Can a D40 Thai go in place of a Spain

[raamsfamily]

Hi,

I have an R51 Pathfinder Auto which I am told is a Spain engine.

Can a Thai engine go in its place, if so, what do I need to be aware of? Like ECU, DPF, Mounts

 

[Old.Tony]

There's a couple of mm difference in chassis width between the two, but that's about the only physical difference for mounting the engine and the mounts themselves might be in the right spot (the chassis difference does affect bullbars). The exhaust is different, the 140kW engine has its turbocharger mounted lower in the bay, so the dump pipe is different. Turbo control in the Spanish engine is electronic while the Thai uses vacuum governed by a solenoid. The ECUs also have different fuel mappings, the Spanish one being tuned for a different layout inside the cylinder head with a resulting reduction in fuel consumption.

 

[camo.b]

I heard of a bloke fitting a new thai head to a old spanish motor....personally i would have thought it would be the other way round (140kw spanish head on a 126kw thai block) he said it worked and got good gains from it.another bloke did the conversion you are talking about and said it was a pain but it worked in the end...its the bolt ons that are the trouble.

 

[raamsfamily]

My R51 is only 126kW but is made on Spain.

 

[Old.Tony]

Then yours should be a fairly easy swap. The 126kW Spanish motor has a vacuum-powered turbo actuator, the turbo sits up higher and has the older ECU programming. Be careful: the Spanish 126kW motors in the autos had a DPF, which the Thai builds may not have had. If you're tempted to use the Thai ECU, it might lack the programming to handle the DPF.

That might be a good thing if you're considering removing your DPF. It will be very, very bad if you aren't removing the DPF.

 

[ericcs]

Then yours should be a fairly easy swap. The 126kW Spanish motor has a vacuum-powered turbo actuator, the turbo sits up higher and has the older ECU programming. Be careful: the Spanish 126kW motors in the autos had a DPF, which the Thai builds may not have had. If you're tempted to use the Thai ECU, it might lack the programming to handle the DPF.

That might be a good thing if you're considering removing your DPF. It will be very, very bad if you aren't removing the DPF.

just for another twist, the early 05/06 spanish auto's have no DPF's, and have a low mount turbo,

 

[camo.b]

Is the turbo a 3 bolt mount turbo in the early spanish?

 

[Old.Tony]

just for another twist, the early 05/06 spanish auto's have no DPF's, and have a low mount turbo,

My manual covers 2006 to 2010, so it must be the very first series of D40 that has the lower turbo.

In the 2006-2010 model the turbocharger has 3 bolts connecting it to the exhaust manifold.

 

[camo.b]

Same turbo tony?
Meaning is the lower turb still a gt2056v?

 

[raamsfamily]

Mine is vacuum actuator and has DPF. So I would need the Thai ECU right? And at the same time do a DPF delete? Or can I keep my ECU and use it on Thai engine?

 

[raamsfamily]

And I guess to add complexity, what about using a Spain engine that does not have a DPF? Any issue there

 

[Old.Tony]

I'm not sure about the older car with the lower turbo, every manual that I have (and I have several now) shows that it's the same turbo, and my assumption is that they moved it upwards to get the vacuum hoses and the charge air hose away from the heat.

If yours is vacuum controlled the ECU will manage that fine - so there won't be a need to change ECU and since you have a DPF, keeping your ECU means keeping the DPF. The engine will perform fine. The DPF issue arises if you need to change the ECU to a Thai version, which won't have DPF control.

You'd have to register the new engine's fuel injectors and perform a reset on the fuel map, but everything else should remain the same. Remote entry is governed by the BCM inside the cabin so don't worry about that. As long as the engine mounts are good, I can't think of why you can't drop the Thai motor in.

If you had a Spanish motor without DPF (eg a manual car) then there'd be no issue in changing ECUs to a Thai version. The ECU is the problem, since it has to control injector pulses on the exhaust stroke to feed fuel to the DPF for its regeneration cycle.

 

[raamsfamily]

So my plan now is to fit the Thai engine, replace DPF with a thai pipe, and engine will come with Thai injectors. and in this case if I understand correctly I will still need the Thai ECU no matter what, but because I am deleting the DPF the ECU will bolt on. If so, will it impact on keys / immobilizer? .... I really appreciate your advice and assistance

 

[camo.b]

I would be putting in the thai long motor and use all your existing bolt ons and spanish computer....get it running and then worry about the DPF..one thing at a time to keep it simple...im be tipping that there will be a mismatch on the pins or wiring on the thai/spanish computer..there are things the thai never got like fuel readings on dash.dfp and so forth..but its worth a shot if you keen.i havt heard of anyone swapping ecu's .not saying it can be done tho..

 

[camo.b]

Bcm does the keys not the ecu as far as i know...

 

[raamsfamily]

I would need to swap ecu or fit Spanish injectors to the Thai block. Maybe it's just easier to get a Spanish and pay the extra I think

 

[ericcs]

My manual covers 2006 to 2010, so it must be the very first series of D40 that has the lower turbo.

In the 2006-2010 model the turbocharger has 3 bolts connecting it to the exhaust manifold.

i'll check later on the exhaust flange, but mine still has the indicators in front guards like the thai's instead of the mirrors

 

[camo.b]

Im pretty sure you can skip the injector registration...first up anyway...the numbers yeo get with them are only a exact fuel flow/calculation corrector for the ecu...as they all flow a little diffrent..but similar.it might idle and run just fine otherwise its not going to be far off...if you get rebuilt injector from baileys diesel the supply numbers for there injectors to input...you can also request upped numbers to slightly increase fuel flow by a few %....thwy have a good artical and video on there web site about ingector registration
Quite possible easier to get a spanish as there are so many unknowns..whats the price diffrence?

 

[raamsfamily]

$2k difference

 

[camo.b]

2k matters to me...how much free time do you have and you got a good electrical/mechanical mind?
If it was me id go the thai...but i love a challange