Short R380 into 90...

LT77 died before Christmas, got this new box to replace it, it's the Ashcroft R380 short bellhousing version, which for those of you who don't know, allows you to put an R380 in place of an LT77 without having to move the engine forward.

Ah i see. I asked about this a fiew days ago but on one relpied. So the defender 300tdi R380 is not the same length as the LT77. Your carpets look abit clean.

Ah I didn't see or I would have posted, no they are quite different, look at the bellhousing there, it is quite short, and has a small pinion shaft too, if you google image search: R380, you will probably see images of 380's with large bellhousings with large pinion shafts, such as http://juracid.co.uk/gallery/r380/Img_0029.jpg

If you fitted that to your Defender the gearshifters would be in the middle seat, the transfer case would be under the tub and the prop shafts would be the wrong sizes.

When the R380 was fitted to the defender (with the 300tdi engine) the engine was moved much further forward (hence why 300tdi engined Defenders have space behind the engine for the induction pipework).

They said the gearboxes were direct replacements which is really not entirely true. The overall casing of the R380 is 30mm longer, the bellhousing I have there is 30mm shorter than my old LT77 bellhousing, so the transfer box is in exactly the same place, and as a result the props are also the same.

I had contemplated moving my engine forward but by the time you do that and the cost involved I think it was the right choice to get the short R380. I cannot wait to drive it I expect it will be like driving a new vehicle.

Ok that makes sence, i bet the 300tdi is nicer to work on then, the old defenders the engines are abit close to the bulk head which makes it a pig to get the engine-gearbox bolts off, im sure u know all about that though. Does that also mean the disco and defender R380s are the same? The defender LT77 was shorter than the disco one, and ive seen a R380 in a 200tdi Discovery with a 300tdi clutch housing. I assumed i could fit a defender R380 to my defender using the same trick, but this is clearly not the case. This also clears up the fact that i keep seeing R380s being sold to fit "defender or discovery".

discomania said:

I had contemplated moving my engine forward but by the time you do that and the cost involved I think it was the right choice to get the short R380. I cannot wait to drive it I expect it will be like driving a new vehicle.

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Ive got a disco 200 in mine along with the disco gearbox and t-box, so the engine is foward and the sticks are about where the cubby box starts. Is abit of a bodge though, in retrospect would have been worth getting a new defender gearbox and sorting the pipes out.

discomania said:

LT77 died before Christmas, got this new box to replace it, it's the Ashcroft R380 short bellhousing version, which for those of you who don't know, allows you to put an R380 in place of an LT77 without having to move the engine forward.

Click to expand...

Did you win the lottery or rob a bank ??