"Nanuuq" my Land Rover Discovery 2 diesel swap, ...forever a project!

TheBigPurpleOne said:
6BT Discovery 2 here in the UK
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Cooooool! I wonder sometimes if swaps like that start with a "What? Bet you I can!". I'll have to look around for more pics of that one, would be curious to see the firewall / tunnel / drivetrain fitment situation.
 
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Tinker said:
Yeah I have 2 other designs that may be more suitable that I didn't have handy for the posting, with one having 4 legs & the other boxed in more like original.
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The surface area of the bracket needs to make as much contact as possible with the frame, your boxed bracket would do that if it wraps up the outside of the frame. Good luck
 
Tinker said:
Cooooool! I wonder sometimes if swaps like that start with a "What? Bet you I can!". I'll have to look around for more pics of that one, would be curious to see the firewall / tunnel / drivetrain fitment situation.
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They can be altered too, and usually must be when introducing a different engine. All part of the fun of an engine swap.
 
Back from watching 60+ cars tearing thru the woods at the rally race in the Upper Peninsula & ready to get hands back on the Rover project!
1keoyXKh.jpg


I decided to go forward with redesigning my original Rover panhard bar mount to make way for the full swing of the pitman arm on my brand-new-used "outside the frame rail" Land Cruiser steering gear:
efERuEDh.jpg


So after a series of measurements locating the original bolt location for the new mount I could start with the cutting. The new bracket that'll replace it will have an inch or two more concave shape in the middle area where my thumb is, to clear that huge forged pitman arm on the Cruiser's gear:
sApDgdqh.jpg


By some luck (with maybe a millimeter of filing the edge of 1 hole) I ended up being able to utilize the original upper 2 mounting holes for the new gear! And I scored a deal on a whole pile of DOM tubing ranging from 1/2" all the way up to 2" that I'll be picking from to slide within the 2 lower holes I'm drilling out, just like the original holes, to keep the large mounting bolts from distorting the frame's box section when they squeeze down:
Z9ji4Jlh.jpg
 
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I'm setting the frame rail up proper for the 2 new steering box holes. Not just drilling a pair of holes thru & letting the frame deform under the clamping force of those big 1/2" bolts. I prepared sections of DOM tubing to slide into the frame for bracing, much like the other 2 holes are from the factory:

1uRzDfuh.jpg




With the tubing recessed a bit I was able to lay a full penetrating weld bead down around the full perimeter of the tubes & grind them as flat as the rest of the plate on the frame:

aC9QDfoh.jpg




Finally, it's fully mounted! Now to mate up the original Rover steering shaft with the Land Cruiser box's input u-joint:

DoBbKdzh.jpg
 
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Hey mate,
Amazing fabrication. Do you have an hour/$ log on the project?

I have done something similar but far less scale on an 80 series LandCruiser. Gas-> diesel and auto -> manual and converted it to a camper.

How did you handle the registration in NM?
Does it still need smog?
Blog is in this Forum and I added my expenses but too embarrassed to put the hours. :)

Also, how much boost are you running? I am about to ad an intercooler with 2.5" pipes and hope they are big enough.

Again, absolutely amazing job.
 
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Ob1 said:
Hey mate,
Amazing fabrication. Do you have an hour/$ log on the project?

I have done something similar but far less scale on an 80 series LandCruiser. Gas-> diesel and auto -> manual and converted it to a camper.

How did you handle the registration in NM?
Does it still need smog?
Blog is in this Forum and I added my expenses but too embarrassed to put the hours. :)

Also, how much boost are you running? I am about to ad an intercooler with 2.5" pipes and hope they are big enough.

Again, absolutely amazing job.
Click to expand...

Thanks, & I don't have any hours logged (not sure I want to know honestly) but I do have most the money tracked so far on the engine swap & by the time I wrap it up it should total around $9k including most every detail aside from overhead like electrical costs.

Thankfully here in Michigan it's no worry, no smog or anything like that.

I'm only running the turbo on the wastegate for now, so the limit is around 14-15psi. The crazy thing I realized recently is that even as strong as the engine sounds now... since it has no load it's not even building any boost yet! But I have a bleed-off valve for putting in the middle of the wastegate's control hose that I'm going to use after I have the whole suite of gauges installed to monitor the engine, then I plan to push it to 25-30psi (preferably not more than 35 until I can install big head studs to resist the crazy pressures). From my research 2.5" offers plenty of flow to support a considerable power level, especially for an off-road vehicle that could better use rapid low-end response over laggy top-end maximum power like a 1/4-mile or sled-pulling truck.
 
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Tinker said:
Thanks, & I don't have any hours logged (not sure I want to know honestly) but I do have most the money tracked so far on the engine swap & by the time I wrap it up it should total around $9k including most every detail aside from overhead like electrical costs.

Thankfully here in Michigan it's no worry, no smog or anything like that.

I'm only running the turbo on the wastegate for now, so the limit is around 14-15psi. The crazy thing I realized recently is that even as strong as the engine sounds now... since it has no load it's not even building any boost yet! But I have a bleed-off valve for putting in the middle of the wastegate's control hose that I'm going to use after I have the whole suite of gauges installed to monitor the engine, then I plan to push it to 25-30psi (preferably not more than 35 until I can install big head studs to resist the crazy pressures). From my research 2.5" offers plenty of flow to support a considerable power level, especially for an off-road vehicle that could better use rapid low-end response over laggy top-end maximum power like a 1/4-mile or sled-pulling truck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Amazing on the cost. Also your videos are spectacular. Just editing them is so time consuming.

I tried hard on the cost but my drivetrain after rebuilding the engine and transfer ended up at about $20k. Toyota OEM parts are expen$ive. The rest was about the same. I ended up fabricating the camper similar to yours but from metal with a built in fridge (from a yacht), stove, sink and an outdoor hot shower. It uses a heat exchange with a circulating pump/thermostat. If you plan to add hot water here is the link to the blog...

Building a home in a 80 series Landcruiser

About 25 years ago we bought a family car. A 1993 Toyota FZJ80 Landcruiser. It served us for 20 years for family camping, and car pooling around town. Now that the 4 kids have left the house, we have no use for it. Looking at the low resale value, we decided instead to invest and convert it...
www.overlandbound.com www.overlandbound.com
 
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Been reading this thread all day. I'm currently on page 9...

PROPS. You are one creative dude and super diligent...

All I can think when watching your videos that my brother held me back a lot when I used to race / help build cars - I grew up around cars but I was about 10 years younger than him. Anything that needed to be done in a car, it was him wrenching on it or my mechanics. All I did was race them. I was baby'd a lot, now that I'm in 30's, I wish I did more than just sat in the car. :( Especially welding. I'm gonna learn how to...
 
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AL.WVSN said:
Been reading this thread all day. I'm currently on page 9...

PROPS. You are one creative dude and super diligent...

All I can think when watching your videos that my brother held me back a lot when I used to race / help build cars - I grew up around cars but I was about 10 years younger than him. Anything that needed to be done in a car, it was him wrenching on it or my mechanics. All I did was race them. I was baby'd a lot, now that I'm in 30's, I wish I did more than just sat in the car. :( Especially welding. I'm gonna learn how to...
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Never too late. Just dig in and do it. I didnt learn to weld until I was 40 years old. Watch the Utube videos on welding and that will help a lot if you dont know a welder that can teach you. Flux and Mig welding is a lot easier to learn but you should learn all types of welding including how to weld aluminum.
 
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Ob1 said:
Thanks for the info. Amazing on the cost. Also your videos are spectacular. Just editing them is so time consuming.

I tried hard on the cost but my drivetrain after rebuilding the engine and transfer ended up at about $20k. Toyota OEM parts are expen$ive. The rest was about the same. I ended up fabricating the camper similar to yours but from metal with a built in fridge (from a yacht), stove, sink and an outdoor hot shower. It uses a heat exchange with a circulating pump/thermostat. If you plan to add hot water here is the link to the blog...

Building a home in a 80 series Landcruiser

About 25 years ago we bought a family car. A 1993 Toyota FZJ80 Landcruiser. It served us for 20 years for family camping, and car pooling around town. Now that the 4 kids have left the house, we have no use for it. Looking at the low resale value, we decided instead to invest and convert it...
www.overlandbound.com www.overlandbound.com
Click to expand...

Happy to help! And oh man the editing can be brutal, that last one cost me the better part of 4 hours & it was an easy one.

I can just imagine on the rebuild costs, thankful that I didn't have to crack into either of mine. That setup sounds great! I'm looking forward to rebuilding mine in aluminum. I'll have a look, anything I can do to learn more :)
 
El-Dracho said:
... just found this built thread! Great work with a lot of fantastic details! Very well done, you know how to do the job right! Thanks for sharing!
Safe travels,
Bjoern
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Thanks! I try to throw in as much detail as I can in case anyone else is diving into their own Disco mods. The more that stay on the road the better I think!
 
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