sbc to 101 LT95

[twodoorgaz]

Hi folks,

had a delivery the other week - a 101 bell housing and input shaft to go on my ex-109V8 LT95 when it goes to be recon'd.

So I'm onto the last piece of the puzzle for building my Special - mating to an engine.

I need to be able to hook it up to a standard SBC bolt pattern. I'm aware this has been done many times on LT95s with the full size bellhousing, but I wanted to make sure there weren't any quirks in fitting it to the shorter 101 box. Does anyone know of any?

Mark's adaptor kits in Oz look great but I really need to keep the costs down at the moment so was planning on keeping an eye out for cheap/leftover GM 6.2 V8-LT95 adaptor parts (not a massive fan of the old detroit diesels but understand they share the same bell housing pattern with the SBC, so parts may be useful). I'll post a wanted ad in a bit.

Back in the Samurai heydays in the 90s it was quite a common swap - I'd love to get my hands on a set of fitting instructions or a detailed build up, but can't seem to find one online.

[daslandroverman]

All V8 boxes (short LT95 included) have the same pattern on the front of the bellhousing.

Clutches are the only difference between them with the LT95 having a coarse spline, whilst LT77, LT85 and R380 are all fine spline.

There was a guy on 'Land rover engine conversions' Facebooks page that had an adapter plate for sale in the past week or two.

[Jamie_grieve]

As said already, all the V8 boxes are the same in this regard. I have a Chev 6.2 V8 on a 101 gearbox and can confirm there are no dramas although on the diesels at least the nose of the starter requires taking a bit out of the 101 bellhousing. The bolt pattern is the same on the 6.2/6.5 diesels and all the Chev V8 petrol engines.

In addition to the larger splines, the LT95 also requires a smaller spigot bush or bearing than other Land Rover gearboxes.

The Samurai conversions also bolt to the bottom half of the bell housing which is a good thing.

Depending on what you're doing, the front output on your transfer case has a different flange and is longer than a RRC or 101 so you'll either need to keep your double cardan shaft or swap it for standard as it's rebuilt.

I know what you mean about the diesels, they are a poor engine in many ways but they are light tiny for their displacement and the torque at low revs is very good and they rev well which is why I put up with them. I'd like to bolt an SAE 3 bellhousing to the chev engine. If I can find a way to do that you can have my adaptor plate.

[twodoorgaz]

Thanks guys, very helpful. I'll keep an eye out for an old conversion plate.

Yep I've retained the DC front prop - matches the 109V8 front axle and spring mounts I have too.

[Jamie_grieve]

Sounds like an interesting build, what you up to?
Any pics of ideas, mock ups or progress?
You using or need any other stage one bits?

[twodoorgaz]

Hi Jamie - I now have 3 different projects on the go to such an extent that Ive had to rent a storage unit to keep the parts in (no vapour builds here - just a lot of triple-booked time).

This one is effectively a SWB Stage 1 V8, with a 101 bell housing and input pinion - which allows me to neatly retain the recessed grille.

I have all the running gear from a (number of) stage 1s, even down to the cable throttle and correct spring mounts (all sourced from the wild, no 109V8s broken to build this travesty). The only thing I'm missing now is a pair of Stage 1 V8 floor plates and a seatbox.

Engine is the bit I'm still undecided on. I'm leaning towards a 4.3 chev Vortec V6 (its like a mini SBC V8 and shares many parts inc the bell housing pattern) though a MS'd RV8 is still tempting. The 4.3's a tiny little thing that will give loads of room and makes similar power out of the box to a 4.6 rover so shouldn't kill the box like a full fat Chev V8. Its also fairly bombproof, massively tuneable and weighs about the same as a RV8 at 175kg.

This project is the one that needs the most thinking about and will take a few years to complete. As the new chassis will be very different from stock (not just moving mounts and brackets, I'll need the stage 1 crossmember arrangement) it means an amateur build BIVA will be necessary. That means a buy-the-book build incorporating front discs and a collapsable steering column (neither is a problem) plus a huge amount of work sorting the projections and careful engine choice and fuelling (emissions) in order to to comply with the BIVA regs.

The stage 1 bits being used (and currently filling my city-centre storage unit) are:

Gearbox

Front axle

Front DC prop

Front spring plates

Transmission tunnel

Cable throttle

Gauges and switchgear

handbrake

Bodywork will be late 2A.

Steering as its going through BIVA anyway (and I may as well incorporate a Stage 1 No 2 crossmember) will be Defender. Front discs will be from Heystee.

Rear axle will either be a series casing, with pinion wedges and DC prop to compensate for the length of the box. Or a narrowed TD5 Short Nose axle casing with Series Flanges and spring perches - standard pinion angle - which will gain 2" in propshaft length. I have a quote for the narrowing but need to confirm that a P38 diff is the same width as a Rover so that I can use common, uprated 24 spline Series halfshafts and hubs.

It was an alternative to the kit car I was going to do alongside my Land Rovers. Though with the weathered old panels I have it will appear to be completely standard (except the transmission tunnel) so should be a bit of a sleeper (slow shifting LT95 aside) or at least a properly engineered V8 Series.

No pictures or progress I'm afraid - at the moment its just a huge amount of parts in storage and the nonsense thats in my head. I'm not likely to order the chassis for another year, so taking the time to gather the bits now. The upside is that once the engine mount positions are confirmed it will be a straightforward bolt-together build as the box is in a stock LR position on stock mounts.

[Jamie_grieve]

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=83269&hl=%2Bstage+%2Bone+%2Bsaga

I'm not sure if you've seen that?

I'd forget the 4.3 and just go straight to the full fat SBC. Forget the weight too. My 6.2 didn't make the slightest bit of difference. I still took leafs out the front with a PTO winch and tubed front end to get it to flex. Some lads are running Cummins 6BT's at half a ton each with no worries, likewise in ye olde days we had Perkins 6354's on LT95's which handled them no problems and put out more torque than a SBC could dream of. Overdrive will handle it too if you don't go daft.

I did snap the odd U bolt though and nearly pulled the front axle off after a big jump. Santana U bolts and spring plates sorted this out.

If you do want a light weight V8 then look no further than a 1UZ FE toyota engine. 300hp with no mods at all and similar weight to a rover engine. A whole car is worth about £400. A diesel flywheel from a hilux can be drilled out or get an aftermarket one. There are three 1UZ FE's in the shed here. The Rover engines don't rev as well and are gutless in comparison.

Santana axles in my mind were the best way to get discs and reliability into the equation. The larger steering components will handle the power steering too.

I'd use a P38 or Santana steering box, not defender. They mount to the outside of the chassis rail and mean you can have the series No2 crossmember if you want the look, otherwise use a 90 / 110 type front cross member, the stage one version is nothing special and has a steering relay incorporated into the end of it which adds strength.

Why go to the trouble of narrowing the axles? Standard wheels fit fine without flared arches. Put on Austin Gipsy wheels to the wide axles if you want the wheels inside the body like an e type jag. I think they look dreadful this way.

I'd strongly suggest putting the rear wheels back a few inches as I did. It looks better, less overhang, longer prop so more wheel travel. You'd also get the series front in as well with the SBC.

I chucked three sets of stage one floors and seat boxes out when I broke them. Couldn't even give them away!!

Got a steering box, relay and front prop is about all that's not been binned. Still got a tunnel and the bit that goes in front of the seat box too.