[Engine conversion and bulkhead cutting ????]

I have just got back into LR ownership after a break of fifteen years, so I am rather out of touch with what is the norm nowadays. Bought an old 2.5 Turbo with a stuffed engine so something needs to be done..................

When I disposed of all my stuff last time round (and there was a lot) I kept back a 20k mile 3.5 EFI V8 for a rainy day, but with the cost of fuel nowadays, it seems to be almost a non starter. I had 18 various Land Rovers over the years, but most of them ended up converted to V8, so I know just about all the possibilites in that direction.

One of my questions is............ Is a V8 powered vehicle now considered "undesirable", hard to sell maybe, of much lower value if I were to sell it ?

Moving on, I have been looking at 200 or 300 TDI swaps. I fancy the TD5 or later stuff, purely because of the electronics. (dont like what they have done with the interior now either, but thats only MY opinion)

The 200 was always my favourite, purely bacause it felt more "proper", and back then did not seem to suffer from various unreliability problems that the 300 seemed to suffer (water pumps, overheating, cylinder head, brake pump, timing belt) most of which have probably been sorted by now I guess. So I want to stick with what I am familiar with and go with a 200.

Just as an aside, I cant believe how relatively cheap these engines are now, just as an illustration, the last time I bought a 200 TDI complete engine, it cost nearly £2000 ! They had not been out that long, and the 300 was only a rumour ! Not got that sort of money now anyway. Sadly.

Anyway, looking how conversions have been done, I am a bit puzzled, and I hope some of you can throw some light on what is considerered "acceptable" these days................

I am well aware that the easiest route is to buy a Defender spec engine with the high mount turbo, but I will discount that option as they are not easy to find and seem to be somewhat expensive, so i would be looking at a Discovery unit instead.

Now, to mount this in the seemingly "usual" position (4cyl petrol 2.5 NA and TD and 200) involves a rather sh!te downpipe conversion which also prevents access to the starter motor, and puts the exhaust rather too close to the clutch slave cylinder, which I personally dont think is really very satisfactory.

A chunk COULD be cut out the the footwell, to relieve the exhaust contortion somewhat, and maybe utilise the standard Discovery cast turbo pipe, although I think there will still be a problem with the clutch slave cylinder, but there seems to be some aversion to cutting the bulkhead ? Its not really much of a problem so why is this ?

But to me, the OBVIOUS was to go, is to weld new engine mounts on the chassis, use the Discovery gearbox and bellhousing (I know the gear levers and selectors have to be swapped) and shift the engine forward in to the position it would be in the Discovery or RR Classic (and the 300 Defender) This would then enable you to mix and match all standard parts, and avoid the problems of overheated bulkheads starters and slave cylinders....................

So what I want to know is, is there a compelling reason why this NOT normally done ? Something glaringly obvious that I have missed maybe ? After all, this is exactly what Land Rover did with the 300TDI Defenders.

On the other hand, there always the V8........................................