Freelander Mk1 K series Turbo.
Discussion
Yup, a K series Turbo in a Freelander! 
Why? Well why not? I've always wanted to make a boring, normal car go faster than it should. It's also cheap fun and who can argue against that?
I originally bought the Freelander as something to play with at home and a fairly easy green laner for the Cornish lanes. I bought two freelanders, destined for the scrapyard and made one good one out of the two. The 3 door body I wanted, had no engine. The 5 door body was tired, but had a reasonable engine and gearbox, along with loads of spares to keep the other running. I think I paid about £300 for the both of them.
I then ended up buying a 10 acre small holding and the Freelander proved very capable with nothing more than set of mud tyres on it, but power was always lacking.
Eventually, as they always do, the NA K series suffered from HG failure and I bought all of the parts required to complete a repair. Whilst researching the parts, I stumbled upon a post on a well known forum for Landy's about dropping in the turbo lump, the K series from the MG ZT-T drops straight in on the Freelander's gearbox and engine mounts. Perfect!
I went to the local scrap yard and lo and behold, there was sat, an MG ZT-T. The engine looked in great condition and no signs of oil in the turbo or HG failure. I managed to remove the engine in about 6 hours, mostly due to the light weight block. Took it home and gave it a good clean up, new HG, water pump and belts that were destined for the old engine.
The ECU wasn't difficult at all, K maps offer a plug and play option for the turbo engine in a Freelander, as long as it is on MEMS3. The ECU was sent off and reprogrammed to run the FL gauges but it also ups the power to 200bhp on a standard engine. Not bad in a freelander! A few other minor mod were made like removing one of the fans from the radiator pack to allow the turbo to fit. I fitted an intercooler from the TD4 FL as there are notches around the rad to fit this.
Off road, the freelander is more capable than it was ever given credit for but with the extra power and the off road tyres, it cruised uphill on a very muddy surface with very few hesitations. In silly mode (TC fuse removed) it is great fun off road and loads of power to light up all four wheels and get the mud flying!. on the road, it feels so easy to drive, extra power to keep up with traffic, overtake and the MPG is slightly reduced due to not having to thrash the engine.
I'm probably waffling a bit now, I'm at sea, a bit bored but will try and get some pictures up.
Why? Well why not? I've always wanted to make a boring, normal car go faster than it should. It's also cheap fun and who can argue against that?
I originally bought the Freelander as something to play with at home and a fairly easy green laner for the Cornish lanes. I bought two freelanders, destined for the scrapyard and made one good one out of the two. The 3 door body I wanted, had no engine. The 5 door body was tired, but had a reasonable engine and gearbox, along with loads of spares to keep the other running. I think I paid about £300 for the both of them.
I then ended up buying a 10 acre small holding and the Freelander proved very capable with nothing more than set of mud tyres on it, but power was always lacking.
Eventually, as they always do, the NA K series suffered from HG failure and I bought all of the parts required to complete a repair. Whilst researching the parts, I stumbled upon a post on a well known forum for Landy's about dropping in the turbo lump, the K series from the MG ZT-T drops straight in on the Freelander's gearbox and engine mounts. Perfect!
I went to the local scrap yard and lo and behold, there was sat, an MG ZT-T. The engine looked in great condition and no signs of oil in the turbo or HG failure. I managed to remove the engine in about 6 hours, mostly due to the light weight block. Took it home and gave it a good clean up, new HG, water pump and belts that were destined for the old engine.
The ECU wasn't difficult at all, K maps offer a plug and play option for the turbo engine in a Freelander, as long as it is on MEMS3. The ECU was sent off and reprogrammed to run the FL gauges but it also ups the power to 200bhp on a standard engine. Not bad in a freelander! A few other minor mod were made like removing one of the fans from the radiator pack to allow the turbo to fit. I fitted an intercooler from the TD4 FL as there are notches around the rad to fit this.
Off road, the freelander is more capable than it was ever given credit for but with the extra power and the off road tyres, it cruised uphill on a very muddy surface with very few hesitations. In silly mode (TC fuse removed) it is great fun off road and loads of power to light up all four wheels and get the mud flying!. on the road, it feels so easy to drive, extra power to keep up with traffic, overtake and the MPG is slightly reduced due to not having to thrash the engine.
I'm probably waffling a bit now, I'm at sea, a bit bored but will try and get some pictures up.
I am lucky and have three scrap yards within 15 minutes of my house. They tend to keep cars for a month or so before they are turned into cubes.
I only went for the turbo option as it was sat there in the yard, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered what with ebay sellers wanting stupid money for the blocks on their own. I paid 125 for the block, head, ancilliaries, turbo and down pipe. Best bit about Cornwall, not many race tracks down here so not many racers buying up K series engines
The hoses are an assortment. I fitted everything in, made some rough measurments then went to the scrap yard and just shopped for boost hoses. I think one of the top hoses is from a transit
Internet is slow as I'm on satellite comms but some more will be coming up. No videos I'm afraid, can't get them to upload on sat.
The engine sat in the bay.
I only went for the turbo option as it was sat there in the yard, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered what with ebay sellers wanting stupid money for the blocks on their own. I paid 125 for the block, head, ancilliaries, turbo and down pipe. Best bit about Cornwall, not many race tracks down here so not many racers buying up K series engines
The hoses are an assortment. I fitted everything in, made some rough measurments then went to the scrap yard and just shopped for boost hoses. I think one of the top hoses is from a transit
Internet is slow as I'm on satellite comms but some more will be coming up. No videos I'm afraid, can't get them to upload on sat.
The engine sat in the bay.
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