Engine Swaps into a D90

aaronmorris said:

I'm more of a fan of diesels than petrol, so I personally have gone down the 6bt route.
Torque etc.. well sky's the limit, more than a standard lr could take.
Om606 would be another consideration for me. Both been done and their is advice out there.

Click to expand...

Do you know of any Toyota engines that may go into the landy? We have a old 1997 land cruiser, it's bulletproof and the engine does run well, 1kz t I believe is the motor, wouldn't necessarily want to strip that motor out but if you could tell me the engines that are swappable without major hassle, for any at all!, Furthermore do you know what I need for the Mercedes engine swap?

Bradley Cruse said:

Do you know of any Toyota engines that may go into the landy? We have a old 1997 land cruiser, it's bulletproof and the engine does run well, 1kz t I believe is the motor, wouldn't necessarily want to strip that motor out but if you could tell me the engines that are swappable without major hassle, for any at all!, Furthermore do you know what I need for the Mercedes engine swap?

Click to expand...

And for the 6bt have you not had to put stronger axles in etc? I've heard that the weight of the engine bends the front axle and really unbalances the car.

Bradley Cruse said:

And for the 6bt have you not had to put stronger axles in etc? I've heard that the weight of the engine bends the front axle and really unbalances the car.

Click to expand...

Lots of people have now done the conversion, and I don't recall anyone bending an axle.
Suppose it depends how you drive, theirs no need, but don't expect to drive like a 'boy racer' a break nothing. If you're putting something in with twice the torque it's to be expected really, whatever engine you choose.

Bradley Cruse said:

Do you know of any Toyota engines that may go into the landy? We have a old 1997 land cruiser, it's bulletproof and the engine does run well, 1kz t I believe is the motor, wouldn't necessarily want to strip that motor out but if you could tell me the engines that are swappable without major hassle, for any at all!, Furthermore do you know what I need for the Mercedes engine swap?

Click to expand...

Not done the merc conversion myself, but seen people do it. Generally the hardest part for most is the gearbox/transfer box adapters when doing an engine swap.
But theirs a guy on fb 'gazfab' (I think) who does an adapter to be able to bolt up the lr gearbox to the merc engine.
Have a look at his pictures to get an idea of the work.

When I was a nipper my dad converted an aluminium bulkhead series 1 by stripping the landy engine and box out and fitted one out of another car and made it into a rear wheel drive car for my mum.
It was originally his trials motor but they needed a second car.
Due to dementia I can't ask him anymore but I always remember him telling me that they were so simple you could do anything to them.

Depending on the engine you have, sounds like a td? but anyway if you swap out, probably easiest way would be g/box, engine and t/box from a disco, the transfer ratios have about a 20% speed difference, but couple that to a TD your engine won't cope.
200 or 300TDI works just fine though.

Bradley Cruse said:

What would that help with, stress? Do 90's have weak transfer box's?

Click to expand...

Not really, but a 90 trans was designed to handle about 90 horse, standard for a Ninety. As the engines got more powerful some transmission components got uprated to cope. For example, later defenders have larger prop ujs, and stronger tranny boxes.

Bradley Cruse said:

Do you know of any Toyota engines that may go into the landy? We have a old 1997 land cruiser, it's bulletproof and the engine does run well, 1kz t I believe is the motor, wouldn't necessarily want to strip that motor out but if you could tell me the engines that are swappable without major hassle, for any at all!, Furthermore do you know what I need for the Mercedes engine swap?

Click to expand...

You can put pretty much any engine in a landy, provided it will fit in, and you can get, or make, a conversion plate for bell housing.
It is usually much less hassle to go for engines that were fitted in landies anyway, such as Rover V8.

ProcrastinatorFraser said:

Depending on the engine you have, sounds like a td? but anyway if you swap out, probably easiest way would be g/box, engine and t/box from a disco, the transfer ratios have about a 20% speed difference, but couple that to a TD your engine won't cope.
200 or 300TDI works just fine though.

Click to expand...

He already has a 300Tdi.

Turboman said:

Not really, but a 90 trans was designed to handle about 90 horse, standard for a Ninety. As the engines got more powerful some transmission components got uprated to cope. For example, later defenders have larger prop ujs, and stronger tranny boxes.


You can put pretty much any engine in a landy, provided it will fit in, and you can get, or make, a conversion plate for bell housing.
It is usually much less hassle to go for engines that were fitted in landies anyway, such as Rover V8.


He already has a 300Tdi.

Click to expand...

Well, that makes things easier i suppose

first id look at tuning the engine you have ,they are good engines but my last disco 300 was sluggish where as my current disco pulls like a train

Start with a good service including setting the valve clearences and the pumps are easy to turn up

aaronmorris said:

I'm more of a fan of diesels than petrol, so I personally have gone down the 6bt route.
Torque etc.. well sky's the limit, more than a standard lr could take.
Om606 would be another consideration for me. Both been done and their is advice out there.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you have a build thread at all? What gearbox/transfer box do you have it mated too? There was a green One Ten a few months back in on if the Landy mags with on of these in if I recall correctly.

If you go the BMW route , then you will need a p38 manual bellhousing , and input shaft . This will fit to a r 380 which in turn will bolt to a LT230 . I fitted a M57 ex 530d engine , uses TD5 rad and i/cooler . From my pov it wasn't that difficult , bur as previous posters say depends on you skill sets.

300bhp/ton said:

Interesting. Do you have a build thread at all? What gearbox/transfer box do you have it mated too? There was a green One Ten a few months back in on if the Landy mags with on of these in if I recall correctly.

Click to expand...

I do, but all the pictures disappeared when the forum was updated a few months back.
Gearbox is zf s5 42 as comes in Daf 45 wagons along with the engine, mated to the lr lt230 transfer box.
I will post some pictures this evening if you want to see them.
Oh and the green 110 is Ash witty's, met him a couple of times, he's currently doing a full rebuild of his engine, with a few upgrades thrown in from what I gather.

An m3 engine in a 90..... Is it just me that finds this thought hillarious. No power no power no power - aalllllll the power and wheel spins , shattered half shaft.

Onto the back of an AA truck.

Any petrol engine you fit is going to use a fair bit of fuel - the ford 2.9 cosworth you mention was a very thirsty lump...
These are not aerodynamic vehicles, and diesels are often chosen because of their economy.
LPG is worth considering if you want power and economy - I run a 4.6 RRC auto, and get 16-18 mpg, which equates to a 32-36mpg petrol running cost.
Drivability is very important too - a broad spread of torque is far more useful than an ultimately high BHP - do you want to be hunting through the gearbox to keep the engine spinning all the time? Another reason for the favouring of the turbo diesels.

With the Defenders, anything is possible, from the sublime tuned 200 BHP TD5's to the ridiculous JE Engineering supercharged monsters - take your pick.

Power costs money - how fast do you want to go?
Any of the existing pre-fitted Landrover engine solutions will be relatively easy...
The 300tdi can be tuned for more power - have a chat with the tuners.
TD5? 200bhp is available, but you might prefer to just go and buy a TD5 vehicle...
A decently tuned 4.6 V8 will go nicely, make ALL the right noises and can be fitted at reasonable cost ( but will cost a lot to run if you don't convert it to LPG).
The T-series (disco mpi) engines are good, if revvy, but a turbo from a 620 or 820 can be fitted.


If you look at changing to a "non-90" engine, there will be complications to consider, especially with electronic fuel injection etc,.
A BMW 2.8 straight six engine can be fitted - I always wonder what this would be like to drive - probably quite nice.
Cummins - never driven one, so can't comment...
A jaguar engine could be fitted? ( the 4.0 V8 is excellent, and available with a supercharger )
Saab Turbo? ( these are one of the cheapest and reliable performance engines out there, IMHO - an easy 200bhp engine that will do 250k miles is serviced properly)
Lexus LS400 engine and box has been fitted by some - you can get a conversion kit to fit the LT230 transfer box onto the back of the Lexus transmission - 280 BHP from memory, and absolutely bulletproof mechanicals.

Take your pick... The sky is the limit.

The farther down this road you go, the more money you will spend getting it fitted, and the knowledge base of people to help out if it goes wrong gets thinner... Also, the resale value isn't always improved - your engine choice is not going to be universally liked by all...

Also, as you go to the bigger power outputs, the transmission will need upgrading, as well as probably brakes, and suspension ( especially if they are already tired) - all adding to the cost.

I will probably get booed off the stage for saying this...
I have a hankering to fit one of the Ford 2.0 or 2.3 "DOHC" engines to a 90.
These were fitted to late sierras, granadas and transits, replacing the old Pinto engine - they developed a reasonable 115 to 150bhp, depending on spec, but were real stump pullers, developing torque at very low revs ( peak torque at something like 2000 revs I think) and were the last of the "lean burn" technologies that were made by ford - being killed off by the catalyst rulings, so were excellent on fuel due to the high CR.
In use, they were very relaxed torquey engines, and the later defenders had ford transit engines, so why not?

You have to ask yourself what you really want, and how much you want to spend.
You might find that it will be cheaper to upgrade the vehicle to (say) a TD5 than get a TD5 engine fitted....

If all you want is a better vehicle for the motorway, then perhaps an engine change isn't really what you need.
Changing the transfer box ratio ( or wheel sizes) can lengthen the gearing to make 70mph a lot more bearable.
You can freshen up the 300 tid with a new intercooler and some retuning, fit a soundproofing kit, and you have a nicer vehicle all round, without needing to shell out a huge amount of money.

Work out what you really want first... But remember - it will always be a Landrover...

Well said captain!

captainbeaky said:

Any petrol engine you fit is going to use a fair bit of fuel - the ford 2.9 cosworth you mention was a very thirsty lump...

Click to expand...

They'd be far better off sourcing a 4.0 litre version of the Cologne V6.

The 2.9 Cosworth is the DOHC variant of the Cologne, but it's the only DOHC variant. It's increase in power is due to the multivalve nature of a DOHC engine, thus it can maintain torque at higher rpm, and since:

HP = torque x rpm / 5252

Maintaining torque at higher rpm, will increase HP at higher revs.

It's reputed this gain is above 4000rpm. So it's sensible to assume the 2.9 will perform like the regular 2.8/2.9 engines from idle to 4000rpm.


The Cologne was used in 4.0 litre guise for many years in N. America. Although you'd want the later SOHC variant, not the earlier OHV one, as the OHV is massively detuned in stock trim.

The OHC version uses the same block as the 2.9 Cosworth, but bigger displacement and a more compact design being SOHC. It also makes more power in stock trim, which is still a fairly mild state of tune and obviously a lot more torque. So performance below 4000rpm would be vastly improved over the Costworth unit.

You'll find the 4.0 SOHC engine in S197 Mustangs (2005 until 2010/11). And US spec LR3's (Discovery 3's), where they used this engine as a base model engine instead of the 2.7TDV6.

aaronmorris said:

Gearbox is zf s5 42 as comes in Daf 45 wagons along with the engine, mated to the lr lt230 transfer box.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Did you have to have an adapter to mate to the 230?

aaronmorris said:

I will post some pictures this evening if you want to see them.

Click to expand...

I'd definitely like to get a look at some, I've been trying to find something a bit more in depth for a while - there's a facebook group for the Cummins swap but they're all clearly quite experienced guys and don't tend to take too many photos.

Merryck said:

I'd definitely like to get a look at some, I've been trying to find something a bit more in depth for a while - there's a facebook group for the Cummins swap but they're all clearly quite experienced guys and don't tend to take too many photos.

Click to expand...

The only real issue I can see is weight. I think the 5.9 Cummins is something like 900lbs/409kg!! But I might have read that wrong. Either way, more power yes, but nose heavy and handling won't be as good as standard Land Rover.

Then there's the torque. The 12v is easy to tweak yourself, as it uses the same injector pump as a Tdi pretty much. ECU controlled ones and 24v variants also remap easy. But you can get to crazy torque figures very quickly, of which I suspect most of the LR drivetrain won't cope with at all.

300bhp/ton said:

Interesting. Did you have to have an adapter to mate to the 230?

Click to expand...

Yes, I had an adapter plate made up out of 25mm steel, didn't get chance to post pictures the other evening, will try again tonight.

Merryck said:

I'd definitely like to get a look at some, I've been trying to find something a bit more in depth for a while - there's a facebook group for the Cummins swap but they're all clearly quite experienced guys and don't tend to take too many photos.

Click to expand...

I'm on their too. As above, I will find some pictures and post tonight. I have taken quite a few of mine if you want any of anything in particular I'm happy to share..