Hello all,

I'm a new guy from Iowa here! I've been doing a bunch of reading and searching about this topic and I'm really leaning towards building a Discovery II with a GM 4.8/4l60e and a 241 transfer case. I have always loved the look of the Rovers, but with hearing the nightmare engine stories, I've always stayed away. I've been daily driving Jeeps of all varieties for the last 16 years, but most of the jeeps I've found lately have absolutely spanked interiors.

The driving force in this swap started with my dad wanting to give up his trusty ol rusty pickup. He owns a 2003 Silverado with a 4.8 that has 140,000 miles on it. The truck has been babied all its life, but he lives on a gravel road so the body looks like swiss cheese. I'll be buying the truck next weekend for next to nothing and will probably drive it for a while. It runs, shifts and operates perfectly. I also happen to own a NP241C from an older gm pickup that is passenger drop and has a fixed output yoke on it that was custom built by a machinist. The case was originally on an NV3500 that was mounted to an Isuzu diesel motor that powered a full size Jeep Cherokee...but that's a whole other story. There will be a few small issues to work out with this case, but from what I can tell, it should mount to the tranny and it already has a VSS tail housing.

I've been eyeing dad's truck for a while knowing he was going to sell it and have been contemplating what vehicle I would want to put the drivetrain in...the D2 seems like the obvious choice to me for a few reasons. 1.) I've always loved the way they look. 2.) They can be purchased very reasonably around here with immaculate interiors. 3.) The engines seem to fit well compared to other SUV's of that size. 4.) There seems to be an incredible knowledge base for these vehicles and that knowledge base includes a few LS swapped rovers. So far I've found swaps that use the D2 tranny and transfer case, a 4l80e with an adapter to the D2 transfer case and even one that used the 4l60e and the electric shift GM case.

So...phase 1 will be to purchase dad's truck next weekend and start driving it to make sure everything is fully operational and running tip top before the swap starts. I may even move to swapping headers in and dialing a tune in before pulling everything out.

Phase 2 will be to purchase a running and driving D2 sometime between May-July of this year and switch over to daily driving that till the snow falls. The hope is to find one with a great interior and not too many wiring gremlins. I'd prefer to be able to drive it for a while before the swap...just so I can make sure I like the way the Rover drives and feels before I gut it. I'd hate to be elbows deep in a swap just to hate the way it drives when its "finished"

Phase 3 will be the tear down and swap...this will most likely happen when one of two things happens...1) the frame on the pickup finally rusts through...though despite the body rust, it seems pretty solid. OR 2.) The Rover engine gives up the ghost. Hopefully by then, I will have accumulated the parts I need and some more knowledge. I feel fully capable of doing the wiring myself and will be starting with complete harnesses and ALL of the parts I need from the donor. I've also included a picture of my 241...the only catch is that the transfer case is still in the garage of the house that we own in New York, and I'm in Iowa. Hopefully none of our tenants have sold it, and hopefully we can pick it up when I'm there in June.

That's it for now! I realize this is a big undertaking, and I'm no stranger to the work that's involved. Hopefully things will get rolling sooner rather than later!!