The V8 Owners Forum -

I can buy defender 3.5 engine, but 130hp is not much i think .Which way would be better/cheaper? Skimming the heads to make them about 9.75:1CR / Bolt the range rover 3.9 heads / or just forget about 3.5 and get 3.9 with guaranteed 180 hp. Other ideas?

In my region sources of parts are only defenders and RR

3.5's are a pretty ancient engine especially the weak pistons. A 3.9 is the same but has better capacity so I'd use that instead. Either will have racked up an awful lot of miles by now. If your budget stretched a bit further then look for a 4.0 crossbolted engine or a 4.6.