How to - Land Rover 90 TD to Discovery 200TDi Engine Conversion

• Land Rover 90 TD
• MOT failure Land Rover Discovery 200TDi
• Disco conversion downpipe
• Disco conversion intercooler pipes
• Extended 200TDi oil cooler pipes
• New rear crank oil seal
• New clutch (clutch and release bearing)
• New heavy duty clutch arm
• New alternator and power steering belt
• New filters and gaskets

• Disconnect battery and remove
• Remove bonnet
• Disconnect bonnet stay, bonnet then lifts all the way back and can be lifted off hinges
• Remove front bumper, grille, and front centre panel
• Drain coolant
• Disconnect bottom radiator hose and drain all coolant
• Remove air cleaner assembly, fan, fan cowl, and radiator
• Remove turbo heat shield and loosen exhaust downpipe at first connection
• Remove heater hoses and control cables from clips on rocker cover
• Remove breather pipes from rear lifting bracket
• Disconnect fuel pipe connections - remove fuel feed to injection pump, spill return from no 4 injector, fuel feed to lift pump, lift pump to fuel filter
• Disconnect throttle cable and remove
• Disconnect power steering hoses
• Disconnect brake servo vacuum hose from vacuum pump
• Remove engine wiring harness
• Disconnect heater plug harness from heater plug number 4
• Support engine with engine crane
• Remove engine earth strap
• Undo engine mounting rubbers top and bottom
• Raise engine, remove rubbers, lower back onto chassis mountings
• Remove starter and harness
• Remove all bell housing fixings
• Lift out engine
• Remove fuel filter from bulkhead but keep fixings
  

• Disconnect battery
• Remove bonnet
• Remove engine wiring harness from bulkhead
• Remove radiator assembly
• Disconnect cyclone hose from air cleaner hose
• Remove air cleaner hose from turbo
• Remove feed pipe/hose from turbo and intercooler
• Disconnect heater hoses from cylinder head and heater rails
• Remove bolt attaching breather pipe clip to cylinder head and move breather pipes aside
• Disconnect hoses from power steering pump
• Disconnect bypass hose from thermostat housing
• Release bypass hose from retaining clips on front timing cover
• Remove throttle cable from injector pump
• Disconnect feed pipe and spill return pipe from injector pump
• Disconnect both pipes from fuel lift pump
• Disconnect servo hose from vacuum pump
• Loosen exhaust downpipe at first connection
• Remove oil cooler pipes from oil filter adapter
• Disconnect ground strap from starter motor
• Support engine with engine crane
• Remove engine mount bolts
• Remove all bell housing fixings
• Lift out engine (I withdrew from front by angle grinding the front centre panel out of the Discovery)

• Remove flywheel cover and fit old TD flywheel cover. This avoids having to cut and retap studs in different positions
• Change the rear crank oil seal if any signs of leaks. Only use a genuine Land Rover one as its much better quality than the others
• Fit a new clutch. I found that one of the small spark plug spanners is perfect as a clutch alignment tool
• Fit new oil filter
• Replace rocker cover and sump gaskets

• Fit a new clutch release bearing
• Fit a heavy duty clutch arm
• Remove exhaust front section
• Move clutch pipe mount from corner of bulkhead 6 inches across to the right
• Clean up engine bay and protect exposed chassis areas while you have easy access
• Cut down bottom radiator mount brackets by 3cm - Angle grind tops off, cut 3cm from height, reweld tops back on
• Hoist engine into position
• Line up bellhousing studs and attach all fixings. You may need to adjust angle to do this which can be done by an adjustable engine lifting bracket. I did it by jacking up the gearbox end
• Connect starter motor wires and connect earth lead to chassis
• Connect exhaust heat shield
• Fit engine mount rubbers
• Prepare to fit TD loom onto engine by noting colours of wires and positions of 200TDi loom.
• Remove 200TDi loom and secure TD loom to engine. All the colours are the same so connect as the 200TDi loom was. The only change is to the alternator where you cut off the connector block and use spade terminals instead; the thin white wire is no longer used
• Attach and adjust the Discovery throttle cable
• Fit the intercooler top and bottom pipes to the engine
• Fit the extended oil cooler pipes. I secured mine with a bracket as they were longer than anticipated
• Fit the internal heater pipes (steel pipe feeds rear, pipe nipple feeds front) using the old ones from the Discovery
• Fit a new temperature sensor to match the TD gauge. Depending on your old TD engine the sensor from that may fit but there are two different types so not always. Mine didn't so the temperature gauge reads just under red when it should actually be in the centre
• Fit the power steering pipes. I used the low pressure one from the TD and the high pressure one from the Discovery. The TD one still fits the bracket on the rear of the crossmember but the Discovery one is the wrong shape so you need to make a bracket to secure it to the chassis rail
• I left the header tank from the TD and used the TD radiator pipe. The bottom engine connection is slightly kinked so adjust as best you can. The smaller pipe from it that goes to the header tank needs to be extended so I used part of the old Discovery pipework and a piece of standard copper heating pipe to join the two with small jubilee clips
• Fit top radiator water pipe. I used a cut down pipe from the Discovery for this
• Fit the 200TDi fuel filter to the bulkhead (this system is simpler than the TD). You will need to extend the existing fuel hoses with 8mm id (internal diameter) fuel pipe and small jubilee clips
• Fill the PAS header tank
• Fill the water tank
• Check the oil level of engine and fill correctly (especially if you drained it all out earlier!)
• Prime the fuel system with the hand pump on the lift pump.
• Disconnect the fuel solenoid wire temporarily
• Reconnect the battery
• Turn the engine over with the ignition key which should prime the fuel and oil systems.
• Reconnect the fuel solenoid wire
• Turn the engine over with the key and this time it should fire up if all is correct!
• Check for any leaks anywhere or strange noises!
• Let the engine run up to temperature and double check for leaks again
• Mount and fit the exhaust to the downpipe
• Use the old TD air filter system and using a combination of pipes from the TD and Discovery you can just get it all to fit together
• Test that the clutch and transmission is all working. You will probably need to bleed the clutch which will have lost fluid when fitting the new clutch arm
• Refit bonnet, bumper etc
• Test drive and make any necessary minor tweaks!

Post Conversion Tweaks

• I found the turbo whistle was louder than expected. This turned out to be the top turbo hose that needed tightening up.
• Although acceleration was much improved I still found the engine lacking at the top end. This turned out to be the accelerator cable needing adjustment (in the cab) as it was only opening to about 75% of full throttle.
• After a week or so the alternator and power steering belts needed adjusting again as the new ones had slightly stretched once bedded in.
  

hughesy said:

Is there some sort of contest going on for the best 200tdi conversion write up or summat?

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richardjeaton said:

Lol! I just think we've all just done the conversion within a few weeks of each other and had the same thought to write up the process to help others. Everyone seems to do things slightly differently anyway and I know the write ups that already existed were invaluable in my conversion so I'm sure the more write ups the better anyway!

Cheers

Richard

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TOM TOM GO said:

well got started last saturday with the front off the 90.. ripping out the old engine this weekend will let you know how it go's mate..

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Langers said:

About the extended oil-cooler pipes... are they a necessity? And how/where can you get them extended??

Cheers

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richardjeaton said:

Yep they're necessary as the rad sits further forward in a Defender than a Disco so they are too short to reach. From memory they're about 30cm too short but don't quote me on that!

I got mine done over the counter while I waited at my local Pirtek UK : Europe's Number One provider of fluid transfer solutions. Hose replacement, mobile hose replacement. but they weren't cheap at about 70 quid! I needed them doing asap though as I'd been let down by a local Landy guy who I'd already been waiting on for over a week If you have anywhere local that does hydraulic hoses/repairs etc then it would be worth asking them too.

Cheers

Richard

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Sean said:

never go into Pirtek when they are busy, try a Saturday morning when most sensible peeps are still asleep - there's usually just the one bloke in, make sure he knows you'll be paying cash - you may well be pleasantly surprised how much the price comes down

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Langers said:

Great thanks for the tip. So I've got my Disco, my exhaust downpipe, my intercooler kit, my welder mate on standby and my oil cooler pipes from Pirtek, a clutch kit, a timing belt kit, is there anything I'm missing?

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Sean said:

what's in the "clutch kit" ?

fluids ?

CAF hose ?

BIG jubilee clips ?

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redhand said:

Pressure Plate
Friction Plate
Release Bearing.


Usually

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