Land Rover lightweight help

Soldato
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Hi guys - anyone here got any experience of Landy Lightweights??

My dad has (somewhat misguidedly) gone and got a grand's worth of scrap posing as a lightweight, albeit with a new chassis.

My thoughts are rip out the 'faulty' engine and gearbox, and shove something like a 1.9TD Passat lump or Fiat JTD in it - he wants it for off roading and light road use/carrying stuff.

Anyone done anything like this, or seen any similar creations?

Cheers!
 
Soldato
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I know a guy who had one, it was exMOD and he was pleased until someone pointed out to him that they only call them 'lightweight' if they survive a fall out of a plane :)
He put a large Perkins diesel engine in it but the tourque was too great for the drive shafts so he had to keep it in 4wheel drive all the time......this is the same reason Range Rovers were all full time 4WD from the start.It did fly down the roads even though it dislodged your kidneys.
You used to be able to get a diesel Toyota engine,from a small truck they never imported here,as a kit for Land Rover/Range Rover conversion as the 2 1/4 engine is a little weedy
 
Soldato
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thanks for the advice so far guys, as far as I know the petrol lump is underpowered and thirsty cos its about 30 years out of date and most are well over the 100k mark by now - but tis a thought.

As for faulty, didnt wanna go into a load of detail as I dont know full info - but the timing is wrong on the engine, it wont do over 30mph, and we dont have info/tools to fix the timing - and even whence fixed, my thought is that its' still underpowered for what it is.
 
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I suggest you go and hang out on one of the Landrover forums and ask them. It will be much easier to fit an engine that others have before rather than blazing your own road...

If petrol cost is not an issue then have a look at the 3.5l V8. Loads have been fitted with those.

Jonathan
 
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matt_fsr said:
Hi guys - anyone here got any experience of Landy Lightweights??

My dad has (somewhat misguidedly) gone and got a grand's worth of scrap posing as a lightweight, albeit with a new chassis.

My thoughts are rip out the 'faulty' engine and gearbox, and shove something like a 1.9TD Passat lump or Fiat JTD in it - he wants it for off roading and light road use/carrying stuff.

Anyone done anything like this, or seen any similar creations?

Cheers!

Hmmm, never heard of either of those engines being fitted to a landy...

If he wants it just for fun, do the sensible thing.... Rover V8 :) Not that much work required to do it, a landrover is just like a big mechano kit.

The 2.25 petrol isn't a bad engine, will run on and on and on, has all the mechanical subtlety of a brick to the head, although there's something seriously wrong with the setup if it won't pull past 30mph (Obvious question time... You haven't got the transfer box in low have you?) However, get hold of a haynes manual and a basic spanner set and you should be able to get it running nicely :)

With regards to the underpowered issue, it depends what you expect the car to do. Firstly I'll point out that more than about 60mph in a leaf sprung landrover is an experience, quite possibly a biblical one. I had my dad's lwb one to an indicated 80ish once with the overdrive engaged downhill.... Not fun. However, they aren't actually underpowered in everyday use unless you want to tank it around, in which case the landrover isn't for you anyway.

Hope that helps some, any more questions feel free to ask :)

-Dolph (proud owner of a 1967 restoration project..... best not ask how long it's been going on though)
 

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Rover V8, although you may need to start chopping things to fit this in (moving the front grill forward slightly, adding vents, lots of them, etc). NA Landy Diesel to, shouldnt need much work, well compared to a Turbo Landy Diesel, theres plenty of converstions out there, just hit the landy forums.

Bill101 said:
I know a guy who had one, it was exMOD and he was pleased until someone pointed out to him that they only call them 'lightweight' if they survive a fall out of a plane :)

They are really called "Airportable lightweights". Built stronger than a normal Series Landrover of the same age to allow them to be chucked out of planes and the like.

Dolph said:
(Obvious question time... You haven't got the transfer box in low have you?)

Check that out first.
 
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