Ok, enough waiting. The build to put my 0m617 into my 95 R380 Discovery officially started yesterday.

Was raining a little in the morning but the day turned out to be be nice. Got the 3.9 removed, removed the flywheel from the om617, and the pressure plate etc from the 3.9. Friend took all the measurements, and it looks like I need to order a 20x20 3/4 plate of aluminum to make the adapter. He's going to try and reuse the original discovery flywheel, and mill the center of it to correct the bolt pattern to the back of the om617.

I know about the clearance issue with the oil pan... So, I'm leaning toward doing a TF 3 in lift, and also a 2 inch body lift to give me more room. Should allow me to reinstall the engine a little higher. I'm sure altering the pan will be required also.

The clutch in the r380 was all but completely shot, worn almost smooth with actual contact damage in the springs themselves. Hot spots showing on pressure plate So they will have to be resurfaced, etc. So I'll be ordering the master rebuilt kit and rebuilding the transmission as well.

Next step clean up the engine bay, and remove anything that will not be reused, same for all the computers etc on the inside. Basically strip it down to nothing. The only thing I'm keeping is the current A/C system.

Also, to drop the trans so we can work on doing that rebuild and fab up the adapter plate. I know others have used the om616 manual flywheel, but my friend doesn't see any reason why the rover one would not work just fine.

One note,The A/C in this truck worked great, both front and rear. So, I removed it from the engine and left it intact for now, you see it laying to the side. We will address making a custom bracket to run it on the om617 later. I figured keeping it all sealed etc for as long as possible removes some of the risk of damaging a working system or getting crap into it.

My inspiration http://njlr.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=290&p=4042
I'll update the tread as the project goes.

 

Man awesome...I am wanting to do this to my AUTO D1...

 

Found that little bolt for the starter heat shield inside the motor mount I see... looks great, when done don't forget our tech sticky has a write up on a DIY pollen filter that will keep leaves and crap out of the engine bay and fresh air intake to HVAC fan.

 

Most everything I read is saying that doing this swap to the auto is very difficult due to the shift points being wrong for the diesel. It's been figured out by others, but from what I gather is quite expensive. The R380 makes this a fairly simple swap. (other than the oil pan sump issue).

That said, I'm not building the truck to to be a hardcore off road monster... just a solid daily driver that gets good MPG and can see mild to medium trails if I want to scout for new photo locations etc. With the R380 and a om617 that only has 6500 miles on it since the full rebuild, I should see many years out of this truck dependably and a lot easier on the wallet than the 3.9. (both in fuel and fixing)

Just the fact the engine had a botched head gasket job,and a bad oil pump gear and front cover (and a missing vac advance on the dist. etc) the swap should be cheaper than fixing the original engine. (I happen to already have the om617 just sitting here)

 

Ya, there will be a lot of detailing after I'm sure the truck is running again. first things first!

 

Manually shifting the Auto should take care of the shift points..shouldnt it?

 

nice. keep going.

 

Good stuff

 

Any updates?

 

Not yet, I have been busy this week with a few photo shoots etc. The metal for the adapter has been ordered and waiting on it. Still going over the best option for the lifting of the truck etc. Sold my 560Sl today, money will be going into the build.