Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Good Morning All.

My name is Ruan and I have a 1995 Pajero 3L V6 Manual, that I have inherited from my dad who bought it from new. I am very attached to this car as we have made lots of family memories with the car. One of the most memorable ones is being able to ly comfortable in the back with my 2 brother in a make shift bed on top of the folding seats whilst driving down to George.

The car hard over 430 000km on the clock and I believe the engine has been rebuilt twice. About 3 years ago on Christmas day whilst driving home from church the head blew I think. The old man has been standing at my parents house since then.

I am now in the position to fix it. Hopefully. I am not a big fan of rebuilding the engine once again as well as a lexus v8 conversion due to the engineering involved and the total cost being around R80k if you redo all the diffs gearing properly.

I would love to swap the engine for a 3.2L diesel that I first encountered in a Triton owned by one of my old girlfriends dad during varsity.

This is hopefully where all of you come in. Can this swop be done? Is it easier and cheaper to do properly than a lexus v8 and if so who can do this for me?

Your help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.

Regards
Ruan

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Good Morning

My advice to you would be to forget about doing engine conversions , and instead consider buying a good low mileage import engine from a reputable company like Japan Auto or Jap-Euro in Gauteng. These Engines will all have low mileage on and the swap can be done in a weekend by any competent Technician. You can buy the complete 6G72 (3.0v6) or 6G74 (3.5v6) Engine , have it fully serviced with all new Belts , the correct Iridium Plugs , Cambelt Kit etc. including Labour for under R40.000. A conversion never works out as planned and always costs 30% more in the end than originally anticipated. I speak from experience because I've just finished fitting a Lexus 1UZ-VVTI V8 into my friends 1984 Mercedes Benz 380SEC Coupe and even though it now runs like a dream with excellent fuel consumption , I would not recommend it to anyone. The Exhaust Manifolds were a nightmare to get sorted and the vehicle has lost most of its value , so he is never going to recoup his investment of R60.000. The Aircon doesn't work because there was no space for the Compressor to fit and the Cruise Control also gone for good.

I've just completed quite a comprehensive service on my own 1999 Gen 2.5 Blister Fender 3.5 SWB using mostly Genuine Mitsubishi Gaskets and Seals all for under R8000.00. I replaced Both the Rocker Cover Gaskets , Rear Cam O-rings , all 24 Hydraulic Lash Adjusters , 6 New Iridium Spark Plugs , 6 New Spark Plug Tube seals , Both Top and bottom Metal Plenum Gaskets and a full Service including Coolant Flush , Manual Trans & Transfer case Oil change with correct BOT402 Fully Synthetic oil and Front and Rear Diff oil change. The dealers would have charged me at least R 25.000 for this job. My little beast now has no more Oil leaks and she purrs like the day she left the showroom. If and when the time comes to eventually overhaul the motor , I will just rip it apart and do it properly instead of taking it to someone else to do a rush job.

In my humble opinion , if the engine has been Reconditioned Twice in 400.000km , the people who did it took a few shortcuts here and there? I've done proper Engine rebuild for a bloke in Mpumalanga on his V6 Colt Double Cab 10 years ago and although the total cost came to just under R 35.000. he is still driving the same vehicle today without any issues whatsoever!