Thread: Disco 3.9 V8 and Auto box into 110 Defender

It should all bolt up the same as far as I know. It does for the LT95, R380 and the ZF and I would expect the same for the LT85.

The loom, I'm pretty sure there are 3 wires that come out of it that you wire. You may need to do a search on here or Outerlimits4x4 forum from a poster call RUFF to find that info.

I think your biggest issue will be making the radiator and heater hoses work with a county radiator and likewise the fan shroud is different to the County one too - the 3.9 fan and coolant hoses are in different locations to the twin carby V8. Likewise fitting the airbox and plumbing to make it work - this obviously is also different.

I also fabbed a centre console with the gear selector etc - that was into a series II though.

"I think your biggest issue will be making the radiator and heater hoses work with a county radiator and likewise the fan shroud is different to the County one too - the 3.9 fan and coolant hoses are in different locations to the twin carby V8. Likewise fitting the airbox and plumbing to make it work - this obviously is also different."

Hmmm thanks for that. The cross-member was worrying me.

Heater has been disconnected (not much point when we never go much below 0 deg C over here, and have a V8 up front as a heater........)

I'll discuss the shroud with the Disco's owner. Maybe he'll part with that as well, as he's installing a Lexus 1HZ 4.0 V8.
The rad has to come out for a pressure check and possible recore / rod anyway. So probably a good time to move inlets and outlets.

Space behind the plenum chamber for the airbox: yes that will have to be investigated. The heater, as mentioned, is redundant, so I can remove it and maybe shift the airbox towards the passenger side and blank off any holes in the bulkhead.

Plumbing for the airbox: not a biggy, I'll just go down to the local supplier of cooling and heating ducting and see what will do the job. Otherwise I'll get some nice bling stainless-steel round tube bends and straights and plumb something up with silicon joins.

ECU: yes, I've managed to download some 14CUX EFI conversion guides, so with the help of a good auto electrician it will probably all work.

I might even go after-market ECU at some stage, and run paired sequential and closed-loop O2 sensors.

But does anybody have a bright idea for the transmission tunnel?

We can't get NAS spec tunnels here, and I can't afford to try an import something.

Should I make up a steel frame with some ally checker-plate?

Or just get some thicker checker plate and bend and rivet something together?

I fabbed a tunnel, but despite being a bit bigger than the LT95 which the Countys ran, I thought they still fitted???

Our V8 Counties had LT85s later on.

So after I've removed the LT85 and rubber boot and lever, will the ZF's lever fit the hole or will I just need to do some cutting and drilling? What about the t-case lever? Does that line up as well?

I'm not sure. I've only done Series 2 to 3.5V8/Lt95 and then to 3.9EFI/ZF/LT230, not not exactly what you're doing. I also made my own tunnel. I'm not sure, but a friend who put a ZF/LT230 into a Stage 1 I don't recall having to make a new tunnel, but I think he did have to somehow cut in the tunnel to fit the shifter box. I don't recall the transfer lever. I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by jakeslouw

Our V8 Counties had LT85s later on.

So after I've removed the LT85 and rubber boot and lever, will the ZF's lever fit the hole or will I just need to do some cutting and drilling? What about the t-case lever? Does that line up as well?

The ZF shifter is cable operated so you can within limits mount it where you like, or even make an extension for the box end. I imagine the transfer lever off the LT85 could be used instead of the Disco one if needed.

I did a 4.6 & zf in my 130 it all bolts in, the disco cross member bolts in for the auto. biggest expense was the custom radiator using the disco side tanks
keeping the auto & oil cooler lines,it was done with an extra thick core.
the auto shifter fits easy. I used the disco centre consel & positioned the
shifter to suit. mine was a td5 so the wiring suked but we got there..

Jeff