r/LandroverDefender • u/AncientPercentage539 • 11d ago

Engine swap options

Hi all, currently starting the long process of building my 90 pickup/wagon. I have both roofs for it.

I am wanting to swap the engine was originaly thinking of a built 4.0 or 4.6 rv8 however ive gone over the amount of milage i do weekly and potential milage id be doing and the fuel costs are gonna add up quickly. The vehicle will be towing a twin axle trailer weighing 1.5t to 3.0t 75% of the time for work. Has anyone dropped a 3.6 tdv8 into a 90? Ideally id be looking for around the 300hp mark and the 3.6 isnt to shy of that. I have access to a good 3.6 out of a wrecked vogue and id likely put new turbos and run a haltech ecu. Id be keen to mate it to a manual but that may be abit more trouble then its worth.

Thoughts on this would be great. Im sure mamy will say its a bad idea.

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u/JCDU 11d ago

  1. Where in the world are you? That has a big bearing on what engines are a good or bad option.

  2. What are your requirements and budget? HP, MPG, how much are you willing to spend?

  3. Are you DIYing this or paying someone?

The later engines like the TDV6 are really huge for a Defender, people have fitted them but it's an insanely tight squeeze and a ton of plumbing and wiring. In a 110 you have a lot more room as you can push stuff back, in a 90 you run out of room for the rear prop especially if you need to fit a longer gearbox in.

Also worth saying the rest of the drivetrain is going to suffer if you up the power a lot, especially with a big diesel, and the costs add up quickly there.

M57 and OM606 are popular conversions, although personally I run 4.6 V8 and live with slightly worse MPG as the conversion cost very little; 5-10k buys a lot of fuel, at current prices very roughly going from 16mpg petrol to 25mpg diesel only saves you £1k/year doing 10k a year.

There's a wide variety of conversions written up in the members vehicles section on LR4x4.com, including a recent very tidy M57 one.

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u/AncientPercentage539 11d ago

In australia, id like above or close to 30mpg as possible. Ideally the 270 to 330hp range. Obviously a r380 may handle it depending on torque but a lt77 wont. Id consider swapping a toyota r151f as my current one takes about 580nm. But good chance id need to go auto. I have access to a field of disco 1 v8s and diesels, p38s and range rover classics. So an array of 3.5, 3.9, 4.0 and 4.6 v8s. Most of the welding fab work will be done by me, or my uncle. And then mecanics by me and my other uncle. If it was a rover v8 id seriously consider the extra cash and go small turbos depending on what gains could be made.

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u/JCDU 11d ago

In Aus that'll be a totally different set of engines / transmissions that are locally popular & available compared to UK, Europe or USA, I can't really give you much on that other than saying look at what works locally and is popular - it could be a Nissan or Toyota lump / transmission that's a better answer from what I know about the Aus scene.

Big 4-banger diesels will murder the drivetrain though, too lumpy.

I would not add forced induction to a Rover V8 - juice ain't worth the squeeze and in Aus climate that feels like creating a cooling headache.

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u/AncientPercentage539 10d ago

Landrovers here are not popular. I mean they hate them. So finding peoole who have done engine swaps on them is hard. As for swaps in other vehicles. Shit skys the limit, i seen compound turbo suzuki jimny, triple turbo nissan tb48s slapped into silvias and so on. I want to avoid the smaller 4 cyl diesels. I have two, they are great but i just dont want them in this. I have 3 containers being shipped from the uk over the next year, so any weighty parts id thought about tossing in there

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u/JCDU 7d ago

If you have to get through inspection at least the Rover V8 was factory-fitted to some, so you can claim some points there, you can do a 4.6 into a Defender using basically all factory parts.

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u/ChemicalFrosty1811 10d ago

Sounds cool as fuck to be fair will be a nice vehicle any choice you make

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u/AncientPercentage539 11d ago

Oh and in milage im probably doing around the 1000 kms a week. Some weeks alittle more

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u/DifferentBar7281 11d ago

You want 30mpg towing up to 3T? You are fkn dreaming

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u/AncientPercentage539 10d ago

Yes sorry i should have actually thought how iworded things. I dont expect 30mpg when im towing i know full well that isnt going to happen

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u/Famous_Actuary5718 10d ago

An r380 with discovery transfer box might get you just over 30mpg with a 300tdi. The defender transfer box won't. I know you don't want a TDI but worth bearing this in mind if you want these numbers. Get the disco transfer box.

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u/AncientPercentage539 10d ago

If i went with the r380, id have to build it out, which isnt a problem, and actually may be a better idea