Disco 200TDi into a 90 Bulkhead Question

[gruntus]

Posted this already in the defender forum by mistake so apologies......

Gents,

Having read the excellent threads for installing the Disco 200Tdi into a defender I have the following question.

I noticed on some other articles that the passenger footwell on the bulkhead has to be chopped out to allow additional room for the exhaust (i presume this is due to using the original disco downpipe).

However I noticed on Les's thread and Dan/James' thread that this wasn't done.

I am presuming that a nicely made downpipe or one bought from Steve Parker means you don't need to do this however judging by the pics it does look a bit tight for room.

Is it still worthwhile chopping out out some of the passenger footwell to give a bit more room for future jobs?

Given the exhaust temperature I am also a bit frightened that it will ruin my nice new paint (once its done, probably next year ) or worse........

As always...thanks in advance

Grant

[freeagent]

when we did it, we cut the corner out of the footwell, and made a box to go inside, it gives you loads more room... if you are in doubt, once you've got your engine in place, try to imagine getting the starter motor off.... then you'll see why people cut the footwells about.

i've seen one that had a little door in the footwell, that could be used to get your arm through, so you could get on the starter motor bolts a bit easier.

[Tonk]

there is no need to chop the b/head, i've done this conversion, although tight there is enough room if you make the downpipe the right shape.

[freeagent]

Tonk is right, there is no need to do it, it just gives you more room if you do, both for fitting the engine, and for future maintenance.

[DSN]

I obviously used the Steve Parker pipe on mine. I simply chopped the clutch pipe bracket off and pulled the pipe towards the wing to give room. I then got some thin aluminium heat shield and put it on the bulkhead and covered the brake and clutch pipe.

Footwell doesn't seem to get hot although if the heat shield is helping, I am not sure.

Personally I wouldn't bother chopping footwell. Just accept it is quite close.

For the pipes, I rivetted on one of those plastic clips which I then put cable tie through to hold the pipes over. Seems to work fine.

Hope it goes well.

Dan

[western]

Could wrap the downpipe with some of Agriemach's heat proof tape www.agriemach.com

Les made his own downpipe as described in his thread, IIRC the Steve Parker one fits without any bulkhead mods needed.

As you've said the post in Defender forum was in error, I've deleted it

[Les Henson]

When I made the downpipe, I took into consideration things such as changing the starter motor or clutch slave. The downpipe has to be removed, the same as when it had the 2.5TD engine in. I still moved the clutch pipe though, as you gain an extra 15mm of space. I've never fitted the Steve Parker pipe, but I believe you have to alter the pipe where the two connect. I wanted to keep the rest of the system as standard, I think in the long run, these considerations make the job better and future work just as easy as before. If I do the conversion again, I think I might make a few changes. I think it might be possible to route the downpipe so that it doesn't have to be removed to gain access to the starter/clutch slave. The air system always seems to be messy as well. I think with the right pipes and a bit of careful thought, the finished job could look a lot better.

Les.