After a week with no news on The Big Engine Swap, I called EuroLand 4×4 and left a message: “You guys are working on my truck and I’m calling for an update.” Ten minutes later I got a call back from the mysterious Philippe (whose accent is somewhere between Pepe Le Pew and Inspector Clouseau).

The old engine is out and Philippe’s concerns about its condition were confirmed. Unfortunately, the new engine from Zombie Motors isn’t going to be the plug-and-play fit we were told. Philippe had to contact the Land Rover folks in the UK for some instructions on how to make the new engine fit. Battery will have to be moved from the engine compartment to under the driver’s seat; instead of belt driven fan we’ll be using an electric fan for cooling (which is a better way to go I’m told); and some changes to the wiring and exhaust system. Translation: expensive.

Philippe sounded confident he could make it all work and might be finished in a week. I’ll believe it when I see it. O when Mr. Wolf sees/drives it. In three short weeks I’ll wing it out to San Francisco to finally meet Mr. Wolf and — with some luck — play with the truck before it gets shipped back to Missouri.