Turnips engine conversion

[dxmedia]

Doing this for turnip, he wrote the write up and took the pics, I'm just laying it out for him - I hope I've got most of the pics in the right order


1956 Unimog 404 Engine conversion .

This is a brief story of my conversion.


I bought my Mog with a very non standard body and a gutless Ford York 65 BHP 4 cyl Diesel, the thing didn’t really like pulling 6th gear on the road unless it was level! I searched high and low for a suitable engine, starting with the obvious choice a Landrover 200 tdi but the big problem is LHS exhaust and turbo. The Unimog LHD set up just does not give room for your legs and a turbo. I looked at several Jap 4x4 but the engines are too tall and would give sump problems.


I was scratching round the local scrappy and I found an R reg Fiat Ducato 3.5 tonne with a 2.5 TDI motor and because it was transverse mounted, all the manifolds were on the back or RHS.
I did some research and it is a Sofim 8140.47 engine used by Iveco, Citroen and Peugeot, up to 120 bhp depending on version and half as much again torque as the original Mog petrol.
I bought the engine, box, exhaust, intercooler and any pipes, cables I could lay my hands on, The great thing about this engine is that it is non electronic and although there is a widget on the pump, that is easily disarmed.








I took it all back to base and decided that I could use the Iveco bell housing to adapt to the existing Mog gearbox extension, this would put the front of this 4 cyl engine where the front of the original 6 was and clear the axle.

I measured the Ducato first motion shaft end from the bell housing face then I emptied the gearbox of its gears




then took a 9” angle grinder and cut off the surplus

[dxmedia]

I then turned up an alloy spigoted adaptor which picked up in the Iveco bearing housing one side and the old Mog 6mm engine adaptor plate the other side and then bolted it all together. The alignment is perfect this way and no welding involved. A lot of people fabricate this bit but it is virtually impossible to guarantee alignment without pretty sophisticated gear.

I bolted it together








and put it on

[dxmedia]

So now I know it all fits on the outside – onto the drive! I took the Ducato first motion shaft



and cut it with a grinder as shown, I then bored it out to take the spigot of a standard Mog gbox input shaft, with these pressed together, I took a Mog clutch centre and used it to sleeve the splines



I ground the gear teeth off the Ducato shaft and made a stepped adaptor to align Ducato shaft, gear and Mog clutch plate centre, then welded up.







I fitted a new clutch and Cam belt then fitted it all together. The Oil cooler is a real tight fit behind the front tubular cross member but it does go in! The Ducato engine is originally slung from a single mounting at the front (much like a Mog) so I used that mounting and fabricated an A frame to pick up on the original cross tube.





So – was it worth it? A resounding Yes! Below about 1800 revs it drives like a flat Diesel but when the Turbo sees 1 bar it really takes off. I put it across a weighbridge and it is 3000kg, it now takes road hills in 6th that it struggled in 4th. What’s more is that unlike the York I have suffered no oil pick up problems even up 45 degree slopes, I have used the power steering pump for my box and ditched the vacuum pump in favour of a compressor to drive the brakes (Leyland Roadrunner)
But remember – my bodywork is non standard – but as you can see it is probably tighter than a standard Mog?

[mike97]

Thats great conversion Turnip, very impressed
How did the clutch linkage work out, is the Fiat setup cable or hydraulic operated?

Mike

[Turnip]

Thanks Mike, and thanks DX for putting it on! The clutch was dead simple, it is cable on the Ducato so I bolted a hook onto the Mog clevis fork ( removed the original rod and put a bolt up the hole M10 I think?) I used this bolt to secure a hook for the Ducato cable - sorted the adjustment on the nuts at the bellhousing end and the leverage / travel is just fine. The clutch itself is a bit odd in that the clutch fork pulls the diaphragm out rather than push it in, but that is how it is on the van!
The more I use it the sweeter it gets! The original zorst was a cat and two silencers, now just a stack pipe and a top flap - sounds great as the turbo takes most of the noise energy out.

Phil