Does the kit include a new flex plate?

 

Yes.

ON THAT NOTE:

So there's a spacer which I've now ordered for the flexplate, then there's the flexplate itself. I'm wondering if that's all that should be installed and that none of the other rover components are in the mix there, I'm assuming not. If just the spacer and the flexplate is all that should be on, I'm ready for install today or tomorrow and I expect to have it in reasonably quickly. I generally have good luck landing motor swaps into their new homes.

I would assume I've got it all correct but without a photo showing what I should have, I'd hate to land a motor and have to pull it out again! Not fun. lol

-Greg

 

Note this is from one of the first beta kits thing might have changed.

 

Thanks again man! That's exactly what I was hoping to see. Looks like I'm going to be dropping the engine in tomorrow morning. About damn time I get it in!

 

Well, I ended up shipped out of town for a week so finally TODAY, I got the motor landed! ..... at least mostly landed.

However, I can't seem to get it to line up on the drivers side motor mount though it did very easily drop in and hop right onto the transmission. As it sits now it's resting on the motor mounts but the entire engine seems to be too far on the passenger side just to be on the one mount, even when the mount is slid as far as possible to the drivers side. It's hitting the firewall there and the motor mount hole on that side hits but the other side (Drivers) is still about 1 inch off and unfortunately in the wrong direction, meaning for it to land the motor needs to go even further to the passenger side which will mean the head is having intercourse with the firewall. I suspected the labels were wrong on the motor mounts so I pulled em and measured but the offset seems correct, the drivers side is shorter which would help to shift the motor towards the drivers side as I need it to. So I'm a little confused on what the issue is. The sliding mount system works fantastic though, from lowering the hoist to having the bell-housing mated probably only took 15 minutes. Darn easy.

I'll have to snap some pics and perhaps I can figure out what's going on here with the motor being so far to the passenger side to hit the motor mount holes and really only hitting one hole but not both. Perhaps the passenger side motor mount is too short? That would solve everything if it was longer I'd think. The alternator is parked firmly against the spare tire jack box right now with that motor mount installed and tightened, another hint that something isn't quite correct but with not enough daylight and too many interruptions today I couldn't figure her out. I'm assuming I have the motor mounts in correctly as they just sit on top of the old motor mount tabs with the single hole in them, can't see how I'd have that incorrect. I'll get some pics uploaded that the wife took while the motor was being landed.

I don't want to make too many assumptions about an error in mounts until I can have a better look at things when I've a free moment, it's very likely I simply haven't installed something correctly or that I haven't tightened down things enough for them to line up or something of that sort.

-Greg

 

Hello Greg,

I am also one of the lucky few of the first order of kits. I completed the swap a few weeks ago and the disco is currently at the exhaust shop getting exhaust made. I had the same “issue” you are describing. The engine is offset and slightly angled towards the passenger side. I have a few mm of clearance but fortunately nothing runs/knocks/vibrates. I fought with the mounts and even attempted swapping as you did but they are probably labeled appropriately. Everything lined up fine and cleared even though it it offset a bit. Doesn’t really bother me to much and the trans has enough adjustability to adjust. I attempted/pulled with all my might to center the engine to no avail. So, I just bolted up and went with it. No issues. My alternator also is only mms away from the jack/battery cover.

A few other notes to everyone else completing/planning on utilizing this swap kit,
all in all, kit is worth the money and decently put together. Some issues I had:

-Dowel pins were too large for the bellhousing, requiring me to drill out the bellhousing dowel holes with 5/8 drill.
-Engine offset/angled toward to passenger side as mentioned above by Greg (Not a huge issue)
- I say a lift kit is REQUIRED. With the added weight of the LS and no lift, the transmission bellhousing actually rubs the front driveshaft on bumps while driving.
-Torque converter to flywheel bolts are a HUGE PAIN IN THE ***... one of the most time consuming parts of my swap as there is literally no space to start these bolts. Be patient and eventually they will go in.
-ECB was defective for me (Crank Sensor modulation anyway). After getting the engine in, wired and running, I did not have RPM and the trans was in limp mode/would not shift out of first gear. After quadruple checking my wiring, I bypassed the ECB and hooked the Rover crank sensor back up (like it was from the factory), ditched the LS crank sensor in attempt to get RPM and trans signal. Fortunately, that solved the issue, confirming the ECB was not appropriately modifying the GM crank sensor signal and sending it to the ECU. After several days of fighting this issue, I was finally able to take her for a drive and get it to shift out of 1st gear.

If anybody has any other questions, feel free to post and I will do my best to answer them. Here’s a few pics of the swap. Still
some tidying up to do once my exhaust is complete.

 

Wow this was tremendously helpful!!!! Thank you!

-I'm going to proceed and land it on the engine mounts, I may very well end up slotting one of the motor mount holes further to allow it to be cheated over to the drivers side just an extra 1/4-1/2". I'd hate to see it rub under any circumstance such *** off-roading etc.

-The lift kit bit you mention about the drive-shaft rubbing the bell-housing is BY FAR the most concerning news thus far on this kit. A lift kit really doesn't solve this issue, it just band-aids it at best. There exists factory bump stops on this vehicle already, their job being of course to keep components from binding under full compression of both wheels upward simultaneously. I plan to remove the springs and do this in the drive-way, it's imperative that nothing hits before the bump stops do their job. If I have to extend the bump stops that's a bummer as that means you're giving up the most useful suspension travel, upward travel. While cheap lift-kits will lift the vehicle they will do one of two undesired things, they will either not improve overall suspension travel but still raise the center of gravity (might as well just get a body lift for that) or they will spec a shock that has the same extended length which means they will act as a bump stop! This is very bad for the shock, bad for the vehicle and bad for the driver who feels the vehicle bottom out on the shocks rather than the bump stops. This is why all manufactures put the bump stops in from the factory! It's also true that you wouldn't want the shocks generally to be the limiting factor of extension either, under full flex or when fully unsprung the shocks are doing the job that limiting straps should be doing, though because it's only unsprung weight, this is considered acceptable.

-If I must raise the vehicle (lift) then I would prefer to lengthen the shock tower mount to afford a longer travel shock, this means I'm gaining suspension travel and flex. If I need to extend the bump stops, I'll sadly be losing some or all of what I've gained in this lift and this is a huge downer for anyone that plans to go off-road. Raising the vehicle center of gravity is the last thing you want to do, in a perfect world, I'd be able to maintain the same height and add many inches of suspension travel.

-So if with the springs removed completely I see binding, I'll have to slowly lower the vehicle to when it binds, then measure the gap from the current bump stops to the axle and add that length in. I REALLY hope it's not more than say 2 inches otherwise this vehicle will be greatly handicapped off-road. Springs simply space you away from the issue but they don't solve the inevitable issue of complete compression occurring at some point. I have already begun sourcing shock/spring options for multiple scenarios to provide the best solution to this issue, there are some options out there for us.

-I recently had a fire at the house and another unfortunate situation recently so this swap has slowed down even further for me but I promise to do my best to get it done and come to the table with some of these measurements as soon as I can and hopefully the best solutions avail.

-Many thanks to those on here who continue to provide very helpful info on this install! It'll be great when we can have the first post of this thread start with a link to the INSTALL thread which we can post all of this info to in a nice clean format for future folks to use. This will help sales potential for ACE and help us to have the confidence and community support to make this swap a common practice.

-Greg

 

Ok, I've had a much better look and got the motor mounts to seat via having all the mounts extremely loose and using the Rover jack between the motor and driver-side frame rail with a little more pressure than could be done by hand. The mounts are a little too close together but can be fought into place though the bolt threads were a little damaged. The resting position of the motor is a full inch and a half or slightly more toward the drivers side from what I'm seeing so the motor must be forced a full inch and a half toward the passenger side to land in the bolt holes provided. This leaves the engine visibly crooked in the engine bay and offset toward the passenger side. The motor is in contact currently with the firewall against the heads and the other side has 2 fingers of space with room to spare.

The clearance issue with the driveshaft is pretty serious. In resting position I can't even jack up the wheel enough to change the tire without the driveshaft being in full contact with the new bell-housing. It sits less than 1/2" from contact just resting in the driveway. Lifting the vehicle won't solve this, when a large bump shows on the passenger side I'm confident it will strike and cause damage before full flex is reached. If this vehicle can't go off-road I don't know why I own it or why I'd go through the trouble of swapping a motor while maintaining TCS and such when it can't make it over a speed bump safely.

Generally speaking when I have this issue on a vehicle I do a combination of things and usually in the following order:
1. Move the motor mount positions toward the drivers side as far as possible or lift the motor slightly.
2. Tilt or lower the transfer-case to lower the driveshaft angle.
3. Find a narrower driveshaft.
4. Get a custom 2-piece shaft with a carrier.

If the motor was sitting where the transmission locates it to, I'd be better off, however the motor mounts demand I force it toward the drive shaft, which is the worst scenario. As of the moment, I think I need to have new motor mounts that locate the motor at least centered or slightly pulled to the drivers side. The motor can not be lifted by spacers under the motor mounts as the hood is making contact with the top of the engine already quite firmly, in fact, that's another issue I'm a little concerned with right now. Shutting the hood takes great force now and that's with a little breather hose removed which will need to go on...... Low profile intakes do exist for and additional $250 over my budget.

The T-case might be able to change angles or be lowered, it doesn't look very convenient from what I'm looking at and I hate to mess with further custom parts.

Drive shafts are already a big issue on this vehicle so, the after-market beef up options will probably make this situation even worse I suspect and custom options are not cheap and will take up more space in most cases which lowers ground clearance and creates one more weak spot.

I'll have to run this one through ACE and see what they think. I've spent a full two days messing with what would have been a few hour drop in and mount and I don't wish to put the very hard to install bolts in between the tq converter and flexplate if it's going to need motor mount changes still.

While all this sounds very alarming, it's quite possible that one simple change will alleviate the entire issue so I'm not in a panic about this but it does need to be resolved in some fashion.

-Greg


This is almost the idle resting position of the engine, it actually wants to sit slightly further toward this frame rail which is drivers side but I was holding it slightly the other way by hand.

Here it's been jacked against the frame rail and forced into it's motor mounts full landed.

This is the spacing drivers side. The opposite side here has the head snug against the firewall making firm contact.


Seems to me I should have the motor centered or cheated to the drivers side if anything to help with the drive shaft issue. Thoughts?

 

My guess it that you might have gotten two of the same side engine mounts.
You have two options.
1) Bolt in whichever mount centers the engine and drill out the other. Fastest
2) Hit up ACE for a replacement. Slowest

As for the driveshaft hitting. Does your Disco have a lift?

 

Ok, update for folks following along on their installs and thanks again Daedrix for the re-sounding logical support, appreciate it!

I re-drilled (15/32nds bit) the drivers side mount making it shorter by just a tad over 3/4", then cut off the excess as required to stay off the frame rail. This helped quite a bit in regards to getting it off the fire-wall. It is now just barely floating, I can slip a quarter between the head and firewall now, with room to spare, still tight but not so bad. This allowed for the other mounting bolt to the chassis on the passenger side to instantly line up and fall right into place. Though really that means the spacing is a hair too wide because when tightening the V- shaped mounts they want to cheat inward a little as tightened, still they compressed the rubber mounts and I figure it'd work and I'll call it good unless someone strongly sees it as a problem.

I couldn't have cheated it any further than the 3/4" though or the longer passenger side mount would not have reached and there's no material left before the edge of the mount so I can't re-drill that side as Daedrix touched on above. The motor currently isn't centered but it's a step closer and any further I don't think I'll be able to have the exhaust manifold flange clear the chassis or at least whatever shop does the exhaust will throw a fit and rightly so.

So I'll probably call the motor mount situation cured since I can't really move it further and at least now it's in the ball park. The driveshaft situation though is not cured it's just slightly better, it's to the point now that I could probably drive around the neighborhood and pull into my driveway casually at least without it hitting.

So, tomorrow I'll try to get the flexplate bolts in, I'm going to remove a thread or two from the bolts to make them easier to install as I've been warned it's a PITA. I checked them prior to all this to see if they could be shortened and confirmed a little more than 1 thread stuck through the back nut so they shouldn't lose any strength. Once that's done I'll loosen the motor mounts once more allowing the motor to sag in place and creating room to tighten the upper two bell-housing bolts that are otherwise hard to access. Then I'll re-tighten the motor mounts and have it finally landed into what is probably going to be it's final resting place.

If anyone has any thoughts on T-case angling or dropping, do share, I'm all ears.

Thanks again everyone, at some point I'll go through these posts of mine and create something organized and shorter.
-Greg