YA3TDIC (Yet Another 300TDI Defender Conversion)

So begins my journey of swapping a disco 300tdi into a defender 110 which currently has a 2.25 chucked in.

I've done most of everything else before on various cars, leccies, welding, knocking up brakes, spraying, etc but i've never needed to strip an engine before.. or even take a head off.. or even had to replace a clutch!..nm an engine transplant.

in for a penny

managed to borrow some space in a barn and crashbox kindly lent me an engine crane and stand

Fortunately, a fecked defender 300tdi has come up cheap locally, so i should be able to rinse the gearbox, seatbox and r380 from that.

just starting, bonnet off, removed grille and lamps



drained engine oil, removed oil cooler pipes (not too much leaks out), rad hoses and intercooler pipes. all was straight forward.

bloody hell the coolant comes out fast from the pipe that comes from expansion tank. I drained the tank first, then pulled it and dropped it under the chassis to drain the rest.. it poured out fast!

turbo feels fine with no wobble, so bonus.

I don't have anything atm to remove the fan and the shroud was in the way. so i chopped the front off and took the rad oot.



someones nicked all me fins! It never overheated when i drove it though, ah well maybe the fender has a good rad

i started late and so finished for the day leaving it like this




bloke next to me was knocking up a scraper from an old tyre they picked up



btw, i'm still selling bits in the for sale section

I haven't posted because it's bloody tiring doing it by yourself

There are maaany threads on forums all over about the conversion but I thought I'd put out some info I picked up and I'll use this as a notepad

They basically boil down to

Fitting it in the defender position

This allows the use of 300tdi defender parts.

As far as I can tell, the disco and fender engines are the same (except the disco doesn't have the lifting eyes)

This requires the defender stubby r380 or you can convert a disco r380 using a kit from ashcroft to extend the selector shaft, then you can swap over the top of a defender lt77.

You also need a 300 defender rear propshaft. This disco front one is the same part, so is fine.

You need either a defender gearbox mount, or you can cut a V in the disco one so it clears the seatbox bracket.

Regarding seatbox, you need to get a r380 one or cut it with an adapter kit. You also need the tunnel and floors as the r380 is wider.

Weld on the disco mounts in the right place and everything should line up.

You need to sort the newer style of handbrake too, either with adapter or swapping parts.

Downpipe is the same.

300 to existing lt77

Engine sits further back and you need to have some extended pipes and custom exhausts downpipe.

Can be a lil fiddly when replacing parts as they are from different setups.

300 and disco r380

You can mount it in the same position as the defender 300, but the levers come out up by the seatbox.

So you need to chop out a hole and cover it over.

All should fit ok, just with the gear sticks being off.


Notes

clutch kit - standard LR009366 (ap is meant to be the same dia as hd 130 valeo one) britpart, rakeway, bearmach do a allmetal release bearing cos the others can melt if given lots of stick.
timing kit STC4096L
upper gasket kit STC2802
crank rear oil seal - LUF100430
front o ring crank - ERR4710
front oil seal - ERR4575
just use composite erlang gasket not the new metal mls as it needs to have perfect surfaces else it leaks.
head gasket erlang - ERR5262 (2 hole), ERR5263 (3hole)
spigot bush clutch - 8566L/LFB500050
clutch - slipper pads - FRC5255
clutch clip - FRC3327

egr bypass pipe - ESR2263
egr blank - ERR4698
egr gasket - WAL500010L

Following day after removing the disco front.

So, it happens that a fender came up, so I'm going to add it's bits and do it 300tdi defender style. More hassle (sorry landowner )

Out with the engine.. a how not to do it

I cut all the wires I didn't need and that could be unplugged.

Drained coolant, oil, pas fluid, oil cooler pipes, accelerator cable.. basically just work your way around freeing anything that connects the engine to the body.

I then removed the rear prop, gearbox surround in the disco and released the handbrake cable. Maybe other things.

I was getting tired and so started to chance things, like leaving the front prop on the axle and swinging it out the way, and not taking the gearstick housing off, just the levers.

After much dicking about, I managed to get the bolts out the gearbox crossmember and the gearbox mounts on the member.

I levered and used a jack, then a jack on it's side to open the chassis.. but the bugger wouldn't drop... my arms hurt from holding the jack in the air on it's side and as i rested my shoulder on the ground..i noticed another bolt inbetween the outriggers iirc.

Off it dropped (i had a jack supporting the gearbox at this point)

Next the engine crane was positioned and the engine strapped. I removed the nut from the top and bottom of the mount bushes and lifted the crane, whilst letting the jack by the gearbox down a little. mounts came out

So, the disco didn't have lifting eyes and you can't fit a rear one anyway as it's too tight. I saw someone used the accelerator cable hole and exhaust.. which looked good to me.




It's not bad, but it's no good with the gearbox and tranny on.. it was so unbalanced.

Lots of huffing and pulling and mucking about, I regretted my shortcuts as the gear levers hit off the tunnel and the handbrake drum wouldn't go over the antirollbar. The front propshaft i swung out the way also caught

After remove all them..(which was now much harder) it started to come away.. but was really unbalanced, so I had to give it a rest on the chassis and change all the lifting ropes



much better, but it still was a right sod. The gearbox sling was still far too low, and started to slip over...

Anyway, I managed to save it and dropped it down to the floor level.

( abusing crashboxes crane )


I've probably missed loads out.. but i was knackered

Looking good so far !

Would I be right and say the engine its replacing is a ford 2.2 ?

Jonnyb1990 said:

Looking good so far !

Would I be right and say the engine its replacing is a ford 2.2 ?

Click to expand...

Nope, it currently is a leaky 2.25d out of a series mated to a lt77. I don't mind it too much apart from when i come to a hill

On flats it happily goes along 55 - 60mph, but it needs a new timing chain and head gasket.. so i decided it would be far better to stick a 300 in.