Discovery Rust - Boot, Sills and Wings

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

Hello Everyone,

Back in April I purchased the Green Hornet, a three door 200TDi with only 113k on the clock. Now it looked pretty straight and had an MOT until this December so I thought she would be a good base for an off roader etc.

She has been sat in the drive for the last 3 months since the tax ran out and i intended to see to the little bit of rust before the next MOT was due.

Well I finally got the chance to have a look over the bank holiday and this is the start of the story which has well and truly unfolded.

Hopefully I can help all the potential Disco owners to check before buying and give some encouragement to owners who have work to do to their own vehicles.

So if your sitting comfortably I will Begin

The attached photo is of the rear offside. I thought that this would be a easy repair and that as the crossmember didn't need replacing I was quids in. So far so good.

(Please forgive me I have never uploaded photo before)

matthew2riches · Aug 30, 2011

Good luck. I've been doing loads of welding to mine for the past...... Hummm........ MONTHS!!

Bloody things. Good luck trying to repair the crossmember. I tried to but junked it in the end and got a new panel. So far I have done inner and outer sill, boot floor side panels and rear inner quarter panels, chassis sections, rear inner arch and rear outer arch. Still got drivers side to sort!!

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

I noticed that both the rear body mounts need replacing so will pick these up as individual items and then plate the rusty areas.

Secondly I thought that I should have a look at the boot floor. I spent a few hours and drilled out the spot welds ( I recommend a spot weld drill) I didn;t have a proper drill bit and struggled. My stubbourness knows no bounds!!

This is waht greeted me.

Now at this point I was thinking to myself that I really didn't want to strip out the little bit of rear carpet around the arches and the in the rear footwell, but I thought that it may get damaged so I would make the effort.

MISTAKE

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

As you can see the floor has gone completely in front of both arches and yes, that is the groun you can see

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

So next I thought 'In for a Penny' so out came the seats and the centre console and the front carpets.

Look what greeted me on the passenger footwell

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

So next out came the dashboard

And now the motor looks like this

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

Finally I went for broke and out came the lights, off came the wings and now I have inner wings to do both sides as well as the sills.

BUGGER

GRATCH · Aug 30, 2011

Looks like you got a good un. That's only surface rust, nothing serious.

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

In total she needs the following;

Boot Floor
Rear Cross Member Repair
Rear Body Mounts
Inner Sill Patch to Both Sides In Front Of Arches
Both Exterior Sills
Patch To Front Footwell
Both Inner Wings
Both Light Boxes
Both Forward Body Mounts

I am still entusiastic as i think despite the work she is still worth keeping, after all I will weld it all myself however i could have saved myself time and effort by following simple rules;

Don't View Car In Dark
Get Dirty and Look Underneath
Lift up Boot Carpet
Check under inner wings
Don't belive an MOT

The interior is now taking up my garage and the saga will continue.........

Mr Noisy · Aug 30, 2011

mate, dont worry about it, yours isnt looking that bad.

ok so its a fair amount of work but:

its a huge relief when its all done

yours doesnt need that much work

its so much easier when the car is fully stripped.

and luckily it doesnt look anything like this:

as you can see there is a general lack of crossmember, various deficiencies in wheel arch and a serious case of repeat boot floor AIDS.

BUT it wasnt long before this

then a test fit like this

then some panels like this

then some paint like this

a new floor like this

and a very happy moment like this

go forth and weld!

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

Cheers Gratch

I think you're right as it is all superficial. Just a lot of fiddly patches and on a tight budget it may take a few weeks.

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

Mr Noisy,

I have a picture of yours on my phone as inspiration, however from your previous posts I had no idea you did so much.

I must admit there is a strange perversness / perversity (whatever) in stripping stuff out.

I had considered an ali floor bolted/rivited in as it isn't structural.

I particularly like your wheel and suspension set up which I will be mimicking from you in the nicest form of plagurism

Mr Noisy · Aug 30, 2011

checking your new pics, i have already done front end a while ago on mine. if i had been able to buy the YRM metal solutions front end reapir panels at the time it would have made my job a HELL of a lot quicker/easier. check out their site and see what you need.

ok its dearer than making your own but how much do yoiu value your time and how nice do you want the result to be?

with the YRM stuff you can do a 'back to new' resto as opposed to a repair with home cut sheet. i used the latter and its fine but you should check it out just in case.

also check this link for some more inspiration:

https://picasaweb.google.com/117840...authkey=Gv1sRgCLeUoKqc0rD3nwE&feat=directlink

cheers

GreenHornet · Aug 30, 2011

Mr Noisy I do like your rear bumper - Who does it?

I do plan on using YRM and can't wait to get cracking. Unfortunately it is all to be done outside as my garage is already full and not big enough.

Mr Noisy · Aug 30, 2011

hi mate

the rear bumper was custom made. i know a lad in wigan who does bumpers and sliders as a sideline. he does a fabulous job and comes up with some very novel ideas.

will pm his info.

outside is a bit of a bummer esp with winter coming.

will the car not fit in the garage if the garage was emptied? it will be a major help to have it inside, then you can leave it as is and come back to it next day no worries.

cheers

Allyipod · Aug 30, 2011

Never look at it as a whole picture. Just keep picking off one job at a time and you will get satisfaction from all the little jobs. Trouble is winter is a coming So get the finger out........

Mr Noisy · Aug 30, 2011

mustadmit im enjoying your picture taking, light hearted attitude and general banter so far.

this project is gonna be a good'un to follow.

strangely, i kinda miss welding mine, was fun making it new again.

since it was all done and fixed up, every time i use it now it is becoming less new again

ANYWAY! good luck with it mate!

GreenHornet · Aug 31, 2011

Thanks for the PM Noisy, I will keep that number safe.

The links that have been suggested are great and they prove you can save almost any Discovery if you like hard work and take your time.

I would dearly like mine in the garage but my bikes (BMW and Harley) are more valuable although the Harley is currently in the garden under a cover. (Not that I ride it anyway so it may go to fund the Disco conversion/upgrade).

The next job this week is to pressure wash the whole thing and then start cutting out the rust a bit at a time.

I am looking forward to posting more picks as I go although forgive me as I haven't included photos before.

Finally please feel free to heap encouragement!!! Not only am I doing this but I'm fat, unfit and training for a half marathon in March (currently 2miles takes 13 mins and a near heart attack) plus I have 4 kids all of which are hitting 'that age' respectively.

Christ I need a workshop away from home.........................

StuRox · Aug 31, 2011

Mr Noisy said:
the rear bumper was custom made. i know a lad in wigan who does bumpers and sliders as a sideline. he does a fabulous job and comes up with some very novel ideas.

will pm his info.

Hi, sorry to hijack slightly, but could you pm his details to me also, as looking for sliders and I like that rear bumper

Cheers

storm99 · Aug 31, 2011

Mr Noisy..is that boot floor just replaced with one sheet of check-plate? Got to do mine soon, and although not expensive for the fllor (£60) I reckon your solution would be far better..

Discovery Rust - Boot, Sills and Wings

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