v8

right this is a long shot and probally very stupid

but.......

v8 into a 1969 2a
will it fit with its own gearbox ?

im just looking for a yes its ntb or no its a total pain in the arse type answer

Here's the preliminary stuff for you to be getting on with:-
You can do ANYTHING to a Landy!
Taking on a Project
V8 Conversion
Dropping in a V8
V8 into Light-weight

ok so doable but sounds like a lot of messing around i thought it would be

back to the 200tdi or 30tdi

pobby said:

right this is a long shot and probally very stupid

but.......

v8 into a 1969 2a
will it fit with its own gearbox ?

im just looking for a yes its ntb or no its a total pain in the arse type answer

Click to expand...

Nowt stupid about asking mate .

When I had a V8 (P6) in a series engine bay there was a bit of bulk panel refabbing to do and I would seriously consider anything other than series drum brakes for anchors

TDI's bring thier own set of problems; you dont have to bash the bulkhead, but the power curve of the TDi, thatnks to the blower 'shock-loads' the series transmission.
It's not in the absolute numbers, becouse the TDI has less power than a V8 and an awful lot less torque; but its the rate of change or power/torque that hits the box hard.
V8 has more torque at tick-over than a TDi has at peak, but over the entire rev range, V8's torque only changes by about 30/40%.
TDi has blugger all at tick-over, and ramps to its peak at just under 2000rpm, the rate of change of applied load being HUGE, with a tendancy to banana mainshafts and crack lay-shafts.
It is an 'easy' conversion, but for durability, reliability, and driveability, its not a very 'good' one; though every-one arguies in its favour!
V8, if you want more power, and it HAS more power, real, useable power, is DEFINITELY worth the extra affort to make it fit, and can prove a bit more livable.
But, if you dont feel confident with that kind of conversion, then I highly reccomend a complete re-think of the entire idea.
Why do you want to convert a Series? If it is simply for more 'modern' performance, then in the pro's and cons, finding some money and trading up to a coiler may be better in the long run; works how you want, no spannering, no (extra!) reliability issues, no hassles from insurance companies etc.
If you want to keep it series, then there are other, better conversions, and you can do a lot with the original motor, if you fancy it.

i just got this 69 ambulance got it home and was more smoky than first thought been checking it out in a bit more detail and found turbo is all but siezed (£360) the injectors and pump havnt been looked at since they were put in (£700) and after all that i think the bottom end is a bit knocky
so it seems cheeper to do an engine swap.
certanlly not a confidance thing as im a mechanic by trade and have no trouble cutting and welding for anything to fit the problom lies in where i have to do it all with is at work so very limited on time, would only have a couple of days to atleast get it rolling on monday morning and she is to big to be pushing around so would need to be a runner inside 48 hours
you see my dilema
v8 seems cheapest to get hold of and was gonna upgrade the gearbox with engine so no worrys about riping it apart with to much torque
the v8 is cheaper to maintain as well as no turbo os expencive diesel pump just a couple of carbs and a good on dizzy
so you recon it could be done in that tine scale ??

or do i just take the ambulance body off the chassis and transplant it to a disco chassis :doh::doh:

at what point would it become a Q plate or couldi just keep the chassis id from the rolling chassis

To be honest, I'd be looking to get it SVA's or RAV tested anyway, JUST for piece of mind, given current circumstances etc, and if they insisted on a Q taking the hit.
Dropping the body on another chassis.... Hmmmmm P38 or lse have 108" chassis and lubberly V8's in them.... wouldn't need the chassis stretching ot shrinking to get the wheels to line up, would it?
Keeping it within the rules, technically, Ident gets lost when you mugger about with the chassis, or change engine, gearbox, axles and brakes, body isn't really an issue, so you could drop the body on a P38 roller, and keep the P38 ident..
You could then 'restore' the Tax Excempt ambulance with whatever body you wanted on it.
You say the blowere's popped? What engines in it at the moment then?
As for time scales doing a V8 conversion; piece of string job, but a week-end I think would be pushing it a bit!
I used to be able to swap Rangie auto motors in a day, solo, which was going some, especially as that ruddy Torque converter's a bit of a bitch.
If you are well versed and have the kit to hand, and everything prepared and ready, like a pre-fabbed bulkhead to go on, and the motor and box already united and ready to drop on the rails, looms made up and ready to connect, and all the bits of plumbing needed to finish it off..... could be done.
Chap over on LRO has a bet with his Father in Law to do a V8 conversion in a week, we are waiting to hear the results of.... doing one in a week-end?
Bank Holiday Week-end coming up..... sounds like a real 'challenge' event.... maybe ask for a forum 'tin' Bash..... get some snaps and flog the story to one of the rags!

currentlly got a late s3 earlly defender 2.5tdi (i think) got a large rounded rocker cover



not sure if thats clear enough to see

any conversion wouldnt have to be 100% finished in a weekend as long as i can drive it out so panels and wing mods could always be done the following weekend

been thinging about the body/chassis swap and decided against that 1 just gonna be engine swap but still unsure what

That's the 'Unloved' 19J Engine; and by the look of the turbo location & manifold, probably a genuine 110 variant, rather than one out of an old post office Sherpa.

Was ONLY ever fitted to the 90 & 110; never went into a Series III, they got 2.25's in petrol or diesel giuse, or six packs in some LWB's.

Which is a good point, being an ambulance, may be worth doing some mechanical archeology.

As an ambulance, guess its a military spec landy, but given age and years of civilian service, and a blaringly obviouse departue from standard in the motor thats currently in there, could be any number of deviations from original variants.

First of all, I think I'd want to know whether it was originally a 1-ton.
- Six cylinder, inlet over exhaust, petrol engine
- lower ratio gear box & transfer
- extended spring hangers and shackles
- 9.00 sized tyres
- modified bulkhead for clearance at the back of longer engine
Next; military departures
Most mil models used 1-ton's HD chassis and extended hanger suspension, to which they added a bolt on cross member, though they often kept the four cyl engines and bulkhead. But being a heavy ambulance it MAY have been a six pot.
Ambulances I think also often got a rear anti-roll bar, becouse of the weight carried high over the back axle, as well as a lot stiffer springs.
Then there is the matter of whether it might have had 24v electrics.

Now IF it was originally a six cyl.... first you already have a part modded bulkhead with more clerance, which may make life a bit easier for a conversion.

BUT, you may also like to think about 'restoring' it to six cyl motivation if it was. Engine had about 85bhp, which was only 5bhp of the mark of the Stage 1 V8's, and though they were reputed to be 'thirsty' no more so than a V8.

Be an interesting 'project', and the main draw-back would be actually finding a motor to begin with, but they are about.

Trying to see from the pic, but cant tell. Motor looks very 'tight' to the bulkhead at the back, which suggests six cyl, but at the same time, there doesn't seem to be the gap between the water-pump and rad. I had a 4-pot in a six-cyl, and there were about three or four inches between the fan and the radiator, where the extra two pots should have been!

Given that ambulance body, its 'needs' 90+bhp to make it shift at anything like modern road velocities, and it is NEVER going to be particularly ecconomical.

BUT, I'm wondering; given the weight of the thing, might have been given the lower ratio 1-ton gear-box to help move so much bulk & mass; possibly excaserbated by smaller sized tyres.

So, EVEN with a decent 'power-up' curtecy of that TD, might still be gearing limited; so reving the nuts off that 19J motor might not have helped its already questionable longevity, and may be worth some thought before pondering alternative power-up via V8 or anything.

Not sure where I'm going with this, other than, principle of measure twice, cut once, and for a rapid turn-around, might be worth identifying where any anomolies may lie before you are surrounded by nuts and bolts and spanners, pondering unforseen 'problems'......

Almost certainly originally a 2 1/4 4 cylinder petrol (Series IIa).
Putting it into a Discovery Chassis is a bit of a none starter, it's too short. I'm not saying you can't extend the chassis, but it is a major task.

i'd just like to throw in my landy experiences;

i had a standard 2 1/4 petrol SIII, it's reasonably tidy but being a bit of a fanny i didnt give it the love it needed and ended up with a blown head gasket.

like alot of series owners i wanted better mpg and better motorway speed, so i decided to go for an engine conversion, i bought an already converted series 3 with ford v6 (i'd forgotten about the fuel economy bit by then) as a donor (it was a complete shed but had all the bits i needed) the plan was to get the engines swapped out in my 2 weeks leave. over 2 years later i've only just got the engine mounts moved after much side-tracking and distractions....

i'll hopefully have a decent landy when i'm finished as i'm doing alot more than just fitting the v6 but for all the work i've put in i could have got the 2 1/4 petrol running really well!!

p.s. i think we should get a 200tdi conversion thread with all the bumph/links/pro/cons and make it a sticky!!!