Thread: '93 200tdi discovery gearbox dramas

Originally Posted by crocky

G'day all I've bought myself a '93 200tdi With a gearbox in pieces on the back seat. I sourced another box from a local wreckers that came out of another '93 200tdi. I'm currently attempting to put it in but have had abit of an issue. The gearbox I've bought has a serial 55A suffix J and the one pulled from the car is a 54A suffix E. the 54 is physically 1 inch longer in the bell housing (54A bellhousing no. HRC 1820, 55A bellhousing no. HRC 2641) and input shaft is thinner in diameter. The spigot bush in the car was flogged out, I thought because of the difference in the input shaft diameter, as I installed a new one that's a snug fit on the shaft of the 55A box. My question is could I just keep plugging away putting the 55A in and modify the crossmember or do I need to source another box? Im guessing none of the trims would fit though? I've had issues with rover gearboxesnot matching, being the proud owner of a seemingly rare '90 rrc 3.9 manual! Any help would be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Crocky's

The HRC2641 is I think a R380 bellhousing, and the thinner input shaft spigot is a V8 one by the sounds of it. Maybe the 93 from the wreckers was actually a V8, not a Tdi? Or was the box in the back of the vehicle a bitsa??

JC

It's possible that others have tried using a v8 gearbox in a tdi - I did, and it worked for a while. One of the problems was the spigot bearing. Mine flogged out too, but I put that down to a worn bearing between the input and main shafts. Having a custom spigot bush just may not work in the long run.

( Using a V8 R380 in a Tdi)

However, since the previous owner may have tried that with the LT77 gearbox ( which is what the 54A... E gearbox should be), maybe they lost the tdi crossmember too . The 55A...J should be a 300tdi R380 gearbox, so the wreck it came from should have a tdi cross member too. It's a squarish design with big end plates combining gearbox and TC mounts (Unlike the V8 version). Go back to the wreckers, get the crossmember and everything should end up fitting together.

Thanks for the replies guys. The thinner shaft was on the old box 54A and that was my initial thoughts that it was a v8 box. The crossmember is a square one with only the one mount and that's how the mount is on the 55A box but it's just going to end up about an inch too short, I'm not worried about this as the bracket has enough meat to modify. Ill have to get onto the wreckers and grab that crossmember that hadn't even crossed my mind! Would the shifters end up in the right spot? From what I've read the 54A is the box fitted to a vm powered classic! Thanks again guys
Cheers
Crocky

The R380 went behind the 300Tdi. I think that they moved the engine forward in the 300Tdi. Not 100% on that but if it is so then the location of the gear levers will be a bit different.

Thanks for the idea mate, wouldn't that mean that the r380 would have a longer bellhousing not shorter than the lt77? I'll get the shifter and crossmember off the donor and see how it all goes! In terms of clutch and fork assembly are they all the same? Sorry for all the questions just wanting to get the thing on the road!
Cheers
Crocky