FlyingPete · May 21, 2015

Sounds like a good setup to me- no messing around with the handbrake and prop shafts. Should look neater inside too as you'll just need to find a place for the auto shifter. A column shift would seem to be ideal if you can get one to fit, though putting it in the same place as the manual lever would work if it was raised a bit.

lightning · May 21, 2015

What about putting a TD5 in the 110 instead?
Alrhough the OP said he had the Jeep engine to hand. The TD5 would be much easier to fit and there's plenty about.
An easy 160bhp with a £300 remap, or more if you want to spend a bit on it.

nesponge · May 21, 2015

FlyingPete said:
Sounds like a good setup to me- no messing around with the handbrake and prop shafts. Should look neater inside too as you'll just need to find a place for the auto shifter. A column shift would seem to be ideal if you can get one to fit, though putting it in the same place as the manual lever would work if it was raised a bit.

There are quite a large selection of shifter options... but because the 4l80e is electronically controlled, it is compatible with a paddle shifter setup.

As for the TD5 question?... no thanks, not a fan

FlyingPete · May 21, 2015

nesponge said:
There are quite a large selection of shifter options... but because the 4l80e is electronically controlled, it is compatible with a paddle shifter setup.

Something like this in the central oval panel would be great

lightning · May 21, 2015

Not sure l'd want that heavy lump of an engine in the front of my Land Rover. Best left to Jeeps in my opinion.
My dad had a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 and l can't say l was over impressed, it was a big lazy beast and did about 16mpg

mick the builder · May 21, 2015

lightning said:
Not sure l'd want that heavy lump of an engine in the front of my Land Rover. Best left to Jeeps in my opinion.
My dad had a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 and l can't say l was over impressed, it was a big lazy beast and did about 16mpg

Comfy though

200 · May 21, 2015

Well i'll be jealous

, Wish i had gone down the V8 route rather than what i've done.

nesponge · May 22, 2015

lightning said:
Not sure l'd want that heavy lump of an engine in the front of my Land Rover. Best left to Jeeps in my opinion.
My dad had a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 and l can't say l was over impressed, it was a big lazy beast and did about 16mpg

It is indeed heavy, but people have fitted far larger, heavier engines.

It's thirsty and does not maker very good top end power, but is a very tractable low end chugger and most importantly IMO... it's very smooth and quiet.

Besides... it's something a bit different

lightning · May 22, 2015

Well, the engine in the Cherokee was certainly not short on power and they are reportedly good for 250,000 miles.

nesponge · May 25, 2015

lightning said:
Well, the engine in the Cherokee was certainly not short on power and they are reportedly good for 250,000 miles.

Dirt cheap as well... plenty of good sub 100,000 miles motors on ebay for a few hundred quid.

Okay status update.

Engine = Free

Transfer case adaptor ordered from marks adaptors in Australia. Total Cost including shipping and import tax = £611.64 GBP

Engine to Gearbox adaptor ordered from Novak Conversions in the USA. Total cost including shipping and import tax = £414.86 GBP

Total spend so far = £1026.50

Still to acquire...

Gm 4l80e Automatic gearbox (4x4 version)
Compushift gearbox ECU kit.

aaronmorris · May 25, 2015

Engine conversions are never cheap, especially when you have to start buying adaptors etc..
Putting 6bt in my 90 has cost me a minimum of £2,000 so far

Be nice to see something different out their

nesponge · May 26, 2015

Update...

Compushift ECU kit ordered from Trutech Transmissions in the USA. £788.52 GBP

Total spend so far = £1815.02

Still to acquire.

4l80e gearbox

nesponge · May 27, 2015

I'm having a hard time tracking down a gearbox in the UK and would rather not import from the USA if I can help it.

Can anyone suggest a good gearbox retailer who might have a 4l80e in stock?

Cheers

300bhp/ton · May 27, 2015

lightning said:
Not sure l'd want that heavy lump of an engine in the front of my Land Rover. Best left to Jeeps in my opinion.
My dad had a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 and l can't say l was over impressed, it was a big lazy beast and did about 16mpg

Something must have been wrong with it.

As for big heavy lumps, have you ever tried lifting a Tdi or 2.25 Land Rover engine? And both are lighter than the Td5.

The Cherokee is an amazingly capable vehicle. Unibody makes it light with a low centre of gravity.

We've had a couple and with the auto box will easily do 21-23mpg on a moderate run, which is generally way better than a Rover V8. I also preferred the way the Jeep produced it's power.

The XJ Cherokee is also only marginally longer than a Defender 90 and with a small lift just as capable as one off road.

Pretty speedy too for a 4x4.

nesponge · Jun 5, 2015

Bit of an update.

Looks like I can't use the grand cherokee ECU as it has a built in anti-theft system which can't be bypassed.

So I need to sort an ECU from from a wrangler or cherokee, preferably manual as there will be no gearbox signal and wont cause it to throw a fault code

SpaceDawg · Jun 5, 2015

Thats not jeeping, when I lived in the USA for a while I used to go Jeeping.

Thor1950 · Jun 5, 2015

SpaceDawg said:
Thats not jeeping, when I lived in the USA for a while I used to go Jeeping.

[/QUOTE]

Is that Tenn/KY

nesponge · Jul 5, 2015

Just to let everyone know the project is not dead.

I have everything I think I will need, but am having a tough time finding a gearbox. Trying to avoid importing one from the states, but might have to at this rate.

Mocked the jeep engine in the Defender this morning and it's an almost perfect fit. Even the engine mounts line up with the standard 200tdi mountings.

nesponge · Jul 15, 2015

I have now located a 4l80e automatic gearbox and will be collecting on Friday.

Some pictures to show progress so far.

Engine to gearbox adaptor kit from Novak Conversions in the USA

Gearbox to Transfer Case adaptor kit from Marks Adaptors in Australia

Compushift gearbox computer from Trutech Transmissions in the USA

The Jeep motor currently sitting on some wood across the chassis rails until I can mount it properly.

FlyingPete · Jul 16, 2015

Looking forward to seeing this all bolted together

Also, they way the body panels are in the background it looks like someone's land rover's sunk

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