Land Rover Series III Upgrade ideas and suggestions....

Hi all,

On Monday I bought myself a beautiful new ex-mob 1982 Land Rover Series III LWB for about £2k to be upgraded as a bit of work horse/ camping car/ off-roader (I know LWB aren't great off-roaders).

Fortunately enough it was in pretty decent condition with even an MOT but I do have a bit of a wish list of things that I would like to do with it but I don't know if these are even possible with a Series III and how technically advanced/expensive are the options. Please bear in mind I do have a bit of experience in tinkering with LR's but I am no automotive expert...

My wish list would be:
New engine, maybe 200, 300TDi or even a V6/V8 if possible (then possible needed new gearing)
If not a new engine then how to upgrade the current engine just so the mpg is just a bit better and it can manage at least 60...
Power or assisted steering
Improved brakes if others think this would be necessary with a bigger engine, therefore higher speeds.

Any and all advice given would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris.

There's a lot you can do to improve these old wagons without necessarily modifying it. Suspension leaves rust and seize together, giving a rough ride. Replacing them with new standard springs rather than rushing out to buy new parabolics will give some improvement, as will fitting new dampers. Swap dim old sealed beam headlamp units for a halogen conversion- they're much better, actually have a beam pattern, and are readily available unlike the obsolete sealed beams.

Power steering can be done, particularly if you fit a replacement engine with the pump fitted. You'll need the steering box and a few other bits AFAIK.

As far as engines go, it depends on what's currently fitted. If it's the old 2.25 diesel, fitting the 2.5 non-turbo from an early 90 or 110 can be a good simple option that will cost less than fitting a tdi. Seems everyone wants a tdi, so you can often find good examples of the older engines for cheap. If petrol, it's possible to fit the 2.0 mpi engine from a discovery, or alternatively from a rover saloon car. This was considered underpowered in the Disco, but with a lighter series it should be fine. You may need to change the diff ratios and/or fit an overdrive unit.

Of course, it could just be that the engine currently fitted is getting a bit tired. Give it a decent service first to make sure it's running as well as it can be, then consider whether you need any more power.

Series brakes should be perfectly capable of stopping the vehicle. Again, overhaul before thinking about replacements.

Now that series 3s and early 90/110s are past the stage of just being 'an old Landy' I think it's worth keeping the originality of them. Make sensible upgrades, but don't go too mad with trying to make them modern, because they aren't.

.

Hi Chris,
I am the proud owner of a LWB Series 2a with a 200TDI.
I did not do the conversion myself and have only owned the vehicle for a few months.
However, drawing on my previous experience of owning a SWB series 3 with an original petrol 2.25 engine, I can offer some information about the comparative performance.
The 200 TDI engine does fit reasonably well and mine is connected to the original Series 2a gearbox and transfer box.
However, there are a few things you need to be aware of when considering this;

- The original gearbox is geared quite low as it is designed to have a 2.25 engine turning it, consequently I run out of revs at about 62mph as there is not a gear high enough to go any faster, although the engine has plenty of power and can use 3rd and 4th almost all the time.
Series 3's are geared slightly higher (depending on which year) but while a 200 TDI has plenty of power and the series 3 gearbox is fairly robust, you may wish to consider either a high ratio transfer box (Ashcroft Transmissions make one that is a straight swap for the existing transfer box but need your transfer box casing as a trade in), overdrive (Mixed stories about how robust they are), high ratio diffs (will affect speedo accuracy and low range performance) or swapping out the gearbox for a suitable defender gearbox (Gearbox tunnel will need modifying for a new gearbox)

- I have the turbo installed on my 200 TDI and a heavy duty radiator and this together with the two additional radiators needed for the turbo make space tight in the engine bay and behind the front panel.
I have seen posts about taking off the turbo to create a 200DI (i.e. no turbo at all) and having experienced the 200TDIs excellent torque and power range (compared to a 2.25 petrol and the 2.25 diesels I have driven) I can well believe that there will be adequate power from a non-turbo 200DI.
However, the turbo allows the engine to run at higher revs under load and with no turbo, I suspect the top speed problem described above may be exacerbated.

- I have the original drum brakes on my 109 which are adequate but certainly not amazing (much better than my short wheelbase series 3), especially considering that I do not have brake servo assistance on my series 2a (most series 3's do).
I have not found a disk brake conversion kit for a series 2a or series 3 so if you find out what is available, let me know.

Firstly thank you both FlyingPete and PAH.

A few questions on both:
1) the 2.5 non-turbo do you think it will still be powerful enough though if I am pulling my trailer, or have the back fully loaded, or taking it off-roading ?
2) I don't think the engine is too tired because it has only done 25,000 in the original engine. But I am not really modernising to sell on, I just really like the look of this series III and the actual vehicle I have bought but would like it to be useful enough to what I want and I have no real plans to ever sell on so not to bothered about how much of the original is left at the end. But thank you again.
3) It is a later series 3 (late 1982) so hopefully the gearing will be a bit better if I do go ahead with a 200TDi swap, any suggestions on a good step-by-step to see how it is done ? (As I have no experience with a full engine conversion...)
4) With upgrading the engine has anyone ever tried replacing things like the cylinderheads, camshaft, exhaust or carburettor for increased performance (speed and mpg) ?

Thanks for your comments.

Chris.

1. The military made use of the 2.5 non-turbo for years and it certainly worked well enough for them. Progress with a heavy trailer may be slower, but it will pull it. Off road they're perfectly fine.
3. Fitting a 200tdi to a series is a similar prospect to fitting one to an early 90 or 110. The best option is to get a complete donor vehicle as you'll need the radiator/intercooler assembly and a few other bits. Space in a series will be somewhat restricted, so many people fit an electric cooling fan instead of the viscous unit. But it can be made to fit with a bit of ingenuity. The exhaust system will really need upgrading to a larger bore if you go for the full tdi conversion. The 200di simplifies things as you can retain the series radiator and exhaust system. The fuel pump automatically adds fuel as the boost pressure increases, so with no turbo it will just stay at the 1bar fuelling. The tdi engine will be louder due to direct injection, so some soundproofing may be a good idea.
4. Tuning the original engine can certainly be done, and people like Turner Engineering make parts, but this can get expensive very quickly. Try things with the existing engine and see how you get on. If it's a petrol engine (what's actually fitted currently?) then LPG can be a good option which effectively doubles your mpg (due to the difference in fuel cost) and is relatively simple on an engine with a carburettor.

Go to ACR and look through their performance parts although they are a hit pricey.

This isn't going to be a popular thing to say but....
By fitting a later engine and different gearboxes you are changing the heart of the truck and changing what makes it so characterfull.
It will never be as fast, economicAl, quiet or comfortable as a defender so by changing it all your doing is modifying a truck that is getting rarer.
Also when you start chopping and changing things you are opening your self up for problems with reliability and parts compatibility.
Parabolic springs log etc they are all good mods to make it more use able and in keeping with the series as it still has the 2.25.

What I did was keep my 109 ex mod 100 percent original and use it for what it is and i have a 110 csw for work or solo trips and a Dmax for family work.

2.5 N/A diesel with standard gearbox is good in a series. Faster than an early 90 (even though that has 5 speed box), pretty economical, I get over 300 miles to a tank in mine with roofrack and spots fitted and loaded up with tools/ spares constantly. Also still have some of the series character as still have that nice purring engine note unlike the tdi which sound horrible and are horrendously loud

Mine has a 2.5 petrol from an early 90, it's virtually the same engine but with more power & torque, and it takes unleaded!
I've had a 90 with an old 12j, non turbo engine, and I've had my current Defender 200tdi without the benefit of the turbo (it wasn't working due to a split hose!), if you're going to go down the non turbo route I'd go for the 12j.

I think I might go for the 2.5 non turbo from what everyone is suggesting in order to keep some originality but get a lot more functionality from the car. The car should look good and I am respraying it in all it's original colours, and I still have old military style touches all over from camo roof rack ladder, to the utility kit on the back and ever.

Now all I need is a step-by-step for the engine conversion as I have never tried something this mechanically advanced before ....

Chris Hall said:

I think I might go for the 2.5 non turbo from what everyone is suggesting in order to keep some originality but get a lot more functionality from the car. The car should look good and I am respraying it in all it's original colours, and I still have old military style touches all over from camo roof rack ladder, to the utility kit on the back and ever.

Now all I need is a step-by-step for the engine conversion as I have never tried something this mechanically advanced before ....

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2.5 na is a good engine, doubt you will regret that!

Not much to installing it, same block as a series engine.

Id buy a 2.5td late model rebuild it and put your series three manifolds on it and blank turbo oil hoses

Is it a 2.25 diesel or is it petrol?

I see lots of talking about diesels but nothing to say what it came home with, most of the ex-MOD series 3s I've seen were all petrol.

If it were originally diesel I would do something really interesting and wallop a BMW M57 3ltr straight 6, mate it to a P38 R380 via the M51 bellhousing and using an LT230 transfer box with an Ashcroft selectable 4x4 kit fitted.

If it was originally petrol I would go bonkers and fit a Jeep 4ltr straight 6, probably fit the gearbox out of it too as it would give a nice auto or 5 speed manual.