Good info, thank you!

 

OK fellas.

I've finally got the measurements nailed in regards to the oil pan and drive shaft binding issues.

Firstly, the photos I posted a few back show my clearance work on the drive shaft. This amount is 1mm more than needed. Currently my front differential now hits the oil pan 1mm prior to the drive shaft hitting the clearanced bell housing.

I compressed the suspension down until contact is made with the oil pan and we're looking at 20mm of space before the factory bump stop comes into play. The bump stop from my estimation will then give up another 25mm (1inch) under a quite reasonable load such as bottoming out fairly hard on a trail. So we're looking at a suspension travel loss of 25mm + 20mm, which is nearly 2 inches of upward travel. The good news is that the drivers side doesn't have the issue, it can make it to full bump. In fact, the passenger side can make it almost 1 inch further too but when both go up, such as a hard landing, or a speed bump, that's the worst scenario and we must plan on it occurring or say good bye to our oil pans and hello to drive-shaft damage on a vehicle with drive shaft issues already.

1. The best option for optimum off-road capability is to have the oil pan modified, a couple inch section cut out and a piece fitted in to essentially remove the corner that binds. Then the drive-shaft will hit next, it can be cleared off it's contact points too, simply furthering the cut completely through the bell-housing which structurally I'd expect to be perfectly fine. If one wanted to, they could have that hole patched too to avoid rocks getting in and such but, I wouldn't be too concerned with it personally. If these two issues are addressed you may likely get back all of the factory travel and not NEED a lift. If you got a lift anyway, you'd benefit from the lift as well as the upward travel provided by it. This is the best option if you're willing to take the time.

2. The simple solution to at least make the vehicle safe to drive without pending doom ahead is to extend the bump stop on the passenger front side. I see 60mm is stock and 90mm is extended by the only two brands I can find. This unfortunately is not enough to solve the issue though it may help. The bump stops would likely still compress down under a big bump enough to allow the oil pan to hit. There's general bump stops that can be through bolted through our chassis but I cringe in doing so. Instead I thought about bolting or welding a flat 1" plate to the perch that sits on the top of the axle that the bump stop is made to land on. By raising this 1" and using 30mm bump stop extensions, we'd have perfectly taken up the needed space. In my case, this would mean I'd have less then a half inch of travel without a lift kit...... that means, you can't drive over a manhole cover even without smacking my oil pan, which is my current situation. If I lift 2" I'll have only 2.5" of upward travel of both front wheels simultaneously, that's less than a stock rover, in fact, it's less than my lowered Turbo S2000....... kinda pathetic for an off-road machine. So I'd be lifting a vehicle making the center of gravity worse only to have a little less than stock suspension travel on the front right, not exactly a dream situation. If you don't intend to off-road your Disco, you're probably fine with this option honestly. It'd be a fine street machine, it'll lack front right travel but it'll be safe to drive. Now granted, my springs are probably sagging a little, like all of our springs are so 2" lift springs might actually be closer to 3" which makes this whole situation quite a bit better, to the point that it's acceptable for general purpose. 3.5" of upward travel isn't that terrible at all. For reference, my Wrangler came with 4" up and 4" down travel and that's certainly a reasonable off-road machine.

No matter what, I suggest everyone use some method to find out what currently hits on their vehicle. Better to know now then find out the hard way! I used a trucker style 3" ratchet strap around the axle and hooked on each end up to the new motor mounts. At the very least, clear out your bell housing as I did in the photos and earn yourself a 1" of travel at no cost at all and save your drive-shaft!

I plan to use 2" or 2.5" spacers to lift. I'm not impressed with Old Man Emu springs nor Terra quite honestly, I'll use my stock (slight sagged) springs. I'll temporarily extend my bump stops some way or another to give me 1.5" less up travel. This will give me room to stuff 31" tires comfortably and not have to worry about striking. Cheap solution.

-Greg

 

This is my 5th disco so I'm no stranger to them. My current one is a 01' with 59k miles and its mint inside and out - engine barely leaks anything at this point which is crazy. I'm thinking about doing something special to it down the road engine swap wise.... maybe not. Everytime I have this out cruising at the beach I have people either asking me if its for sale or complimenting it. I think its just an iconic vehicle that everyone recognizes. I don't want a jeep. Its a "me too" vehicle and they do nothing for me. There's also a bunch of tacomas and 4runners. I was thinking maybe an axle swap, lockers, and an ls swap. I don't know. Just reading the forums and brainstorming at this point. Dirt Lifestyle is about to do an axle swap on youtube so i'll be following his build closely.

 

That axle swap is way overkill and a **** load of work. Better to get FJ80 axles and link the front and rear. Maybe not as strong as tons but the pumpkins don't need to be shaved, lighter, already pass drop, off the shelf parts and way stronger than our stock rover axles. I'd bet even stronger than ashcroft upgraded ones. Even pay a little more and get the e-locked axles (if you can find them). The fab/math for the links won't be cheap but it would be epic. I'm trying to find a set of 80 axles now myself...

Greg, look into the RTE springs. Give Simon a call and he should be able to get you straightened out.

 

I'm looking for some feedback. I am about to spend a lot of money with Alternative Conversion Engineering (ACE) and I would like feedback from anyone that has been in communication with them or experienced their products. I have been in an email chain and it has been very pleasant and professional. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

 

Hi everyone! Thank you for all the awesome input in this thread. I would like some honest feedback on Alternative Conversion Engineering's conversion kit for the LS swap. I have been in communication with ACE through email and it has been professional. I am about to spend a lot of money with them and I hope to get some positive feedback for some of you that have experienced their product and service after the sell. Thank you in advance.

 

Gorgeous truck! I've the same color but the original owner clearly gave it less love. If you're going to do a swap, this is the swap I'd do. I hate the mall crawler yuppie jeeps as well, mine was quite the opposite from that, Super88 rear axle and flat green rattle can by 10k miles on it. I too like this iconic quirky vehicle though it's not a logical unit to own by any means otherwise. I know nothing about the stock axles other than that they are very weak and they don't break because very few wheel a Disco hard and because they're mostly automatics. You'd certainly have a much better vehicle if you swapped motor/axles and put real lockers in instead of the silly land rover traction control system but, you'd be doing a little blasphemy removing the traction control system though it's silly, nearly as stupid as the hill decent function. Hell IDK man, it's not a bad direction. I mean I wouldn't recommend it until you've a reason to do the swap such as your motor failing but once you hit that point, I sure as hell would never put another 4.6 in a rover unless someone put a gun to my head......hmm and even then I'd have to really think it over. lol

 

I'll check out some RTE stuff. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

Has anyone ever had a problem with fuel pressure bleeding off and having to Crank a lot to get the fuel back up to the injectors I don’t see fuel or smell fuel leaking anywhere but somewhere it’s bleeding off

 

I had that problem for a very long time and when I replaced the fuel pump it went away