A Classic Land Rover Defender With LT4 Swap Sounds Insane

There are many schools of thought when it comes to off-roading, but one of the divides is between those who think gobs of power are necessary versus those who believe too much power will get you in a lot of trouble. Blackbridge Motors out of the UK obviously is in the first camp.

Excellent bad idea: Hayabusa go kart.

The shop does a lot of high-end classic Land Rover Defender restomod builds. And while they will put a trust LS3 in your rig, you can opt for the much more powerful, some would say far too powerful, supercharged LT4.

Having a classic Defender pushing 650-horsepower might seem like overkill and don’t get us wrong, it absolutely is. But as Tim the Toolman Taylor taught us, more power is always better, even if it does get you into trouble.

Of course, the LS3 isn’t exactly a pushover with 430-hp on tap. That’s far more than these Defenders were pushing originally and should help you climb steep grades, plow through river crossings, and grunt through mud with relative ease.

What’s even better is these engines aren’t coming from donor Corvettes, Camaros, etc. but instead are brand new with zero miles. That means the factory warranty of 24 months/50,000 miles still applies, which is a nice perk.

Still, for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, or just doesn’t understand the danger, this kind of power on any off-road rig can be a little dangerous. These things aren’t exactly sports cars, so you have to be careful when going through turns.

Plus, charging down a trail you don’t know at breakneck speed can, well, lead to terrible things. Caution must be exercised.

All that said, we wonder how well these things go off jumps. You know, for scientific reasons.

Balancing out all that power are a number of chassis upgrades. Among them are modern hydraulic brakes engineered and developed by Blackbridge, which it says applies up to 2,000 psi of clamping force. Brake upgrades are also available.

If you really want to get crazy and maybe go off some jumps, although we’re not endorsing such recklessness, Blackbridge offers Fox Racing remote reservoir shocks, heavy-duty steering rods, adjustable panhard bars, and other suspension upgrades. With each Defender built to your specifications, you get the exact rig you want.

You get all that and a beautiful interior loaded with modern features you pick out, like leather upholsterry, infotainment touchscreen, and yes even cupholders.

As one might expect, these rigs don’t come cheap. Prices are northward of £200,000 so as they say, if you have to ask how much, you probably can’t afford it. Still, for those who can this is one hell of a toy we wouldn’t kick out of our garage.

Images via Blackbridge Motors