Thread: Left leg amputation - Auto conversion - 110 300tdi

Hi Carl. Sorry to hear about your leg mate. This is something I have always wanted...a TDi auto (too hard with the TD5). My LR mech tells me that this is not TOO hard to do & I'm sure that a couple of good folk on this forum have indeed gone down this route. Looking forward to the smart folk enlightening me Good luck with your venture Carl. Sounds like you love the car so go for it.

Very easy conversion. Cost will be determined by the source for the trans. ie Reco, 2nd hand.
Simplest way is to take the box,mounts,torque converter,flywheel etc. from a Discovery 1.
I have done an electronic auto TD5 conversion in my 130 and aside from the electricals (which wont apply to yours) it is essentially bolt in.


Someone else will be able to steer you to the right help in VIC.

Welcome to the forum Carl. Is it too soon to think of a joke involving a 1 legged Pom driving a Land Rover?

Forgive me if I'm being rude, I mean no offence and please tell me if I have and I'll remove my comment.

Yes, you're stuck with an Auto now even when you get your prosthetic leg fitted and you're whizzing around on it - my next door neighbour had a motorbike accident that involved the same amputation and although you'd never know to look at him get about unless he's wearing shorts, he's in the same boat. His fix for this was to buy a Captiva - I like your idea much better.

The job is certainly doable, but no idea of the details or costs - as mentioned someone here will know more.

Hope you're getting about better soon and the transition to your prosthetic goes smoothly. My neighbour has 3 different ones - a good going out leg that looks quite natural, a 'wet leg' for the shower and his 'terminator' leg which he wears most of the time made from carbon fibre and shiny bits.

All the best - Gav.

An easy conversion and one that would make me swap my D1 to a TDi fender, i reckon with a donor D1 on hand the swap could be done in a weekend.

And here is a donor vehicle -

Land rover discovery | Cars, Vans & Utes | Gumtree Australia Kingston Area - Dingley Village | 1134923465

Hi Carl, sorry to hear about the leg - that sucks. Hope the recovery goes ok. As for your Defender, there's plenty of info on conversions with the 300Tdi being one of the easier ones. Good choice on keeping it!

Go to the search bar at the bottom of the page and type in "automatic defender" or similar terms and it will give you somewhere to start. You can also then contact the guys on here who have done the conversion before for more info.

Hi Carl,
I have an auto big cab 300tdi Defender and it is just the best thing to drive--makes the car a dream as compared to a manual in traffic etc and also great off road. My conversion used a brand new Diso 1 auto box and was fitted by Davis Performance Landys in Annangrove Sydney but am sure Melbourne has equal people. We also got a great centre console as part of the conversion. There are a number of auto Defenders here in Sydney.

Only thing we learned was that you must add in a second or larger transmission oil cooler as the first one fitted in front of the radiator was insufficient and we ran very high temperatures -- in fact off the gauge--when in Vic High County with a heavy Northstar slide on camper. My suggestion is to insist on more cooling as once we added a second cooler it now runs about 73degrees most of the time and we have an electric fan wired in to come on about 75degrees--solved all overheating conditions. We have now done over 100K kms with it and everyone who drives it loves it.
You will not miss the manual believe me.
Good luck.

I'm lead to believe the MR Automotive up here in QLD will do it for ~$8K, including all parts and labour.