Cheers porny for the advice. Rite decision time as my NA is beginning to hack me off. Do istart with a galv chasis and just move my old 90 onto it and use defender doors? On the NA it has all new parts underneath apart from the chasis which is OK but not as good as id like. New suspension all round,fuel tank, exaust etc etc.
Now ive decided to go for either a td5 defender engine or a 300tdi defender engine. Simple to fit? Also whats best for general use as im going to uni and wont be on the farm as much (motorway miles), a disco transfer box or a R380? i need to crusie at 70 ideally.
Anyone on here know where i can take the car to have the new engine and transfer box put in profesionally. Also where do i get a galv chasis from? thanks again
Galvanised chassis....
Depends on what condition your chassis is in. If it's good then just have the mounts changed.
If it's getting a bit tired, go for a galvanised one. But make sure you've decided on your engine choice first.
Gearbox wise... I think your getting a bit confused.
Two main manual gearboxes fitted to all 90/110's, RR and Discovery are:
The LT77 which was behind anything pre 1994 - so was in all manual 90/110/Defender, RR and Disco's.
And the R380 which was from 1994 onwards (came with the 300Tdi) and again was in the RR classic, P38, Disco 1 and 2 and all Defender.
Both gearboxes use the same transfer box - the LT230. The only thing that differs is the gearing in the transfer box between models. Defender typically had a 1.410:1 ratio, and the Disco/RR 1.22:1.
The gearboxes, although having the same name, do differ between models (different gear stick locations) and really you only want to a Defender gearbox in a Defender, and a Disco gearbox in a Disco. Internally though, the ratio's are identical.
If your doing lots of motorway miles, don't tow heavy loads and don't run oversize tyres... then i'd go for Defender main gearbox and the disco spec LT230 transfer box. Both the 300 and Td5 can be easily tweaked to overcome any gearing issues.
In all honesty though, my 300Tdi runs standard gearing and will happily sit at 70mph or more.
Both the 300 and Td5 are easy to fit (especially if you are starting from a new chassis)... though the Td5 is a bit more involved, but nothing major. I personally like both engines - hence why I have a 300tdi 90, and am building a Td5 90 from scratch.
If you go down the Td5 route.. and you want to make it look like a factory Td5 then you will need to fit the later rear tub and fuel tank and a few other bits.
And for both engines, if you go down the 'as factory' conversion, you will need the R380 gearbox - and the transmission tunel, floor panels, seat box, props etc etc.
Engine and gearbox wise... I've been known to fit a couple
Helping my mate build a Td5 front scratch too (see pics) - galvanised chassis etc etc.
The easiest place to get a new chassis from would be Richards Chassis... or they do come up on EBay - but most of them are galvanised second hand chassis' - which aren't really ideal for a number of reasons.
Ian
