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Making a short R380 to go behind my 200tdi ..


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Have you used a 200TDi or 300TDi bellhousing?

the 200TDi came with an LT77, and the input shaft on the LT77 is longer, so using an LT77 bellhousing on an R380 might well give the symptoms you describe?

Sorry for causing confusion with the thread hyjack but the pitfalls are probably relevant.

I have 200TDI engine in the 300 TDI position (forward in the engine bay) 300TDI bell housing and V8 R380.

I need to move the G/box about 7 mm ish closer to the engine so I'm thinking about milling a bit off the back and front of the bell housing to get this and then adjust the engine and /or gear boxmounts a bit to make it fit. Have attached a pic of when I first fitted the 200 discovery housing and realised all was not well! The 300 bell housing has worked well for 3 years but I plan to improve it in the next few months.

post-3233-1241546797_thumb.jpg

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Thats impressive.

I know i need to take exactly 30mm out of an lt77 defender bell housing. So ill do the chop and then jig it with 2 pieces of flat bar bolted accross the gearbox mating face. And then attach the flat bar to the bell end with screwed rod. Tack it, then DTI it. then weld it.

Didn't that sound nice and simple :D .

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

i've fitted in my Defender 200tdi a short bellhousing R380 TRC103140, less than one year ago.

I'm now in a middle of a new project to fit a TD5 engine with the R380 from that engine, which obviously as a different bellhousing...so mine is for sale. If interested please send me an email to paulo@all4x4.eu. I'm in Portugal but I can give you some references to whom you can speak in the UK.

Cheers.

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Hello mate,

Sounds like an interesting project. I have a short R380 which has just been rebuilt by Ashcroft and is still to be refitted so I have the bell housing on the bench if photos or dimensions will help get in touch.

Have you spoken to Ashcroft about getting hold of a primary shaft?

Regards

Rob

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We are very pleased to advise that due to considerable demand we are now in the process of manufacturing our own "stumpy/short bellhousing" R380, a direct replacement for the LT77 Defender gearbox. This is now well under way and hope it will be available in July.

http://www.ashcroft-transmissions.co.uk/

Just enquired about this, the reply email (yesterday) was as follows:

"We are in the process of manufacturing the short R380 box but this project will not be complete for around 12 weeks and I cannot currently give you any price indication."

Time to start saving!

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Just enquired about this, the reply email (yesterday) was as follows:

"We are in the process of manufacturing the short R380 box but this project will not be complete for around 12 weeks and I cannot currently give you any price indication."

Time to start saving!

I talked to ashcrofts a couple of months ago and got to 12 weeks as well so don't hold your breathe.

Would you not consider making your own ? If ya can get hold of a good R380 out of a TD5 then you will have a suffix L box which is about as good as it gets.

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I talked to ashcrofts a couple of months ago and got to 12 weeks as well so don't hold your breathe.

Would you not consider making your own ? If ya can get hold of a good R380 out of a TD5 then you will have a suffix L box which is about as good as it gets.

Maybe, how easy are the short input shafts to get hold of? Swap that over then its just finding/fabricating a short bellhousing thats the next stumbling block!

I wonder if any of the ex-mod places might have a short bellhousing, didn't the mod use these short R380s at some point?

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Maybe, how easy are the short input shafts to get hold of? Swap that over then its just finding/fabricating a short bellhousing thats the next stumbling block!

I wonder if any of the ex-mod places might have a short bellhousing, didn't the mod use these short R380s at some point?

Yes they did but i couldn't find one anywhere. Part number FTC4018.

The pinion shaft is also a LR part. You will need to know if you have got a 21 tooth or 22 tooth. I should be able to remember the part numbers if you need them. Then i'm planning on just cutting 30mm out of the 200tdi bell housing. Not done that part yet though. I keep looking at the job and putting it off till another day

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Yes they did but i couldn't find one anywhere. Part number FTC4018.

The pinion shaft is also a LR part. You will need to know if you have got a 21 tooth or 22 tooth. I should be able to remember the part numbers if you need them. Then i'm planning on just cutting 30mm out of the 200tdi bell housing. Not done that part yet though. I keep looking at the job and putting it off till another day

I could be cutting soon too, shot blasted my LT77 bell housing recently so its ready to use or cut up if i go the short R380 route.

Image794.jpg

Image795.jpg

Image796.jpg

Hmm, which way to go??!!

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I really dont get the point in going to all this effort when you can simply use a complete 300TDi box which is readily available and move the chassis mounts.

I've spoken to an engineer about welding up my housing for the V8 conversion, and he pointed out that i had no idea of the metallurgical properties of the alloy Landrover and Audi used in their housings, and i'd have no idea of the suitability of welding them, nor of the strength of the weld afterwards. He also said i run a high risk or warping the housing due to the heat generated.

I've had a bit of a rethink it i'm going to use a 300 Series Disco V8 housing (its slightly shorter giving me enough room for the adaptor plate!) and have an adaptor plate made up to bolt to the engine and take the standard landrover V8 bolt pattern.

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depends on where you want the engine to sit.

on my 200Tdi with the 'stumpy' R380 the engines sits on the original TD mounts with it's front pulleys just behind the front axle centreline, therefore almost a mid engined LR.

on the 300Tdi's with the longer bellhousing the engine sits hiugher & further forward over the front axle.

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ye it sits forward, but its still a standard position.

And moving two engine mounts and tweaking some pipes and wires to me seems far more sensible than trying to weld up a bellhousing where accuracy needs to be down to 0.1mm

A mm or two out on the engine mount and you'd never notice the difference

Half a mm out on the bellhousing alignment and you'll trash the gearbox in no time.

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depends on where you want the engine to sit.

on my 200Tdi with the 'stumpy' R380 the engines sits on the original TD mounts with it's front pulleys just behind the front axle centreline, therefore almost a mid engined LR.

on the 300Tdi's with the longer bellhousing the engine sits hiugher & further forward over the front axle.

My aim is to fit a 300tdi in the 200tdi location - using the original 200tdi engine chassis mounts (have already designed the bolt-on engine mounts for the 300tdi block), either with a stumpy R380 or if needs be a LT77S.

This keeps everything mounted more rearward, in an effort to keep the vehicle a little more balanced.

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My aim is to fit a 300tdi in the 200tdi location - using the original 200tdi engine chassis mounts (have already designed the bolt-on engine mounts for the 300tdi block), either with a stumpy R380 or if needs be a LT77S.

This keeps everything mounted more rearward, in an effort to keep the vehicle a little more balanced.

dont know if this will help the R380 used in the 200 series ldv vans is fited with a short input shaft just has a smaller spigit shaft.

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Thats not a short R380

Not sure what it is though cos the gear selector looks weird.

It may be a 300tdi disco box cos i've never looked at one of them

Ah no sorry Jimmy, i didn't state in the previous post, but thats (i think) an R380 from a LDV 200 - not a short R380. Was looking at it to try and see the bellhousing length and if it was of use.

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Ah no sorry Jimmy, i didn't state in the previous post, but thats (i think) an R380 from a LDV 200 - not a short R380. Was looking at it to try and see the bellhousing length and if it was of use.

WILL MEASURE LATER, BUT THE LT77 YOUSED WITH THE PRIMA IS THE SAME AS THE 200 SHAFT WOULD THINK IT THE SAME ,MY 90 HAS A PRIMA TURBO FITTED .THE 380 IS FITTED TO LATE 1900 PUG ENGINED VANS SO YOU COULD FIT LAT PUG TURBO ENGINE TO 90 .

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