I think the cheapest, easiest, and the most realistic way to go about it is to find a used td5 and ps3 to have it shipped over. Why else go through the headache. With the right hammer you can get a square peg in a round hole.

 

feasible yes, practical no

then you have to handle the whole emmision deal, because they never sent a desiel to NA.
so how is it going to be tested.

 

It will cost money and take some time but I would love to have one here as I own two in Europe, one Tdi 300 (95) and one Td5 (2002). I live in Washington state in a county that does emmission inspections so it is totally out of the question but I have done research into this.

Look on E-bay and other UK based classified. Be careful to get as complete a motor as possible as many listed will not have the turbo or other components attached. Like others have said a new wiring harness from the Td5 would be necessary and the intercooler. I have not confirmed this but the mounting might be different. Both the V-8 and Td5 spec the same transmission number but from a forum in Oz (Austrailia) the bell housing and torque converter would be different. I do not know if you would need a different instrument panel as I am not sure if the NAS has the display for the glow plugs although that would not be a big deal. A Td5 wiring harness would allow plug and play into the Td5 ECU and I would even play it safe and go with a TCU from the Td5. This would eliminate any electronic issues. If it is not out of the question I would personally visit England to inspect what you would be buying but this will add to the cost !

From my research, technically it is not allowed to replace a motor in a vehicle with any other motor (gas to diesel, diesel to gas, gas to gas) which was not offered by the manufacturer for the given car and the motor has to be of that year or newer. This is a federal law and one that my state enforces through emissions inspection. Although the Td5 was an option on the Disco for your year it wasn't spec'ed for those in NA so it would be down for interpretation. Importing the parts would be a challenge but not impossible. You might have an issue with customs depending on where it is entering the US. One way to possible get around this is to specify the motor is a replacement for an old Rover model pre 75. For shipping, depending on where you are located you could try and see if you could get consignment space in a container. It has been a few years since I have shipped anything to and from Europe but this is probably still the least expensive way to go.

Best of luck

 

Funny you should say that, the other day while I was sitting at a traffic light the sun hit my instrument panel in such a way that it showed the outline of the glow plug light so it's there (top right hand corner). I know in PA they will let you put a diesel if the engine is from the same year or newer, isn't a bigger displacement is US DOT certified and you re-register the vehicle as modified. I am trying to figure out how I can get a Td5 to look like a Merc/VM/Ford diesel from the outside (I would like to keep my LR all LR if I can help it).