Thread: Time to re-assemble the SWB 88

Seriously, I reckon I'd keep a Land Rover motor in it. It isn't too hard to find them. It'll be cheaper, les likely to end up with lots of broken bits down the powertrain and less fiddling all-round....

Thought about it but the motor is in bits and the cost of a reco would probably come close to paying for the conversion. Plus the 4 cylinder will be gutless and I would imagine be worse on economy than the 8 on gas. Once up and running I hoping to be using it as my daily and will be towing a trailer with bikes on it most weekends.

I understand it would be nice to make it original again but given its current condition I would like to spend my money wisely and and have a car thats easy to drive rather than feel like im flogging a tractor. Ive got an 80 series land cruiser and while I know the landy wont ever be the same as driving the cruiser I dont want to sell the cruiser once the landy is done and wish had of kept it.

Little things like being able to 100 on a highway, being able to overtake cars up hill would be nice. I know the beauty of the landy is how the roughness of it but ideally I would like to modernize it just a bit. I dont think it would see much serious off road stuff, the majority will be sealed road with a bit of towing a bike trailer every other weekend.

Haven't ruled it out but its not what I would ideally want

You could always convert it to a 200 tdi

I dont know much about diesels so I reckon a conversion may be a little out of my depths when trying to most things myself but I guess a complete motor/box/case already together would be simpler than conversion plates housings etc. Hmmmm interesting...... some info would be appreciated, thanks

Hi Slim,

The 200tdi motor will bolt straight onto the the series 4 speed motor. Gearbox, diffs and axles are purported to handle the power, as long as you don't make a point of abusing the hell out of them.

Have a look in 'the good oil' for the thread on series diesel conversions.

If you are keen to do 100km/h (efficiently and comfortably) you may be keen to up your ratios somewhere along the driveline. There is plenty of info on the thread about it.

Have you got some pics of your series?

Sam

G'day Sam,

have no pics but will go out tomorrow and get some, just be prepared its not a pretty sight. Basically a roller with a flatbed trailer covered in 'bits'.

Will check out the 'good oil' thread, thanks very much. Will the 200tdi be much improved or is it more of an increase in torque and still still reving out to 4000rpm. Will using another landy 5 speed box or auto help out on the highway or do I look for the o/drive for my current 4 speed?

There are a few options for upping your ratios. As with everything, they all come with pros and cons. You can fit bigger rubber, 3.54 diff centres, an overdrive, or fit different ratios in the gearbox from various suffix changes.

Spend a bit of time searching the forum, and you should get a good idea of your options. they have all been covered fairly thoroughly.

Cheers,

Sam

Originally Posted by Slim

I dont know much about diesels so I reckon a conversion may be a little out of my depths when trying to most things myself but I guess a complete motor/box/case already together would be simpler than conversion plates housings etc. Hmmmm interesting...... some info would be appreciated, thanks

The 200Tdi is a no brainer fitment just dropped one in my shorty its just so easy and in a 88" lots of get up and go due to the light weight nature of them. With 3.54 diffs and an overdrive 120kmh easy achiever with still more left on the pedal. Mind you at those speeds parabolics brake booster and 6 cylinder drums a must, you get to go fast but far better to stop in my opinion. Happy to chat to you about it PM me , but as previously said there are plenty of threads on the sight. For me the simplist approach was stage 1 axels/diffs and a Toro over drive, again straight bolt on affairs. If your considering a V8 and turbo auto to a tranfer case there is lots of engineering issues, again check it out first.
Garry