R2.8 to Ashcroft HD R380 stumpy Conversions
- Thread starter Uncle Douglas
- Start date
Probably the lowest maintenance most reliable engine you could put in a defender.
With the exception of Kraig, I dont think the rest of our swap customers even change their own oil. The way we do them, pretty much everything is new, its like owning a new car.
We wont do another auto but there are others offering the swap with automatics. No one I know is happy with the 6l80e due to the programing issues. This includes Steve Sanders @ Cummins who is in charge of the R2.8 program. He built a D2 with r2.8 and 6spd auto for his wife.
Not sure I believe the posts one company is making about the ZF 8spd.
With the exception of Kraig, I dont think the rest of our swap customers even change their own oil. The way we do them, pretty much everything is new, its like owning a new car.
We wont do another auto but there are others offering the swap with automatics. No one I know is happy with the 6l80e due to the programing issues. This includes Steve Sanders @ Cummins who is in charge of the R2.8 program. He built a D2 with r2.8 and 6spd auto for his wife.
Not sure I believe the posts one company is making about the ZF 8spd.
Napalm00
Technical Excellence Contributor
I'm thinking the exact same thing I want to do a 90 with an auto for my girl. I'm just trying to toy between a 200 or 300 TDI and an auto and a whole new something else.
Maybe a 700r4 would work better than the 6l80e, at the detriment of high speed mileage
Maybe a 700r4 would work better than the 6l80e, at the detriment of high speed mileage
Intimately aware John. Already posted my thoughts.
Have owners who had tried to purchase both of those solutions you linked very recently, now on our schedule here.
We are knocking out completed conversions in the low-mid 20's.
No smoke, no mirrors, no photoshop, no website, just Cummins powered defenders.
Have owners who had tried to purchase both of those solutions you linked very recently, now on our schedule here.
We are knocking out completed conversions in the low-mid 20's.
No smoke, no mirrors, no photoshop, no website, just Cummins powered defenders.
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He had it in the booth when we worked the Expo East trade show with him.
Measurements indicated it would require lots of customisation and complicated bracketry on the truck side to fit. Our solution uses readily available Land Rover made parts. Given the value of these trucks and customer desire for a swap to be minimally invasive, we strive to avoid modifications. We feel we have the best solution for the 2.8 into a defender. It is the cheapest, fastest install and uses the fewest custom parts. Over the past two years other shops and individuals have contacted me about what we are doing and to voice they are not happy with their own results.
I see no reason to try every gear box available to satisfy others curiosity. The market demand/appeal for that solution in a defender would not justify the time spent . No one has broken anything on one of ours to date except a Lucky 8 cv joint from their supplier in Italy. That was rock crawling on the Rubicon trail. A stock part was put in and that was it.
You are welcome and encouraged to do so.
I will start a new thread with an appropriate title if we do a conversion with a different transmission.
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Sure, once I win the lottery...
I'm living on a different planet where these trucks are beaters. I scrounge junkyards for parts.
Just kidding. I thought Chad might have actually run one of these before selling them. Obviously it is a lot more money, but the gearing is attractive.
The long bellhousing R380 option sounds like it makes the most sense for the earlier trucks. It will be nice once there is a complete DIY package. I think that is holding a lot of people back.
Don't see that happening. In this day and age were shelving any inventory flies in the face of business best practices, what you propose woud tie up huge amounts of capital, sell very slowly, and if you priced it so that it remotely made financial sense, it would be beyond most diyers grasp.
Amazon charges its Prime vendors huge shelving fee's for inventory on widgits for their business model to work. Imagine what carrying costs on a kit that costs around $15k (my actual cost with the ashcroft bits) would run, not to mention space requirements. Tying up that much capital for ea kit, storing it, and making a profit that justifies tying up the capital would make the kits cost nearly what our installed price is.
We do complete conversions here, hard to imagine it would make sense for most to undertake one of these for what we charge for the turnkey job.
Chad sells a kit that includes everything a person capable of under taking a conversion should need.
Chad has never installed a 2.8.
Chad and I did a quote for Cummins ZA for the repower of 15 safari game viewing rigs. When we started spreadsheeting ea part and associated time making it, things got expensive quickly.
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I had posted in this thread that wasn't likely to happen a few months ago, primarily for the reasons given above. Inventory carrying cost for a low volume item that most would prefer a professional install.
Again, I invite you to start your own thread and stop pissing on mine.
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Doug, what's best way to get in contact with you?
No. With a stumpy, you mount the gearboxes in the 300TDI position and use an R380 tunnel and 300TDI (and V8) driveshafts.
With a long bellhousing R380, you mount the gearboxes in the 200TDI position and use 200TDI (and earlier diesel) driveshafts. I "assume" also LT77 tunnels, but Doug can comment.
Norton
Well-known member
Join the club I was a little confused too! but Uncle Doug set me straight (and as mentioned by Red90 above) you need a long bellhousing R380 and everything else should line up. Unless it is a LR and something else doesn’t match - like my steering box apparently I had an oversized 6 bolt box had to swap it out to a 4 bolt.
Quickdraw now includes the engine mounts too - they lined up pretty damn close for us.
We should get UD to change the thread title To help with the confusion?
Attachments
If a truck was built with any 4 cyl gas or diesel up through a 200tdi we are now using a long shaft version of the HD (clarifying -300 tdi version since there are 3 long variants)R380. This keeps the lt230 in the original position for that application which is behind the front of the seat box. By using the long version of the transmission the engine is pushed far enough forward that it clears the bulkhead nicely but is also nicely behind the LHD steering box. By doing this the original driveshafts, floors and tunnel are all retained. We use the stumpy for trucks that have r380 seatbox, floors and tunnel. We suggest a new steering box and fuel tank @ time of conversion.
Going forward we will be swapping all the R2.8's we install over to the different front cover that Chad discovered (credit where credit is due) that Cummins supplies with the engine in other parts of the world. This front cover is for a spin on oil filter and gets rid of the remote oil filter setup and making lines for ea truck we do. The bottom of the spin on filter is flush with the bottom of the oil pan when installed. The filter location is nicely behind the axle so oil changes will be clean and easy.
Links to the part no's and a brief tear down video Chad did.
https://quickdrawbrand.com/product/cummins-r2-8-oil-filter-mount-front-housing-kit/
Going forward we will be swapping all the R2.8's we install over to the different front cover that Chad discovered (credit where credit is due) that Cummins supplies with the engine in other parts of the world. This front cover is for a spin on oil filter and gets rid of the remote oil filter setup and making lines for ea truck we do. The bottom of the spin on filter is flush with the bottom of the oil pan when installed. The filter location is nicely behind the axle so oil changes will be clean and easy.
Links to the part no's and a brief tear down video Chad did.
https://quickdrawbrand.com/product/cummins-r2-8-oil-filter-mount-front-housing-kit/
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Tomaco1
Well-known member
Got it thanks.
Our conversion. Standstill to 80 in sub 20 seconds. Mid 20's mpg.
Performance and economy. Windows and vents open, engine is relatively quiet.
Shifts were all around 2400 rpm, ie wasnt flogging it. If you listen to the audio, shift to 5th was round 72 mph, backed off @ 80mph.
Performance and economy. Windows and vents open, engine is relatively quiet.
Shifts were all around 2400 rpm, ie wasnt flogging it. If you listen to the audio, shift to 5th was round 72 mph, backed off @ 80mph.
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Going to flipflop on what I previously said about R2.8 mated to 6L80E.
Seems we have the perfect program finally and it shifts like butta.
Going to run it around Colorado high country and Moab over next two weeks but all indications are
we finally have the ultimate program for the combo.
Seems we have the perfect program finally and it shifts like butta.
Going to run it around Colorado high country and Moab over next two weeks but all indications are
we finally have the ultimate program for the combo.
Yes. The issue has been the correct program or "tune".
Has taken years but we now have it nailed.
This is the standalone- can only be bought from Jim @ ZeroGravity but he cant program it for an R2.8,
despite what he will tell you.
GM 6L45E 6L50E 6L80E 6L90E TCM2650 transmission controller harness
GM 6L50E, 6L80E 6L90E, Transmission Control Module. TCM-2650 transmission controller GM 6L45E 6L80E 6L90E transmission controller and wiring harness.
www.zerogravityperformance.com