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daslandroverman

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Posts posted by daslandroverman

  1. Anything's possible if you chuck enough time and money at it.

    Keeping the end result within the rules for modified vehicles might be a bit more of a challenge though.

    Engine wise, why go for a tiny diesel, seems some of us here have had success with 3 litre offerings from Mercedes and BMW, I'd be looking there and getting something with good potential for power/torque and usability.

    Add in that six cylinders have to be better than four, and you can only conclude you should do it.

    As for the body rot? Brush up on your sheet metalwork, and invest in a Plasma cutter.

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  2. The M52 petrol that was fitted in Defenders for South Africa utilised a lot of parts that would make dropping an M57 into a V8 chassis quite easy.
    As far as I'm aware they were based on the V8 chassis with engine mounting plates to suit the mounts, and the bellhousing etc was the same as the P38.

    Apparently all the stuff is in the Land Rover parts books (and Microcat) so if you can find a copy you could in theory have the entire setup bolt in using genuine parts.
    Not a bad way to do it really.

  3. You've either got a long range tank, or managed an average of more than 40 mpg.

    Still not sure if I should be saving for an M57 or an OM606 to replace the Mazda SL35 in mine though.

    Rough sums put it somewhere near £2k to buy the car and all the other bits to get it fitted and running.

    I fancy an auto though, the conversion is one of the best things I've done with it so far.

    Out of interest, what transfer ratio are you running? It probably says somewhere in the thread but I can't remember.

  4. £375 delivered!

    Mine came yesterday

    11115727_10152673291122085_1062279505804

    Not terrible actually.

    I assume the little boss bolts onto the crank/starter find and allows the V8 flex plate adapter etc to bolt on?

    Is it being too cheeky to enquire as to the thickness of the adapter ring and the boss?

    One assumes you'd bolt the torque converter to the flex plate through the starter hole?

  5. A P38 box could be used if you could get a bevel box that rotated the right way, these dont seem as common.

    Also worth remembering that the 101 drop arm faces backwards, and that turning it 180 degrees (as is needed with the Jeep boxes) will mean the steering linkages start moving in ways they werent designed.

    I recall someone did it with the Jeep box in the above fashion and found that on full left lock the drop arm and drag link would move far enough as it couldnt be pulled back into line without assistence.

    There are some Nissan boxes been made to work out in Australia, but I'm not sure on types or models.

  6. Das, the point is not that there is anything wrong with going for an LT77 or stumpy R380 - they're quieter, smoother, leak-free and certainly stronger. The point is that it simply isn't necessary, and it's a lot of work. If you like the challenge of the conversion and can afford the time and parts, great. I'd prefer one to the Series box and an overdrive, but I can't do it without losing the vehicle's identity (too many other changes). Does that worry me? No.

    I don't see it as a requirement to have an LT77 to run a Tdi, my point was more that the basic design dates back to the 1930's, and whilst it was probably over engineered for the application then -and with some development was made tougher to help it last better in the Land Rover- a Tdi is still putting a lot more through it than it was ever designed for.

    Yes it works, and if that's what you want to run in your vehicle then I'm not gonna knock you for it, but whatever way you look at it the engine is more than capable of overloading the box, and a reduced service life or increased likelyhood of failure shouldn't be a surprise if it happens.

    I'm not the sort to get up on a high horse about what you should or shouldn't be doing with your truck, just offering an opinion based on my knowledge and experience working in the trade over the years.

  7. You're right that the Tdi has a lot more torque than the SIII four pot, but not vastly more than the six cylinder, and I think they shared many parts of the gear box. But you have to remember that back then, things were built to last and with less accurate design stress modelling because of the lack of computers and greater design margins because of the lack of computer controlled machining equipment, the stress capability of the transmission would have a much greater margin than a modern unit has over its matched engine.

    Worth mentioning that the original design for the gearbox dates back to the (pre war) Rover P3, intended to work with either the 1.6 four cylinder, or a 2.1 litre 5MB version of the six cylinder.

    Fair enough it was upgraded through its life, but by the time it ceased production in 1985 the basic design was over 40 years old.

    I do recall reading a bit more on the subject of strengthening Series boxes before, and seem to recall the main problem with them was that -generally- trying to upgrade the weak points caused probems elsewhere.

    The LT77 has reputation for being a carp box, and did have a few design flaws to start (plastic oil pump gears for example) but actually isn't an awful box considering. The main problem with them in Land Rovers was the output shaft /Input gear wear issues when connected to an LT230, something eventually solved by cross drilling the gear to allow some lubrication of the internal splines.

    A Tdi can be made to work with a Series box, as can V8's and a variety of other things, but no matter what your experience you can't argue that runnning a 4 pot diesel with twice the intended torque output through it wont have any effect on how long it lasts. Driving style can however make a difference to how long it will keep going.

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