LS into Land Rover Defender ?

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sun May 31, 2015 3:42 pm

Anyone know if there are companies who sell either kits, parts, conversions for this ?

A friends dad is big into Land Rovers for road and off road, but most are all just crappy diesels.

Trying to persuade him that a nice 350-400hp LS engine would be a sensible swap LOL.

He wouldnt be big into lots of custom work, so a purchased kit would be more up his street.

Bound to be somewhere selling such things ?

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Sun May 31, 2015 4:04 pm

I am not sure that any standard Land Rover transmissions are up to 400BHP, so you would be looking at more than a 'kit' engine swap.

I am pretty sure that I saw a conversion in Land Rover Owner, which wasn't a kit. Maybe it was from Overfinch.

Whoever it was from, the price was eye-watering, only viable for footballers and oil sheiks.

Chris.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Sun May 31, 2015 4:10 pm

ChrisJC wrote:I am not sure that any standard Land Rover transmissions are up to 400BHP, so you would be looking at more than a 'kit' engine swap.

I am pretty sure that I saw a conversion in Land Rover Owner, which wasn't a kit. Maybe it was from Overfinch.

Whoever it was from, the price was eye-watering, only viable for footballers and oil sheiks.

Chris.

Well I suggested the 400hp bit, he'd be happy with 300 or so I'm sure lol

Even a 4.8 or 5.3 LS variant would be more than enough..
Overfinch did the SBC conversions in the Range Rovers, but there are definitely people doing the defenders, there were loads of new ones and full blown off road versions at Autosport last year although they were complete vehicles on display and I'm sure a fortune.

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Sun May 31, 2015 4:35 pm

With a bit of jiggery-pokery you will be able to fit a box that will handle the torque. There is an adapter to fit the standard transfer case so you don't lose Low range.
Take a look here to start with... http://landroverforums.com/forum/discov ... 291/page2/

Spongo · Post by **Spongo** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:22 am

Well I have 400HP and 475ft/lb of torque in my Overfinch 630 R and the P38 auto box handles that OK, all that would be needed is an adapter plate between the engine and gearbox.

Have often thought about how the Overfinch would be off road .......

Nah dont want to get it scratched

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:02 pm

unstable load wrote:With a bit of jiggery-pokery you will be able to fit a box that will handle the torque. There is an adapter to fit the standard transfer case so you don't lose Low range.
Take a look here to start with... http://landroverforums.com/forum/discov ... 291/page2/

All those photos and words are of my conversion @ mez.co.uk.

My approach is using the yank transmission against the very strong LT230 transfer box which takes a twin turbo 5.7 without any problems.

On my [dead]forum pages there is a guy who's fitted an LT1 engine into a P38 - initially he made an adapter for the ZF auto, but ended up using a 700R4 and a custom shaft to mate it to the BW transfer box.

Here's the video:

From memory he fitted a 36-1 wheel to the engine to keep the P38 ECU happy and thinking the original rover v8 was still present. (which was based on my theory after fitting a megasquirt to my old GEMS p38 in parralel to the existing ECU)

As we know overfinch bolted the 5.7 to the largely standard ZF HP22 (with some HP24 internals?) - but I think you are working towards the limit of the box. Having said that i trashed my 700r4 several times until i found a reliable combination of parts that has since lasted years - but I have alot of grunt from that sbc and with big 35" mud tyres - which will kill most trannies imo.

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:23 pm

I wonder if the GM V8 diesel will squeeze into my Disco 2....................

Spongo · Post by **Spongo** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:05 am

They do fit its been done before, but there are not that powerful for what they are, sound good though

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:44 pm

I thought the GM diesels were so heavy that they exceeded the front axle weight.

Chris.

kiwicar · Post by **kiwicar** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:09 pm

I think John is referring to the new 4 valve/cylinder post 2001 duramax engines not the old things that were imported over the last 25 years as replacements for the rover V8 engines, that did exceed the rating of the standard front axel.
best regards
Mike

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:31 am

I was referring to the older type, but the 6.6 will do fine, thanks....

On a more realistic note, the Cummins B series is a more realistic modification. 3,9l 4 cylinder should make the old girl hop along better than the Td5 currently does.