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D4 joke asside, I have seen photos of a Defender on very low profile tyres, in the U.K. I think. You could put these tyres on another set of rims until you take it in for service. Easy fixes regarding lowering suspension make things much more difficult re springs, shocks, bump stops, panhard rod ect. The auto box though-I think Ashcroft do it as a kit for both TD5 and Puma’s but as mentioned warranty would be lost I would think.
Allan
I too wanted an auto Defender. This is relatively easy to do on a TD5, as you can use a Discovery TD5 Auto Box and most of the bits are available off the shelf. You do need a Auto Box computer to control the auto - or use a pre ECU based auto. But you will need to find a donor Discovery, and budget for an auto rebuild. I ball parked around $10,000 minimum to do a decent job on my TD5. I decided not to bother, as whilst an Auto is better offroad in some situations, it was not worth $10k to me.
I've since looked into converting a PUMA, this is more of an issue as there is no factory auto box that fits a PUMA engine - even in the Transit world. I reckon it would be >$15k to auto a puma. I'd rather have the LS3 V8 and auto instead!
The air suspension mod would be a better mod IMHO. The stock suspension in a Defender is designed for a 1000kg payload and is very harsh unless you have a decent load on it. I had longer softer springs installed in my TD5, which has made it almost Range Rover smooth. But it's different modding the suspension on a PUMA, very easy to break things with a small lift, when I get around to it, I'll put in longer softer sprints but also need to look at changes to the front driveshaft too - so that adds a chunk to the cost.
If I had a garage that did not fit my Defender - I'd get a concrete cutter to cut some tyre grooves 5" deep for the wheels to run in.
Regarding the auto requirement, one option may be to install the 5 cylinder Puma engine out of the Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50 and mate that to auto gearbox. If you do a search on Aulro there is a thread regarding Bell Auto doing just the engine conversion and it looks as though these guys Engine Conversions are doing the engine conversion while currently working on an auto box. One would think that the auto out of a Ranger might be made to fit but I have no idea regarding whether it would take the transfer case.
Dunno where you live but if it's Brisbane you're in luck - MR Automotive do an auto gearbox conversion for Defender and I think it's pretty good value for money. Not that I'd do it.
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The Ashcroft auto conversion also includes a power up grade.
There is an article about it on their site.
Cheers