Rover V8 to Transit MT75 Gearbox Adapter

[thegreathowardo]

NEWS UPDATE!

The Rover engine is bolted to Tim's adaptor and the whole thing is swinging on the engine crane in situ as I type. There are a couple of issues with the conversion in this style of Transit. The original engine mountings are in line with the centre of the engine (looking from the side), so if using centre-exit downpipes (P6 type or MGB block-hugger tubular manifolds) the mounting will be in the way. There is also a problem insofar as the exhaust route will have to go UNDER the front cross member as with the bellhousing and the power steering rack on the driver's side there is no room for the pipes to go above the crossmember. On my Mk4 it had the old steering box on the inside of the front wheelarch so no problem there. Also you will need to use the Rover P5 or P6 sump. The engine has to sit at 5 degrees to the horizontal, the Range Rover sump fouls the power steering rack. The P6 sump has a more central 'well' for the oil and clears the rack easily. I will move the position of the engine mounts to line up with the positions on the Rover Engine, this will leave enough room for the exhaust downpipes. Pictures will be posted tomorrow when I have moved the mounts and got the engine in the right place. There will be no need to cut the bulkhead you will be pleased to hear, I will just swing the engine over about half an inch, slightly stressing the rear gearbox mount, although I may cut one of the mounting holes bigger so the engine/gearbox can sit slightly askew in the chassis. All in all it was never going to be plug and play but I am here to do all the development so you don't have to! Full instructions will be available once the conversion is complete.

**UPDATE** Although there is plenty of room on the passenger side for the rear-exit type exhaust manifold/pipes of the P5 or Range Rover type, I think there is insufficient room on the Driver's side due to the large lump on the gearbox where the original starter went and the steering rack arrangement on my particular Mk5.

[layalog]

Hello thegreat
not been looking at this thread for a while and just been reading about your progress can I ask before you start building your engine mounts like I did check your front panel and rad and grill fit. like people say its tight its actually to tight (yes with the p5 set up) when I measured mine it needed another 65mm when I do get to sort mine out this summer I will be moving the box back 100mm and shortening the prop im only letting you know as its really disappointing when you try to fit the front back on expecting a little mod to the rad. anyway good luck cant wait to see how your getting on martin

[thegreathowardo]

Hello thegreat
not been looking at this thread for a while and just been reading about your progress can I ask before you start building your engine mounts like I did check your front panel and rad and grill fit. like people say its tight its actually to tight (yes with the p5 set up) when I measured mine it needed another 65mm when I do get to sort mine out this summer I will be moving the box back 100mm and shortening the prop im only letting you know as its really disappointing when you try to fit the front back on expecting a little mod to the rad. anyway good luck cant wait to see how your getting on martin

I have removed the front crossmember and have built a new one that bolts in. I will hang the rad off the front of this I reckon. When I did the conversion on the recovery truck it was using a Rover P6 gearbox. It threw up a load of problems like Propshaft length and where the gear lever comes through the floor... not to mention the reshaping of the bulkhead to clear the rocker boxes, with reduced foot room next to the clutch. I think that sorting the cosmetics at the front is a lot easier than moving the gearbox. I haven't had to reshape the bulkhead this time, the gear lever is in the right place, and I haven't had to have a shortened and balanced prop. Here are some pix of the 'climbing frame' engine mounts...

[ColinJack]

Top job!

[nomadbill]

This looks like a pretty complicated conversion, way above my level of competence, time or funds. Anyone know if the engine bay on a MK6 is bigger making it less involved to convert to Rover V8? Or would I be better off going for a Ford V6 lump instead?

[dieselhead123]

This looks like a pretty complicated conversion, way above my level of competence, time or funds. Anyone know if the engine bay on a MK6 is bigger making it less involved to convert to Rover V8? Or would I be better off going for a Ford V6 lump instead?

The Mk6 does indeed have a larger engine 'hole'

The CAD design work has been done for the Essex and RV8 onto the Mk6 gearbox, both look to be fairly simple to connect to the gearbox and neither pose any 'major engineering problems'.
In both cases the adapter plate will bring the engine slightly further forward, this should mean that there will be no bulkhead modifications required.

We intend to provide all the necessary parts either 'outright' or on an 'exchange' basis where modification is required.

I will start a specific thread for each conversion in the Mk6/7 section once we get a bit further on with them.

Thanks for your interest,

TIM

[transitandy]

[thegreathowardo]

Converting to V8 isn't just about the engine, I have removed the heavy old dashboard and am creating a new look for the inside too. This will bolt to the front of the heater box, the heater controls fit in the hole at the bottom. The ignition, fuel pump and starter button are above a row of switches which will operate the tail lift, interior light in the Luton back, reversing camera, sat nav, and there are a couple of spares. The original clock and radio have been retained. I need to get all the wiring sorted before I attempt to get the thing started. Also I will need to fit the choke cable to the top right hand side, next to the cigarette light /12v outlet.

[captain hook]

**UPDATE** Although there is plenty of room on the passenger side for the rear-exit type exhaust manifold/pipes of the P5 or Range Rover type, I think there is insufficient room on the Driver's side due to the large lump on the gearbox where the original starter went and the steering rack arrangement on my particular Mk5.[/quote]

When I did a V8 Conversion....25 years ago

I just used 2 Left-hand P5 Manifolds

[thegreathowardo]

**UPDATE** Although there is plenty of room on the passenger side for the rear-exit type exhaust manifold/pipes of the P5 or Range Rover type, I think there is insufficient room on the Driver's side due to the large lump on the gearbox where the original starter went and the steering rack arrangement on my particular Mk5.

When I did a V8 Conversion....25 years ago

I just used 2 Left-hand P5 Manifolds [/quote]


Funnily enough I have 2 of those in stock... !!!

[thegreathowardo]

Satuerday 29th and Sunday 30th March 2014:
Well a busy weekend. On the face of it not a lot has happened but with all the electrics sorted on the new dashboard, we have ignition switches, fuel pump switch, rev counter and a variety of spare switches too, original Transit Radio and clock. With all the electric sorted it was time to start the beast>>>BUT with this particular V8 dating from 1970 it has the wonderful rope REAR main oil seal on the crank. This makes the engine unbelievably tight, so much so that even with a breaker bar and socket on the front of the crank it is a struggle to turn over... So the only way is to tow start it. this would be fine if I had a country road or a farm to do this on but I only have about 2.5-3 cars lengths in front of the van. However with the trusty Renault Espace and a tow rope after around 6 attempts it fired up. We had to keep pushing the van back up the drive with a tyre between the two. This few seconds of running had i supposed burnished the new rope seal and the engine now spins over freely on the starter. The engine mounts were removed and beefed up as they were little more than tacked in position. The power steering pump bracket was positioned and welded up, the device hanging off existing holes in the block and timing cover. Fortunately the power steering pipe is threaded through the engine mounting otherwise there would have been a severe headache. The pump can't be too low as I am trying to get the auxiliaries all on one belt and the belt needs enough 'wrap' around the crank to be able to drive them. Exhaust system next then cooling system... and that's it!

[thegreathowardo]

NOTE: When building an engine for future use it is a good idea to leave a note on it to tell you how far you had got, as I discovered that this engine that has been kicking about for a couple of years hadn't had the heads torqued down. I could just about do this with it in situ as the last 4 head bolts at the back of the engine bay are a little difficult to get to!

[thegreathowardo]

The cooling system header tank is now in situ but on the opposite side of the engine bay. It was too much of a squeeze with my gorgeous air filter and the brake servo on the driver's side. I made up a t-piece to connect the different sized hoses from the heater back to the top of the water pump and the header pipe from the tank. Fortunately I have managed this using central heating fittings soldered together. The alternator is now in position too, the Rover engine having a lot of convenient holes in the heads and block, ideal for hanging items onto bits of studding and then using strengthening bars or strips to make sturdy. A v-belt has been ordered and will arrive tomorrow. I am a little concerned that the belt may not have enough contact with the crank pulley but we will see when it is fitted and running.... there is always a plan B but as yet I don't know what that will be. Tubular manifolds being collected on friday so the weekend should see the exhaust system finished to just below the cross-member.

[thegreathowardo]

Sunday 6th April:
Rain has stopped play today but yesterday was reasonably productive. Having decided that there wasn't nough v-belt on the crank pulley I decided to go twin belt. This wasn't done using the huge crank pulley from an SD1 V8 but simply by doubling up the water pump pulley, using a spare that just happened to be in stock. I had already created a mounting for the power steering pump but this one wasn't adjustable... so how to tension the belt? thinks.... I have an old wheel bearing, new but unfitted, for an MGF... mount that onto an adjustable arm and hey presto a belt tensioner. The alternator had already been fitted but because of the way I had built the mountings these were easily adjusted to bring the pulley into line with the second water pump pulley. I also fitted some MGB V8 stainless exhaust manifolds which should save even more weight, as I am trying to get the payload up by paring off everything I don't need.





The next job is to fit the radiator, cooling fan, instruments and exhausts. The front will need a bit of cosmetic attention due to the engine being further forward in this conversion than in my recovery truck.

[thegreathowardo]

The release bearing combo now welded to stop the adaptor ( and original release bearing) spinning on the gearbox tube.



The gearbox tube with wear marks on it....


The wear line on the clutch plate boss... and metal dust on the diaphragm


On a sunday, a 1 and 13/16ths 6 point socket from Halfords is converted to a 12 point socket with an angle grinder and then welded to a bit of scaffold tube. Not pretty but it worked.



The clutch in situ on the flywheel...





And the gearbox showing the amount that has to be pared away for starter motor clearance....



Having replaced the wheel bearings and discs on saturday I also made up an exhaust system. However when running the engine I was getting a lot of screaching from the clutch area, I put this down to my release bearing combo spinning on the gearbox tube, which it shouldn't do. I tried welding the original bearing and adaptor together through one of the access holes in the bellhousing... this didn't stop the screaching. Nothing for it but to remove the engine and box. When in pieces I fixed the combo properly but noticed the wear on the clutch plate boss and the gearbox tube... after making up a tool to remove the gearbox nose tube I then ground off a couple of mm from the tube. All back together and back in the van I haven't run it yet as I just need to wait for the new water pump to turn up and then we should be on the final leg, aiming to get it sitting back on it wheels and ready for an MOT after the Easter weekend.