Defendermatt wrote:

I have done the 3UZ with R380 https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic73015.html

If you want a manual then you're best off with the GS6-53DZ out of many many BMW's. There are plenty available from ebay or breakers. There is an engine and transfer adapter for this transmission.

Timbo wrote:

You are right there are more places to look other than ebay. It's not the website it used to be and marketplace on facebook is brilliant. I don't know why I didn't look before I also have a couple of mates who I'm pretty sure will have an R380 who I didn't think of asking. Regarding your plate why doesn't it fit your engine very well? What conversion are you doing? What engine are you trying to mate it to? My thought process is at the moment if it doesn't fit your engine will it fit mine? Where are you roughly, I'm in the Midlands near Dudley. So many questions

Complicated but the story behind mine is:

I've got a Sandringham 6x6 which had a Nissan LD28 in it but originally left the factory with a 3.5V8. The LD28 despite being turbo charged was crap - everyone said it sounded amazing but I reckon 99% of it's power went into noise. Anyway rather ironically I had just sold a 4.6V8 to someone so was looking into fitting another 4.6 into it but then came across a chap on LR4x4 who'd fitted a 1UZ into a Series 3 (mine being mostly a Stage 1 V. The more I researched it the more appealing it became since it was basically in stock form what a Rover V8 aspired to be, cheaper too. I found a 1UZ engine advertised on Facebook for £550 and after phoning the chap turned out it was actually the entire LS400 for that price. Bypassed the immobiliser in the car park and got the thing running and did the deal.

Anyway a friend then offered me a Mazda SL35Ti for a price I couldn't refuse with all the adapters etc., to go into a V8 chassis. The diesel option made far more sense for the 6x6 so bought that and it's dropped in but I need to relocate the alternator and finish plumbing it in. So the 1UZ is going into the Defender - I mean why waste a perfectly servicable V8

So to answer your questions, it's a 94/95 1UZ-FE from a Lexus LS400 that's going into what was originally a manual 300Tdi Defender 110. I bought the adapter kit from Shabs but there have been a few issues.

Adapter plate: Offered it up and all the bolts lined up nicely - one was very slightly off but the bolt went in. The four bolts supplied which go at the bottom into the sump of the engine were the wrong thread. When I queried this with Shabs he said that aluminium shouldn't have fine threads cut into it (he supplied M10x1.5 I think it was and they should be M10x1.25). Well doesn't matter does it - Toyota cut fine threads in, he did offer to send some down but for a variety of a reasons I didn't go through with that.

The flywheel - one side is large enough to take a Tdi clutch plate and has holes drilled for the locating dowels, I fitted those with no bother. I cut off the ring gear from the flex plate and shrunk it onto the flywheel without issue. With all that work done (admittedly not long but had to be careful) and after knocking in the oilite bush into the crank I then discovered that the inside diameter of the flywheel was too small to fit over the crank boss on the 1UZ engine.

Queried this with Shabs and he found it strange since all the other kits he'd sold fitted no bother (although perhaps mostly 3UZ). I find it strange of the two parties involved (Toyota and Synchrogearboxes) that he was sure that something was amiss with the engine.

Anyway I have a friend who has a slightly bigger lathe than my ML7 (he checked and he could take up to 5ft diameter in it ) and I can run the engine and flywheel up to him no bother if I wanted to bore it out. I'd rather use him as it would be matched to the engine. The other issue I found when I offered up the R380 to the 1UZ is that the exhaust header on the driver side is damn close to the clutch slave cylinder. I've also made a custom seat box for mine so things get tight there.

For a number of reasons I think I'm probably going to stick the auto from the LS400 on there and build my own controller for it ultimately (my background is electronics) and adapt it up to the LT230. I've got a bare casting and some adapter shafts free from a mate so should be able to make it work. For what I use it for I quite fancy an auto now in the Defender and it also eliminates the clearance issue with the stock exhaust manifolds.

So taking Shab's at his word the flywheel should fit the 1UZ and 3UZ but for some reason doesn't fit mine  Ed
82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6
95 Defender 110 300Tdi

sako243 wrote:

Timbo wrote:

You are right there are more places to look other than ebay. It's not the website it used to be and marketplace on facebook is brilliant. I don't know why I didn't look before I also have a couple of mates who I'm pretty sure will have an R380 who I didn't think of asking. Regarding your plate why doesn't it fit your engine very well? What conversion are you doing? What engine are you trying to mate it to? My thought process is at the moment if it doesn't fit your engine will it fit mine? Where are you roughly, I'm in the Midlands near Dudley. So many questions

Complicated but the story behind mine is:

I've got a Sandringham 6x6 which had a Nissan LD28 in it but originally left the factory with a 3.5V8. The LD28 despite being turbo charged was crap - everyone said it sounded amazing but I reckon 99% of it's power went into noise. Anyway rather ironically I had just sold a 4.6V8 to someone so was looking into fitting another 4.6 into it but then came across a chap on LR4x4 who'd fitted a 1UZ into a Series 3 (mine being mostly a Stage 1 V. The more I researched it the more appealing it became since it was basically in stock form what a Rover V8 aspired to be, cheaper too. I found a 1UZ engine advertised on Facebook for £550 and after phoning the chap turned out it was actually the entire LS400 for that price. Bypassed the immobiliser in the car park and got the thing running and did the deal.

Anyway a friend then offered me a Mazda SL35Ti for a price I couldn't refuse with all the adapters etc., to go into a V8 chassis. The diesel option made far more sense for the 6x6 so bought that and it's dropped in but I need to relocate the alternator and finish plumbing it in. So the 1UZ is going into the Defender - I mean why waste a perfectly servicable V8

So to answer your questions, it's a 94/95 1UZ-FE from a Lexus LS400 that's going into what was originally a manual 300Tdi Defender 110. I bought the adapter kit from Shabs but there have been a few issues.

Adapter plate: Offered it up and all the bolts lined up nicely - one was very slightly off but the bolt went in. The four bolts supplied which go at the bottom into the sump of the engine were the wrong thread. When I queried this with Shabs he said that aluminium shouldn't have fine threads cut into it (he supplied M10x1.5 I think it was and they should be M10x1.25). Well doesn't matter does it - Toyota cut fine threads in, he did offer to send some down but for a variety of a reasons I didn't go through with that.

The flywheel - one side is large enough to take a Tdi clutch plate and has holes drilled for the locating dowels, I fitted those with no bother. I cut off the ring gear from the flex plate and shrunk it onto the flywheel without issue. With all that work done (admittedly not long but had to be careful) and after knocking in the oilite bush into the crank I then discovered that the inside diameter of the flywheel was too small to fit over the crank boss on the 1UZ engine.

Queried this with Shabs and he found it strange since all the other kits he'd sold fitted no bother (although perhaps mostly 3UZ). I find it strange of the two parties involved (Toyota and Synchrogearboxes) that he was sure that something was amiss with the engine.

Anyway I have a friend who has a slightly bigger lathe than my ML7 (he checked and he could take up to 5ft diameter in it ) and I can run the engine and flywheel up to him no bother if I wanted to bore it out. I'd rather use him as it would be matched to the engine. The other issue I found when I offered up the R380 to the 1UZ is that the exhaust header on the driver side is damn close to the clutch slave cylinder. I've also made a custom seat box for mine so things get tight there.

For a number of reasons I think I'm probably going to stick the auto from the LS400 on there and build my own controller for it ultimately (my background is electronics) and adapt it up to the LT230. I've got a bare casting and some adapter shafts free from a mate so should be able to make it work. For what I use it for I quite fancy an auto now in the Defender and it also eliminates the clearance issue with the stock exhaust manifolds.

So taking Shab's at his word the flywheel should fit the 1UZ and 3UZ but for some reason doesn't fit mine

Defendermatt wrote:

After a quick look on ebay for BMW boxes, they seem to be in shorter supply than when I last looked. There are a few on currently for the £500 mark.
My opinion would be to use the BMW box from the start, it will probably work out cheaper in the long run as I wouldn't trust a 100k+ mile R380 to last.

3UZ are fine thread fixings also, I discarded the hardware supplied with the syncro kit and sourced the correct M10x1.25. As for your flywheel not fitting @Sako I would put it down to a manufacturing error, wouldn't expect Toyota to be using cranks with multiple different sized crank bosses, 1UZ-3UZ use the same flex plate so crank boss must be the same. (mine went on no issue).

Thank you for the reply Matt. I was pretty much sold on the BM gearbox option anyway if only there was a plate for the N47 gearbox I'd be spoilt for choice! I may be starting from a slightly better position than you did regarding availability of parts as I bought the whole car! Having said that you have way more knowledge than me I sincerely hope you don't get sick of me asking lots of questions because that's what I'm gonna do

Timbo wrote:

Thank you again for the reply. I think I'm going to plump for the BMW gearbox as there is a guy local to me that can help with all the bits needed to make the gearbox fit the engine. Just got to find the gearbox now! I've started stripping the Lexus down and have no need for the auto gearbox on mine or any of the bits ( I too have the whole car) some of which may be of use to you so let me know if you need anything on that front. Hope your conversion is successful buddy and thanks again for the reply.

Good luck in hunting for the gearbox. There may be a couple of items of interest for me, I'll drop you a PM at some point  Ed
82 Hotspur Sandringham 6x6
95 Defender 110 300Tdi