1986 landrover 110 with 2.8 isuzu td engine

Just been to see a very tidy 110 county today which was originally a V8 and owned by a local estate,the V8 only had 35,000 miles on it but the company selling it has took it out and fitted a 2.8td isuzu engine(landrover test engine im told) in its place with 55,000 miles on the clock.Im just wondering what you think of this engine,,good points and bad.It has a four speed gear box which im guessing is original from when the v8 was fitted....thanks in advance

This is a fairly common engine transplant - was going to do the same myself but the donor Izuzu went to the scrap before I got a chance to get the engine out.

Its a good engine I understand and I would not let the engine put me off if the LR is in good nick.

Good bullet proof engines. Change oil regularly and you should have no big problems. My mate owns 3 Troopers and swears by them. Spares are easy to come by as well. Bit juicy if the turbo version but what isn't?

I actually made a mistake in the topic heading,,its a 1985 model.Overall I was quite impressed with the vehicle,The engine started in half of turn with no heat to the glow plugs and there was no smoke on start up(unlike my current 90 with the 19j engine).Im just looking about for insurance as its still registered as a v8.Ive tried my current insurance company " lancaster" and they said they would have to class it as a modification and discuss it with there over writers and get back to me today?? any one no of any other insurance company's to try? thanks for your comments so far,,much appreciated

try sureterm direct for your insurance.

Been ringing round insurance company's all morning even tried suretem direct but none seem intrested to insure this vehicle as its been replaced with an engine from a different manufacturer.They quote a couple of hundred quid fully comp for the vehicle with the original V8 fitted,but they dont want anything to do with the vehicle now its been modified?? Looks like Im gonna have to look for another vehicle im afraid.

bowers1986 said:

Been ringing round insurance company's all morning even tried suretem direct but none seem intrested to insure this vehicle as its been replaced with an engine from a different manufacturer.They quote a couple of hundred quid fully comp for the vehicle with the original V8 fitted,but they dont want anything to do with the vehicle now its been modified?? Looks like Im gonna have to look for another vehicle im afraid.

Click to expand...

didnt lancaster come back with a price ? - i'm with them and have all sorts of odd engined vehicles insured with them

try footman james

bowers1986 said:

I actually made a mistake in the topic heading,,its a 1985 model.Overall I was quite impressed with the vehicle,The engine started in half of turn with no heat to the glow plugs and there was no smoke on start up(unlike my current 90 with the 19j engine).Im just looking about for insurance as its still registered as a v8.Ive tried my current insurance company " lancaster" and they said they would have to class it as a modification and discuss it with there over writers and get back to me today?? any one no of any other insurance company's to try? thanks for your comments so far,,much appreciated

Click to expand...

If you change it on the V5 to 2.8TD and then go to insure it, just tell them its a 2.8TD. Don't tell them its been cahnged because stupid insurance companys will just blow things out of proportion. If your questioned on it just say as far as you know it was a Police/Special spec LR and it came like that.

If it comes to the bit where you need to claim, it will have a 2.8TD in it, and you did tell them this.

Sureterm will take you on no bother, you could put a RR V12 engine in it and they would still insure you - but there not very good at fighting a claim for you (as I have found) - you sort of need to do it yourself.

Sean said:

didnt lancaster come back with a price ? - i'm with them and have all sorts of odd engined vehicles insured with them

Click to expand...

They were the only ones willing to quote.But unfortunately came back to me with a price for £1093 fully comp, but they told me If I took the cover out I wouldn't be covered to drive other vehicles with this insurance like you normally would be with any other fully comp plan.Im currently with them at the moment on my 90 and was hoping/expecting a low insurance quote from them "how shocked I was"

The guy on the phone then explained that it wouldn't have been so costly for me if the land rover v8 engine had been replaced with another land rover engine instead of an engine from a different manufacturer such as Isuzu.

discomania said:

If you change it on the V5 to 2.8TD and then go to insure it, just tell them its a 2.8TD. Don't tell them its been cahnged because stupid insurance companys will just blow things out of proportion. If your questioned on it just say as far as you know it was a Police/Special spec LR and it came like that.

If it comes to the bit where you need to claim, it will have a 2.8TD in it, and you did tell them this.

Sureterm will take you on no bother, you could put a RR V12 engine in it and they would still insure you - but there not very good at fighting a claim for you (as I have found) - you sort of need to do it yourself.

Click to expand...

See this is the problem,,The company that has professionally done this conversion is a land rover specialists so its all been done to a high standard but they havnt altered the V5 with the DVLA.So the vehicles still registered as a V8 so therefor when the insurance company's put the registration number into there computer it comes up as a 1985 v8 county,so then they have to add the 2.8td isuzu engine as a modification.

This company isnt on my door step either so If I bought it Id need insurance to drive it home but Im guessing the change to the v5 will no doubt take some time to be processed,also am i right in thinking it will need an engineers report of some kind to back the engine swap up??

I contacted sureterm within 10 minutes of it been posted up here,Gave them all my details.The girl on the phone said they wouldn't be able to quote me unless the vehicle was to be parked on my drive or garaged over night instead of been parked outside my house on the street. Which is no good as I don't have room on my drive or the garage ,Lol.

when thinking of purchasing this vehicle I didn't realize it would be this difficult to insure and be so costly as ive read various posts on the internet about landrovers with the same and other similar conversions.

Thanks for all your input guys,,much appreciated

Update: Just been speaking to the DVLA about how I would go about changing the V5 Certificate on the vehicle,Ive been told all I would need to do is send the log book to them accompanied by a letter explaining the engine swap and they would sort that out for me(no engineers report would be required).So I asked if the V5 was changed would my vehicle automatically appear on the insurers computer as a 2.8td when trying to get insurance,she said it would still appear as the V8 it was first registered as and I would still have to declare the engine as a Modification.So this leaves me back at square one! Gonna try one more insurance company this afternoon " NFU Mutual"

bowers1986 said:

They were the only ones willing to quote.But unfortunately came back to me with a price for £1093 fully comp, but they told me If I took the cover out I wouldn't be covered to drive other vehicles with this insurance like you normally would be with any other fully comp plan.Im currently with them at the moment on my 90 and was hoping/expecting a low insurance quote from them "how shocked I was"

The guy on the phone then explained that it wouldn't have been so costly for me if the land rover v8 engine had been replaced with another land rover engine instead of an engine from a different manufacturer such as Isuzu.

Click to expand...

That's a pity because my 2.8 TD Isuzu does 40 mpg at 55 mph on the motorway towing a small two axel trailer
It's in an Isuzu which is lower and more streamlined but heavier than a Landy at 2000kg with my gear in.
So in a Landy the 2.8 would be great and very durable/powerful and if driven at say 50 mph would return brilliant fuel consumption.

try firebond its on the back of one lr mags iv had a2.8 isuzu im a range rover very imprest & just put one in my mates 90 goes well got one sat on the floor ready to put in my 90 when she blows the 300tdi