Thats right, was a P4236 turbo (from a Dodge 50 bus) rather than the usual P4203 from a tractor/combine/forkift/generator. Obveously being mated to the LT95 ment it wasn't prone to the usual gearbox issues normal series box would suffer even on the lesser output engine and by using a 0.996:1 high range gear and overdrive it was aparently able to cruse at a sensible speed (though I very much doubt it would outrun my stage 1, I suspect it might still have not outrun the speed limit!) I think he said he'd killed a set of 996 gears though so at the time of sale it was running something lower making it 'a bit slow', though as a bonus aparently 4th gear was all you really needed - Those old Perkins engines were not known for their ability to rev as the high speed versions (they came with vareous different goveners depending on aplication) wouldn't reach 3000 rpm whilst the low speed versions would stop around 2000 rpm. I did hear it running and it sounded okay (fairly noisy but not by Tdi standards) but it was a bit smokey and for some reason the heater tank was relocated to the roof for reasons I never really understood (no reason they need extra head unless somethings leaking somewhere).
Photos of how it was when I saw it with the long term owner which might be quite interesting if you've not seen them before - its changed a little bit over the years!
It looks a bit rough and to be fair it was. Having been registered as a recovery vehicle it was MOT exempt and the holes in the chassis and footwells showed this hadn't done it too well. Other than that, whilst it looked pritty messed with it actully wasn't so much. The owner had made the roofrack and the winch bumper. The winch had had the drum lengthened to take a 60 m cable. The harvy frost craine had been modifited to make it fold so it could be used through the catflap tailgate or stowed inside, in eather case whilst using the second row seating. Perhaps its best feature was the power steering which he'd got from a Northern Ireland armoured LR - seems the tidyest PAS setup I'd ever seen just replacing the factory steering box and using what looked like a colapsable steering colum like a 110, the steering relay and chassis looked un messed with.
I contemplated buying it as I thought the spec was pritty interesting though of course in reality the crane would have been anoying and not very useful (I've heard people with classic restored LR recovery vehicles aren't aloud to use the crane as the insurance companies flip out) and whilst the diesel may have worked okay it'd be a parts issue if something needed work - I would have probubly tried to keep it with the Perkins diesel if I could as that once sort of common conversion (at least in smaller non turbo form) is now really rare and examples of them seem to be lost to history (all the ones I knew of were scrapped or Tdi converted), this would have been even rarer being the big turbo versions which may have actully made it bearable, though if that wasn't practicable the V8 would be the obveous choice - yes compaired to other modern diesels they are thursty but compaired to a 2.25 petrol a V8 in good shape is in the same ball park fuel whilst offering far more pace for less stress and a far better sound track.
As for the best gearbox I don't think theres really much in it unless you go for a ZF auto which is obveously a different beast. All the long stick manuals (and the ZF) with the long V8 bell houseing can fit in a stage 1 fairly easilly, if you use apropreate 110 bits like floor, seatbox and mountings it can be really tidy. My LT95 is a whiny clunky slow shifting thing with epic backlash (I'm sure its not the best example), and given it seems to be the 1st question other stage 1 owners ask me about it its a pritty common theme thats a charictoristic of the type to some degree. Thats said the R380's with some miles on that I've driven aren't that nice to drive eather (though they should be quieter) and the LT77 is even worse - none of them compair favorably to a well exicuted shift on a series 2A. I'd therefore say if what you've got is working okay I'd probubly leave it be. If its nackered and you don't want an auto then the LT95 gets points for originality where as the R380 is probubly the easyest to get bits for. The standard 1.34:1 gearing on a stage 1 is way too short of long comfortable highway use (its actully shorter than a series with overdrive) but by fiddleing with the transferbox gears you can basicly gear them where you want, though its basicly the same story with the LT230 transferbox. Only real difference when the top gear ratio has been chosen is that the 5 speeds are closer ratio (useful on a diesel but the V8 doesn't really care and its a good excuse to hear it) and a slightly lower 1st for the same top (again the V8 doesn't really mind but you can always get it rolling in low range if its perticularly steep and heavyly loaded - as a plus the transfer leaver is much easier to reach on an LT95 on the rare ocasions you'd want to).