Defender V8 conversion

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

Hi all,

Having surrendered with the idea of welding up my v8 disco I bought as a project I now have a spare v8 engine with all the ancillaries. My 200tdi 110 is a getting a little long in the tooth so I’m now thinking maybe converting it to a v8.

My current thoughts are to fit the whole engine and transmission with the existing 110 gearbox mounts and weld new brackets in for the engine then swap over cooling system, power steering etc over from the discovery. Fuel wise I was going to fit new fuel lines and either the correct tank and pump or use the existing tank with an aftermarket fuel pump. For the exhaust I was looking at using a new defender v8 downpipe and connect it to the old system. For the gearbox I’m looking at using the turret from the 110 to convert the discovery gearbox to a long stick

Have I way oversimplified this and is there anything major I’m missing?

Disco is a 3.5efi with manual gearbox

Thanks

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

personally i would fit the v8 as lr did which is slightly further forward than the 200 transmission ,the same as the 300s were fitted,that means its std v8 defender parts,you can use front prop of the disco then

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

jamesmartin said:
personally i would fit the v8 as lr did which is slightly further forward than the 200 transmission ,the same as the 300s were fitted,that means its std v8 defender parts,you can use front prop of the disco then

Ok. What would be the best way of going about it? Would the crossmember from the disco fit in place of the 110 one or would it be in the wrong place? I take it being slightly further forward would mean that the discovery pipe work would be a straight swap over? I assume I would need a different read prop as well?

thanks

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

Also is the defender bell housing not shorter than the discovery one?

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

AlbertDefender90 said:
Ok. What would be the best way of going about it? Would the crossmember from the disco fit in place of the 110 one or would it be in the wrong place? I take it being slightly further forward would mean that the discovery pipe work would be a straight swap over? I assume I would need a different read prop as well?

thanks

different rear props and floor plates and tunnel,the def and disco chassis are the same dimensions between rad cross member and holes in chassis rail for g/box mounts etc,box cross member would bolt up,if you were doing a 300 manual youd just use the disco cross member which has the box mounts and bolt it in the defender and it would put the transmission in the correct place a 50mm ish further forward than your 200 box
you could use discover down pipes and bolt up to 110 v8 middle box, the 300 and v8 were fitted in relation too rad and front axle as disco or rrc

Rougharse Racing · Jul 23, 2020

V8 crossmember / gearbox mounts with the V8 front prop will put everything 2" forwards, in the correct place as James says.
You will have to modify the front of the seat box and the transmission tunnel to accommodate the new position of the gear-box and transmission tunnel.
Use a 300tdi rear prop. The front Y section of V8 exhaust should mate with the rear 2/3 of the Defender exhaust.
The Discovery tank should fit in the same place as the Defender tank, but the existing Defender tank should be the same as a pre-EFI V8 Range Rover tank.
The V8 Discovery radiator will need the brackets removing from the side to fit between the Defender wings.

BOTH TYPING AT THE SAME TIME!

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

AlbertDefender90 said:
Also is the defender bell housing not shorter than the discovery one?

200 and previous 4 cylinder defender boxes are short bell housing,all v8 and 300 on boxes have long bell housing same as disco

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

jamesmartin said:
different rear props and floor plates and tunnel,the def and disco chassis are the same dimensions between rad cross member and holes in chassis rail for g/box mounts etc,box cross member would bolt up,if you were doing a 300 manual youd just use the disco cross member which has the box mounts and bolt it in the defender and it would put the transmission in the correct place a 50mm ish further forward than your 200 box
you could use discover down pipes and bolt up to 110 v8 middle box, the 300 and v8 were fitted in relation too rad and front axle as disco or rrc

Ok. But I’m looking at using the gearbox and bell housing from the discovery which is wrong to the defender anyway? It’s an lt77 manual

Rougharse Racing · Jul 23, 2020

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

Ah it’s all making more sense now thanks!

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

Thanks for your input. Looking more of a valid project now with less risk. I’ll keep you updated when I make a start.

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

disco has plastic tank but rrc steel tank is the same as the 110 so you use the appropriate rrc efi fuel pump

AlbertDefender90 · Jul 23, 2020

Rougharse Racing said:
V8 crossmember / gearbox mounts with the V8 front prop will put everything 2" forwards, in the correct place as James says.
You will have to modify the front of the seat box and the transmission tunnel to accommodate the new position of the gear-box and transmission tunnel.
Use a 300tdi rear prop. The front Y section of V8 exhaust should mate with the rear 2/3 of the Defender exhaust.
The Discovery tank should fit in the same place as the Defender tank, but the existing Defender tank should be the same as a pre-EFI V8 Range Rover tank.
The V8 Discovery radiator will need the brackets removing from the side to fit between the Defender wings.

BOTH TYPING AT THE SAME TIME!

To confirm, for the gearbox mounts I can just use the centre crossmember from the discovery to get the gearbox mounts in the correct place? Thanks

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

AlbertDefender90 said:
Ok. But I’m looking at using the gearbox and bell housing from the discovery which is wrong to the defender anyway? It’s an lt77 manual

yes but disco lt 77 is same apart from gear stick arrangement as defender lt77 v8 box just disco is short stick defender long stick,you can get a adapter spigot to extend disco selector shaft so def long stick top will fit

jamesmartin · Jul 23, 2020

AlbertDefender90 said:
To confirm, for the gearbox mounts I can just use the centre crossmember from the discovery to get the gearbox mounts in the correct place? Thanks

yes,though iirc one of the lower m10 holes is slightly out

Rougharse Racing · Jul 23, 2020

The front half of the Defender and Discovery chassis are virtually the same, with the exception of the engine mounts. Swap stuff over from your Discovery and don't chuck anything away until you have finished the job.
The mounting holes for whichever cross-member you use are the same on each chassis, four holes each side at the front and three each side near the gear-box. All the gear-box mounts bolt to the rear three as do some crossmembers.

Gmacz · Jul 24, 2020

"My 200tdi 110 is a getting a little long in thetooth so I’m now thinking maybe converting it to a v8."

Fix the 200tdi engine, just seems a lot easier to me.

marjon · Jul 24, 2020

Gmacz said:
Fix the 200tdi engine, just seems a lot easier to me.

We didn’t buy land rovers to make things easy for ourselves

Having a complete running donor is the way to go. And who wouldn’t

..............want a V8

I say go for it

it’s been done many times, and plenty of advice available on here for when the OP gets stuck.
Assuming he’s not expecting to get it done in a weekend.

J

Gmacz · Jul 24, 2020

Edited my post, missed out the quote part.

marjon · Jul 24, 2020

Gmacz said:
Edited my post, missed out the quote part.

And that makes a difference?

V8

J

Defender V8 conversion

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