I wrote this in the summer of 2007, whilst carrying out the work detailed below. Some things have been tweaked since then - notably the fitment of 3.54:1 diffs in my axles, as well as a change to 300 Tdi intercooler and a tidy up of pipework. Once I've got a bit more time I'll add a bit with some pictures showing what I've done...
In the meantime, with apologies for the graininess (and absence) of some of the pictures (I'll try and dig out better ones in due course), here you go:
Installing a 200TDI engine from an early disgay into a 1959 Series II 109”.As has been discussed at great length on various Internet forums, Land-Rover’s 200TDI is possibly the best current option for an engine upgrade in a Series vehicle. The disgay and debender units, whilst based on identical blocks and heads have several major differences in the layout of their ancillary components.
For those of us planning on putting a TDI into a Series vehicle, probably the biggest difference is the layout of the timing covers. The debender cover is the same as fitted to the 2.5NA and 2.5TD engines and, as a consequence, the fuel injector pump is mounted low down on the driver’s side of the engine. This fouls the Series engine-mounting bracket. To use the debender engine-mounting bracket requires chassis surgery on the driver’s side chassis mount. The disgay timing cover, however, mounts the injection pump high enough to clear the Series engine-mounting bracket and allows fitment without chassis modification (although you do need to re-site the battery tray and battery).
As I have a galvanised chassis under my 109” I was reluctant to carry out any welding on it so I sourced a second-hand disgay engine and ancillaries via the dreaded ebay. disgay engines are also currently more plentiful and therefore cheaper, which is a bonus!
First job was to remove the disgay engine mounts. These were replaced with Series items. On the passenger’s side there are two sets of mounting holes – use the front set.
Next job was to address the gearbox mounting area. All the studs on a TDI are metric, M10 to be exact. These are fine, but their 17mm spanner size nuts can be awkward, especially around the clutch slave cylinder bracket. You need to source four additional studs for the area around the bottom of the housing. It is possible to source 15mm spanner size M10 nuts for the awkward areas and retain the metric studs, but I had a pack of Series 3/8” studs and a 3/8” UNC helicoil kit – so I decided to replace all the M10 studs with “proper” Series’ ones!
Most of the original M10 studs are in exactly the right place. One of them, on the driver’s side of the housing, needs removing though.
This is the stud you need to remove:
The housing, very conveniently, has blind holes in all the rest of the locations needed to match up with a Series gearbox. I simply tapped these out to 3/8”UNC. The standard TDI set-up uses four long M10 bolts at the bottom which go through the gearbox bellhousing, flywheel housing and secure into the sump/block stiffener. Most people seem to advocate ignoring these, as earlier engines don’t have them. I reason that Land-Rover felt they were needed – so rather than leave them out I counterbored the housing with a 16mm drill to give clearance for some socket-head cap-screws (Allen bolts if you prefer). M10x75 were perfect, and sit just below the mounting face of the housing. There are also two dowels, at about two o’clock and nine o’clock as you look at the rear of the housing, which need to be pulled out – a pair of mole-grips did the trick for me.
Housing with new studs and four bottom holes counterbored:
(Sorry, I can't find this pic at the minute - will hunt about and edit it in later)Allen bolt in counterbore:
A final task was to offer the housing up to my spare gearbox’s bellhousing. This trial fit confirmed the studs were all in the right place, but revealed the necessity to relieve the housing slightly to allow it to sit snug against the gearbox. Each of the “bulges” in the housing that holds (or held) a stud needed relieving about 1-1.5mm. Once this was done, and a further trial fit confirmed all was well, the housing was refitted to the engine with a new housing to block gasket and crank oil seal. The flywheel then went back on.
Whilst we are at this end of the engine it’s worth mentioning that the standard Series IIA diesel spec 9.5” clutch pressure plate (part number 571228) and friction plate (FRC2297) will bolt straight on to the TDI flywheel and mate with the Series II/IIA gearbox. If you are using a Series III gearbox then you can either use a standard Series III clutch, or the TDI pressure plate with a Series IIA/III friction plate.
In order to avoid a complicated and tortuous exhaust header pipe I tracked down a set of debender inlet and exhaust manifolds. They weren’t cheap, but they will allow a much easier routing of the exhaust header. Unfortunately, they do mean that the standard disgay high mounted alternator was going to foul the new debender inlet manifold. As standard, the disgay engine uses one belt from the crank to drive the waterpump and power-steering pump, with a second belt from the power steering pump then driving the alternator. I had no intention of using the power steering pump, and needed to resite the alternator, so I had a bit of a measure up…
The solution I ended up with uses a pulley sourced from an early ‘boingy’s Volkswagen Jetta/Golf on the standard disgay alternator – this puts the “V” of the pulley approximately 12mm further forward than standard. I then made up two 12mm spacers to fit between the block and a standard Series III alternator bracket. This then placed the alternator pulley exactly inline with the crank and waterpump pulleys. By happy coincidence the original power steering belt fitted (although the next size up would be a bit better) and the disgay alternator-adjusting strap was re-sited off one of the timing cover bolts.
Series III alternator bracket and 2x12mm spacers:
disgay alternator with Volkswagen pulley:
View from above, showing pulleys all in alignment:
Front view: Drive belt is standard 200TDI disgay power steering belt:
(Sorry, I need to find a copy of this picture too) 
Another mod carried out in this area was to swap the alternator from one “hand” to the other – this is simply done by removing the 3 long bolts securing the front and rear casings together and turning them 120 degrees relative to each other, so that the rear mounting lug lines up with the other front mounting lug, and then reassembling. The alternator is a standard Lucas A127 55amp unit.
You can also see from the picture that the thread on the nose of the waterpump has been removed to allow greater clearance between the pump and radiator. An electric fan will be used instead of the viscous unit.
The next step is fitting the engine into the chassis.
Normally, when swapping an engine, I would only remove the bonnet and radiator. This time, however, it made much more sense to remove both front wings and the radiator panel as well to make sure I had enough room both to work, and to see and trial fit the additional TDI ancillaries.
Some careful measuring prior to attempting to fit the engine had confirmed that it was definitely going to be necessary to modify the standard, Series style, battery carrier. The injector pump on the TDI fouled the inner rear corner, and my intended radiator-fitting site fouled the inner front one. As removing both of these was going to leave the rest of the assembly very wobbly I decided to remove the whole thing. I have left the two outer “tags” about 2/3 of their original length as, maybe, they might come in handy at a later date. On the next page is a picture of the chassis minus it’s battery tray.
With no obstacles now to physically getting the engine into the chassis, that was what I did!
The driver’s side engine mounting (that’s the RHS, looking from the rear of the engine) needs to be assembled, complete with the rubber mounting bobbin and bottom plate, before it’s bolted to the block. Otherwise there is just not enough room to get a spanner in beneath the injector pump to do the bolts up. I suppose, if you wanted, you could remove the injector pump for access – but that seemed a bit pointless to me.
When fitting a Land-Rover engine I always leave the passenger’s side mounting off the engine. This allows you more movement to wobble the engine around and get it mated to the gearbox. Usually the two units will slide straight together if you do this. Fitting the mount afterwards is a bit of a fiddle, but it’s easier than struggling with the weight of the engine trying to get it onto the gearbox.
Chassis with battery tray removed:
With the engine bolted to the gearbox, and the mounts secured I was left with this:
TDI bolted up!
Just to confirm, once and for all, that an engine fitted with a disgay 200 TDI timing cover will fit straight onto Series chassis mounts, here are some pictures:
Driver’s side:
Passenger side:
Driver’s side again, this time from underneath:
With the engine in I decided to experiment a little and answer questions posed by others and myself about the disgay manifold set-up… Well, I can categorically say that disgay manifolds won’t fit in a 109” chassis without surgery. As you can see in the pictures the turbo body fouls the top rail of the chassis by a good ½” to ¾”. I would expect to have to take a scallop at least 1 ½” deep to clear the turbo and allow for movement of the engine under load.
I am aware that the manifold assembly will fit, just, in an 88”. Rotating the turbo compressor housing (“clocking” it) so that the outlet is at 10 or 11 o’clock, rather than 4 o’clock helps greatly. Using these manifolds does mean you have to fabricate a tortuously routed exhaust header pipe though, either down between the chassis rails and the starter motor, or up and over the bulkhead mounting bracket and out through the wing and down the front of the footwell 2.6 style.
Rotating the turbo 180 degrees on the manifold might give you enough clearance against the chassis, although it would mean fabricating new oil feed and return pipework, and the wastegate actuator and linkage would need modifying too. Putting the turbo outlet at the front would simplify the exhaust routing though, by giving you a little more room to operate
This is the gap between you’d need to route the exhaust through with a disgay manifold – either down past the starter and chassis, or up over the bulkhead bracket:
For those people who have asked me about the fitting of a TDI into a left-hand-drive vehicle, the above pictures demonstrate that the disgay manifolds are going to foul the steering gear pretty terminally.
All is not lost, however as I am lucky to have been able to source some debender 200 TDI manifolds at reasonable cost via ebay (as mentioned above). With the re-positioned alternator these bolt straight on. A tip here is to fit and connect the starter motor before you fit the manifolds, as things are very tight with them on.
debender manifolds fitted:
The exhaust header pipe you can see in the picture above is part of a system supplied by Steve Parker Land Rovers (01706 854222). In addition to their kits for installing alternative engines into Series Land-Rovers they offer several alternative tailor made exhaust systems, one of which is a debender TDI into a Series LWB with a rear fill tank. I decided to bite the bullet and treat myself to one, as it will probably save me at least a day of mucking about. It would be entirely possible to fabricate a system using a 200TDI header, a Series 2.6 petrol tailpipe and silencer and fabricating an intermediate pipe to suit, although the cost saving would probably be offset by the time spent making it!
Steve Parker exhaust system:
Heater pipes connected:
The heater pipes on the engine terminate, conveniently, right next to the inlet pipes for the round Smiths heater that I have fitted (mine is a 1959 Series II). The hose tail in the rear of the cylinder head is the same thread (3/8” BSP) as the Series item; in fact it’s identical to a Series III part. It’s a larger bore than the corresponding Series II/IIA type so I swapped them over as, after mucking about with the disgay pipes for a bit, I ended up using the pipes I had fitted with the old 2.25 engine. You could even fit a Series II/IIA style tap if you wanted to, but I run mine open all the time.
The exhaust, I am pleased to report, went on perfectly. I will say though, space is tight around its route and the larger bore pipe requires much more careful positioning to prevent it hitting anything. It took me the best part of a couple of hours to get it right.
Got to do this in chunks - apparently there's a 20,000 character post limit!
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