^ Thanks much for this post!!!!! Very nice to hear a quick walk-through of how things went for you and I'm glad the forum helped you out as it has me.

-Greg

 

For anyone who is doing the swap please if you could do a build thread or post in this thread like the previous poster did. The more people we have do it and more people let us follow them through their experiances and issues the better this kit will be. Im sure ace's instructions will be sufficent but its always nice to see the install instructions and suggestions from fellow members

 

I agree. I think it would also be good for people to know what to expect going into this project.

 

Thank you so much for your summary, Carter2042. I've been patiently waiting for one of the beta-testers to post their experience so far.
I like how you jumped right into the cam swap. Can you talk more about how difficult it was to tune the engine with it being in the Land Rover?
Did you get the block or heads decked by a machine shop? Any machine shop work at all?

Apart from the original 5.3L parts that aren't compatible with this swap, can you talk about what you chose to replace internally in your engine?
I'm thinking about replacing the following...

• oil pump
• water pump
• front and rear main seals
• push rods
• lifters
• all gaskets
• cam bearings?
• piston rings?

 

I've got my finger on the purchase button just waiting.

I don't expect to do any motor work as I'll be going with a LM4 and I'd like to see what ~295hp / 335ftlbs feels like prior to increasing it. A free flowing exhaust will be in the mix and if I do any upgrades it'll be in search of more low/midrange power where the Disco will put it to good use. The stock 4.6 at 222hp & 300ft/lbs wasn't bad thought it was a big sluggish, I think the 25% increase in hp will be enough to make it what it should have been from the factory.

I will most likely do my install with a notepad and a gopro camera rolling or a lot of photos at worst.

-Greg

 

sure. Due to the large lift cam I chose hardened push rods, stock lifters and the Michigan Motorsports trunion upgrade for the rockers. All the gaskets I reused except the head gaskets and oil pain gasket because one came new with muscle car pan. But if my gaskets hadn’t been almost rusted through i would’ve reused those. Which by old standards would be insane. YouTube is full of videos of guys reusing GM MLS ahead gaskets, giving the motor 22# of boost and zero trouble. I really wanted to avoid the “might as well go ahead and replace this” theory on this project, because I know how expensive it gets.

I did do the cam bearings, but only because there were large chips. Apparently even chipped they will survive. All other bearings were marked and reused.

No machine work to the motor other than deglazing the cylinders myself. I replaced the rings with Mahle rings from Oriellys.

I really want to refrain from making people feel like they should or will need to dive in and disassemble their motor. I would definitely consider this step unnecessary even on my part. I took this step because I enjoy playing with motors. A LOT of people have put these 5.3s through a lot more and started off a lot worse. That’s why LS swaps are so popular.

 

I think your approach is a smart one.

As far as tuning went, the process is similar regardless of the vehicle. However I did have to pull some mid-range timing out due to knock.. I assumed this was due to the increased load from AWD

 

Thanks to the opportunity from Todd and Aaron at ACE, I am apart of Round 2 of Beta test. I've had my Disco since February of 19. I purchased it from a guy that attempted a HG job but I don't quite think he knew what he was doing. Back in April I obtained a LM7 for $600 from a buddies 04 Express van that he was parting out. He gave me all sensors plus the harness and ECU which saved about $500-600 overall. The 04 Express vans were still DBC which would be perfect for this build but they're the newer Blue/Green ECU which made it kind of difficult. I wasn't able to find a LM4 for even close to that price with everything included so I settled for the heavier iron block.

I did the LS harness rewire myself using LT1swap.com and the plethora of resources and videos that he has. I still had to dig for more schematics because it didn't necessarily match up with the either red/blue or green/blue so it was definitely time consuming making sure everything was traced correctly and getting rid of the wires I didn't need. I didn't do much else to the motor. I coated in POR-15 for protection and will be doing new HG and all new seals. I did go with the Muscle car oil pan per recommendation. I will not be going with a lift just yet as the budget does not allow it and I want to make sure I can actually get it running first.

I just removed the old 4.6 a week ago to find a bunch of wires unplugged and vacuum lines just hanging so I potentially could have tried to get the old motor running but did not feel like back tracking everything. And I just wanted to LS swap it and be done with it.

As it sits now I am still in the process of re-assembling the LS motor and getting ready to pull the Rover harness for its rewire to the LS harness and ECB. Everything that I have received from ACE has been good quality and you can tell a lot of thought and planning has gone into it. Any questions I've had Todd or Aaron has quickly helped me solve ot fix, so they're definitely standing behind their product and want to see its full success. I will continue to post on my progress on the swap and am anxious to actually get the LS dropped into the Rover.

 

The moment everyone has been waiting for! A big thank you goes out to our beta testers and the support from this forum.

Kits are now available for sale at www.alternativeconversion.com. Orders placed now will have a 5-6 week lead time from the order date. If the number of orders exceeds a predetermined amount that will make the lead time excessive, the ordering system will revert to out of stock.

If anyone has any questions or issues with ordering, please let me know via email.

 

Congrats ACE!