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Gearbox options for V8 in a SWB Series ???


henrycrabbe

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Henry - keep us posted on what you decide.

I have just aquired a RR V8 3.9EFi with man g/b that I wanted to drop in to my series (200TDi/LT77) so it would be good to know how you get on.

Has anyone got drawing or a description of their home made adaptor plate for a V8 to (short) LT77? I'd like to know how much work was involved and what you actually made it out of

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i thought the lt77 has the same bellhousing stud pattern as series? therefore allowing you to just use a 'standard' v8 engine adaptor plate. milners/phillips i think is the make of the most common ones.

Yea you are right - apart from one or two studs the pattern is the same. I just thought I'd have a go at making one

The manuel gearbox from a rangy 3.9EFi - is that an R380?

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Hi guys, well I've pretty much decided on LT77 shorty with a standard series V8 adapter, that way it could be put back to a 4 pot/Tdi etc if I put the gearbox in the right place.

I gotta sort the chassis first though, oh and before that I've got to level & pave the driveway I'm going to use so it could be a while :(

I'm sure it'll appear as a project on the members vehicles section when the time comes ;)

Cheers,

Steve.

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Yea you are right - apart from one or two studs the pattern is the same. I just thought I'd have a go at making one

The manuel gearbox from a rangy 3.9EFi - is that an R380?

I made mine the 'hard' way. I took a slice from the front of an SD1 V8 auto bellhousing (think they had a ZF box?) and tigged it to the series gearbox bellhousing. It is a remarkably good line up diameter-wise, but a couple of extra bits of ally were also tigged in to fill up any gaps that were left (starter motor hole etc). The thickness of the slice is pretty important to ensure correct clutch operation, as is getting it all stuck together concentric.

I'm afraid I cannot remember the thickness required, nor do I have any photos. I did this a long time ago, when SD1 parts were plentiful :lol:

It all worked a treat and cost just a few pence, and a shed load of friggin around. But that's all part of the fun :rolleyes:

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Fair enough, but can't you swap the SD1 LT77 bellhousing and input gear onto a Landrover 'box???

Steve.

The LR box I was adapting was a series 3 unit, not an LT77, so no.

Also back in 1980 something SD1 parts were plentiful and cheap/free, Defender bits were not as much so.

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oh and RE: drilling flywheel, you shouldnt need to re drill flywheel at all as there should be a SIIa 9.5" flywheel or you could use the SIII flywheel

But then again I've never looked at a v8 too closely, my current 9.5" clutch did come off a 3.5v8 though and it was not re drilled...

SD1 Manual had a 9.5 flywheel which will work in a Series gearbox to V8 (according to the man who built my S1 V8). The one issue is the lack of inertia when off road to avoid stalling another is the thinner flywheel may make the clutch travel longer?.

Marc.

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  • 3 weeks later...

right, been having a few series 2a gearbox troubles recently and im now at a point where i have an input shaft which fits the crank really nicely (ground down, have nice meaty bush) but the synchro teeth are so worn on it i have no 4th gear. and it isnt holding oil, leaking past clutch release sleeve which has worn the bush in the clutch release housing (series 2a) due to the spigot bush wearing out.

So now i want to put in a defender lt77 and lt230 as i think it will be worth the little bit of effort for the gains. i already have range rover axles so dont need to worry about permanent 4wd.

so what do i need to know/do?

-get defender lt77 (short bellhousing)

-get lt230 transfer box

-will be needing to shorten / lengthen props to suit which isnt a huge problem as i can get that done nicely and easily

bits im unsure about:

-will the route of the propshaft / the front output on the transfer box clear a standard series engine crossmember?

-will my gearlevers end up in standard series position?

-what clutch bits will i need? i assume i'll be needing standard defender but what will suit my flywheel? i have a v8 flywheel drilled for standard 2a clutch cover (is this the same as defender?) or can i now finally get a decent size clutch in there and use the original v8 clutch holes? ive got the engine and gearbox from my scrap diesel rangie, will i be able to use the clutch bits from here? what master cylinder will i need? will my existing series cylinder work with the lt77 slave?

someone come to my help please!

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no one want to shed any light?

or is everyone clueless like me :P

ive found a defender box now and have talked to a landrover place near me and have found out:

-i can use the clutch from my rangerover 200tdi and gearbox

-defender gearlevers should end up in right place

-lt77 mounts go straight to chassis on a defender which leaves me with the question Do i weld up mounts to attach it to my removable crossmember of which i have a spare anyway or do i sleeve the chassis and do it that way, would still have to have the crossmember to keep the chassis stiff

-lt77 input shaft is 23mm diameter? and v8 is 19mm?

the last point is where i have a problem, how much can i get the input shaft ground down by before im below the case hardened surface? if 2mm from the radius is going to be too much then i'll have to cut off the end of the crank and fit a spigot bush adaptor, although maybe i could fit an adaptor and cut the end off the input shaft, then the spigot bush probably wouldnt end up long enough

opinions please (and not, sell it and get a defender, or put it on a coil chassis. i like leaves, they give the vehicle its series character!)

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no one want to shed any light?

or is everyone clueless like me :P

Yes :P

Most of that is a job for the tape measure, I fitted a RR removable crossmember at the same time, in the standard RR position, which meant the prop cleared as standard and allowed me to use the front half of a standard RR exhaust too. However, I was using a RR bellhousing which made everything line up correctly.

If you have the depth of chassis on an 88 to tube it & bolt the standard mounts on, then it does make things look nice and factory.

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tape measure will be coming out soon!

climbed under the vehicle to do front suspension bushes today and noticed my engine crossmember has just started to try and seperate itself from the chassis. starting to crack along the bottom join so maybe taking that one out and making a removable one to go there wont be such a bad idea.

while doing that i might as well sleeve the chassis for defender gearbox mounts and then make up a new bolt in crossmember to go under the gearbox and get it to tuck up tight, can then make a skid palte to go between it and the engine one and extend it back under handbrake to stop that dragging so much.

just one other thing, what can i do about speedo? does a defender have an electric one like rangerover? if so i might be able to make it fit in the series panel? or make a new panel to suit it.

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  • 9 months later...

Sorry to resurrect and old thread but I need a little bit of help

The 200TDi is out of the 88 leaving the LT77 (long stick with short bellhousing) in place. The 3.9 V8 is waiting to go in with a Series v8 conversion plate in between but I've run into a problem......

The conversion plate seems to be too thin - it binds on the fly wheel and won't bolt up to the engine. I think maybe someone has skimmed it for some reason. Can anyone with a conversion plate just measure how thick is should be please?????

What clutch housing are people using? The rangy one seems very big

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I'll have a measure of my adaptor plate when i get home but i'd say about 60mm.

What flywheel is on the engine and has it got a clutch on it? The V8 clutch wont fit inside the philips/milner adaptor ring.

If by clutch housing you mean the gearbox bellhousing? Then a rangerover one is very long and you are very likely to struggle to get it to all fit in.

I think you want to have the same set-up as me? Short lt77 and v8 adaptor ring on to the v8?

If so you'll need:

- V8 with flywheel drilled and dowelled for series clutch cover (also diesel defender is the same, but with stronger springing in it so it doesnt slip as much)

- 'Standard' V8 in series style adaptor ring

- Short bellhousing lt77

- 'Standard' series v8 conversion bolt on engine mounts to use the existing chassis mounts.

- The only other thing you'll need is a spigot bush holder to hold a diesel bush as the crank hole is only about 2mm bigger than a shortbellhousing input shaft. (You could get the input shaft ground down to fit inside the V8 bush but that involves stripping the gearbox) When i made my spigot bush adaptor i made it such that it doesnt require the end of the crank to be cut off, but this means the spigot bush has to be shortened which could lead to premature wear (when i had the engine out to do a core plug i did notice that it had worn a bit quicker than i thought it would but chucked it back in with plenty of grease and just make sure i knock it in to neautral in traffic)

I'm not sure if i've put a thread on here under the members vehicles for my lightweight but its something i will do ASAP with pictures of all the modifications such as v8 and lt77 and rangerover axles. In 2011 it'll be getting powersteering and an auto (without modifying the external looks) and i think ive almost finalised the planning for it :)

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Cool - thanks for the reply. I thought I had the wrong adaptor ring for a minute but I just tried an old 90 clutch and is is fine. I already have a drilled flywheel. I will have to shim out the adapter plate I've got as someone has obviously machined it down for some reason - I've and old V8 bellhousing somewhere so I take a disc cutter to it and make a distance ring.

The engine mounts will be made up in situ as I believe it will need to slight to the offside for the manifold to cleat the chassis

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sorry for delay in measurement, adaptor ring is 50mm thick

could you post up a picture of the adaptor ring you have.

when fitting to a series 3 box i have heard of the pivot for the clutch arm (the one screwed into the bellhousing i think) needing adjusting out, maybe the adaptor plate has been machined down to get the clutch to work properly?

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Little late to the game here, I'm hanging a Series 3 box off the back of my 3.9 using a Milner adaptor ring.

I used a RRC flywheel that I re-drilled and a spigot adaptor that came with the kit. I ended up using a diesel series 3 clutch...

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Oh ah...

Could it be that the engine it's off had an SD1 flywheel fitted? Are they thinner? I think they have the same 9inch clutch cover mounting holes as landrover so would allow a cheaper conversion (back in the days when you could get SD1 parts that is)

The plan of using a v8 bellhousing to space it out sounds good. Also when fitting the ring i'd recommend getting yourself some capheads as i replaced mine with them due to it not really being possible to get a spanner or socket onto an ordinary bolt.

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Could it be that the engine it's off had an SD1 flywheel fitted? Are they thinner?

Yes the SD1 flywheel is thinner, my original conversion had one fitted, with a much longer clutch release bearing (from memory I had to buy a new one from Milners).

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A mystery solved then. It's a different adapter. I notice someone wants £150 for an SD1 flywheel on Ebay

I couldn't be arsed chopping up the old bell housing so have got another adapter plate off Ebay while I was there. Anyone want a conversion ring for an SD1 flywheel? It's going spare

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