300 into 200

[abaddonxi]

How hard is it to put a 300tdi into a 200tdi Defender?

Temptation has just struck.

Cheers
Simon.

[loanrangie]

There will be minor differences but basically just a bolt in job.

[LRHybrid100]

engine mounts different on chassis? if so can you use the brackets from a 200 to the 300 motor?

LRH

[Defender200Tdi]

Sorry, it's far from a bolt in job. The 200tdi sits in a vastly different position in the engine bay than a 300tdi. Engine mounts will most certainly be in a different position, so will exhaust and all other associated plumbing. However, I'm not even sure a 300tdi will fit in the position vacated by a 200tdi because of the location of the turbo. It's almost certain that this will cause major headaches trying to get the exhaust past the chassis rails and footwell on the left side, which is one of the reasons the 200tdi Defender turbo is mounted so high up.

If you intend to put a 300tdi in the traditional position of every other 300tdi Defender, then you will solve the problem of exhaust routing and the other bits of plumbing, but will need to replace things like fan cowl, radiator hoses etc, etc with that used on 300tdi engines. You will still need to completely re-do the engine mounts, but will also then need to swap to a later R380 transmission with the long input shaft and bellhousing.

If you need to do an engine swap and don't want to use a Defender 200tdi, the next best choice would be a Discovery 200tdi. However, you still need to get over the Disco's low mounted turbo (similar to 300tdi), but this at least has been done many times before and there's a fair bit of documented resource material on the internet.

Why don't you just keep the Defender 200tdi?


Paul:)

[sclarke]

As paul said.

they look the same, but they are vastly different. Nearly everything wont fit.

To retro fit it would mean you need a full donar car.

[camel_landy]

Hmmm.... Will the original 200 zorst & inlet manifolds fit the 300??

If so, how about swapping the engine but use the original mounts, manifolds, etc... Then, adjust the turbo to 1bar and swap the intercooler. ;)

M

[sclarke]

Manifolds will fit, but the 200 and 300 engine is differnet in some way so it wont work like it should.....

Mounts on the block are differnet, cant be retrofitted...

Block is a different cast...

[Defender200Tdi]

Hmmm.... Will the original 200 zorst & inlet manifolds fit the 300??

If so, how about swapping the engine but use the original mounts, manifolds, etc... Then, adjust the turbo to 1bar and swap the intercooler. ;)

M

I guess that could theoretically work, but as Steve has said, almost everything will need to change. 200tdi Defender engines are quite different to either 300tdi engines, or even 200tdi Disco engines.

Using the Defender manifolds and exhaust solves that problem, but will mean a complete re-design at the front of the engine to relocate power steering pump and alternator, and I'm not sure how difficult that will be. Landrover went to the expense of creating an entirely new timing cover for the 200tdi to make it fit in the Defender for this very reason, so it obviously isn't just a juggle around of bracketry. (Remember, the 200tdi was released first in the Discovery and it was a couple of years and a major re-design later before they released the Defender version)

The Defender turbo will happily run at 1 bar, just like a 300tdi, and the intercooler is identical except for the location of the inlet and outlet, so no changes required there. In fact, the 200tdi Defender exhaust manifold is generally regarded as being a better flowing design, but the cast iron dump pipe lets it down by being quite restrictive, so the end result is probably no better than the 300tdi setup. (You could improve this though by fitting a custom dump pipe in 3" steel like I have ;) ) However, the location of top and bottom radiator hoses is completely different so that will be a pita too. You could use a 300tdi radiator and have the inlet/outlet in the right position, but would still have to get custom hoses because the engine is about 5" further away.

Paul:)