305 petrol to diesel conversion

[farmerpug]

I have bought myself a 1985 305 petrol and will be driving it back home to northern ireland next week, it has the 1.5 petrol and 5 speed gearbox, i don't know very much about these engines is there much to go wrong with them, what are they like to drive, all i know about the engine is that it has had the unreliable solex automatic choke carburettor removed and replaced with a manual choke webber unit.
Back in the day my family had a few 305 vans and estates all being the 1.9 XUD all of them ran without any problems, i think the odd head gasket needed doing but they went on forever and were very comfortable.

I was wondering how hard would it be to put an XUD into the petrol 305, if i got a full car with a diesel engine to donate the parts, i could still find the odd 405 with a non turbo engine, but turbo d 306's and 406s are in plentiful supply and can be picked up fairly cheaply.

I have a DW10 HDi 90 engine, gearbox, subframe, shocks steering rack etc from a late 406 but would rather put an XUD into a 305. Has anyone done this, any useful advice on doing it?

[oldpug]

There is nothing wrong with 305 petrol engines,mind you it depends on how its been looked after over the last 30 years.The webber conversion is good news and will save you a few ££ on petrol,the solex auto choke was hopeless.
As for converting to diesel,its a lot of work why bother? For sure the XU diesel is the better engine for reliability and economy,they are bullet proof.The only sensible option as you say is to have a full 305 Diesel donor car.
If your petrol 305 is running well I would leave it as it is.Just think if you went to all that effort fitting a diesel lump only to discover its full of problems??

[oldpug]

Just realised. Being a 1985 model it could have the 1580cc XU petrol engine?? even better if it has, but more than likely it will have the old chain driven 1472cc XR5 engine.