changing the gearbox

Gabby1971 · Aug 7, 2023

We have a defender 110 1994 ex MOD and love it, yes its slow but that's not an issue (yet) the mileage is super low. We are considering electric power steering. What is the best route to take? Maybe considering changing engine and gearbox to TDI...but not sure I want to mess with a great engine. partner just wants more power.. Any advice out there? Much appreciated.

Litch · Aug 7, 2023

Why electric PAS? Far easier just to update your existing set-up using widely (and cheaply) available parts.

Yes you can change the 2.5NA D (assuming it has that) for a TDi, I did exactly the same myself on my 1986 ex-MOD 90 and went with the 300TDi & R380 (although later changed to auto).

Gabby1971 · Aug 7, 2023

Litch said:
Why electric PAS? Far easier just to update your existing set-up using widely (and cheaply) available parts.

Yes you can change the 2.5NA D (assuming it has that) for a TDi, I did exactly the same myself on my 1986 ex-MOD 90 and went with the 300TDi & R380 (although later changed to auto).

Thanks for replying Litch. Where would be the best place to source the parts in your experience?

dag019 · Aug 8, 2023

I would second the above regarding not going electric and using a standard land rover setup. A 200tdi swap would be very straight forward and lots of information regarding the parts and procedure. a 300 would be a little more involved but still very achievable. However if all you want is power steering you do not need to change the engine to achive this and you can fit a power steering pump to your current engine and swap the steering boc over to a pas box.

here is a thread with some information on keeping you current engine and fitting PAS: LINK (excuse the blasphemy of a link to another forum)

Gabby1971 · Aug 9, 2023

dag019 said:
I would second the above regarding not going electric and using a standard land rover setup. A 200tdi swap would be very straight forward and lots of information regarding the parts and procedure. a 300 would be a little more involved but still very achievable. However if all you want is power steering you do not need to change the engine to achive this and you can fit a power steering pump to your current engine and swap the steering boc over to a pas box.

here is a thread with some information on keeping you current engine and fitting PAS: LINK (excuse the blasphemy of a link to another forum)

Gabby1971 · Aug 9, 2023

Thank you SO much for all of this information, really appreciate it. We are new to this so need all the help we can get ;D

300bhp/ton · Aug 9, 2023

Gabby1971 said:
Thanks for replying Litch. Where would be the best place to source the parts in your experience?

Depends what you are doing, how much you want to spend and if you plan to do the work yourself or not.

What engine have you got? You say it is a 1994 ex MoD, is it a 2.5NAD as that year you could have 300Tdi examples too iirc.

If it is a 2.5NAD then a Tdi swap is fairly easy in terms of engine swaps. But expect it to cost a min of £1000-1500 in parts assuming you are doing all the work. To fit PAS will cost more as you'll need a steering box too. Again if it is a 2.5NAD 110 you will have the 1.6:1 transfer box, which is fine. But may seem a bit buzzy with a Tdi and most would swap to a 1.4:1 ratio for better cruising.

I'd imagine the cheapest option would be to sell it and buy a regular 110. For some reason people pay crazy money for ex MoD models and as a rule they are the WORST spec Land Rovers to own for civilian use.

changing the gearbox

Gabby1971

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