Thread: crazy idea ???

Nothing wrong with the recipe.

I'm sure you know that how good it will turn out depends on how well you execute the details.

I agree John , a well executed plan will result in a great quality product. This is Just an idea I've been toying with for a long while , this would be a very comfortable , capable and reliable Rig , the only road block for me is not having the space or a Shed to start on this project.

Originally Posted by Disco_owner

I Love current V8 for sand dunes but hardly spend any time at stockton these days.

I had a 4.2 litre Vitesse V8 in my County for many years and do some serious sand driving trips. When I did my conversion to the 4BD1T, I was worried that I might miss the V8 at times, but I can honestly say that the Isuzu Turbo is better on the sand than the V8 was, and I have never missed the V8 on, or off road in any situation.........well, maybe the exhaust note, but that's all.

Murray

Originally Posted by rijidij

I had a 4.2 litre Vitesse V8 in my County for many years and do some serious sand driving trips. When I did my conversion to the 4BD1T, I was worried that I might miss the V8 at times, but I can honestly say that the Isuzu Turbo is better on the sand than the V8 was, and I have never missed the V8 on, or off road in any situation.........well, maybe the exhaust note, but that's all.

Murray

I'm really over the "exhaust note" of the V8 yeah sure it sounds sweat, but the "fuel consumption" is one of the reasons that has initiated this notion of moving to an oiler , It is terrible around town with 33" tyres and standard Diff ratio (3.54 cwp)

Originally Posted by rijidij

I had a 4.2 litre Vitesse V8 in my County for many years and do some serious sand driving trips. When I did my conversion to the 4BD1T, I was worried that I might miss the V8 at times, but I can honestly say that the Isuzu Turbo is better on the sand than the V8 was, and I have never missed the V8 on, or off road in any situation.........well, maybe the exhaust note, but that's all.

Murray

The exhaust note is the only thing I miss, very true. Off road the Isuzu is superb no doubt. Fully loaded towing the camper on 35's it still rounds up the V8's on hills and returns great economy. You forget how forgiving they are offroad untill you jump into something else.

Justin

Nothing to stop you doing axles now and engine/box later. Or even the other way around.

With what you are thinking, the 2 issues that would be at the top of my list are:

1. adaptor for LT230 to Isuzu gearbox

2. starter motor clearance to chassis rail

I like the idea of a 4BD1T and gearbox from an Isuzu truck. As you seem to be thinking this way, I suggest you look seriously at getting one of the small batch that the_grubb is making

If you have looked at that thread, you will notice that the starter he used when checking the truck flywheel housing, didn't foul the chassis (unlike my different starter). So there is a solution - you just need to find one of those starters.

Going with the Isuzu gearbox, you will have IMHO a better gearbox than LT95, better clutch, and avoid having to find many other hard to get parts that Land Rover used.

There will be other issues like 24V alternator and engine mounts, but none too difficult to work around.

Edit: For what it's worth, if you are going to fit Nissan axles, I would fit them before or preferably at the same time as the 4BD1T. The Nissan pumpkin is a bit larger and the tie rod is higher than rover. So you would not get a nasty surprise with engine to diff/tierod clearance later on. Also uni-joints on Nissan driveshafts are much better than rover with their narrow yokes and small joints, and they will mate with the pinion flange.

Also wouldn't you have to beef up the suspension..I had a Series 3 stg 1 3.9d and that donk was heavy.They catered for it with beefed up front suspension.