So with the need for a new chassis coming, the thought of do I stay with a 2.5 n/a diesel or do I change it for something else. Ideally it had to be diesel as although not my daily drive (thanks to Ralph) he does get used for quite long trips and being a jack of all trades etc, did't want to Tdi Tet as both Ralph and Sara's Batty Wagon both have Tdi's already so was always thinking what else to make him a bit more "special"
some people suggested a Cummins engine, I toyed with the idea of a old Perkins but then thought about speed, or lack of lol. One conversion that I knew of that was going on was that of a Santana 6 cylinder into a LWB series one (some people here will know who I mean) and once in Kutna Horna this year said LWB series one arrived, not long after finishing the conversion too! From the smiles and speaking to them they were quite impressed with the engine (and I know he's on the lookout for another one for another project he's got too). One problem he had to overcome on his though was taking a chunk out of the front cross member and fitting the worlds thinest radiator to get it to work. Hopefully (I'm still checking the measurements) I'll overcome these problems by moving the gearbox back to the 6 cylinder petrol position, which will mean some bulkhead modifications but should (hopefully) mean the use of standard 6 cylinder prop shafts etc. looking into the amount of power etc these engines produce it also seems like a good middle ground between a 2.25/2.5 diesel and a Tdi, therefore it shouldn't explode the gearbox (hopefully)
Compression ratio Power Torque
2.25 Diesel 23:1 45Kw@4000rpm 139Nm@1800rpm
2.5 n/a Diesel 21:1 51Kw@4000rpm 158Nm@1800rpm
Santana 3.5 23:1 70Kw@4000rpm 207Nm@1800rpm
200 Tdi 19:1 83Kw@4000rpm 255Nm@1800rpm
300 Tdi 19:1 84Kw@400rpm 265Nm@1800rpm
Other good points about this engine is that alot of it is compatible with the 2.25d, injectors, pistons, con rods etc etc as it is basically the same engine but with 2 extra cylinders and geared timing and repositioned injector pump, which itself a just a 6 pot version of that used on the 2.25d, so should something happen then parts wont be too bad to source. There will be more to figure out, like the exhaust downpipe as this engine has 2 separate exhaust manifold, throttle linkage etc but I will sort that out once things start going together