Post
by Anton » Fri Jan 13, 2017 9:37 pm
With a 1:1 high t-case a light but torquey diesel might make sense on the road, but you can't get a 1:1 tcase for an SJ. You can get a custom gearset made (Richard Wattam knows people) but they are spendy (£600+,from memory) and low range is reduced to a useless ratio if you do. I can't remember what Richard said it would end up being, but it was silly (like 1.5:1 or something) which would be utterly useless.
I did think about a Hilux t-case, which is 1:1 high from factory, and you can get 4:1 and 6:1 low gear sets, but you are looking at 600 smackers just for the gears again plus the time/money required to get a Hilux t-case to fit.
I've researched this quite a lot. The only diesel engines that seem to make sense are the Toyota 1ND-TV (1.4 TD 4cly all alloy, from the Yaris/Auris) and the VW ANY (1.2 TD 3cyl all alloy, from the Lupo 3L and A1 3L, both German domestic market only).
The Yota is 99kg, the VW 75kg - all up inc turbo and intercooler, which is half the weight of other diesels.
The VW is rediculously underpowered, but I believe that it can be remapped to make 90hp and 140ft/lb.