Defender 110 3.5 V8 to M62B44TU BMW engine Conversion

Hello guys,
I am new here and happy to find such useful forum here. I have been driving Range Rovers for few years (usually latest ones) I currently own a 2012 RRS 3.0 SDV6 (used to have 3.6 TDV8 Vogue before) and loving each of them even with the stupid small fails
But I finally met with my real Land Rover 1 month ago I got a 1994 Defender 110 3.5 V8 in very mint condition with tons of offroading equipments.
I do have some other cars, such as Nissan GTR, Mini Cooper S Works etc.. as I am quite a pistonhead
First of all I am totally in love with my Defender but have some issues, the engine. It sounds amazing but as you all know it is so underpower and eating petrol like a cookie monster. I have found an engine from a E39 540i M62B44TU Vanos engine in very good condition and planing to make an engine swap project. My first issue is the gearbox, coz I cannot use the gearbox from 540i as it is only RWD and automatic. What sort of gearbox should I go for, or my current LT85 5 speed manual can handle the power with some modifications?? Because I am not after some motoway speed with my Defender, it will be used at offroading most of the time at the weekends.
My second issue is the shaft etc. componets coz it will have to handle twice as power and need to be powerful twice as before.
I have made some searches and see some Chevy LS engine conversion but didnt see much details about other part modifications.
Here some pics of my car and me (with broken arm )

The lt85 should handle it , the hard bit will be getting a bell housing to bolt on the BMW and to the front of the lt85
I did it with a M57 and used the front of the m57 housing and the rear part of the lt85 bellhousing ali welding the two together . getting the centres lined up is the hardest part . The length is easy enough just use the lt85 input shaft , and use a oilite bush in rear of M62 crank in place of BMW bearing. HTSH
ps the V8 Rover is almost same length as the M57 dont know what length of M62 is

why not go for a 4.6 rover V8?

Should drop right in.

Well I was hoping to keep the car looks and feel original but make it more powerful and new tech, that's why I wanted stick with the manual gearbox, but now I also consider to put L322 zf 5 speed auto from 4.4 engine which is the same BMW engine and it would fit without any problem I guess. But as I said I'd like keep the defender as much as simple coz it is the point of this car and still not sure to go for auto...

TVR V8s drop in with little modification I believe. Could get 300 - 400bhp

bankz5152 said:

TVR V8s drop in with little modification I believe. Could get 300 - 400bhp

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Oh man yes but I live in Turkey not in Blackpool so there is no such TVR engine in our backyard ))

True but check around ebay and the such.

Also what about a 1JZ or 2 JZ?

Again the same story with the TVR we don't really have such engines coz Supra never officially imported to Turkey there are only some gray market, even my GTR is not from official Nissan dealership it is gray market I lived in England for 5 years and I don't trust Rover engines this is why I wanted to go for BMW engine, otherwise I have a friend with a 4.6 coversion defender. It is a lot powerful than my car but still not so trustful and terrible fuel consumption guys...
I think lt85 is quite strong gearbox but ratios are so close for such powerful engine and it makes weird whining noises..

Hmmm quite a pickle lol. Could go super fancy and fit a Corvette LS2/3 haha

bankz5152 said:

Hmmm quite a pickle lol. Could go super fancy and fit a Corvette LS2/3 haha

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haha well it has been done many times, I'll for something unique and for offroading too, LS engines are good for showing off but I don't think those cars are made for true offroading, imagine I'll have around 300 bhp and still be using my LT85 gearbox )
Btw I found a brand new dashboard, so any problem with retro fitting to my car , coz my biggest problem is the air con, and I am getting the air con from BMW 540i too

Dash as in bulkhead? This should be an interesting project! Make sure you post up a build log in the Members Builds section!!

bankz5152 said:

Dash as in bulkhead? This should be an interesting project! Make sure you post up a build log in the Members Builds section!!

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http://www.sahibinden.com/201818014 check this out, this is the biggest online shopping website in Turkey, yes it is an empty dashboard..

Hmm thats interesting, kinda cool actually. Looks like its build for pre-puma Defenders but with the looks of a Puma. It also looks like its going to take up quite a bit of room and possibly make gear changes a bit of a pain in the ass as well as changing fuses. Also £2,350!? That is a tad excessive!!

What you going to do about the bulkhead vents?

bankz5152 said:

Hmm thats interesting, kinda cool actually. Looks like its build for pre-puma Defenders but with the looks of a Puma. It also looks like its going to take up quite a bit of room and possibly make gear changes a bit of a pain in the ass as well as changing fuses. Also £2,350!? That is a tad excessive!!

What you going to do about the bulkhead vents?

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2350 Turkish Lira makes around 540 pounds which is not too bad but yes I'll have buy all other stuff such as new speedo, vents, button, air con controllers, I already have heavy duty buttons for dif lock and lights etc I can fit them on. Actually my projects is not just about the engine, it is kinda overall project, interior, exterior, engine etc... already sounds like too much to spend lol

Ahhhh Google messed that up lol. Well it looks like that is just a modified dash from a TD5 so you existing gauges will still fit. Though the rest will have to be rewired. What I meant was theres vents in the bulkhead that open and close, that dash will block them off.

One thing to consider is it may be quite tough to actually get the air con pipe work in there, there really isnt a lot of space in a pre-Puma Defender dash, it work out to be more work than its actually worth.

This looks similar, far easier to install and it should be easier to get the pipe work in for the air con and 100% customisable.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDX-Comma...548?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d6ffc324

bankz5152 said:

TVR V8s drop in with little modification I believe. Could get 300 - 400bhp

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400bhp from a Rover V8... Well not without serious, serious money and even you'd probably need boost and/or nitrous.

Yeah i said "little modification"

bankz5152 said:

Ahhhh Google messed that up lol. Well it looks like that is just a modified dash from a TD5 so you existing gauges will still fit. Though the rest will have to be rewired. What I meant was theres vents in the bulkhead that open and close, that dash will block them off.

One thing to consider is it may be quite tough to actually get the air con pipe work in there, there really isnt a lot of space in a pre-Puma Defender dash, it work out to be more work than its actually worth.

This looks similar, far easier to install and it should be easier to get the pipe work in for the air con and 100% customisable.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RDX-Comma...548?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35d6ffc324

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It looks so simple and do the job but full interior mod is the way to go, I think we'll find some way to fit the hoses for the aircon, but first of all I am not sure that there is enough space for the air con in the engine bay after fitting 4.4 liter BMW engine ) because it gets over 40C (+100F) in summer, so I def need an air con.. so even if we cannot make it happen, I am planning to install a roof top air con like webasto style. there are new ones, so thin and compact...

300bhp/ton said:

400bhp from a Rover V8... Well not without serious, serious money and even you'd probably need boost and/or nitrous.

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Even without a modification I do not trust old rover engines at all, this is why I wanna go for BMW engine )

What was the BM V8 fitted to the South African Defenders?