diesal or gas motor

[1000kva]

Hi, I am new here. I have caught the d90 bug and will be getting one some day. I have some questions? Did the NAS only have gasoline engines or where there some diesels. If so which is better? and why? I read about a guy who had a 94 converted to 97 auto tranny, was this hard to do? how painfull to the wallet is it? I've read about swapping out the stock nuts&bolts that hold the body panels together with Stainless, is this necessary? How expensive is it? How hard is it?

[rustydefender]

The NAS defender only came with 3.9 or 4.0 liter engines, no diesels. However, there is a great deal of diesel defenders that have either been converted to diesel, or imported. The latter is much more expensive because importing a new defender isn't cheap. In regards to gas vs. diesel, each has advantages and disadvantages gas engines allow you to accelerate faster and have more horsepower while diesels are suprior in torque, fuel economy, and reliability (most of the time) a diesel should last much longer. It all depends on what matters to you and your price range. A diesel conversion often requires a full transmission swap and might not be something you want to attempt unless you are an experienced mechanic. Finding someone to do it for you is both difficult and expensive. So if you can find a good diesel truck that you can afford my advice would be to go for it. No matter which way you go you will still have alot of fun. Good hunting!


Oh yeah the stainless thing is on my to do list and in my mind is a worthy upgrade, look for a group buy through this web-site.

[scoloco]

NAS Defenders were all sold as v8 petrol only. Some of the older ones (usually series, like >25yo to stay legal) have been imported with the stock 2.5 NA diesel. Some people have done diesel conversions on their defenders. Just for reference, I got a quote a few years ago to do a turnkey diesel tdi swap into a D90 - $20k give or take. Thats about the same price as a truck costs to start with. Yes, this was a high bid (some of you may even be able to guess from where :) ) and no I've still got the stock v8 petrol motor in my truck.
As for swapping out the stock nuts and bolts - that along with just about everything else that would not fall under 'standard maintenance' (and I include the oil cooler etc lines in that :uhoh) are pretty much optional. Assuming the items in question are in good shape and not worn out, your truck will run just fine as is.
HTH. YMMV.
-scott