RE: Bowler Defender 110: Spotted

[soad]

I want that one!
We raced Bowler’s 440bhp supercharged Defender in a mental hill rally

[unsprung]

caelite said:

My preference would be a Cummins ISB. Can be specced to euro 6 standard if you like (although my preference would be on an older 5.9 p-pump euro 2/3ish, more durable engine). Can provide an ultra reliable 350ish bhp (and outrageous amounts of torque), or a slightly less reliable 1000+hp silly numbers if you buy some parts over from American tuning communities. You can pull them out of older DAF lorries & some other stuff here.

For petrol, the old buick V8s are pants (in my opinion), however people have been swapping Chevrolet small blocks into Defenders for donkeys, again 500hp reliably, or silly numbers with more money thrown at it.

Both options suit different tasks, for a road/towing truck I'd be going straight for the lorry engine with a ZF syncro box thrown in, for an offroad racer LS hands down.

Different pokes for different folks and all that. Defenders are a very modular platform, personally I'd be buying a clean one and building my own rather than paying Bowler for the pleasure.

Wonderful. Thanks for this detailed insight as well as those photos.

The LS installation looks especially well sorted. Like an OEM product. In this situation I share your preference for DIY over writing a single large cheque.

Silly numbers indeed. I can imagine the immense torque that a modded Cummins could deliver. The proverbial rip-houses-off-their-foundations sort of thing. "Don't you worry, Ma'am. We'll have this straightened out in a jiffy."

[caelite]

unsprung said:

caelite said:

My preference would be a Cummins ISB. Can be specced to euro 6 standard if you like (although my preference would be on an older 5.9 p-pump euro 2/3ish, more durable engine). Can provide an ultra reliable 350ish bhp (and outrageous amounts of torque), or a slightly less reliable 1000+hp silly numbers if you buy some parts over from American tuning communities. You can pull them out of older DAF lorries & some other stuff here.

For petrol, the old buick V8s are pants (in my opinion), however people have been swapping Chevrolet small blocks into Defenders for donkeys, again 500hp reliably, or silly numbers with more money thrown at it.

Both options suit different tasks, for a road/towing truck I'd be going straight for the lorry engine with a ZF syncro box thrown in, for an offroad racer LS hands down.

Different pokes for different folks and all that. Defenders are a very modular platform, personally I'd be buying a clean one and building my own rather than paying Bowler for the pleasure.

Wonderful. Thanks for this detailed insight as well as those photos.

The LS installation looks especially well sorted. Like an OEM product. In this situation I share your preference for DIY over writing a single large cheque.

Silly numbers indeed. I can imagine the immense torque that a modded Cummins could deliver. The proverbial rip-houses-off-their-foundations sort of thing. "Don't you worry, Ma'am. We'll have this straightened out in a jiffy."

Best thing about those 2 motors, is also availability. LS/LT motors are available as a working crate, direct from Chevrolet for about us$12k. Cummins also are starting a crate motor program, however only a variant of the 4BT is available at the moment (for us$9k). Personally I think swaps are the future for motors like this, with the advent of LEZ's and whatnot coming in. In the US (California) there is the option to make older commercial vehicles emissions compliant via repowering, and this concept is bleeding down into classic cars, giving them much more drivability with modern engines. I know from the Glasgow LEZ consultation that the option of retroactive emissions compliance is one that is at least being considered by legislators (it was in the consultation asking if it should be an option).

Personally as a massive luddite myself when it comes to in car infotainment/built in electronic 'everything' becoming the norm in modern motors, my preference for a daily driver is just becoming older and older, eventually the idea of 'modern' efficiency, reliability, and ability to travel into cities may sway me, but would love the idea of repowering an older rig.

[krisdelta]

Bafflingly expensive - £20k for an engine tune to 170bhp, some seats, suspension and wheels and another £4.6k for 25bhp on top? Absurdly poor value.

[Derek Chevalier]

"Over the years, Land Rover has tickled and tweaked its off-road icon to make it better on road and more capable off,"

How have they made it more capable off - modern iterations have terrible articulation?

[skyrover]

I suppose they are talking about traction control.

A poor substitute for proper diff locks which jeep have the foresight to offer from the factory

[J4CKO]

I dont get these Show Pony LandRovers, Land Rovers yes but these tend to be driven in urban environments as a bit of a statement, must be keen on the image to put up with a Land Rover as a daily, and making them fast, god no, its farm machinery that can go on roads, not the other way round.

[njw1]

chazwozza said:

Must be the biggest 0-60 increase i've ever seen quoted!! I like it a lot...

I think I would remain very skeptical of that 0-60 figure until I drove one. My Mondeo which has (pretty much) the same engine and is running similar power and torque figures doesn't do the 0-60 dash in much less than 8 seconds. obviously the gearing will be different on the Landy, but still...........