The first job we had to get the 200TDi out of the Discovery to get it ready for transplant into the 110. The 200TDi is basically a straight fit into a 90/110 originally fitted with the standard naturally aspirated or turbocharged diesel. The LT77 gearbox is the same, with a similar bellhousing, although some of the studs are in different positions.
The engine mounts welded to the chassis are the same, but the mounts bolted to the engine are different, but the bolt positions are the same. Making sure the engine mounts from the TD are retained as these will be needed to be attached to the 200TDi block. Make sure that you get all the ancillaries such as radiator, intercooler, starter, alternator as I'm fairly sure these are different to the one's with the TD.
To get the engine out of the disco undo all the fuel lines, electrical cables, exhaust downpipe, throttle linkages, and anything else attaching the engine to the rest of the vehicle. Undo the engine mounts by loosening both the bolts on the block and the chassis. Then it's a simple matter of undoing the bellhousing bolts and lifting the engine out. Or so you would think........
We decided that the engine lifting could be done using an a-frame made from steel scaffolding poles, various spansets and shackles, and the winch on the front of the 110. So off we went thinking that all would be fine, attached the winch rope to a spanset bridled between the engine lifting rings and lifted. Took the strain and nothing, the front end of the disco lifted up but we couldn't get the engine and gearbox to separate. Bugger!!!! Then Nick noticed that he'd missed a bellhousing bolt that had been hidden by the starter motor solenoid. Undid it and the engine lifted out without too much further hassle.
Now it was just a simple matter of stripping the old mounts of the block, taking the exhaust downpipe off the turbo mount ready for fabrication, giving it all quick once over for any bits that need sorting before re-fitting to the 110. We were lucky on this point as the TDi seemed to be perfect.
Repeat this process for the TD, although we did use an engine crane for this, as it makes the job so much easier, especially as we knew that the TDi would be going in and out of the 110's bay prior to final fitting. We followed the 'instructions' in the Haynes book of lies to remove engines from the respective vehicles. Obviously the books of lies would be no use for refitting the TDi into the 110 as it's a slightly different configuration to the 200TDi fitted into the Defender as standard. There are several bits that need retaining from the TD including the piped that run from the oil filter housing to the oil cooler part of the radiator.
So onto fitting the TDi to the 110.... Some people say it's a job that should never be attempted, others say it's a really easy fit, with no problems. We found it to be realtively difficult with some quite difficult and fiddly fabrication. I'll try to detail most of the problems that we had, and how we solved them. We used a fairly basic set of tools, MIG welder, angle grinder, several big hammers and the aforementioned engine crane.
First job to do is to install the engine mounts onto the block. Don't do them up tight, or it'll never fit into the chassis mounts. Make sure the mount that sits under the alternator is attached to the block on the rear set of mounts. We had it attached to front set and wondered why it was a pig to get it to sit in the chassis mounts. Put it on the rear one, no problem!!!
Swap the temperature gauge sender from the TD into the TDi, or your temp gauge will give you incorrect readings. Apparently the oil pressure sender is the same, so that doesn't have to be swapped. My TD alternator had different fixings to the TDi one, so we cut the ends of the TD wiring loom and soldered the connections from the TDi alternator on.
Next job was to get the exhaust downpipe fabricated. This involved cutting the pipe, taking wedges out in various places and then welding it all back together. Welding this type of steel isn't easy, but if you're even a semi-competent welder, it shouldn't be a problem. Just take extra care to keep the weld surfaces extra clean, and gring V shape into the joint to make sure you get a really good strong weld. As you can see from the pictures, it looks a bit weird, but it works. Instead of having to cut into the bulkhead, we just had to bash it back about a half inch and move the mating point for the clutch slave cylinder about 1.5 inches towards the inner wing. This doesn't quite cover the difficulty we had making the downpipe, as the engine was going in and out of the vehicle constantly as we adjusted it to get the best fit. Nick reckons it took in the region of 6-7 hours to get it perfect, and make all the welds good and gas tight.
So once the exhaust was sorted, we offered the engine up to the bay. Then came the next struggle, getting the bellhousing bolts into the right holes in the flywheel cover. We looked at the old bellhousing, and compared the TD, put the bolts in what we reckoned where the right holes, tried it, didn't fit. Moved acouple, tried it, didn't fit. Carried on for a while, pulled the engine back out, looked at it all again, made some phone calls. Found out the the engine has to sit slightly tilted to once side b about 3 degrees. Put the engine back on the mounts, attached the crane to just one lifting eye, lifted, and hey bingo it went in. Got the bottom few bolts in, then you have to lift the bloxk and gearbox as one, with a jack under the gearboxes, and took the mounts back off, dropped the engine right down to allow access to the top bellhousing bolts. We then got them all tightened up, lifted the block back up, put the mounts back on, sat it in the chassis mounts, and tightened everything up. And presto, we have a new engine sitting in the car. Now all we got to do is reattach all the linkages, fuel lines, steering pump etc. etc.
Then the next issue reared it's ugly head.... The radiator and intercooler assembly sat too high on the original mounts by about 30mm. So we cut the mounts off, trimmed them down and welded them back up. Slapped a coat of hammerite over it all, and finished assembling the radiator / intercooler, and from slam panel and grille surround.
By now we thought that nothing else could possibly cause any problems.... How wrong we were. By this time the original TD engine had been picked up by it's new owner. Little did we realise that we needed the oil cooler pipes from the old engine. This little issue is caused by the fact that in the disco, the radiator assembly sits much closer to the engine than in the 110. So now we had to try and find some longer cooler pipes on Easter saturday. Made even more phone calls and luckily found a set at Four by 41 just south of Leeds. So went and picked them up.
Nearly all done, just got to reconnect the turbo and intercooler up. Again the distance difference between the disco and the 110 reared it head. This was solved by using lengths of tubing that we happened to find lying about in the warehouse (from a pole dance podium!!!!), cut to size and jubilee clipped into the hose which was cut at the relevant places. The bottom radiator to engine block now contains the outer sleeve of Nick's grease gun. So that's it all back together.
So now all we had left to do was reconnect the battery and start her up. Thankfully we had some luck here, as she started first time, and we've not had a major problem yet... touch wood!!!
So realistically it's not an easy job to do, but it is doable, if you have the time and can weld a few bits together. It had us seriously stressed at times, but the improvement in the 110 is unbelievable. It pulls up hill, maintains speed, happily sits at 75mph all day, and feels like it wants to go faster. I love the old girl even more now.
Sorry there's not more photos, but we forgot to take many. If you have any questions about things I've forgotten to write down, drop us an email to hadyn@muddy-tyres.net