SD1 Diesel, talk to me....

[colnerov]

 Hi, Having mentioned the Standard Vanguard, when Standard Motor Products took over production of the SD1 in '85 in India they couldn't use the UK engines (no licence) so put a Standard Vanguard engine in it.

 

 Colin

[JeeExEll]

Four individual cylinder heads!

OMG. I didn't know that. Really interesting, must have a closer look at these. What would have been the reason for that design? I guess they're identical heads / interchangeable.

[Asimo]

Seperate heads allow more control over the forces on the head gasket from the head bolts without requiring a massively stiff head assembly.

[sierraman]

I think there has been a few that have been preserved. Craptical Plastics had an SD1 feature a few years ago and there was a freshly restored example there along with a base 2000. So they are out there! Could be wrong but I think the late Granadas has a VM fitted.

[forddeliveryboy]

VM produced marine and plant engines, frequently used commercially. Seperate heads were common for this type of application since it reduces costs for the manufacturer (modularity) when engines with different numbers of cylinders are used and the operator can have an engine with a damaged valve or similar back in use more quickly.

 

Rover chose the VM as they said it was the smoothest and best available at the time, they installed it terribly in the RR which made they were prone to air locking and overheating (dunno about in the SD1) and overlooked the fact that they needed regular servicing by someone with a smidgen more than the lowest level of aptitude, not something common to the British who are famous for skimping on routine servicing, compared with our continental cousins.

 

The installation of the 2.5TD in the Rover 800 showed lessons had been learned - a cylinder head temp sensor, low water level sensor and header tank higher than the water pump. I'd actually choose one over a Land Rover 300TDi lump, they're better designed, tougher and simpler.

 

 

In the early 80s Rover were aware of the rise of the diesel and were preparing "The Iceberg" - a diesel V8. Only when the govt at the time suggested* a profit was a good thing, and V8s were transferred to the main engine assembly factory was it axed.

[sierraman]

Imagine that phwoarrr a V8 Diesel SD1

[Inspector Morose]

Wasn't the iceberg in collaboration with Perkins?

[forddeliveryboy]

Wasn't the iceberg in collaboration with Perkins?

Yes, and to be built at Acocks Green. Tony Gilroy closed this plant and moved V8 production to Solihull alongside the 4 pots.

 

[wuvvum]

Could be wrong but I think the late Granadas has a VM fitted.

 

They did, albeit the 2.5 version - fitted in the facelifted Mk3s and the frog-face Scorpios.  I had one of the latter - odd thing, Ghia X so all mod cons, leather & wood* etc, then this growly old diesel and clunky 5-speed manual 'box to move it along.

[sierraman]

MT75? Like most ford boxes a bit notchy when cold.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I have an Autocar magazine somewhere which pits the Rover 2400SD Turbo against the Peugeot 604 Turbo D. 

[cort16]

Nitrosilvia on YouTube is currently restoring one, well worth a watch:

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/nitrosilvia

 

 

 

The same guy has a thread on retro rides. He previously restored an SD1 police car that was a total basket case and has an SD1 drift car

 

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/207136/1983-rover-2400-turbo-diesel

[forddeliveryboy]

Imagine rolling up in a SD1 with an exhaust sounding like one of these, though -

 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

It sounds like a train!

[ianamk]

Ok,so it's an awlful car.....but it's created 45 replies,that's surly enough to warrant a rescue effort.

 

I will make contact with the owner next week and start showing an unwilling interest.....constantly using the word Free!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I think there has been a few that have been preserved. Craptical Plastics had an SD1 feature a few years ago and there was a freshly restored example there along with a base 2000. So they are out there! Could be wrong but I think the late Granadas has a VM fitted.

Yes, I had an M reg 2.5TD Ghia in 1999, it kept up with motorway traffic well enough but acceleration was a bit leisurely. The killer for me was that it was no more economical than the 2.0i Carlton that I had before it, I got rid of it, after less than a year, traded in against an Omega 2.0i 16V CD that was much faster and used less fuel.

[BeEP]

If the car in question isn't in Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk, then there are at least two on the market!

[wuvvum]

I'm glad that blue one off the Bay got saved.

[DaveDorson]

I'd love a diesel SD1.

 

I saw a p4 with a 300TDI in earlier and that made me extremely happy that someone has done it.

[wuvvum]

What year was the turbodiesel Volvo 760 introduced?  That must've been quicker than an SD1.

[JeeExEll]

Was the Maxi td a VM?

Like the Allegro 2400.

[wuvvum]

No, the Maxi diesel was a 2.25 Land Rover engine, mounted transversely and with the gearbox dropped into the sump.

 

The diesel Allegro did use a VM unit, but it was the 1700 3-pot as used in the Alfa 33.  Being a triple it was short enough that they could keep the end-on gearbox.

 

 

Disclaimer: some or more of the above may be bollocks.

[richardthestag]

Ok,so it's an awlful car.....but it's created 45 replies,that's surly enough to warrant a rescue effort.

 

I will make contact with the owner next week and start showing an unwilling interest.....constantly using the word Free!

 

get it bort

[Lacquer Peel]

What year was the turbodiesel Volvo 760 introduced? That must've been quicker than an SD1.

Just a year or two after the SD1 I think, when Volvo 760s had those weird brushscript badges.

I think the D24 makes the VM diesel seem quite refined.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

This is highly promising. Definitely worth saving, even with a canal boat engine. In fact, partially because of the canal boat engine...

[Lacquer Peel]

This is highly promising. Definitely worth saving, even with a canal boat engine. In fact, partially because of the canal boat engine...

Speedboat engine!

[Pete-M]

This. It was a pioneering turbodiesel when it came out in late 1982. Diesel was mainly a Peugeot and Mercedes thing back then; the only Granada diesel at the time was the special order taxi version with wipe clean seats. There was no UK diesel Passat, Carlton, Senator or any shape of BMW.

 

Peugeot would do you an oil-burning 505 or 604, Renault a 20, Audi a 100 and Mercedes a W123, but the Rover 2400SD Turbo was considerably faster and more economical than any of these normally aspirated cars.

 

 

Peugeot 604 diesel was a turbo diesel from the start. It was only a matter of days between the 604 and Mercedes as to who released the first turbodiseasel. If my memory works, Peugeot showed the 604 first, but Mercedes got their turbo diesels on sale first.

[254575]

[wuvvum]

Peugeot 604 diesel was a turbo diesel from the start. It was only a matter of days between the 604 and Mercedes as to who released the first turbodiseasel. If my memory works, Peugeot showed the 604 first, but Mercedes got their turbo diesels on sale first.

 

Were the turbo W123 / W126 ever sold here?

[bigfella2]

No, I don't believe so, as the turbo sits directly where the steering box resides in rhd form.