ren ching Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hello All I'm Dave and I'm in the USA with a 1984 LR 90 RHD. It started out with a 2.25 petrol and lt77 5 speed. I am putting in a Disco 300tdi with the proper defender r380 5 speed. I am using the old lt77 mountings rather than the 300 tdi crossmember so as to be able to keep my original floors and tunnel, propshafts, interior bits, etc. This will also create 2 inches of additional room in front of the engine that can be used later for air-con or a full width intercooler. I have moved the pins on the radiator/IC frame forward by 1" to bring that assembly back closer to the engine, and thus allow a better fit of the hoses and pipework and also putting the engine fan back within the shroud. I have seen a few such installations in trucks that have come over from the UK but I have found a relative dearth of online information on the subject of this conversion. There is some mention of it on this forum but fairly well buried. I have found one or two individuals in the US that have done it with LHD drive trucks, but no one here in the states has done a RHD that I have heard of so far. So on that note, I would like to share some of the problems and issues I have run into, and hopefully hear back with some experiences from owners in other parts of the world where this may be more common. First of all I have had a very difficult time locating the engine properly using the factory style tdi engine mounts that get welded to the frame. I have not been able to get the engine and gearbox combination to sti straight in the frame, in other words, they are not parallel to the frame rails. The front of the engine was too far to the right and the rear of the gearbox was too far to the left. Through careful measuring of the tdi gearbox mounts I have determined that the gearbox on the tdi is actually mounted 1 inch further to the right than the older lt77 setup. Since there is no side-to-side adjustment in the 300tdi engine mountings this is forcing the drivetrain to sit crooked. Removal of the gearbox mountings allowed the engine mounting rubbers to relax and sit properly, but now the gearbox mounts no longer fit. I phoned up a friend in New York that has a 1983 110 with the same conversion and asked him to have a look at his, and sure enough his engine is crooked too! I have some ideas about how to fix this <welder> but I would like to know if anyone else has seen this crop up. if anyone has access to a factory 300tdi and a factory lt77 truck and can measure from the handbrake drum to the RH frame rail, that would answer the question pretty quickly. Additionally, there is an issue with the engine fan hitting the steering box on a RHD vehicle, and if the height is correct to center the fan in the fan shroud, then the diff-lock linkage starts to get very close to the gearbox tunnel. Last but not least I have found the 300tdi radiator assembly is 1/2" taller than the old 2.25 unit, necessitating some modification of the frame towers under the rad or the upper support brackets. I am planning to use the proper 300tdi upper brackets but even they fit a bit differently on my old 90 and they also get in the way of the outer two bumpers on the underside of the bonnet. I'll have to work on some photos, I'll try later this evening, which will be more like morning for the GMT folks. Thanks for looking, Dave in DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirstybeast Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Dave I have a TDI with R380 on V8 mounts that sounds to be mounted simmilar to yours, from outer edge of handbrake drum to RH chassis is about 27mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ren ching Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 wow, that looks pretty close. I modified the RH frame bracket last night, came out pretty good. Now I need to redo the LH one and hopefully all will fall into place. thanks Dave I have a TDI with R380 on V8 mounts that sounds to be mounted simmilar to yours, from outer edge of handbrake drum to RH chassis is about 27mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ren ching Posted September 20, 2009 Author Share Posted September 20, 2009 motor and trans are now sitting in their final position. I elongated the engine mounts holes on the chassis to allow those mounts to "relax" if there is any misalignment. I shortened the RH frame bracket for the gearbox by 3/4" and added the same to the LH mount. If you sight down between the fan clutch hub and the front crossmember you can see whether the engine is sitting straight. FInally, mine is! Now to get on to making the thing actually run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicTheOrange90 Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Have you got any photos of your work ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ren ching Posted September 21, 2009 Author Share Posted September 21, 2009 Photos are up. Sorry I'm slow to put up photos. I'm happy now with the final location and am sourcing some small items to get it all hooked up. I will need to make a custom exhaust too. Thrilling I know http://www.fourfold.org/daveb/300tdi%20engine%20swap/album/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabell Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Photos are up. Sorry I'm slow to put up photos. I'm happy now with the final location and am sourcing some small items to get it all hooked up. I will need to make a custom exhaust too. Thrilling I know http://www.fourfold.org/daveb/300tdi%20engine%20swap/album/index.html Glad you got her lined up Dave. Looking forward to seeing that 3 hundy throw mud at the Mid Atlantic Rally! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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