Rhd to lhd conversion

Patoz · Mar 20, 2023

Hi Guys,

I am the happy owner of a Freelander TD4, 2 doors, facelift version that I used in the UK and which has given me complete satisfaction.
I'd like to convert it from Rhd to lhd. Not sure it's an easy job, however I'm aware this is possible and some people did it.
I could get a freelander for parts at affordable price which is a pre facelift version from 2003 and mine is from 2006. So, to avoid a last minute nasty surprise, can anyone tell me if parts such as: steering rack, dashbord and electrical wiring harness will fit a 2006 Freelander?

Many thanks and all tips for my conversion project are welcome!

Patoz

Alteredtech · Mar 20, 2023

Hi,

You need to replace the full dashbord, move the fuse box, the direction, replace the master clutch cylinder and the brake cylinder, the wipper motor, the front lights, the 2 front door looks, reprogram the ccu ...

Also prefacelift dashbord doesn’t have a passenger airbag ... won't fit a facelift vehicule.

Or buy an LHD one.

Nodge68 · Mar 20, 2023

I'd buy a LHD. It's an enormous amount of work, made worse by selecting the wrong year vehicle for parts.
The only way it would make sense is if the parts vehicle is identical, same engine, similar year, same gearbox type, same trim level as there are so many variables with the different versions. Using a pre-facelift for electrical parts won't work, as the facelift used more CAN data buses and a completely harness to the earlier cars

Ian M in France · Mar 20, 2023

Patoz said:
Hi Guys,

I am the happy owner of a Freelander TD4, 2 doors, facelift version that I used in the UK and which has given me complete satisfaction.
I'd like to convert it from Rhd to lhd. Not sure it's an easy job, however I'm aware this is possible and some people did it.
I could get a freelander for parts at affordable price which is a pre facelift version from 2003 and mine is from 2006. So, to avoid a last minute nasty surprise, can anyone tell me if parts such as: steering rack, dashbord and electrical wiring harness will fit a 2006 Freelander?

Many thanks and all tips for my conversion project are welcome!

Patoz

Hi I can sort of understand why you might want to do it but it is a lot of work and why do you want a lhd? if you intend to take it to the EU for good you will have to pay import tax on it, not sure how much a rhd one goes for ours is lhd same year with 5 doors and about 220 000km on it and would be about 5000€ here, a good one there no more than £2000, I would leave it rhd and use it where you want, driving a rhd on the right is no big deal

Patoz · Mar 21, 2023

Thanks for the advices ! Actually, when you look at the panel fascia of the freelanders, it looks symmetrical and this implies that engineers have designed it to be used either on RHD and LHD versions. I'm not familiar with the pre-facelift version but on the facelift ones, you have a glove box on each side, it looks like the speedometer can be fitted instead of the passenger airbag, there is a blank cover at the opposite side of the joystick to adjust the side mirror, etc. I paid £2000 for the Freelander facelift that I own, it has a low mileage and remains in good condition. I'm flabbergaster when I look at the adverts for Freelanders in France they are more expensive and in poorer condition, that's why the idea came to me to keep my RHD Freelander.
I found on the advert a 2003 Freelander for parts for 300€ and I thought that I could grab some vital parts from it, such as the steering rack, wiring harness... But If you tell me that the wiring harness and its connectors aren't the same... Then, indeed that could be a problem...

@ Ian M in France
Yes, good suggestion ! Finally, why not keep the vehicle as it is?

Alteredtech · Mar 21, 2023

Patoz said:
Thanks for the advices ! Actually, when you look at the panel fascia of the freelanders, it looks symmetrical and this implies that engineers have designed it to be used either on RHD and LHD versions. I'm not familiar with the pre-facelift version but on the facelift ones, you have a glove box on each side, it looks like the speedometer can be fitted instead of the passenger airbag, there is a blank cover at the opposite side of the joystick to adjust the side mirror, etc. I paid £2000 for the Freelander facelift that I own, it has a low mileage and remains in good condition. I'm flabbergaster when I look at the adverts for Freelanders in France they are more expensive and in poorer condition, that's why the idea came to me to keep my RHD Freelander.
I found on the advert a 2003 Freelander for parts for 300€ and I thought that I could grab some vital parts from it, such as the steering rack, wiring harness... But If you tell me that the wiring harness and its connectors aren't the same... Then, indeed that could be a problem...

@ Ian M in France
Yes, good suggestion ! Finally, why not keep the vehicle as it is?

If you are in France, you need to register it, and French administration ... don't know if you already done that.
For the French Mot RHD front lights can be an issue ...

Even if you found a LHD freelander facelift for parts, but you certainly end with 2 puzzeled freelander ...
Not to mention that french adminstration doesn't like vehicule modifications ...

Blob · Mar 21, 2023

There used to be some guys on eBay selling converted FLs. Absolute bodges, I think a friend of my brother's bought one for his place in Spain. 4x window switches on the passenger door, glove box full of fuses on the passenger side, they'd swapped over as little as possible to make it work. Wipers went the wrong way too but the best bit was when he took it to a hand car wash and the guy went up to the roof with glass cleaner.
Why are you putting that on the roof?
I'm cleaning the sunroof.
I haven't got one.
You have up here, it's glass.
Not in here!
Yeah, they'd glued it shut and put a solid headlining in to cover it over! Ian was too short to see the roof so he had no idea!

I wanted to do the conversion to our old one because of the similarity on the dash and the car was worth so little I thought it would be a fun project but decided against it when I looked into what needed to be done to do it properly.

Nodge68 · Mar 21, 2023

Patoz said:
But If you tell me that the wiring harness and its connectors aren't the same...

The pre-facelift and facelift harnesses are very different, and definitely not compatible with each other.
The are over a dozen different harnesses depending on year, engine type, gearbox type and model specification.
It's best avoided IMOH.

pwood999 · Mar 21, 2023

Look further across Europe ? Or is the price premium the same across the entire region ?

dapinky · Mar 2, 2024

This is a topic which interests me, as I was wondering how easy the conversion is....... yep, I know it's no problem driving a RHD car abroad, and it costs a lot....... etc etc....... but that isn't my issue.

Basically, I drove a Freelander down to The Gambia in January, and have just bought another to take next year (they are donated to charity)..... the rules there dictate that the new owner has to convert it to LHD within 6 months of import. So driving a RHD on the wrong side of the road isn't an option.

The locals are pretty resourceful, and they don't think it's any sort of problem at all.....

..... but I was wondering if it may help them if I took some parts with me (steering rack?, anything else?)..... things like switches and fuse boxes on the wrong side won't worry them unduly, but it needs to work and be safe.

Any opinions and thoughts welcome.

Nodge68 · Mar 3, 2024

dapinky said:
This is a topic which interests me, as I was wondering how easy the conversion is....... yep, I know it's no problem driving a RHD car abroad, and it costs a lot....... etc etc....... but that isn't my issue.

Basically, I drove a Freelander down to The Gambia in January, and have just bought another to take next year (they are donated to charity)..... the rules there dictate that the new owner has to convert it to LHD within 6 months of import. So driving a RHD on the wrong side of the road isn't an option.

The locals are pretty resourceful, and they don't think it's any sort of problem at all.....

..... but I was wondering if it may help them if I took some parts with me (steering rack?, anything else?)..... things like switches and fuse boxes on the wrong side won't worry them unduly, but it needs to work and be safe.

Any opinions and thoughts welcome.

Obviously the LH drive steering rack is a mirror image of the RH drive rack, so the correct one is definitely needed.
But things like switches are the same. The main problem will be the wiring harness, as the LH drive and RH drive are also mirror image, and very model specific. I guess it's potential possible to simply invert the harness completely, running all the legs on the opposite sides of the vehicle, but it's an awful lot of work, as the engine bay harnesses can't be moved, so all those wires would need modifications (maybe just shortening?) like I said a lot of work.

Rhd to lhd conversion

Patoz

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Alteredtech

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Nodge68

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Ian M in France

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Patoz

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Alteredtech

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Blob

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Nodge68

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pwood999

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dapinky

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Nodge68

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