Hi, I am new to landyzone. I own a 1999 defender td5 and am contemplating getting a series 2 as a project vehicle to work on in my spare time. I was going to do a 3.5l v8 conversion if I ever own one but am slightly phased as to the legal side of things. I know there is a points based system for keeping the classic car status, mot and tax exemption. But no major changes are allowed including changing the engine to a nonstandard engine unless it was an alternative original equipment engine. Has anyone who has done this had problems keeping mot and tax exemption or is loosing them just part of the conversion?

As long as the rest of the vehicle is original spec you should still have enough points to retain historic

Kev12 said:

As long as the rest of the vehicle is original spec you should still have enough points to retain historic

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Agreed, see the points system here:
Vehicle registration: Radically altered vehicles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Your vehicle will retain its original registration/status with just an engine change. This will mean historic tax (free) however to be MOT exempt it hasn't have to have been 'radically altered' in the last 30 years. This is where the rules (as far as I know) are open to interpretation. A Rover V8 is a Land Rover engine, but not fitted to Series 2 vehicles, but was available at the time. It was fitted to Stage 1 series vehicles (1979-84 roughly) so over 30 years ago. A change from diesel to petrol 'may' constitute radical alteration. You'll need to google it to get some form of definitive answer. Or ring the DVLA (good look with that one). More than likely there is someone on here who has, or knows someone who has) done this already. Let us know what you find out.

Thanks