Freelander 1 6th speed.
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Jayridium
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It'd be particular interesting to drive through town as the back end of the 320d gearbox would stick out of the left hand wheel arch by about 35cm past the left hand side of the vehicle's panels... Oh that, and the front left wheel, strut, suspension would be missing; and no wheels, either front or rear would be connected to the powertrain.
Freelanders have the M47R engine which is a derivative of the BMW M47 used in such applications as the E46, but preceeding the M47variant used in the E90 etc. However, one of the major differences between the Rover and BMW variants of this engines is the way it's been modified to go in a transverse FWD application, as in a freelander's crankshaft runs parallel to the front driveshafts, whereas a 320D is a front engine rear wheel drive whose engine is mounted longitudinally, as in the crankshaft runs parallel to the door sills.
IIRC the freelander manual gearbox is of VW origin, so MAYBE you could bastardize a VW 6speed box into service, but god luck finding one with the BMW bellhousing pattern and LR IRD output flanges.
Jayridium
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I used to encounter a lot of people who would tell me "to make some real power" I should "drop a supra engine in" to my (400+bhp) MR2 turbo. The supra is front, longitudinally mounted, engined, rear wheel drive inline six cylinder, the MR2 is a transverse mounted 4 cylinder, the gap between the brake disks on a MR2 is about the length of a Supra engine. your idea of putting a BMW box into a freelander is similarly incompatible with reality.
However, as you say, "there is a way of doing it", and you are fortunate enough to be talking to someone who can engineer the frack out of stuff, but this gearbox conversion is not an easy weekend project. If you simply must make the hippo use an 320d gearbox, you'd need to do some SIGNIFICANT changes to the vehicle, like rotate the engine to make it longitudinally mounted like a Discovery / Range Rover / Defender, then you could use a custom prop to make the vehicle rear wheel drive. If you wanted to keep the hippo 4wd, you'd have to use something like a BMW X-Drive gearbox which has a central tailshaft output that could drive the rear diff, then put a separate rear diff in the front axle with custom driveshafts.
OR, if you wanted a six peed gearbox, but weren't too fussed where it came from, you could look at other transverse mounted 4wd vehicles as donors for complete running gear transplants, such as a Mitsubishi EVO, or an Audi TT or A3 Quattro, Toyota Celica GT4, Caldina, Nissan Sunny GTiR (Pulsar). Someone did a Subaru engine conversion into a freelander, video is somewhere on here, but I am uncertain was it AWD or FWD.
How good are you with a computer and how serious are you? If you are half competent with a computer, like can make a powerpoint presentation, and are serious about doing this, you could start to mock up block diagrams using these pictures as your templates.
However, as you say, "there is a way of doing it", and you are fortunate enough to be talking to someone who can engineer the frack out of stuff, but this gearbox conversion is not an easy weekend project. If you simply must make the hippo use an 320d gearbox, you'd need to do some SIGNIFICANT changes to the vehicle, like rotate the engine to make it longitudinally mounted like a Discovery / Range Rover / Defender, then you could use a custom prop to make the vehicle rear wheel drive. If you wanted to keep the hippo 4wd, you'd have to use something like a BMW X-Drive gearbox which has a central tailshaft output that could drive the rear diff, then put a separate rear diff in the front axle with custom driveshafts.
OR, if you wanted a six peed gearbox, but weren't too fussed where it came from, you could look at other transverse mounted 4wd vehicles as donors for complete running gear transplants, such as a Mitsubishi EVO, or an Audi TT or A3 Quattro, Toyota Celica GT4, Caldina, Nissan Sunny GTiR (Pulsar). Someone did a Subaru engine conversion into a freelander, video is somewhere on here, but I am uncertain was it AWD or FWD.
How good are you with a computer and how serious are you? If you are half competent with a computer, like can make a powerpoint presentation, and are serious about doing this, you could start to mock up block diagrams using these pictures as your templates.
GrumpyGel
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Why frig around with engine mounts?I used to encounter a lot of people who would tell me "to make some real power" I should "drop a supra engine in" to my (400+bhp) MR2 turbo. The supra is front, longitudinally mounted, engined, rear wheel drive inline six cylinder, the MR2 is a transverse mounted 4 cylinder, the gap between the brake disks on a MR2 is about the length of a Supra engine. your idea of putting a BMW box into a freelander is similarly incompatible with reality.
However, as you say, "there is a way of doing it", and you are fortunate enough to be talking to someone who can engineer the frack out of stuff, but this gearbox conversion is not an easy weekend project. If you simply must make the hippo use an 320d gearbox, you'd need to do some SIGNIFICANT changes to the vehicle, like rotate the engine to make it longitudinally mounted like a Discovery / Range Rover / Defender, then you could use a custom prop to make the vehicle rear wheel drive. If you wanted to keep the hippo 4wd, you'd have to use something like a BMW X-Drive gearbox which has a central tailshaft output that could drive the rear diff, then put a separate rear diff in the front axle with custom driveshafts.
OR, if you wanted a six peed gearbox, but weren't too fussed where it came from, you could look at other transverse mounted 4wd vehicles as donors for complete running gear transplants, such as a Mitsubishi EVO, or an Audi TT or A3 Quattro, Toyota Celica GT4, Caldina, Nissan Sunny GTiR (Pulsar). Someone did a Subaru engine conversion into a freelander, video is somewhere on here, but I am uncertain was it AWD or FWD.
How good are you with a computer and how serious are you? If you are half competent with a computer, like can make a powerpoint presentation, and are serious about doing this, you could start to mock up block diagrams using these pictures as your templates.
I'm sure Thule have something off the shelf.
The only way would be to remove the whole engine, gearbox and IRD, then replace it with the complete 320 engine and gearbox, and have a drive shaft made up so it drives the rear diff.
However you'd not gain very much in the way of additional refinement, and you'd loose the 4WD system, which kinda doesn't make sense.
If you want BMW 320 refinement, just buy a 320 and be done with it.
GrumpyGel
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I think the only conversions worth considering are EV - the Tesla one sounds prettyThe only way would be to remove the whole engine, gearbox and IRD, then replace it with the complete 320 engine and gearbox, and have a drive shaft made up so it drives the rear diff.
However you'd not gain very much in the way of additional refinement, and you'd loose the 4WD system, which kinda doesn't make sense.
If you want BMW 320 refinement, just buy a 320 and be done with it.
Engine orientation is quite important, when considering such changes.
Unfortunately not.
While such a modification is possible, it's far from practical from an engineering point of view.
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