Hello! Keen potential Bongo owner seeking engine advice

[Bob]

Splendid.

[mitchelln]

Not a bad days work!
It was clearly destined to be. If I hadn't gone to post a letter I wouldn't have seen it.
My 8 and 6 year olds are so excited.

[Bob]

The Bongo Gods work in mysterious ways.

Thank goodness.

If you'd been going to the bank you might now own a Sherman tank.

[Bongolia]

Hi.

Nice to see such a great community!

I'm looking at a 2003 Bongo that has been fitted out very nicely and is in great well cared for condition. 74K on the clock. I'm really keen to start my Bongo adventures with it, but have a major worry.

My worry is the engine - it's got the 2L petrol which I hear is underpowered. I intend to use the Bongo as my daily drive which is mainly dual carriageway with one fairly steep hill.

Will the 2L cope? Are there ways to coax more power out of the engine? I don't want to be struggling uphill at 25mph with my foot to the floor every day!

It really does look like a lovely example, so I'm hoping I don't have to continue my search.

One other thing if I may. Everyone recommends the 2.5L turbo diesel, but will that soon be impacted by emissions legislation? London will be effectively banning older diesels within a couple of years? In which case the petrol option might be a more attractive proposition going forward?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Regarding performance of the 2.0l you do need to buzz it but it will go without embarrassment. I think the main problem is the initial pull away, the gearing seems high to me and its a bit of a slug to get it moving but once over 25-30 it is fine. You will need to learn to play the box with the hold button if you are fully loaded or towing but once you have that not really a problem just a bit noisier than the other engine options. Dont worry about revving it.

There is a dearth of tuning info on these engines but as previously mentioned it shares the same lump with the 626. Check out the Oz sites as they are more into tuning than UK.
Regarding tuning I have advanced the ignition a couple of degrees on mine and it has made an improvement. I have also read somewhere that altering the valve timing produces a good result but I am dammed if I can find that post anywhere. You could do as Rita suggests and fit a turbo but it is an involved process requiring measuring equipment that you may not have. If you did go down that route I would suggest a small unit ( smart car?) that would give a small amount of boost that the standard EMS could cope with just not sure it would be worth the effort at the end of the day.

[mitchelln]

Thanks very much for the information. Lots of ideas there.

Fortunately I'm not coming from a sports car to the Bongo. So my expectations are realistic

[rita]

"" Don't worry, I realised the turbo thing is probably a joke! ""



I don't understand why you think this is a joke, we have fitted Turbo to some high end vehicles with the pulling power of Quasimodo.

I am rubbish at telling jokes leave that to Bill & Ben.


Good Luck.

[mitchelln]

Wow, that's amazing. Sorry, I thought you were pulling my leg! Apologies. Nitrous kit should be a doddle then

Bongo Santapod edition

[rita]

To LIFT your Spirits a wee bit , these engines were fitted to the Yale Fork Lift Trucks, they could be partial to a wee drop Propane ..

Good Luck

[BigPanzer]

Rita - Purely out of interest, have you heard of anybody taking the supercharger route on this engine, rather than turbocharging? I once had a car I fitted a blower to and the difference it made was startling, particularly if booted on hills.

Peter

[mitchelln]

Let me introduce Barry Bongo




The adventures have already started!

[rita]

Looks the part, was it a private sale?.

Good Luck.

[tootsmcfruits]

Ooh, he's a beauty!

Mine is due to go in for it's conversion at the end of the week! Can't wait! The layout should be roughly the same as yours!

[mitchelln]

Thanks!

Yes, it was a private sale from a person just down my road. Only got 55K miles on the clock and all the gadgets - ABS, automatic (now non-squeaky) air con, folding mirrors, auto closing side door, reversing camera, tow bar etc. Rear interior is all new. Need to scrub up the cab carpets, mats and door cards to match

Can you tell I'm chuffed?

Trouble is the neighbours now all do the A-Team theme every time I pull up Need to add some red stripes...