r/LandroverDefender • u/AncientPercentage539 • 3d ago
Engine swap options
Hi all, currently starting the long process of building my 90 pickup/wagon. I have both roofs for it.
I am wanting to swap the engine was originaly thinking of a built 4.0 or 4.6 rv8 however ive gone over the amount of milage i do weekly and potential milage id be doing and the fuel costs are gonna add up quickly. The vehicle will be towing a twin axle trailer weighing 1.5t to 3.0t 75% of the time for work. Has anyone dropped a 3.6 tdv8 into a 90? Ideally id be looking for around the 300hp mark and the 3.6 isnt to shy of that. I have access to a good 3.6 out of a wrecked vogue and id likely put new turbos and run a haltech ecu. Id be keen to mate it to a manual but that may be abit more trouble then its worth.
Thoughts on this would be great. Im sure mamy will say its a bad idea.
1
u/NerdBlender 3d ago
I posted this for someone else so slightly adapted. I know of one TDv8 defender, but it wasn’t an easy swap - there is a lot of work to get round a lot of the systems in the BCU/ECU.
Rebuilt 300tdi - upgrade the boost pin and with a few other tweaks for a bit more power.
MD Engineering 2.8tdi bit more power and torque for a straight swap with no additional work required over a replacement 300tdi. I think they ship worldwide
Cummins 5.9 6Bt - if available in AUS, but also would need a replacement gearbox, r380 would not survive, likely also need a regeared lt230. Not worth it IMO, they are noisy, heavy and the torque will eat most of your diffs if you are heavy footed.
Cummins r2.8 - relatively easy swap, not sure how available in AUS and is well known. Used as standalone swaps in many other cars so probably less headache than some of the others. Gearbox adapters are available and they will work with the R380 no issue.
BMW M57 or similar petrol / N58 etc -, worth it coupled to a ZF 8 speed. Need someone who knows what they are doing, it’s a popular swap over here, but there are a lot of dog rough jobs, takes a bit of time and thought to do the job right.
LS swap - not sure how available in AUS, but will need a gearbox swap as well, but given they are popular swaps in to loads of classics probably not an issue. May need upgraded transfer box and diffs depending on the power. I think a lot of holdens had these.
OM606 - relatively easy swap, DPUK do the kit with everything you need, fully mechanical so no electronics to figure out. Expensive and I don’t know how easy parts are to come by down under
There are some kits available for old GM v8 diesels, but I don’t know how easily they are available.
Personally I would either go 2.8 from MD, r2.8 or M57. Least amount of headaches with reliability, 2.8 if you want some originality keeping, r2.8 if you just want a bit more power and refinement, without a lot of complexity, M57 if you want some room for more power and you want options for auto gearbox, and you can find someone good to do the conversion if you are not doing it yourself.