Series III

[Tbedman]

Hi, Can I put a Series IIA 2.25 driveline in a Series III that has a 2.6 motor. Will the 2.25 bolt up to the Series III Trans. Is ther an adaptor for this. Help please.

[SafeAirOne]

Hi, Can I put a Series IIA 2.25 driveline in a Series III that has a 2.6 motor. Will the 2.25 bolt up to the Series III Trans. Is ther an adaptor for this. Help please.

"Yes with a caveat" to question #1, and "No" to question #2. The answer to question #3 is "kind of".

[SafeAirOne]

Ok, Ok...Here's the elaboration you're probably waiting for:

#1--Everything downstream of the engine is almost (see #2 and #3 below) the same for both 2.25 and 2.6 engines EXCEPT the drive shafts (prop shafts) are different lengths for the different engines. If you keep the 2.6 driveshafts, you'll be just fine (the transmission and transfer case sit a bit farther aft in a 2.6 than the 2.25 to accomodate the longer engine, so the drive shafts are lengthened/shortened accordingly, I believe).

#2--The stud spacing for the 2.6 bellhousing-to-flywheel connection is the same as on the 2.25 BUT it is shifted x-many degrees clockwise. In other words if you have a 2.6 bellhousing on the transmission, there's a hole for the mating stud at...let's say the 12 o'clock position, then one at the 1 o'clock position, and so forth. The studs on the 2.6 have the studs that fit in those holes at the 12:30 positon, the 1:30 position, etc, so you cant mate the 2.6 engine to a 2.25 bellhousing without one of them (either the engine or the transmission) being cocked 10 (or whatever) degrees clockwise (or maybe it's anti-clockwise, who knows).

The fix for this is easy...Just swap the 2.6 bellhousing (and input shaft) for a super-common 2.25 bellhousing, which has all the holes in all the right places. A quick bolt-in solution. This is what I did when I installed a 2.5 diesel (same as the 2.25 engine) in place of the original 2.6.

#3--See #2 above.



One thing to note is that the engine mounts are in a different location on the chassis for a 2.6 than for any 4-cylinder rover engine, so you'll have to weld 4-cylinder engine mounts in the correct location on the chassis.