Did a search in here, and didn't find anything about swapping a Chevy or Ford small block V8 into a Disco 1. Since the stock motor is an old 4.0 (240 c.i.) GMC V8, wouldn't something like a 283 Chevy engine or 289 Ford engine fit? Since the 4.0 is a GMC design, I'm thinking a 283 would present less of an issue getting the stock D1 trans to work? And dropping in a carburetted 283 would probably avoid a bunch of electrical nightmares, trying to swap the 4.0 harness to a 283?

I'm just thinking out loud here, because with the cost of a rebuilt 4.0 long block at $6K, I'd be willing to experiment with dropping in a 283 or 305 Chevy engine instead.

Thoughts? Comments?

 

No emissions where you live I'm guessing.
I'd love to see a comprehensive build thread on it. I was thinking a Ford 308 might be nice.

 

I am sure anything is doable dependent on your skill and wallet lol

There are adapters to make the trans work but Iirc it may not handle more HP well from what I read

 

Well it would probably have to be a Buick Pontiac or Olds motor since the motor was part of that division back in the day and appeared in Buicks and Old cars. One of those would probably mate up to the tranny, but that's just a guess on my part. Buick/Olds dropped the aluminum engine and went with the Cast Iron version because there weren't as many bad castings as they were getting from the Aluminum Casting processes in the early 60's and weight/economy became less of a factor as the country prospered. And the mid to late 60's Buick V8's were quick and kick-butt. I've read that the Buick cast iron V8 was the same basic block as the early aluminum. I know my brother and I ran a couple Buick 350's (cast). Jeep used them in full-sized Wagoneers for a time and they were known for great longevity. I'm not sure if a late 70's Buick small block would bolt up or not. Good question. Depends on the bellhousing of the ZF tranny. I would get on the Buick Skylark GS board, or if there is a Wildcat or Olds forum and see what the later Buick V8 compatibility was. I think I heard some old timers say they used to swap in cast buicks when the aluminum engines blew head gaskets and croaked.

Otherwise, you could take a whole driveline out of a full-sized Chevy pickup and drop it in, but the rear center diff is off-center on a L/R where it is on the center of a Chevy. Jeeps have an off-center rear I believe. You could get away with it but your driveshaft will run at an additional angle if that matters to you. If you haven't done it before be prepared for a lot of work. Get a used block and have it rebuilt or something. I've done that before, swapped in a whole driveline from another vehicle. You need a good set of tools and fab skills, electronics saavy, welder/torches. Electronics aren't going to work right, bells and whistles are going to need to be dealt with. A cast v8 engine is going to weigh more and so springs probably need changing, crap like the oil pan and exhaust manifolds usually don't line up, shift linkages take way more time to get right than you think they should, fuel delivery has to be reworked. If you've done it before then you know what I mean. If you do a crap job it doesn't take as much effort, but then you have all the gremlins of a crap job. It always turns out to take way more than ya ever thought. When ya get about 1/2 of the way into the project (too late to turn back) I'm always tellin' myself I shoulda just spent the money and got what you had fixed, or just bought another used motor or $3000 Disco. Besides that, carbs are so old-school. I guess you could go with a FAST EFI. Maybe a modern Buick V6 with hop-up parts would fit in and you could keep your springs, tranny, and remap the computer but keep it EFI.

Bear in mind that this Aluminum engine was used for many race applications and even in the Indy 500. The Britts mostly got the diesels but some have the V8's and they are prized by many for their build-up potential. If you wanted, the parts/resources are there to make it a fire breathing monster.

 

there is no reason to swap anything but a LS motor IMHO. 5.3/4L80E/LT230. then be prepared to break axles.

 

Some guy on one of the other rover forums did a ford 302 swap that worked up pretty well.
But building up this engine would be the way to go IMHO. Put the conversion money in the block of the original. Plenty of guys in the UK have bored the block out to 5 liters. Aggressive cam, high flow heads, headers, etc.. this engine could easily produce way more power with no changes to electrical and driveline.

Of course this is alot of shop time. But if you had the equipment and knowledge, that's the way I would go. I actually like this engine design. All alloy, compact design, yeah more bank for the buck in rebuild than swap.

 

Yeah that's right.
Rover actually gets a lot of acolades for their work optimizing this engine over the years, getting out the GM bugs to make it a lot better motor. I like GM motors too, don't get me wrong. Moving the oil pump, improving the castings.

The engine in my Disco is the smoothest running motor I think I have of all my cars (other than maybe our Jeep Overland 4.3 HO SOHC motor -- that thing has SNORT!)

 

Here is a link to a list of engines that would be easy to swap to the existing tranny.

ZF 4HP22 transmission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

FIFY. and yea, those things have *****.

theres a guy on pirate with a bimmer motor in his RRC. pretty sure he used a M30.

 

There is also a guy putting one in his Defender. The BMW engine was actually used in Aussie Defenders I believe.

I also meant to add that our motor is based on the Buick 215 V8