Guilford Dave Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Hi Guys Long time since I last visited, Thinking about starting a new build soon and was wondering anybody fitted a BMW diesel from a Rangie into a Landrover. Looking at practically if it fits a rangie it should fit a L/rover, unless anybody knows differently. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 LR South Africa used to build 90's with a BMW 2.8 straight 6 petrol, don't know the exact engine details but it is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 The BMW Engined range rover, and the M52 powered defenders use the same gearbox bellhousing, which gets you off to a good start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Yep. I'm sure it was the M52 that land rover used in the south african spec petrol defenders. I have one in my 5 series and it is a lovely engine - very fast, very smooth and useable power all through the revs. I'm not sure if the pterols shared the same bellhousings as the diesels, but like Aragorn says, it is a good place to start researching. If the BMW wasnt in such good condition, i might be tempted to whip the engine out and plonk it in the defender! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 I'm pretty certain the part number on the RR P38 TD and the Defender 2.8 bellhousing is the same. I dont have microcat to hand to check though. The P38 diesel is an M51. The Petrol is M50/52 depending on age, but the engines are interchangable mechanically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 This has got me thinking. I was kind of after a project to re-build an engine ready to fit to the defender when the current tdi goes pop (not for a while i hope). The obvious and easy choice was to re-build another 200tdi (i thought i had bought one on here, but when i tried to arrange to collect it the chap had gone and sold it to someone else after telling me i could have it!). I have since been thinking about a range rover V8 conversion, but this thread has made me think again - i like my BMW engine so much, perhaps i should buy one of these to re-con and run in the defender. Does anyone know which gearbox the defender mated to the BMW 2.8 petrol? Hopefully this will also help the OP so is not a thread hijack! Also, Aragorn, did you look at any of the BMW engines for your project and if so, what made you choose not to go with them and go with the Audi engine instead (obviously the torque and power of the audi V8 is probably more, but was this the only reason)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 I have a M50B25 sat in the shed and ye i did look into fitting it. 2.8 Defender uses an R380, so it would have been a case of buying a P38 box, removing the bellhousing and input shaft, and fitting them into the defender box, then buying the defender mounts and things. No idea if i'd have needed to change the sump or anything else, and that will also affect where you get the donor engine from, 5series have a different sump to 3 series I ended up choosing the Audi motor because i decided a defender needs a V8, it came along cheap, and makes the right noise! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B reg 90 Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Hi, I am very slowly putting a M52 BMW diesel into a 90. This is the 3.0 litre, 6 cylinder as fitted to BMW 530's and L322 TD6 range rovers. Depending on the age of the engine these come with 184HP to 284HP in the latest versions. All with varible vane turbo's so loads of low down torque. These engines have been widely used in comp motors and by Rally Raid UK in Dakar motors. Alternatively get the 2.5 desel out of a P38. This is the 2.5 litre version of the same engine. This comes with a R380 gearbox. However those that have done this before report that the R380 can't cope with the torque from the 3 litre engine. This means you then need a better gear box. Best option is a Tremec TKO from Rakeway. However £££. Hope this helps. Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 I have a M50B25 sat in the shed and ye i did look into fitting it. 2.8 Defender uses an R380, so it would have been a case of buying a P38 box, removing the bellhousing and input shaft, and fitting them into the defender box, then buying the defender mounts and things. No idea if i'd have needed to change the sump or anything else, and that will also affect where you get the donor engine from, 5series have a different sump to 3 series I ended up choosing the Audi motor because i decided a defender needs a V8, it came along cheap, and makes the right noise! why not jsut use the rangie engine and r380 box complete and unmolested and bolt the standard transfer box from a defender/disco to the back of it so the outputs are on the correct side? or is the p38 manual box extremely long/short in comparison to the defender r380 and puts the gear stick in a really strange place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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