PeteHall Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 After the tarp covering my 200tdi blew apart in strong winds recently, I realised it was too far gone even for me to bother rebuilding. We've been through a lot together over the last 10 years and I'll be honest, I was pretty down about it. I must have spend hundreds of hours tinkering, fixing, welding and cursing the old girl. I've probably spilled the entire volume of my blood into it or under it over time, not to mention the gallons of sweat and tears into the mix. I was totally gutted when I finally admitted to myself it was the end. Fortunately I found a suitable replacement within about half an hour... Same year, same body shape, same interior trim, but critically, absolutely rust free! I could strip all my upgrades and modifications and build them across with no extra complications! š It's a Japanese import. It also happens to be the Camel Trophy Edition, which is basically the 3.5 V8 EFI with an auto box and a few extras. When I bought it I thought I'd just swap it over to the diesel lump out of my of 200tdi, but despite the shocking fuel economy, I'm starting to like the V8. I'm definitely not getting on with the gearbox thoguh! The early manual V8 disco's were originally fitted with and LT77 gearbox, as was the 200tdi and I've got one of those going spare, so an easy swap right? I'm guessing not, so I'd like to pick a few brains before I begin. Are there differences between the LT77's fitted to a 1993 200tdi and a 1993 V8? Are the gear ratio's the same? Are the input splines the same and the input shaft the same length? I've read somewhere that the LT77 'G' was oil cooled in the EFI disco's... What about the transfer box? The unit on the V8 definitely looks different to the 200tdi, but is that because it's an auto or because it's a V8? Do I want to use the complete assembly off the 200tdi, or just the gearbox, but keep the original transfer box from the V8? What Bell housing will I need? There are various V8 - LT77 bell housings on ebay at the minute, but are they all the same length for disco, defender or RR? What about the flywheel? Assuming I can't find one for a V8 disco (which I haven't yet) will this be the same as the RR Classic? Anything else I should be aware of? Should I just take out another mortgage and go to Ashcroft Transmissions for the full works? Thanks in advance. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcock Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Welcome to the forum Pete, and congratulations on buying the best engineĀ Disco out. If that is an original Camel Trophy vehicle I would leave it as it is. Their values only seem to increase. There are lots of v8 manuals around often cheaper than the 300tdi'sĀ if you can find one with lpg fitted it will also reduce your running costs. Yes the fly wheel is the same on a Range Rover, The diesel boxes will not fit without changing the bell housing and input shaft I believe. All the best with what ever you decide to do. I find the auto boxes a little too slushy for my liking but you do get used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteHall Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 Thanks for the reply ballcock. It's a genuine "Camel Trophy Edition" which was a limited edition built for the Japanese market to promite the event, it's not a Camel trophy competition vehicle, so quite rare in this country, but noting too special. To me, the value is that it's rust free, which is much more rare for an early disco! I'm planning on keeping it long term, so not too woried about keeping it original, what's the point in having something if you don't enjoy it? I have however, decided not to do anything irreversible to it and I will probably keep any original parts I swap out so it could be put back to standard in the future, that's enough of a compromise for me. Not sure about there being lots of V8 manuals out there, especially of the first generation shape. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen one for sale (though to be fair, I've not looked that hard, that often). Good to know about the flywheel, should be easy enough to get hold of one of them. Any idea if it's the splines or the lenght that's different on the input shaft? Should be possible to deal with the splines using a different clutch, but length would be more of a problem (unless it's a case of machining half an inch off the end). I'll go and measure how long the bell housing needs to be nad compare this to what's available... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcock Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 What part of the country are you?Ā Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteHall Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 12 hours ago, ballcock said: What part of the country are you?Ā Near BristolĀ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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