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New/ Couple of Q's reguarding Land Rovers

T

thehop

New Member
Hi, I'm new to the crawling world, but looking to put myself in a fairly capable rig. I had my heart set on an FJ40, but it seems to have been sold. Its kind of tough doing all the footwork on the leads I get because I'm stationed in Korea right now. Anyway, I found two nice possibles, both '96 Land rover disco's. However, they both have 136XXX miles on them and from what i know from my friend who drives a range rover, the engines aren't exactly too dependable. My question is, would it be possible to swap in a chev 350? What transmission would go with that, and what is a ballpark of how much work/$$$ the swap would cost? I appreciate it. Merry Christmas everybody, I hear its white over there.. :(
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Sir, First of all I hope you have a Happy Holiday season as well and that you are as well as can be expected being away from home. Next, while the Land Rover motor company cut its teeth in the off road world they would not be my first choice for a serious off road vehicle (at least not here in the states). I don't mean any disrespect to the Land Rover just that they are foreign and they can be a little expensive to do modifications to. Their wheel bolt pattern is an odd one (from what I remember) and the engines (while good) are lacking in the aftermarket. I do know that the exhaust manifold is prone to cracking. I don't know about swapping engines in them but, I would bet that you are going to run into computer and wiring issues while doing the swap (never mind trying to get the tranny and transfer case to withstand a small block Chevy). They are a heavy rig and the stock axles will handle a 35" tire okay (with the stock motor) they won't handle much more than that. I am not much for jeeps either but, they are supported more in the aftermarket world than any other vehicle that I know of. I am fond of the full size SUV's (Chevy Blazer, Dodge Ramcharger, and Ford Bronco's). It is really tough to beat a Chevy for availability of parts and parts interchangeability.

I hope that some of this is useful to you. Happy Hollidays and return safely!

LT.
 
T

thehop

New Member
I appreciate the candor. Now You've got me rethinking.. The only reason I swayed towards this one in particular is because its already got most of the expensive upgrades. Also, I guess my primary motive for an offroad vehicle is to get me where I need to go (rock climbing, desert, camping, fishing) so I guess in all honesty I'm looking for more of an expedition vehicle than a 'crawler'. But it does need to be able to handle a certain amount of grimy situations. It needs to be able to seat at least 4 comfortably, along with some gear, and a dog. I'm guessing that most people would recommend an FJ-60 or 80 over a discovery for this role? Thanks again. As for the holidays, it's pretty easy to forget that it's almost Christmas time here. Not many decorations.. The little lights on the crawlers on the top of this page gave me my biggest 'holiday boost' so far this season. Cheers!
 
L

LT.

Well-Known Member
Location
Los Alamos, New Mexico
If this is something that you are going to be using to get to your favorite fishing hole or something that you are going to be using to run logging trails on then the Land Rover may be a great selection. Typically the Toyota's are more friendly toward modifications. They come with a 6 on 5 1/2 bolt pattern, which is the same as the six lug Chevy's and Nissan's. Easy to find wheels for. The Toyota's are also easily adapted to run Chevy small blocks as Advanced Adapters make the correct pieces to mate the SBC to the tranny and transfer case. The Toyota is just more aftermarket friendly than the Land Rover. The Land Rover that you had pictured is a fine machine, you will just find out that parts are going to be more expensive, harder to find, and generally you are going to be beating your head against the wall if and when you try to place a SBC inbetween its wheel wells. I like different and the Land Rover is deffinatly that. Not your run of the mill wheeler. It will also be more road friendly as you drive it daily to and from work or where ever you want to wander. Just remember that road friendly does not usually mean off road friendly. There are exceptions to the rule but, it is a good rule of thumb. I am sure that as the hour becomes later that some others will chime in. Listen to what they have to say. Everybody has ideas and they are all worth listening to.

LT.
 
T

thehop

New Member
Well, I'd say it will be used for the things you stated, and then some. I mean i'm not just going to be taking it on a badly rutted out dirt road, but also may need to climb up some stuff, etc. This is a thinker indeed. If I could pick up the SBC and adaptor, find maybe a 94 or so with a blown engine.. I'd probably be looking at the same price as i'd pay for the disco. The 80's are just so gigantic, lol. I guess disco's arent exactly small.

*edit* The more i really really think about what i need from this rig, Reliability is huge, as is parts availability. I have a 2005 Frontier right now, and the parts availability is terrible. I don't really want to go through that with my *real* offroad vehicle.
 
Houndoc

Houndoc

Registered User
Location
Grantsville
I toyed with the idea of that very same Rover. Has been for sale for at least 2-3 months, so you may be able to get a much better price on it.

I posted questions about it on a Rover forum, and feed back was that it should be very nice trail rig, well put together for a Rover. But I didn't pursue it further since I need a combined trail/daily driver.

A Toyota should be the more reliable, but for a low mile trail rig, that may not be such an issue.

As far as the aftermarket issue, I know that can be frustrating (try finding after market support for a Mitsubishi....), but like you pointed out, the Rover is already built-up for what it sounds like you want. Of course, so would an FZJ80 with factory lockers.

I would not pay their asking price for it, but who knows what you could actually get it for?

Have fun vehicle shopping!
 
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