Best non-oe engine conversion?

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T

thommilburn

New Member
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12
Location
Willington, County Durham
I'm looking to buy a defender and convert it into a real toy. I fancied a V8 but the fuel economy is off-putting, so i'm looking into diesel conversions.

Now, i wouldnt mind having round about 200-230bhp with 300 being absolutly brilliant.

I'm wondering which engines are regularly put into defenders that are reasonably simple to implant?

I don't mind installing a donor gearbox but obviously i REALLY want to maintain off road ability, so ideally the landy 5 speed box would be used to keep costs down.

Anyone any input? I see the ICON brand offer various engines and although a good starting point, they dont seem to offer much info beyond this.
 
Reliably?

My big thing is i would like to be able to do EVERYTHING on it myself, which would include any tuning - so ideally i wouldn't mind avoiding an ECU. This would come at detriment however as fuel economy etc is inevitably better when controlled by a computer.

Additionally, i think a standard 90 TD5 is beyond my budget - wondering if it may be worth building one from the ground up?
 
i must pooh pooh a td5 at 300 hp..from a 2.5l diesel...=BANG

i can recomend the lexus v8.4l or 4.3..or even better the toyota landcruiser v8. 4.7l

i run boosted lexus lump on gas in my rrc..thats fun..but to fit was not easy, i would recomend keeping the lexus autobox and making it fit the lt230, cos otherwise its greif!!

now on gas cost per mile will be less than a diesel...
 
Last edited:
zen said:
i must pooh pooh a td5 at 300 hp..from a 2.5l diesel...=BANG

i can recomend the lexus v8.4l or 4.3..or even better the toyota landcruiser v8. 4.7l

i run boosted lexus lump on gas in my rrc..thats fun..but to fit was not easy, i would recomend keeping the lexus autobox and making it fit the lt230, cos otherwise its greif!!

now on gas cost per mile will be less than a diesel...
Click to expand...

I would have thought the TD5 lump is german is it not? Same as the 325 has?
 
jamesmartin said:
no its not ,5 cylinders just happens to be a lot smoother than 4
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I know 5 cylinders is better than 4! I was wandering if it was BMW that put it land rovers! 200 BHP would be **** easy from a 2.5tdi. 300 I haven't looked into that exact engine but if it ****s itself at 300BHP you may want to look towards a german engine as they are as tough as hell!
 
as wrong as it is I'd like to fit the 4.2 audi unit
a8_engine_animation.jpg
 
There is a guy on this forum (Glen - can't remember his forum name) with a BMW 330 engine in his Defender 90.
Saw it at a show earlier this year. Very tidy conversion and sounded the absolute bollox. :cool:
 
SnowmanV8 said:
Lol oh. I would have to go German seen those 325ds running 350bhp with very little work.
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325tds as in an M51 2.5 engine? I very much doubt you'd get 350bhp out of one of them. Chip and decat will get 180 easily but your kinda at the limits of reliability at 200bhp

A 330/530d engine can get upto 300 alright though. That's what Glenn321 has and its a nice swap as like the 325tds engine, you can use the gearbox out of a Rangerover 2.5td and it'll all bolt up nicely.

If I didn't get a TD5 110 and had time to build a Defender from the ground up, I would have went with the 3.0d engine. I'm using one in my E30 Touring alright though with a 6 speed box so will be nice :)

If I was building a 90 for fun, I'd love to use an E39 M5 V8 :)


I you like old skool diesel tuning, a Cummins V8 or inline 6 might be worth looking into. There's one over here in a Defender with 500Nm and sounds lovely
 
DaveM-sport said:
325tds as in an M51 2.5 engine? I very much doubt you'd get 350bhp out of one of them. Chip and decat will get 180 easily but your kinda at the limits of reliability at 200bhp

A 330/530d engine can get upto 300 alright though. That's what Glenn321 has and its a nice swap as like the 325tds engine, you can use the gearbox out of a Rangerover 2.5td and it'll all bolt up nicely.

If I didn't get a TD5 110 and had time to build a Defender from the ground up, I would have went with the 3.0d engine. I'm using one in my E30 Touring alright though with a 6 speed box so will be nice :)

If I was building a 90 for fun, I'd love to use an E39 M5 V8 :)


I you like old skool diesel tuning, a Cummins V8 or inline 6 might be worth looking into. There's one over here in a Defender with 500Nm and sounds lovely
Click to expand...

No the M57 325D same lump as the 330 but a few differences and a whole lot cheaper to buy. Can remap to around 270 easy enough.
I want to make a disco with the E62 V10 :d use a pair for garret's and you could have a serious 1000WHP disco. Just be interesting to find a drivetrain to handle the power! You would be refering to the M47 that would **** it's guts out at 300 then swallow them again just so it could **** them back out!
 
i'm looking towards a cummins 6bt, if the economy wasnt an issue i'd be looking towards a ford cosworth v6 boa or bob. i had a boa in a sierra bags of power but when you had the power on it drank like a fish.
 
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