bushcraftsurvival1
New Member
i recently purchased a 2000 w reg di and it has already gone bang transmission wise if people on here thinkthe swop can be done i will give it ago????:doh:
300bhp/ton
Well-Known Member
Ok I think a little more thinking is required here. 
1. If the transmission has gone, why are you looking at swapping engines?
There are 2 answers here; yes and no.
Yes because anything is possible with enough time, effort and work. You could either sitthe Freelander monoque on a Disco chassis and run Disco running gear. But it'll be a heavy beast and retain advantages of neither design. Or you could custom make an AWD set for the Freelander either using offend shelf items or other Landy bits. Lots and lots of work and major modifications. Doing this would certainly require an IVA.
2. A Freelander had a transverse mounted engine. I don't know of any transverse TDI fitments. The 2.5 VM turbo from the Range Rover was fitted in the Rover 800 transversly as a fwd car. So that might be possible. Not sure what gear of it used though, suspect it might be the same as the Freelander though.
While typing this I am wondering do you mean transmission or are you referring to other parts of the Freelander drivetrain?
The Td4 used a differed gearbox, so swapping in one of these or a Kv6 with the auto is a more feasible option.
1. If the transmission has gone, why are you looking at swapping engines?
There are 2 answers here; yes and no.
Yes because anything is possible with enough time, effort and work. You could either sitthe Freelander monoque on a Disco chassis and run Disco running gear. But it'll be a heavy beast and retain advantages of neither design. Or you could custom make an AWD set for the Freelander either using offend shelf items or other Landy bits. Lots and lots of work and major modifications. Doing this would certainly require an IVA.
2. A Freelander had a transverse mounted engine. I don't know of any transverse TDI fitments. The 2.5 VM turbo from the Range Rover was fitted in the Rover 800 transversly as a fwd car. So that might be possible. Not sure what gear of it used though, suspect it might be the same as the Freelander though.
While typing this I am wondering do you mean transmission or are you referring to other parts of the Freelander drivetrain?
The Td4 used a differed gearbox, so swapping in one of these or a Kv6 with the auto is a more feasible option.
spencer1885
Active Member
Dont bother, just replace broken parts
Landrover spend millions on development of vehicles and your going to make one from scratch in your shed
Landrover spend millions on development of vehicles and your going to make one from scratch in your shed
Bromsgrove Defender
Well-Known Member
It's been done before Spencer.......you don't have a brother called Maurice do you?
spencer1885
Active Member
It's been done before Spencer.......you don't have a brother called Maurice do you?
Man can fly to the moon ,dont mean you can
bushcraftsurvival1
New Member
no you are reading correctly i am talking about fitting a 200tdi inplace of the transverse Di engine. obvoisly it would be alot of work. another aption is fitting a spare chevvy LS engine. could these be mated to the freelanders standard rear diff?? is it strong enough??? im looking for simple answers to obvious questions! thanks
Bromsgrove Defender
Well-Known Member
Man can fly to the moon ,dont mean you can
But I could
There's a second hand space shuttle or two for sale I believe
spencer1885
Active Member
300bhp/ton
Well-Known Member
I suspect nobody really knows. Not in the case of the SBC. TDI doesn't make as much power/torque as what a kv6 or a tuned td4 can. So can't see it being an issue for a TDI. Or at least not an issue to worry about yet. I think Freelander diffs are used in Fisher Furies, but these weigh 500kg and usually have a 1.8 K series or a bike engine. So low torque and low weight.
The easiest swap would be to mount the Freelader tub on an existing chassis. You might even avoid an IVA doing this. I'll post up a pic of one later on for you.
A complete custom fit engine and bespoke drive train is going to be ££££ and a lot of hours and work. But it's possible ultimately.
spencer1885
Active Member
I read it as would the rear diff on its own be strong enough to drive the vehicle along using a different engine as a rear wheel drive only
NO
NO
chromiumuk
Well-Known Member
I think you'd end up spensing quite a lot of money on this if you tried. Forget the flawed KV6 another member mentions it's a real bad swap option. Even fitting a Td4 is fairly involved & most on here who have seriously looked into it have given up due to what's involved. Best to repair what you've got or sell for spares & buy either another L-series or Td4.
300bhp/ton
Well-Known Member
Here ya are, as promised. This is a Disco rolling chassis (not sure if its a V8 or Tdi) with a Feelander body mounted on top.
Personally I think it's pointless. As it'll weigh more than a Disco as the Freelander body incorporates a monoque/unibody chassis also.
You also lose all of the Freelander advantages too.
Which leaves you with two other options.
1. Try and utilise as much Freelander as you can with a different motor. I think this will be a challenge as very few cars are transverse AWD. The most similar in concept is probably the Jaguar X-Type which uses a V6 or a 2.2 inline diesel. However neither will be a direct bolt in.
As mentioned earlier the 2.5 TD VM unit was mounted transversely in a Rover 800. And was also used in a Range Rover Classic. Nice engine and out powers a Tdi unit.
But unless it turns out an easy job to swap in something like a Jag V6 and gearbox I think this might prove a non productive option. More power means you'd be spearheading the R&D on component strength and durability, as I suspect the Freelander drive train has never been subjected to more than 200hp before.
You're best bet would be to hack up the engine bay, maybe make a subframe and mount the engine longitudinally with a gearbox (and transfer box) on the back of it. Then run a conventional propshaft to the front and rear.
Suspect you could keep the rear IRS and somehow fab it all together. The front might take a bit more thought though.
Or just swap on some conventional live axles. Lots of fab work though.
Personally I think it's pointless. As it'll weigh more than a Disco as the Freelander body incorporates a monoque/unibody chassis also.
You also lose all of the Freelander advantages too.
Which leaves you with two other options.
1. Try and utilise as much Freelander as you can with a different motor. I think this will be a challenge as very few cars are transverse AWD. The most similar in concept is probably the Jaguar X-Type which uses a V6 or a 2.2 inline diesel. However neither will be a direct bolt in.
As mentioned earlier the 2.5 TD VM unit was mounted transversely in a Rover 800. And was also used in a Range Rover Classic. Nice engine and out powers a Tdi unit.
But unless it turns out an easy job to swap in something like a Jag V6 and gearbox I think this might prove a non productive option. More power means you'd be spearheading the R&D on component strength and durability, as I suspect the Freelander drive train has never been subjected to more than 200hp before.
You're best bet would be to hack up the engine bay, maybe make a subframe and mount the engine longitudinally with a gearbox (and transfer box) on the back of it. Then run a conventional propshaft to the front and rear.
Suspect you could keep the rear IRS and somehow fab it all together. The front might take a bit more thought though.
Or just swap on some conventional live axles. Lots of fab work though.
just fit the Rover 220 Turbo - uses same gearbox, so (relatively) easy to do.
chromiumuk
Well-Known Member
First time I've ever heard of a 2.5 VM unit described as a nice unit. I always heard they were troublesome & expensive to repair due to each cylinder having its own separate cylinder head & gasket which often required attention. They were also woefully underpowered in the RR & therefore overstressed so you might not find many good ones left. Also think the SD1 ran with an earlier 2.4 VM unit which was also fitted to the classic RR for only a year or two. The Jeep Cherokee also later had an updated version of this engine which was why I never bought one of them.
Last edited:
+1. Only ever heard bad things. If it were that good it would have been more popular.Its a marine injun, leave it in boats.
300bhp/ton
Well-Known Member
lol, you see this is the trouble with a) listening to that TG idiot Chris Goffey when he reviewed it and b) internet folklore.
The early diesel Range Rover used a 2.4 VM engine. Which compared to a V8 was underpowered, but was massively more powerful than Land Rover's own 2.5TD. It was also a turbo engine, so off boost, like all turbo engines was just a low CR low powered lump. Use that sticky looking thing called a gear lever though and it's easy to keep on the boil.
This was replaced with a 2.5 VM Turbo Diesel, I know this because we had one. These made 121bhp
Yes that's right, more than a 200Tdi or even 300Tdi.We had ours for years and years. Only one issue in that time was a broken water pump.
And it went very well, in stock trim would easily pull 95mph with some left and would easily keep with a 3.5 RR in a straight line (if not a bit quicker).
It made a 200Tdi feel very flat and slow by contrast.
The turbo did need more revs to make boost I admit, so it came on with a real surge in the back compared to a Tdi that makes boost at a lot lower rpms. But it was no more difficult to keep on boost than a modern Td4 is.
