1. Yes, but you would probably need to move the engine forward a bit to ease up on prop angles. The combination would be about 4" longer.
2. Two UK companies make kits. I haven't personally done the conversin though.
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finding a disco is harder then i thought, and when i do its a v8, might have a look in townsville, they are everywhere in brisbane but its too far away from cairns, might have a drive around the streets and see if theres any on the side of the road for sale,
when i do the convertion i was going to sort out all the wiring and respray the interior, does anyone know if they make new wiring looms for the sereis? mines all brittle
I recon you'd be bang on there with the 4".. id b slow to move it forward tho for ease of fitment.. Here's a pic of where the hand brake drum of an LT230 sits when sat in a Series SWB chassis. Wife's Tdi is sat on the original mounts (so no change to the front), there's an LT77 behind that, and the gear lever comes up just behind the original hole. I've temporarily refitted the seat base and associated tinwork and the only bit that I'll have to remake is the tunnel piece where the lever comes thru. If you go this way, you will have to shorten the rear prop and cut down a disco rear prop for the front... (The way I've chosen, as a Series should have a Series front IMO...)
Here's a pic of the short rear prop. It looks steep here, but there's no weight on the chassis, and its also a military SWB chassis so the axles sit further away from the chassis. To get any 5 speed to fit properly, there is quite a bit of work involved... I removed both gearbox X members and utilised the original gearbox X member in a different place. I also manufactured new gearbox mount points off the chassis to carry the gearbox/transfer case as that's how they are on the LT77/LT230.. There's loads of pics here if you need more pointers... http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...beginning.html :)
So today, I go to the local landrover wreckers and ask for a 200tdi motor, they said they had one from a discovery with 270.000 k's on it, I said how much, he said $2000, go shove it, so on the same day I find a disco 1 in Innisfail about an hours drive away so I drive down to have a look, nice 200tdi with 5 speed manual with 280.000 on the clock and only just ran out of rego.exactly what I'm looking for and he said $1000, gave him the cash and I'm getting it tomorrow, went for test drive in it and it go's great, it will be hard getting used to the gearbox as the gears are only mm away unlike the series, everything is good in it the only bad part is the rust in it , I will feel bad about wrecking it as it's such a nice car but it needs to be done, anyway I can't stand the left hand indicator stalk so i won't be able to drive it, when I get my pulser on the road I'll start the conversion. And this shows how much wreckers rip you off, for half price I get a whole car with the same amount of k's, it even came with a UHF and half a tank of fuel, and my luck continuos the guy I got it off offered to transport it for me for free!
What's involved in using the 5 speed in the series ? Is it much hassle because I really don't want to use that 4 speed, good off-road but useless on the highway and can't stand it anymore
A defender LT77S 5-speed is a relatively easy fit, a disco is harder.
Two main issues:
1. The disco bellhousing is too long for your use - unless you want to move the engine about 12" forward and have a flat front end. You can buy a defender bellhousing and fit it to the disco box. From Ashcrofts in the UK if you cannot find one locally.
2. The disco gearshift is at the back of the box, the defender is in the middle. This will mean the gear lever will end up between the seats (or where the middle seat is currently). You may be able to live with this?