I am very happy that things have continued to go well. There have been some hiccups, but nothing insurmountable. Hopefully it continues that way! I really appreciate all of the support and interest of this forum! I hope that soon we can meet up with some fellow Rover owners and show everyone one of the conversions.

 

I'm definitely interested in one of your kits. I don't even have a D2 but I have always wanted to pick one up. The only thing stopping me was the problematic 4.6.

 

Update: We're moving right along. Currently we have two builds ongoing. We're hoping to have the first of the two up and running by Thanksgiving.

I have created a form to judge interest in different build configurations moving forward. If you are interested please fill this out.

https://goo.gl/forms/N3MbpVynOA7krKZg1

I know a lot of people in the same boat. Hopefully this swap will make the D2 more attractive to a lot of people. This actually came up the other day when I was at a gas station. A man in a lifted Jeep came over and we got to talking out the Discovery. He said he had always wanted one, but was afraid of the engine. So then I showed him what was under the hood. He said he would buy one if it had an LS.

 

I submitted my from, but selected 1999 model. I actually have a 1997 D1. Could you change the form to allow D1's just to gauge interest?

 

I just added it. Thanks

 

Thank you, I resubmitted. Hopefully it wouldn't take much for the kit to work with the D1.

 

It should not be too difficult to make it work with the D1. I am fairly sure that the transmission and engine would bolt up with the adapters we have right now. I'm confident the motor mounts would also work. The accessories are different between the D1 and D2, but I've been working on using the GM accessories as on option on a future build, so I am sure that those would work with the D1. As for the electronics, I'm sure it would not be very difficult to figure it out. The GEMS system is much simpler than Bosch. With the D1 you also don't have to worry as much about the electrically-controlled transmission, ABS/TC/HDC module, and most everything else that makes the D2 electrically-challenging. I need to take a look at the D1 manual, but I am very confident that we should be able to make a D1 work with this kit easily.

 

Completed the Google form as requested.

Another question, How is the fuel economy now that you have gotten a couple longer trips under your belt?

 

Thank you for filling out the form. The fuel economy has been better than the Rover V8. I'd say on a highway trip I'm averaging around low 18 mpg on regular 87 fuel. I haven't done a lot of around-town driving. I can only estimate because I have been messing around with optimizing the tune, so that probably is messing with the numbers a bit. I have noticed that I stop at the gas station a bit less and using the 87 rather than the 93 helps quite a bit. I still have some more optimizing to do.

Please continue filling out the form if you're interested. So far it is looking that most people prefer the Land Rover accessory setup (65-35) and the non-emissions and emissions kits are split about 50-50.

For this next build, I think we are going to change things slightly and go with a GM power steering pump, but continue to use the Rover A/C compressor and alternator. The GM power steering pump has an integrated tank, which would allow us to get rid of the factory tank and free up some more space under the hood. The GM factory A/C compressor on the LS engines is placed down underneath the passenger exhaust manifold. I don't really like the idea of putting the A/C that low, especially in a off-road truck. We're going to stick with the Rover A/C up top and I'll look for options on using a GM compressor in a similar position. Either way, in the end, we're going to make brackets for both sets, starting with the Rover accessories.

 

Sounds good so far I answered GM accessories but only for ease of junkyard finds. Rover stuff up high works for me too