Replacement chassis

Hi everyone, new to this. Please can I ask for some advice? I have a 1989 90 which previous owner successfully fitted a discovery 200tdi engine. I changed tub a few years ago for a Td5 with rear fuel tank. I am seriously considering a galvanised chassis, most likely a Td5 or newer. My question, will I only have to weld in my engine mounts and bolt in gearbox mountings along with the gearbox cross member or are there conversion kits available to avoid welding? Thank you in advance

In theory you should replace with the correct chassis for that year.

Anaconda said:

In theory you should replace with the correct chassis for that year.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I do worry swapping for wrong year could put it on a q plate

I would be more worried about having an IVA.
Any reason for not getting the correct chassis?
Personally I wouldn't inform anyone it's had a replacement chassis, just keep a receipt for proof if you ever need it.

lloydallen90 said:

Hi everyone, new to this. Please can I ask for some advice? I have a 1989 90 which previous owner successfully fitted a discovery 200tdi engine. I changed tub a few years ago for a Td5 with rear fuel tank. I am seriously considering a galvanised chassis, most likely a Td5 or newer. My question, will I only have to weld in my engine mounts and bolt in gearbox mountings along with the gearbox cross member or are there conversion kits available to avoid welding? Thank you in advance

Click to expand...

you would want the correct year chassis (your engine and box will then drop straight in), but lots of the chassis manufactures offer the td5 rear tank mounts on their new chassis as an option. matching the engine/box and model year is the most important.

Yours would have been a 19j when new, common to find later 200tdi fitted as it is pretty much is a straight swap, more so if 200 came from a Defender. Disco a bit more effort.
As above you need the right chassis for 1989, this will avoid welding not just of engine mounts but fittings for exhaust which are quite different for Td5.

Engine mounts might have been moved, my son's had the Disco box fitted along with the engine. Result being the engine is further forward, the short gear lever works well and seems to be a tidy job.

My mechanic is fitting a Maer chassis onto one of his clients defenders, made in Poland it looks fantastic, so for that reason I would recommend them

Thank you all for your replies. That’s what I love about owning a Landrover, there is a great deal of knowledge about and everyone I speak to is happy to share what they know. I have checked out the engine and gearbox mounts on my chassis and they appear to be totally original. I didn’t mention (sorry) reason for querying a Td5 chassis is I have the rear tank also a Td5 tow hitch and anti roll bar along with a Td5 exhaust system from a manifold I had made to match the discovery turbo. Pre children I had more time on my hands than I do now, hence the easier swap for a chassis ready for my rear end mods. I thought about a half chassis but not confident I can align it correctly without removing the tub, if the tub has to come off I would rather stick on a new chassis so the landrover outlives me.

You will probably find other jobs to do when its that far down, I couldn't fit just a chassis so have ended up putting new bushings throughout, new hardware for all the suspension components, new front damper towers, new coils, dampers etc.
I would also add that I'd personally give shielder chassis a miss and go for the maer or other alternative. I'm a ex-customer of sheilder after buying a 1989 90 galv chassis from them and never again.

MrF said:

You will probably find other jobs to do when its that far down, I couldn't fit just a chassis so have ended up putting new bushings throughout, new hardware for all the suspension components, new front damper towers, new coils, dampers etc.
I would also add that I'd personally give shielder chassis a miss and go for the maer or other alternative. I'm a ex-customer of sheilder after buying a 1989 90 galv chassis from them and never again.

Click to expand...

It's not flipping rocket science to measure up and copy to +/- 1mm, but I'm fairly sure that even Richards aren't immune from the odd mistake. My Lightweight was off by about 5mm somewhere so that I had to do a bit of fettling to get the engine and gearbox to drop onto its mounts.

Hmmm, they took nearly two months to ship a chassis that was supposed to be in stock when I paid for it in full with a bank transfer, the galv looked like it was applied with a yard brush, and they sent the wrong one (300tdi mounts for a 200tdi/19J 90) and I was so nervous at that point that they had cash flow problems I didnt want to let what I'd got out of my sight so cut the engine mounts off and welded the right ones on myself.
They sent replacement engine mounts in bare steel and the correct crossmember for a 200tdi/lt77 because it was their cockup and saving them hundreds in shipping each way, and they promised to send cold galv to treat the welded area because I had to remove all the galv in the weld area to avoid galv flu (but of course you cant clean inside the rails so I had to weld in a airfed hemlet anyway, nasty job...), and didn't.
I just picked up a 110 project and the chassis needs a bit of love, but no way am I going down the replacement route again after that experience.
Everyone has a off day and misses a bracket position from time to time, its the steps leading up to and after that which matter.