JC’s Discovery 300TDi Restoration

[MGBGTV8]

Had the truck back 3 weeks nearly now and made quite a bit of progress.
Almost got it all back together... but there's still quite a bit to do to get it "right".

... took a couple of photo's of the restored inner wheel arches and one of the front end which is almost back together complete with a "hot climate" grille that I managed to pick up on eBay for 60 quid.

So, we're getting there... all-be-it very slowly!

 

[John506]

A good read everyone loves a restoration thread no matter how big or small !

Was it hard to remove the rear wing? Be doing this pretty soon on mine!

 

[brettguise]

Will you sell it ;-)

 

[AJC]

Proper going to town. Good work

 

[MGBGTV8]

A good read everyone loves a restoration thread no matter how big or small !

Was it hard to remove the rear wing? Be doing this pretty soon on mine!

Rear wing removal is a bit of a ball ache. 4 rivits to drill out on the D post underneath the plastic trim. About 20 bolts inside, a hand full of self tappers on the trailing edge by the tailgate and one rivet to drill out inside where the speaker mounts. Beware hidden bolts in the wheel arch!

Once you've got all the fittings out it's a simple case of cutting through the mastic with a new Stanley blade and peeling it back carefully. Start with the leading edge of the wing, then the top and then it'll come away quite easily.
I found it useful to thread some steel rope through and use it like a saw to cut through the mastic in the top corner.
If your intention is to re-use the panel then be careful as it's very easy to bend them when you're pulling them off!

In theory yes it's an easy job but you'll probably swear once or twice - I certainly did!

Will you sell it ;-)

I could do, but I think the going rate for a D1 these days is only about half a tube of smarties! LOL!

In all seriousness, with the current mileage I'm hoping to get 10 years use out of it given that we typically do about 10k a year in a 4x4. I suppose I aught to do something about the agreed valuation for the insurance as it now owes us rather a lot more than it's probably worth (firmly into tidy D2 territory). It clicked over to 72k miles today, had its cambelt 2 months ago and has a fully stamped service history from new and with the recent investment in the bodywork, I'd like to think its not such a bad little truck in as far as D1's go!

Proper going to town. Good work

Cheers fella!

 

[Mr Noisy]

Yeah it's lovely to see this level of restoration rather than cut and shut like us off-roaders do.

Way better vehicle than a D2 at similar money so I think you're on to a good thing.

Very very pleased with the job so far

 

[MGBGTV8]

Small update...

The truck disgraced itself 6 days ago. We visited some family and on the way back nasty growls started coming from the engine - the sort of growl you get when a water pump is eating itself. Temperature seemed OK, so we pressed on home and stopped in to a supermarket on the way back to pick up a few groceries. When we went to start her up again to come home and the engine would only turn over very slowly and made a bizarre squeaking sound not unlike a rusty gate.
Suspecting the water pump had seized I released the fan belt and she turned over and fired up and sounded sweet. I then checked all the pulleys and discovered it was the alternator that was actually the component that was on it's last legs.

OK then. No big deal. the plan was to take the truck off the road on the 28th of Feb for a month for some much needed TLC anyway. We've done about 5000 miles since it was thrown back together in a hurry and pressed in to service. On a couple of occasions we went places with no interior to speak of!
So really we can forgive the alternator fault and the split leak off pipe(s) that resulted in diesel ****ing all over the pavement at the front of the house!



Anyway...

Todays job was to address the pinstripe on the back wing. Unfortuantely, I found out the car had actually got different coloured pinstripes on each side!!! One side was silver the other grey. It was simple enough to pinstripe the rear wing on the passenger side, but I had to carefully remove the pinstripe on the drivers side with a razor blade and then stripe the whole of the o/s. Still, at least it all matches now!

Next project was to fit the side steps - some folk on here don't like 'em but I do. I managed to score a set on ebay for 50 notes. Simple enough to fit - they just sort of clamp on to the chassis out riggers. I think I prefer the original mounting system of using the body mounts in all honesty. Still - they are solid enough and made of rubber so won't rot out like the original type.

Something's missing?

Yup... rubber arches! Fortunately I was able to secure an original unused set on ebay still in the LR packaging complete with 20 odd year old glue. Wonder if it's any good? I suppose I'll find out tomorrow since that's what I've used to stick the buggers on with!

Managed to score 20 odd clamps in various sizes from B&Q for £11 after all the local pound shops were out of stock - so pretty pleased with that purchase!


Starting to look more like a car and less like a rolling shed now.

...and one more picture with the grinning idiot (yours truly) out of the way!
Not too much work to do on the exterior now hopefully? (Famous last words!)

 

[Mr Noisy]

Lol, top marks for quality and entertainment

 

[MGBGTV8]

Lol, top marks for quality and entertainment

Cheers Sam!

 

[Neildisco300]

Such a nice clean disco, I take it it's been a jap import with it being such a rust free example.

 

[thebiglad]

That's a really beautiful Disco I - honestly it's just lovely.

Very well done - I'll send you my name and address, just in case you decide to get rid

Dave

 

[MGBGTV8]

Such a nice clean disco, I take it it's been a jap import with it being such a rust free example.

Believe it or not, it was pre reg'd by Lancaster Land Rover in London. Date of first registration is 30/08/96 so I guess they were struggling to make targets that month - according to google maps they aren't there any more anyway. Certainly judging by the service record it was a tarmac warrior chugging around London until around 50,000 miles / 2006.

We are the 6th owner including the supplying dealer acquiring it @ 71k miles. Believe it or not, the owner before us was a farmer. I vacuumed no end of sand and straw out of the car when we stripped it down for painting.
When the farmer bought it in 2009 @ 58k, that's unfortunately where the service record stops.
It obviously had a hard life on the welsh farm as it picked up some massive dents - hence the need to replace the back n/s wing. There was also a huge dent in the drivers door and front wing along with the bonnet. It still bears the scar on the slam panel from whatever the farmer did.

The four doors, front wings and bonnet are from M130PAN - the V8 ES model we owned prior to buying this vehicle. There are a few pictures detailing the panel swap in the first couple of pages of the thread.
Unfortunately, the paint on the replacement panels, whilst much straighter are covered in swirl marks and deep scratches which doesn't show up in photo's. That said, it'll get there - a panel at a time if necessary.

It's the interior which has suffered the most at the hands of the farmer. The leather seats were quite dirty, but I've managed to steam clean them up and feed them. Hopefully a tan RRC interior will turn up eventually?

What attracted us to the truck in the first place was the very low mileage and how unmolested it was - the very first thing we did to it, astonishingly, was to have the ORIGINAL cambelt replaced. Only 1000 miles / a decade or so over due! So hopefully we'll own it, restore it and improve it for many years to come.

Cheers,

JC.

That's a really beautiful Disco I - honestly it's just lovely.

Very well done - I'll send you my name and address, just in case you decide to get rid

Dave

Thanks for the compliment, Dave!
Unfortunately, I don't think I could part with it. Aside from getting a bit attached to it, it now owes my other half an I quite a lot of cash. In hindsight we could have bought a very tidy, low mileage D2 and had change!

 

[Mr Noisy]

But a D2 ain't a D1

 

[MGBGTV8]

Trying something different...
I've painted some range rover rostyles with rattle cans and masks. Going to let it sit on these for a few weeks whilst we decide whether to get the set of wheels professionally powder coated or put it back to standard.
If we get them powder coated, I think a gunmetal silver much like the outer rim of the standard ES wheel would be better than bright silver.

Jury is still out for me at the mo...

 

[thebiglad]

Sorry Jon, but that doesn't work for me at all.

I think if the centre and spokes were black and the rim was silver, that would be completely different.


Dave

 

[Mr Noisy]

Yeah I'm with Dave

It's not a pleasing shape to pick out in black like that

I would be saying the complete centre hub too, maybe black hub and similar grey to your side stickers for the rim

Although tbh rim in bright silver would be just fine too probably

Just looks wrong as it is unfortunately.

Gonna throw a spanner in, seeing as you are going shiny have you considered chrome Wellers?

 

[Mr Noisy]

I also REALLY think you should look at colour coding your complete bumpers.

In fact OMG that would be sex.

 

[Mr Noisy]

Waxing lyrical slightly but I do LOVE rostyle rims, although they do need to be carefully styled

There was a silver 90 knocking about online a while back that had banded rostyles, they were one hell of a wheel, very envious!

 

[MGBGTV8]

Thanks for your thoughts gents. Nicola seems to like them - she said to me "maybe you're just not used to seeing Disco's with different wheels". Which, in fairness is a valid point. So, for the 30 days it's off the road they'll stay on the car but in truth I'm still a little bit cold on them in all honesty.

Having had various MG's and Rovers over the years fitted with ROstyles painted in that particular way, I made a mockup using an MGB 4 spoke ROstyle with a slightly different design - there's a silver section that protrudes into the blacked out areas. Now that absolutely works with the addition of a chrome embellisher ring. Unfortunately, the voids in the RR wheels just aren't designed the same way.

The other option that I thought might work is a set of Boost alloys in anthracite with a polished lip? But the only issue there is it's a bit of an obvious thing to do - much like minilites on an MGB or wire wheels on an old Jag.

Polished slotmags were mooted too - but then that's a bit too 70's for a 90's car IMHO.


Sam! Colour coding the bumpers is already on the to-do list!!! Well... the main steel girder section, certainly. The end caps will be semi gloss. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve from when I used to own rubber bumpered MGB's - getting a good shine from the plastic bits won't be too hard.

 

[Mr Noisy]

Fair play on the bumpers either way, my eyes just want them to blend with the body, to give the car some lowness and allow the wheels to sit on it more aesthetically.

Wheel choice is tough then.

The mockup rostyles I recognise from various classics and yes they work much better. I see what you were getting at with the RR type now

I LOVE some of the classic wolf race designs for land rovers, and the rarity now make a them a very cool wheel to have

Regards slot mags, I like them a lot and I don't think they would look too out of place. Something I might consider following up is slot mags and adding a USDM style to the car, basically everything black inc windows, side markers etc, could make it look very cool IMO with American styling hints

I think this vehicle deserves more than just a regular set of land rover rims if you're going to have it presented to a high standard, the correct set will finish the job