Does engine weight make that much difference?

[d_r_1989]

As some of you know my sj has the pug xud9te engine (that's a 1.9td), it's been a long time since I had a petrol sj and I'm wondering why people dislike the extra weight and extra power?

Normally I'm not a diesel fan but I'm struggling to see why a petrol would be better other than weight.

After all people add a lot of weight with rollcages and winches.

The only downside I have with mine is if I drop out of the power band performance is shocking! And I have to use a radiator from a well known curse word 4x4!

[ROBBIE]

I can carry a 1.3 and a 1.6 but there is no way I could lift the pug lump. That's a lot of weight to put in a lightweight truck which is know for driving over stuff instead of trying to plow through it. I'm actually a fan of the old xud, I ran one for years on used cooking oil and never had any problems with it, but when I had the chance of putting one in the SJ, I weighed up (no pun) the differences and realised it was just not going to do any favours to the handling

[donkeychomp]

Thing is with a little SJ, all the weight is over the front wheels. Sure, some people put roll bars etc in them but nothing as heavy as an engine in the rear so they will always have a front end bias. As always the best option for more power is a Vitara lump.

[twiss]

Im planning on doing an XUD 2.1 LWB build at some point. Would never do it to my off roader as it throws the weight distribution off (as above)
...but I would be using it mostly for travelling across Europe/Africa where fuel economy and being able to run on a large range of fuels are important factors.
Depends what you want to do with it really

[ScottieJ]

I like to add as little weight as possible. The small dervs aren't that bad but the pug and vw1.9s weigh around twice as much as the g13 and g16.

The Sj from the factory has a pretty good weight balance although it's still a bit lighter in the rear. Add another 100kg up front and it's quite a difference...then say add a normal winch that weighs around 30-40kg and it upsets the balance quite a lot, probably not always a bad thing but I like to keep my sj on a diet.

[RickUK]

I use to have a Izusu Trooper 2.8 diesel and that pulled like a train and did me proud for nearly 18 years,diesel at one time was much much cheaper and was very appealing cost wise,so the transition of drivers over to diesel came along.

But the greedy tax man cottoned onto this and as they say the rest is history,as diesel is nearly 5p a ltr more expensive,i cannot see any real advantage these days over changing over.I will agree diesel do more too the gallon but when you take into account the extra initial expense of buying a diesel car which is higher and then the running costs every week of filling up the tank,then petrol starts looking appealing again.

When i bought my V6 petrol Vitara earlier on in the year i took everything into account the mileage i do per week,initial cost of fuel etc and i have never regretted buy such a big petrol engine,infact its a real joy to drive.

I am not saying its for everyone but i guess this is why folks are still staying with petrol fuel trucks rather than diesel ones.

[d_r_1989]

I cant say iv noticed a difference offroad with the extra weight upfront. It still gets places alot of other 4x4 's cant because it doesnt sink in the mud but the downside is it does float!

Mine came with the derv engine In so im really asking is it worth going back to petrol?

I do use mine on the road and I wouldnt really say the weights upset the handling but then again my wheelbase is quite wide, Infact almost 10" wider than standard sj (not samurai)

[RickUK]

The bottom line is as long as it work fine for you,that basically is all that counts.

[ROBBIE]

If you are happy with it stick with it

[twiss]

Yeah I would stick with the diesel for now... if it dies then you could put a petrol in if it was more cost effective that way