Originally Posted by Charlie_V

I've researched every possible engine swap. For gas, or diesel, assuming it is a non electronic engine, you have to buy or make an adapter and motor mounts and have a transmission controller. Plus the engine. And an adapter from the engine to the transmission. Or get rid of the transmission and get a non electronic one (no controller needed), including a manual, and unless it is a non electronic zf4hp22/4, you will also need to adapt to the transfer case. There are some adapters for nv4500 transmissions, for example. R380 manual Rover transmissions, with clutch etc., are as plentiful as hens teeth and as cheap as gold bars.
If is an electronic engine, start getting that electrical engineering and computer programming degree right now.

I think with all variations you will lose traction control, abs, and hill descent, but I haven't gotten that far.

The kits are great. I like those. But read the fine print, you have to buy a bunch of extra stuff for a Disco II.

Also that's just to get you moving. Sorting out the remaining electronics and ses codes is another chapter.

Originally Posted by Charlie_V

I've spent about 50k on mine, including purchase price, interest, and repairs. But if I tried to sell it I'd get, well, alot less. And thats why people pause, I think, and it is a valid reason.

I don't plan to sell mine, ever. I kept it in a garage for five years so if I planned to sell it I would have. For junk! I'm glad I didn't.

And if I got a new engine I'd put it in myself but it would be ready to turn on before I took Delivery.

Originally Posted by DiscoCam

Doing the head gaskets yourself would be the cheapest option. However, that is often very tedious and you could possibly have a slipped liner. If that were mu truck, I would do head gaskets along with a pressure test.

If you think your motor is too high mileage for your taste or just might be worse for wear, get a used 4.0L from the junkyard. They will be complete with less miles than your truck. You can get them well under $2k. If you are willing to do the work yourself, this would be a great option.

Also check ebay for motors. If you buy one with a warranty from a reputable seller, then you are also in business.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by binvanna

No. It's if you're paying for parts and labor to have someone else install it. There's several people on here that have had a mechanic install a top-hat or flanged liner rebuilt motor, and I'm sure their total cost was similar. If you buy the rebuilt motor and install it yourself, you probably save a few thousand dollars. Most people don't have the equipment to rebuild a motor, much less install flanged liners and blueprint it, but perhaps if you buy a flanged short-block and rebuilt heads and do some of the assembly yourself, you might save another thousand or so in labor.

I think JE Robinson's advice is spot on. If you need out of the Discovery II situation or you're only likely to keep it another year before you're ready to throw in the towel, then swap in a used motor and flip it so everything else is someone else's problem. If you're sure that you're dedicated to it, do it completely right, but plan on it costing you the price of a totally sorted motor, and the labor (yours or theirs) to install it, and figure that it won't stop there. The motor may be sorted at that point, but there's plenty more to be done. According to the OP, he's already spent a ton on other things, but even if I was him, I'd plan on more yet.

Robinson's comparison to a $50,000+ Defender is fair. If Discoverys had a resale value as high as that, none of us would be questioning whether or not to do this stuff. We'd just question whether we had the money. But over the long term, a Discovery is often a ~$50,000 proposition. People who have had them for 10 years or more are likely to have spent nearly that much or more. People who acquired them more recently may have done so for significantly less than $10,000, but are not likely to keep them for another 15 years or more without making it up. While the proposition to buy a depreciated vehicle seems thrifty in the short term, in the true long term (15 or 20 years), the TCO is closer to a wash. If the owner is less willing to accept decay, rust, interior wear and tear, then the maintaining a vehicle for the last 20 years of its life is probably a lot more expensive than maintaining it for the first 20.

Originally Posted by Ross Peeler

Wow 50k?? Did you buy yours brand new?? I picked mine up for 3k..and its been great! Up until now of course...

Originally Posted by longtallsally

If I'm honest, this is a depressing thread. When I was into BMW E30s, mileage really was irrelevant as the various motors in them would way outlast the chassis. A blown up in line 6 cyl in one of those things basically never happens- the only issue is that it's an interference motor requiring careful attention to the maintenance schedule of the timing belt.

All this aside, basically what I'm continuing to see is that with this inherently flawed design is a ticking time bomb more or less. This leaves one to think a swap to a more reliable design a better option. However, that is only if you are in total love with the chassis and vehicle as a whole and the return on the investment even then will be VERY long.

It puts me into a quandary. I really like the Disco I just got and anticipate I'll enjoy it for a good while. But I'm wondering just how careful I need to be with the cost/benefit analysis in keeping it for the long haul.

I guess I'll play it by ear as I've not even gotten to enjoy driving it much as of yet with waiting for some cooling system parts, and sorting out the 3 amigos (SHOCKER!!!!).

I also just saw one of those "Dirt Everyday" episodes from youtube where they put in what is going to be a 50 state legal 4 cylinder diesel from Cummins. Now this is definitely going to cost in the neighborhood of getting a long block Rover motor done, but man it sure seems like a better option as the ROI will come in faster with economy and reliability savings.