series 3, holden 6, nissan 5 spd???

[hoocho]

Very new here & to the landrover world so be gentle.
The 1980 series 3 i have bought has a holden 202 in it. It came with a nissan 5 spd box that was supposedly right to bolt straight in. Having matched it up to the motor - it seems to be about 100mm further back than the stock gearbox so the drive shafts etc dont fit. Not sure what to do with this - do we modify the drive shafts & gearbox mounts? Has anyone come across this?

[clubagreenie]

How far forward is the motor? Has the front cross member been modded to move the rad forward or is it in the std location and the motors moved back?

From memory my old mans we moved forward and much later in life when he fitted the nissan box it was straight in.

[hoocho]

thanks for the tip - the more i think about it the more i think that the motor needs to go forward, even if it means fiddling with the radiator to make it fit. (remove fan and move radiator as far forward as possible). Has to be easier than modifying drive shafts x 2 & the gear sticks which are too far back. Has anyone else had this issue?

[isuzurover]

You can do either (move drivetrain forward or modify shafts).
You may need to move the entire rad support panel forward and lengthen the back of the bonnet (many have donw this).

My preference though is to keep the weight further back if at all possible, as it is better offroad. Added to that, it retains the series look more...

[clubagreenie]

The original, and I'm talking v early 80's or even late 70's conversion kits the mounts placed the engine so the gerabox was in the original location. You needed to cut the front crossmember, referring from the rear upper edge, about half way forward and half way down and then cut at the sides where it meets the chassis rails. Then flip it over and welsd back in so you have a ledge for the radiator to sit on.

The original kits were an adaptor plate, mounts, a flywheel and an A4 sheet with a drawing on it. No info about which clutch/pressure plate it used (diaphragm/sprung). I can remember going with my old man to some guys house in North Rocks and them spending the day watching them paw over a bare front half of a S3 with a 186 on mounts thast sat on some rail welded to the chassis so it could be slid fore/aft.

[hoocho]

I dont have the old girl here to have a look at what you have suggested, so i will see it in the next few days and look at the details of moving the radiator a bit - hopefully if i remove the fan & just use the thermo on it, it may squeeze in without too much major operation....... the optimist in me coming out. Thanks for your help - i will let you know on the prgress

[hoocho]

I dont have the old girl here to have a look at what you have suggested, so i will see it in the next few days and look at the details of moving the radiator a bit - hopefully if i remove the fan & just use the thermo on it, the motor may squeeze in without too much major operation....... the optimist in me coming out. Thanks for your help - i will let you know on the prgress

[clubagreenie]

People will also tell you (including LR back in the 70's) you can't remove the gearbox through the inside of the car without removing the seatbase. You can and also it's also easier (well was on the kits we used) to remove the bell hsng bolts.

[Dave109]

I installed one of these in the 80's, the kit from Marks 4WD came with mounts to move the engine 100mm more forward. The instructions were cut the original front crossmember out from beside the relay box, and fit a new one made from 75 x 75 rhs with the rear face 1.5" in front of the front face of the old one. Worked ok I drove it for 20 years until I cooked the 186 due to loss of coolant. Its still in the yard may resurrect it if I find a cheap 186.

[hoocho]

So its all coming together pretty well. We bolted the gearbox in the correct place, remade the engine mounts so the engine can sit further forward, and are working out if we have to move the radiator forward a couple of inches. All in all a lot easier than moving the gearbox backward and dealing with those issues! The mechanical fuel pump may have to be blanked off for an electric one to fit the engine mount - all pretty straight forward, thanks again for your help.