Thread: 1978 S3 SWB with Nissan ED33 3.3 Diesel

Hi There All,

Great forums everyone, i have been readin over the past few days.
Im amazed the following Land Rovers have!
I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this for me...
(I'm a newbie to LR's so excuse me)

I have the opportunity to buy a 78 Series III SWB, that has been fitted with a ED33 Nissan Diesel and 5spd Box. (3.3 Cyl)
I believe it has been engineered for this and the conversion looks very neat. Engine runs very well and gearbox is sweet.
All electrics work
Suspension looks OK, but needs shocks and bushes.

It's been sitting in a paddock for 3 years so it has a few issues...

Issues:

Broken Rear Axle
It's not currently registered and it has some rust in the:
Doors (below the windows)
Small amount at rear of the chassis rails (behind the spring hangers)
Small amount behind the dash (one small patch)
Interior needs full refurbishment.
Needs Respray and seals replaced in doors, body etc..

Im hoping someone can advise me here.. What sort of price should i be paying for a vehicle like this?
And are replacement parts readily available? Such as doors?

The ED33 and all-syncro box makes it appealing to me - and it seems basic to work on, im just worried about
parts availability.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Originally Posted by cycomick

Hi There All,

Great forums everyone, i have been Reading over the past few days.
I'm amazed the following Land Rovers have!
I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this for me...
(I'm a newbie to LR's so excuse me)

I have the opportunity to buy a 78 Series III SWB, that has been fitted with a ED33 Nissan Diesel and 5spd Box. (3.3 Cyl)
I believe it has been engineered for this and the conversion looks very neat. Engine runs very well and gearbox is sweet.
All electrics work
Suspension looks OK, but needs shocks and bushes.

It's been sitting in a paddock for 3 years so it has a few issues...

Issues:

Broken Rear Axle
It's not currently registered and it has some rust in the:
Doors (below the windows)
Small amount at rear of the chassis rails (behind the spring hangers)
Small amount behind the dash (one small patch)
Interior needs full refurbishment.
Needs Respray and seals replaced in doors, body etc..

I'm hoping someone can advise me here.. What sort of price should i be paying for a vehicle like this?
And are replacement parts readily available? Such as doors?

The ED33 and all-syncro box makes it appealing to me - and it seems basic to work on, I'm just worried about
parts availability.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

The engine and gearbox come out of an Nissan Cabstar light truck.
The only bit different is the part where it fits to the land rover transfer case.
Marks 4wd in Melbourne made an casting to attach where the extension housing went.
That truck had an extra gear stick that activated on overdrive on the back of the gear box.
Marks 4wd had this gearbox to fit several vehicles.
What happened in your case was someone probably bought the engine from a wreck and fitted it at the same time.
You see they never had an adaptor plate for any standard land rover engines, some people fitted a Isuzu but this required an adaptor plate.
What you have would be a good combination in a shorty.
I fitted the same combination into a S3 lwb in about 1992 and sold it in about 1996. So where out there in my old car, it was a good combination.
Incidental Marks 4wd stopped supplying those boxes about 10yrs ago. But I don't think you would have any problems with the gearbox as it was from a much heavier vehicle.
The other bit you are after should not be hard to get, just a bit of time and effort.
You could get a lwb rear axle complete and just fit brakes and drums up to it, then you would eliminate the broken rear axle problem.