1998 defender pickup rebuild. I need help.

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re-volt

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hi all,
so I recently bought a 1998 110 defender pickup, originally came with 4 cylinders petrol engine, that engine is long gone, now it has a 1jz engine, coupled with the defender manual gear box, which is hideous in driving, so little friction zone, and huge gap in the clutch pedal, I am looking for a new engine and a gearbox, Diesel engines are not allowed, since the original was petrol it has to be petrol, laws dictate 40% increase in engine cc capacity regardless cylinders, any suggestions is highly appreciated, I also considered the 4 gear defender automatic transmission, and keep the 1jz if it works. I also considered a Mitsubishi Pajero 3.8 mivec engine along with its transmission, it exceeds the limit by a bit but maybe could make it work, that will come with a very hideous and expensive harness work.

it came with some spacers for the suspension and has a 285/75R 16 tires, despite the looks, this made it fail a yearly mandatory inspection every time, so what's the max tires size would I be able to fit without the lift spacers?

thank you all in advance.
 
You must have different wheels (than standard) on your 110 as the tyre you mention needs a 7.5 to 9" rim and the standard wheel is 6.5" (athough a 7" tyre will fit, experience tells me).

Can you post a picture or two ?

Oh, are where in the world are you ?
 
Last edited:
A 3.5l rover v8 is a 40% increase in capacity so should fit within the rules, and you can then go back to more or less a standard land rover setup. Not sure where you are based (clearly not the UK) so not sure how plentiful the rover v8 unit is for you.
 
You could remove the spacer under the spring and fit extended springs? would they know then?

re-volt said:
laws dictate 40% increase in engine cc capacity regardless cylinders,
Click to expand...
Do you mean that's the max you can increase, not you have to increase?

Again as we don't know where you are in the world its difficult to say what engine you could use as to what's available.

But if it was kept LR parts it would make it much easier.

J
 
3.5v8 . It’s easy to go slightly bigger internals and on the outside you can’t tell the difference.
Plus it’s a landrover and part should be available
 
I am located in the Middle East, Jordan. Here is some photos.
Land Rover engines is extremely expensive. I looked for the LR v6 supercharged engine and was shocked to find out it’s about $6k and around $4k for the gear box. So out of reasonable option.
IMG_6427.jpeg
IMG_6426.jpeg
IMG_6407.jpeg
IMG_6428.jpeg
 
You don't want a LR V6 supercharged engine, they break crankshafts for breakfast ...

To be honest, i never knew they would fit in a 1998 110.
You said the car came originally with a 4cyl petrol engine, I don't know about that and would presume it had a V8 in it originally, the 1998 50th Anniversary model had a 4ltr V8 and a 3,5ltr was available too.

To be honest U$6 for a new egine sounds reasonable.
Here in the UK you would be able to get a remanufactured gearbox (from Winchester gears for example) for less than U$4K

Look at the underside/chassis/axles --- no rust, wow ! I wish mine were like that. :)

They are definately non standard wheels, 235/75R16's would likely fit and you could remove those massive spacers too.
Good luck with your search.
 
miktdish said:
You don't want a LR V6 supercharged engine, they break crankshafts for breakfast ...

To be honest, i never knew they would fit in a 1998 110.
You said the car came originally with a 4cyl petrol engine, I don't know about that and would presume it had a V8 in it originally, the 1998 50th Anniversary model had a 4ltr V8 and a 3,5ltr was available too.

To be honest U$6 for a new egine sounds reasonable.
Here in the UK you would be able to get a remanufactured gearbox (from Winchester gears for example) for less than U$4K

Look at the underside/chassis/axles --- no rust, wow ! I wish mine were like that. :)

They are definately non standard wheels, 235/75R16's would likely fit and you could remove those massive spacers too.
Good luck with your search.
Click to expand...
I figured the 4 cylinder petrol through vin lookup, I can’t be sure myself, it was registered first time in 2021, there is no records before that.
Good info about the LR engine, thank you for the tip.
Yes, luckily there is no rust, this why I bought it in the first place, I figured since no rust showing up it was a major step I don’t have to do.
Excellent suggestion for the tires. I will dig these out. Appreciate it.
 
miktdish said:
Well, I stand corrected, that VIN says that it was indeed a Chawton White, HC pickup with a 2.5 petrol engine (17H)

I didn't know that existed.

Vin Decoder - Find Land Rover parts at LR Workshop

Enter your Land Rover's VIN number to decode its specification and estimate the build date. All Defender models are included up to 2016, including NAS Defenders
www.lrworkshop.com www.lrworkshop.com
Click to expand...
I was surprised as well, I never knew they made petrol engines for the defender, also the vin shows its 1999 year model, despite the registration paperwork dictates its 1998 model.

Another question, how big of a job is to expand the capin? The workshop is telling me it can be done by expanding the area between the door frame and the quarter rear window.

I submitted the paperwork for engineer change, requested a 6.2L swap, 3 weeks to get an approval or denial, then try again with another engine capacity. I was told since the defenders are very old and the parts are rare to come by it may work out.
 
Would be easier to take the rear body off . These bodies are double skinned and take a lot of work to shorten these.

So you will need to remove rear body,roof,rear widow,bulkhead. Then move the bulkhead back to your required size. Extend the bulkhead back to the doors,
Cut the rear of the roof off,extend the middle to the front section.

Unless you are good with welders,metal work & tape measure this will cost a fortune to do.

If you have a removable head rest remove this & seat goes back a bit more
 
miktdish said:
Well, I stand corrected, that VIN says that it was indeed a Chawton White, HC pickup with a 2.5 petrol engine (17H)

I didn't know that existed.

Vin Decoder - Find Land Rover parts at LR Workshop

Enter your Land Rover's VIN number to decode its specification and estimate the build date. All Defender models are included up to 2016, including NAS Defenders
www.lrworkshop.com www.lrworkshop.com
Click to expand...
Used to be if you had a 110 5 door these were v8. The Hicap was a work horse abused by farmers & used the hard engine 2.5. These were reliable. Change the transfer box they went quicker
 
I honestly expect it to cost an arm and leg, you are right, there is a puma dashboard installed, and kind of sporty recaro seats, I expect these are narrowing the space, I might try to source a thinner seats, otherwise no way around extending it, am rebuilding it for my son and he is kinda tied up in it, I am taller than him and it was like being shoved in a box.
Hicap phill said:
Would be easier to take the rear body off . These bodies are double skinned and take a lot of work to shorten these.

So you will need to remove rear body,roof,rear widow,bulkhead. Then move the bulkhead back to your required size. Extend the bulkhead back to the doors,
Cut the rear of the roof off,extend the middle to the front section.

Unless you are good with welders,metal work & tape measure this will cost a fortune to do.

If you have a removable head rest remove this & seat goes back a bit more
Click to expand...
 
Hicap phill said:
Used to be if you had a 110 5 door these were v8. The Hicap was a work horse abused by farmers & used the hard engine 2.5. These were reliable. Change the transfer box they went quicker
Click to expand...
Never knew these came originally in v8. I thought they were only like special editions.
Thank you for the idea of the transfer box. That might come into play at some point.
 
Another thought.

Any cutting of the back body should be done at the front. This way the all the body fixings stay the same at the rear and the wheel arch is in the correct place.
If you measure 10 inches this would give you workable room for the extension.

Or if you can find 1 this would be the same size as a 127 hi cap back body
 
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