long story shortend as much as possible
3 weeks ago i bought a hyundai HI2.5td minibus for just 240 euros which believe me is damned cheap for spain!!
downside was it had a badly knocking engine, but i took a chance and thought it might be a quick cheap fix

nope when i removed the sump number one piston conrod had half a big end shell only the rest had turned to dust!!
oh well hunt for an engine then, two weeks searching and nothing!! they just aint available here as its a 2.5 turbo idesel built under licence from mitsubishi, as soon as they come into the scrapyards they are sold for around 5 to 700 euros!!! eek!!
well out the back of the workshop was the remains of an 1988 pajero td that had been stripped there was an engine block just thrown in the back, and left there without head as the head had cracked ,, enter GC,s thinking head!!
careful checking of the two blocks revealed major differences between them so using the pajero block and crank was a non starter, however!! could i use the pajero crank and pistons in the hyundai block?
nothing ventured nothing gained i thought, so i did, a quick rebuild of the hyundai/pajero hybrid with a for safety 4dot thick
head gasket

finished building it up yesterday, this morning went up to workshop and put it in the bus, no coolant or aircon power steering nothing just reinstalled the electronic injection pump and the diesel lines etc turned it by hand twice to make sure nothing hit that shouldnt have, crossed fingers, and turned key

it only blooming started and sounds sweet as a nut!!!
RESULT

so now the whole thing has to be reassembled, you have to strip the entire front off to get the engine out

so wil do that 2moro, was so chuffed today we promptly had a few beers then went quadding up the trails, purely to relax you understand? moral of the story is use your brains!!

now have a year 2000 minibus/people carrier worth 2500/3500, over here for less than 500euros!!