disco 1 tdi in a US spec rover

[ExplorerExplorer]

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/cto/1491277197.html

Take that $2K NAS disco + this one = :smiley_drive:

 

[jrose609]

What Jack (JSQ) said is right. I did a 300 tdi in my D1. Let me tell you, it is the funnest vehicle I've ever owned. It runs absolutely great. It is not the absolte fastest rig, but I can pop 80 on the flats. That is with bigger tires and all kinds of accessories.

Lea Maghee from LRNA was here a couple of months ago for a meet in Boise. He said he's been all over the world and seen Rovers of all kinds. He said the diesel Disco is one of his favorites.

He disco isn't as refined as the Range Rover, but it has a lot more creature comforts than the D90. The Disco may not be the off-road hot dog like the D90, but I like my air conditioning and insulation.

With a diesel, the Disco will get around 25 mpg. Mine with $G, MTs, 3" lift gets 20 in town. Best I've done on freeway is 22. I was getting 10mpg before.

Now there is no ECU. Just a sad, lonely spot under the hood where it used to sit.

Off-road? My Disco is a dream. It idles over everything now. No more high rpms to get over stuff. Diesels are made for off-road.

One thing. If you get a tdi, do what Jack did and upgrade the front brakes to the defender conversion from Will Tillery. That tdi is heavy, and you'll be glad you put those heavy duty brakes on. Definitely worth the cost and dang easy to put on. Just about drop-in.

If you think you're doing this for $5k, good luck. I say $10k. If you buy a wrecked truck, get everything. There are plenty of breakers over in the UK, and the guy that sent me mine is a good guy.

Talk to Justin Sherfy. He did a 200tdi himself. My 300 is great. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love this rig!

 

[jrose609]

To add I would rather spend 10k on a diesel disco that is built up than some POS korean made subcompact that is brand new.

X2 buddy

 

[timmy!!!!!!!]

Jason when you did your swap did you put a 5spd. in it or did you go autobox?

 

[jrose609]

Jason when you did your swap did you put a 5spd. in it or did you go autobox?

I went with the auto for two reasons: my wife said auto and the other reason is I lime automatics off-road. Easier to use the brake and skinny pedal at same time.

I do like the ability to push start a five speed but wife said it had to stay auto.

 

[weatherm]

10k I could see paying someone to do it <--extortion. But getting a 300tdi engine shipped over here w/ 65k on the clock and all the fixing to do it.. will run me around 1600 USD shipped. Already quoted from equicar... but I'm sure there will be bits missing..more money. If I want a manual then it will cost more of course b/c I have a auto in there now. I think I can do the work... It doesn't have to be done in a weekend and can take as long as I want it to (not a primary vehicle). Some one has to have pictures or some type of how to out there.

If I do the work myself I can see saving money but how much money am I going to actually save myself ... if A. I don't rip my hair out B. break crap out of frustration and C. time to money cost.

If its going to cost me 10k to do it no matter what I'll just go buy another car Thats just to much money for something like this... to me at least.. and I don't make a lot so

 

[d110pickup]

Weatherm,
Will Equicar do a "half-cut" for you? That's what Spectre does for the LC folks. The truck is cut in half at the aft end of the transfer case. That'll get you every unique nut, bolt, washer that you need for the swap.
Mike

 

[JSQ]

10k I could see paying someone to do it <--extortion. But getting a 300tdi engine shipped over here w/ 65k on the clock and all the fixing to do it.. will run me around 1600 USD shipped. Already quoted from equicar... but I'm sure there will be bits missing..more money. If I want a manual then it will cost more of course b/c I have a auto in there now. I think I can do the work... It doesn't have to be done in a weekend and can take as long as I want it to (not a primary vehicle).

That's big talk.
But I'm guessing we're not going to see much else.

Furthermore 10K is a reasonable price even if you're doing the bulk of the work. The only way you're going to do it for less is if you just throw the whole ratty cheap salvage mess in there with out ever changing so much as a hose. At that point what you'll have won't be very likely to run any better or be anymore reliable than the tired old 3.9 you took out.

BTW, if you bolt up a three hundy to your ZFHP22 it's going to grind it up over time. You either need to run a diesel R380 (preferably L suffix) or beef up your slush box.

Personally I can't really understand why so many people who do diesel conversions run an autobox. These small forced induction diesels are soooo much happier with a manual transmission and the driving experience is that much better.

 

[JSQ]

I wrote this on the EE bbs, but it bears repeating here:

I think that despite a thrifty game plan, in the end you're going to spend some coin.

Take that $4,200 ebay motor.

First, it's a disco 300Tdi. That means it's low turbo and EDC. So your life is going to be hard to begin with. You'll need to deal with all that. If you're familiar with the differences it's not too much work, but if you're learning the three hundy as you go, you're going to be spending some late nights in the library studying.

Next lets go way out on a limb and assume this guy is on the level. The engine actually did run fine before it was pulled, it hasn't seen super high EGTs, nobody has ****ed with it and it was serviced. So we can say the turbo isn't choking and the engine isn't knocking. Those ancilliaries that you're getting as part of the package are still years and 10Ks of miles old. One or another is going to fail shortly after you get the swap done. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. So figure you're going to have to source and pay for at least a couple of those after you get the lump.

Now let's talk about plumbing. Is this guy carefully disconnecting all the fuel and coolant lines or is he slashing and trashing them when he ships? Will they be in good condition if you get them? Will they fit your set-up ie disco to defender or vice versa? Let's saying you're going to have to buy some hoses and some fuel lines. Maybe the fuel filter housing. Add that to the register.
Let's be cheap and say you're going to britpart, allmakes and eurospare anything you need and you're willing to wait for the slowboat. You're still going to throw another grand or two at it.

So let's say you've got the motor complete and it isn't a timebomb.
What exactly are you planning to bolt it up to? Your V8 R380? Some ZF4HP22? Ninja please. Doesn't fit and wouldn't work. You need to buy a gear box. Hopefully a decent rebuild. But even used from a yard it's going to cost you at least a thou landed.

And what LT-230 you got? A 1.2 maybe? Well I don't know what tires you plan to run, but it's going to be a dog without a 1.4. So plan on that too. Even if you rebuild the tbox you have, the gearset is $500.

And that's before you've even spent your time or paid somebody to do it. That $4,200 motor is at LEAST $7,500 to complete in your truck. I won't even try to put a price tag on the labor. Some charge a lot. Some don't. Some are fast, some are slow. Maybe like me you'll just get help craning in the heavy parts and you'll bolt it altogether yourself. That's certainly less dollars. But there's no way in hell that you're going to repower for under 10K. Aint gonna happen. And if everything is used all you've done is pay 10 large to take a turn and roll the dice. If you swapped a used 4.0 V8 assembly into your truck with a ZF would you be certain it would be flawless? Odds are it wouldn't be.

I wasn't prepared to deal with that after all the time and effort so nearly everything I used to build the powertrain was new or freshly rebuilt. My engine had a $5,000 rebuild. New pistons, new main bearing, new timing belt, new cam bearing, new turbo charger, new rod bearing, head gasket, polished crank, decked head, resurfaced flywheel and a full reseal. My gearbox was completely rebuilt and glistening. My LT-230 was completely rebuilt into a 1.4. Every hose is new. The powersteering pump, alternator, lift pump... all new.

And there are still no guarantees.

The best value is still probably to buy somebody else's well done project truck or send yours to Jim Pendleton. If you want to take on the enterprise yourself it's going to eat you alive if you try to put a budget on it.

 

[jrose609]

The easiest part of my swap was gettin the motor shipped over here, and it was a pain in the ***. $1600 shipped? Order two and I will give you $1600 for one right now.

$10k installed is pretty good. You start coming up with extra parts you need as you go, and it adds up quickly. Are you going to trust that radiator or get a new one? Or atleast rebuilt?
New hoses? They aren't made to sit out in the sun when pulled out of a vehicle.

Exhaust? Turbo? Belts? Fan? Fuel sender? Fuel lift pump? Alternator? Timing belt? Seals? Gaskets? Bearings? Glow plugs? Injectors? Water pump? Coolant resevoir?

Big one. Are you gonna have air conditioning? If you are, you are in for a surprise.

There is a helluva lot more to it than $1600 shipped. I bought everything for $2800 shipped to my door. Atleast what I was told. I still changed belts, hoses, seals (still leaks).

A safe figure is easily double what you get the engine and tranny for. I think double is a good estimate/figure. Seriously, go to a land rover specific website and do some searching. People are happy to offer advice and help. Everyone will tell you the cost of the engine and tranny isn't anywhere near the nickel and diming of the install.

Good luck. I love mine!

 

[jrose609]

Sorry, Jack. I basically wrote what you said. I must have been typing while you were.

Edit: BTW my autobox is a Discovery diesel autobox from a 300tdi, not my v8 Discovery. It works fine. I would like he r380, but my wife has a lifetime mortgage on my huevos.

 

[weatherm]

money money mooooneeyyyy


I figured if you did some ninja tactics you might get away with 5-6k ... or hell .... definately something to think about when the one I have goes tits up.

Heres the email from equicar:

Good Morning,

Many thanks fro your email, we do currently have a 300TDI complete with everything for £650.00 however I will need a Zip code for the shipping however I believe it will be approx £250 - £300

Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in and I will obtain an accurate shipping cost for you.

 

[weatherm]

I don't know but that sure is a good option to check

Spectre = rovers north in price.
Have you guys ever used lrseries.com they have EVERYTHING and its considerably cheaper + shipping is about the same if you get them to ship royal mail.

Weatherm,
Will Equicar do a "half-cut" for you? That's what Spectre does for the LC folks. The truck is cut in half at the aft end of the transfer case. That'll get you every unique nut, bolt, washer that you need for the swap.
Mike

 

[nargun]

Personally I can't really understand why so many people who do diesel conversions run an autobox. These small forced induction diesels are soooo much happier with a manual transmission and the driving experience is that much better.

I agree with the last part of your statement; I’ve owned only one auto is 35 years of driving (a 300TDi Disco I). A manual gives far more control in most situations and is a hell of a lot more fun to drive!

The Auto box does have some advantages though, especially in low speed crawling. It is easier to plant the foot when faced with an obstacle and let the auto box handle the turbo lag rather than having to slip the clutch whilst you wait for the turbo to spool up and then have to slip it more as when the power cuts in and the revs are too high for the obstacle

A case is often made that an auto TD5 Disco II is a better off-road vehicle than the manual for this reason

 

[michaels]

this guy has them for around $5600 rebuilt AND complete SHIPPED.

http://landroverimport.com/products.html

another $1000 for a used tranny or $1500 for a rebuilt one.


this is a quote from his web page. note that this is not everything involved, but most of it, according to the website:

Tdi conversions generally involve;
-unless you have a 4cylinder engine you will need to move and fabricate engine mounts on chassis
-replace auto transmission with diesel one.
-remove fuel pump in fuel tank
-remove plastic insert in fuel filler neck
-remove in line fuel filter
-custom clutch lines if a manual transmission
-custom power steering lines (both cheap at your local hydraulics shop.)
-wiring loom can be tapped into to connect temp sender, oil warning light, alternator warning light, tacho, starter wiring stays the same, coil power goes to the injection pump.
-diesel fuel filter mounted to firewall
-radiator/intercooler drops in to replace V8 unit
-exhaust system is best taken care of by your local muffler shop

Please note that the above list is not complete but covers much of a conversion, it does depend on the exact vehicle you are converting too to what will be necessary. contact us for more details of what you need for your specific vehicle, info@landroverimport.com

i wouldn't see a problem paying all that if i had the moeny, and an older rover. if you can do the install and fabricate the mounts (which isn't that difficult) then i think for under $10K you could do it, especially if you already have the truck.

is the only reason people don't do this to a DII because the engines are older than the trucks are? if i'm not mistaken, it's illegal to put an engine in that is older than the build date of the truck. of course, you could swap a 99DIIs block into an 04, and be fine. but otherwise, i'm not sure. in AL i know i wouldn't have any issues with getting it titled and insured. they don't give a ******** down here.