I intend to off-road too (in the D2 limits but I'll put a wheel in the air a few times a day) but are you sure the drive-train will be up to the task? Most folks barely off-road the D2, oppose to the Pirate 4x4 and Jeep forum groups where all of us were locked on 35's with S88 axles and 4-link suspension (I was a superior axle fan boy with my built 8.8 in those days), I don't imagine the rest of the drive-train on this Disco 2 are going to be up for the task, maybe yours is better setup though. Still I don't think this vehicle has hardly any business being seriously wheeled without replacing every single bit of the drive train being replaced, I mean the axles and differentials are TINY for the weight of the vehicle, 24 spline compared to even the smallest Jeep rear axle which is famous for being weak and has 27 spline. I'm a little shocked that the axles aren't larger, on par with at least a D44 (31 spline) but maybe the axle spline teeth are larger. I've HEARD, that they're on par with a D44 which in a much lighter Jeep is really the minimum for even locked 33's. I've perhaps a nostalgic image and I can't bring myself to remove SLABS for example from a D2. I could have much more easily swapped this engine out and entire drive-train to a far superior setup but it wouldn't have SLABS and to me, it wouldn't be a Disco2 any more. I believe I've heard that the V12 Mercs of yesteryear were putting quite a bit of tq to the 24 series, I figure with a transmission cooler they could handle a reasonable amount.

I would bet the extra power would be nice for freeway driving on 35's though. Still I think you could accomplish that with just gearing, I suppose you could give it a go and find out though honestly I think you'd find that 300hp and a re-gear would suffice. Figure a wrangler was 3900lbs and 200hp was half decent in it, so 5000lbs and 300hp seems like it'd be roadworthy. Just throwing some numbers out for myself as much as for you.

 

Yea I am pretty sure. The weak part of the drivetrain is the ring and pinion. Most think its the axles which wouldn't hurt to upgrade. That is why I am going with the reverse rotation gears. Also driveshafts, but we all know that. I am not scared to take the D2 anywhere honestly. And you're right on the gearing. Where did you wheel?

 

Well, I grew up around this area (Washington) and was at Reiter (local spot) as a kid but I spent 8 years in SoCal so I ended up all over the area, did Moab, Calrocks, Rubicon and a few others but usually spent time at my local wheeling places with buddies more than we did the famous spots, I rarely had the time to spend to travel and trailer the rigs very far except on occasion.

If it isn't the axles that are the weak link, I won't be upgrading them, I prefer to brake axle shafts over a ring & pinion any day! At least we don't have a C-clip axle from what I'm seeing.

 

I'm in Puyallup. I have a kit already and a L33 i'm working on. Taking it slow but working on it.

 

Wow, a lot of WA based D2 owners!!!

The wife has a vinyl cutter..... get's me to thinking, what would folks in this thread think about some kind of LS Swap sticker to go on our rovers to mark their LS based motor designation as something more official? Maybe we could throw some ideas around and come up with one logo and location that we all use. I've been debating what to do but it'd be more fun if everyone had the same thing perhaps.

 

Yea. I had to do the same pretty much. When will yours be done? Are you putting any lift on it?

 

I'm not sure on a completion date, waiting on my harness in the mail and finding a drive by cable throttle body from a nearby junkyard. The motor itself as of last night is otherwise ready to put in the Rover but the transmission adapter steps are a bit involved and I'll probably have a friend help. Could be a few days, could end up taking longer though.

I'm going to remove the springs and slowly bottom the thing out, see what my oil pan clearances are. Then set new bump stop heights and then figure out shock length and springs from there. I don't like to see the shocks playing the role of bump stop, that's a recipe for disaster and will destroy the shocks plus create a awful ride when it bottoms. I suspect I'll be going from a 8.25" stock shock to a 10" shock and picking up a couple inches of lift or however much the bump stops have to be lowered so that I ride a couple inches higher but have my suspension droop than stock. I don't really want this thing sitting taller than it needs to, it's already a high CG but I do want the suspension droop and tire clearance for 32's.

 

Here is one of mine. It had 32 BFG M/T's with an Emu 2 inch heavy load springs and Terrafirma shocks. This was a great setup. If you needed to go a little higher due to the motor you could put a 1 inch block under the front to level it. But that's a big if.

 

Looks pretty good, when I get the motor in and my springs out, we'll find out what my full compression clearance issues are.

 

I wish I still had that one to put this kit in. Now I am looking for another one atm. Have three or so that seem to be pretty good candidates.