300tdi Project Disco

Hi All,

Thought it was about time I (re) introduced myself with my new, 18 year old Disco expedition/workhorse/green lane/snowmobile project.

I had one previously which was superb, and I did 45k miles in it including a trip to the arctic circle, but she was sadly quite rotten in the end so it was time for us to part.

I then had a flirt with a Nissan Patrol for a year or so, and after struggle to get the most basic of parts for this, I sacked it off and re-evaluated my options.

I would ideally like a 300tdi Defender 110 or 130, but these are way out of my budget and not so comfortable to drive long distances.

Parts supply and costs of other non landrover options also put me off.
So it was back to a 300tdi Disco. Which, I absolutely love.

I looked at quite a few, most of which I could see my boots through the boot floor and/or sills, or inner wings and then I stumbled across this one. It was in a terrible ebay advert MILES up north (where I happened to be working that week). It had been something that had been worked on for 2 years and claimed to have all the rot cut out of it.

Sure enough it was, the nice chap who owned it was a welder by trade and had done a really neat job of the welding. The mechanicals were quite neglected but the landrover started and ran, and we even managed to get it MOT’d after being stood for 2 years. A deal was done, and I drove the old girl 250 miles home with no trouble at all. Since then, there has been a mix of working on the thing and trying to enjoy it, always a balancing act with these old troopers.

Anyway, fun had so far:
· Touring locally and carrying kit for hiking and mountain biking.
· A green lane trip
· A day out at the land rover experience in Rockingham
· An Afternoon in Tixover quarry.

Work I have done so far:
· Welding (by previous owner) includes, boot floor, entire inner and outer sills, rear arches and bumper mounts and uprights front and rear.
· Front end swivel hub rebuild turned into a spending fest inc pairs of, New Calipers, discs, pads, springs, wheel bearings, swivel bearings, seals and brake lines (and swivel hub itself on one side. )
· New KYB shocks came with the vehicle on the front.
· Replacement OEM steering wheel fitted
· Diff Guards
· 5x BFG Muds 235’s.
· 5th alloy wheel fitted
· Rear door hinges replaced.
· Full oil service including, gearbox, transfer box, diffs and grease points.
· Diff Lock linkage freed.

Parts purchased for next round of work:
· Rear Bushes for trailing arms (Super Pro)
· Rear KYB Shocks
· New set of water hoses and water pump (precaution as old ones are quite crusty!)
· Used ARB bumper to fit.

Things I would like to do/plan to do:
· Rear calipers
· Cambelt change
· Paint headlining
· Steering guard and new damper
· Possibly repaint entire car in new colour, it is currently quite corroded on the alloy and the new metal is black. The short list is Satin White, Nato Green or a LandRover green
· The 4 doors have seen better days, so would change if I did the paint.
· Superwinch Tiger Shark winch
· Snorkle
· Lights
· Better quality fridge
· Rear locking diff
· Roof tent

So that is about where I have got to in the last 6 months. My dream trips would be a summer Alps trip, exploring Portugal and possibly the Atlas Mountains.

Pics to follow.

Pics

Sounds like your having an amazing time and enjoying yourself! Good luck with it all.

Looks like a nice example, keep up the good work.

Nice! Those BFGs are the old pattern. What a score!!!! Are they 235/75s or 235/85s? The photos look like your having fun too Subbed

TrilloThrillo110 said:

Nice! Those BFGs are the old pattern. What a score!!!! Are they 235/75s or 235/85s? The photos look like your having fun too Subbed

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235/75's buddy. The funny thing was I was having no luck at all getting some decent used ones at a sensible price, then a mate I do track days with mentioned he had a set and even delivered them the next day. He hadn't mentioned that they had only been used for a couple of off road days, so they were genuinely like new!

Little bit of an update:

The old girl has been going well, a have tackled a few minor jobs and have a week booked off in August to have 3 or 4 days on her. Looking forward too it.

Recent Activity:

• Replace Rear door hinge again, got my money back as one of the "new" ones opened up straight away. This time I have gone genuine on the part.
  
• Removed old spare wheel holder and scrapped it. It had been repaired badly and was all on the wonk. Replacement one secured at LR Show Billing for a tenner.
• Removed old crappy speakers, and have started to get the new ones I got for my bday (so childish )))) to go in. Same size in front doors, 6x9's in back 1/4's.
• Purchased a nice genuine boot matt - another tenner. This will help it look a little smarter and cover the pretty stained carpet.
• Fitted new battery.
  
• Did a couple of laps of the off road course at billing and had great fun doing so. My Mrs did a lap too so it was great to enjoy it together.
• I have booked it into a local LR friendly garage to help me with a couple of bits. I have been holding off as I can do them myself, but sometimes you have just got to accept that you cannot do it everything in life yourself! So they are going to fit the new KYB rear shocks (current ****parts are doing nothing!), a pair of new rear calipers and the new Superpro bushes I have had for 4 months for the front of the rear control arms.
• That leaves me with a week off to attack under the bonnet. I have been stock piling parts, I have a set of coolant hoses, a new stat. I need to get a timing belt kit fitted so thought I would do the water pump at the same time. Should keep me busy.

Pics to follow.

So the most exciting update for me is that I have finally purchased a winch. Yipeee etc.

Always wanted one, and like the idea of being able to do more green lanes as and when we feel like it, and have an option if the worst does happen. So after reading up, there were two options short listed - both from Super Winch, the tiger shark or the mighty Husky.

I was annoyed at myself as there was a really nice Husky for sale locally not so long ago at a good price, and I hesitated and it sold. This time I didn't muck about. Anyway, I collected it from the chap at the Billing show so here are the pics.

It is complete, and working, but very ropey (see what I did there) looking. Fingers crossed the internals are ok.

I hope the photos are not too big.

As you can see its pretty old, in fact I have a feeling that it is one of the original Farley Husky winches because of the sticker. Anyway, as you can see the cradle is quite rusty but it is a Disco 1 cradle and a genuine Superwinch one. I am hoping to fabricate it into the ARB bumper I have.

After eventually getting to the winch, which took the air impact gun, blow torch and angle grinder! I could start to inspect what I had bought, and apart from a couple of seized bolts I am pretty happy. So far it looks good internally. The idea is to rebuild it, replace a couple of the required parts, give it a lick of paint and a new cable and enjoy.

Squares said:

I hope the photos are not too big.

As you can see its pretty old, in fact I have a feeling that it is one of the original Farley Husky winches because of the sticker. Anyway, as you can see the cradle is quite rusty but it is a Disco 1 cradle and a genuine Superwinch one. I am hoping to fabricate it into the ARB bumper I have.

After eventually getting to the winch, which took the air impact gun, blow torch and angle grinder! I could start to inspect what I had bought, and apart from a couple of seized bolts I am pretty happy. So far it looks good internally. The idea is to rebuild it, replace a couple of the required parts, give it a lick of paint and a new cable and enjoy.

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Sounds Like your having a Whale of a time

Where about's in Herts are you? i work in Tring. hoping to do a Green lane day soon, maybe meet up?

Cheers dude.

Ha - whereabouts in Tring? I'm close by. Green lane day sounds good, where did you have in mind?

Down Brook Street , Tring Signs.
Not sure we normally go out Berkshire way. a few nice ones down there

Squares said:

View attachment 89137 View attachment 89136

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There's something strange in that water, you go in a good looking blond and come out all David Bellamy.

Mort1969 said:

Down Brook Street , Tring Signs.
Not sure we normally go out Berkshire way. a few nice ones down there

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Ah mate, I know where you are - pretty bloody close. Let me know when you fancy going laning? Im keen to get out as much as possible now its sort of working...

markSX said:

There's something strange in that water, you go in a good looking blond and come out all David Bellamy.

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Must be all the gearbox oil in the water!?!

A few pics.

Picked up an apperently unused Hi Lift jack which I am pretty happy with, it was covered in cobwebs and a little stuck but after a quick clean up and oil (lots of oil) its all working as it should. Really happy with its condition and the price I paid.

Also cleaned up the spare wheel holder I got, it was the best of about 10 Iooked at during Billing show. Much better than the one I scrapped, now its ready for a bit of black paint and a generous amount of wax oil.

Did a bit more on the winch, stipped it totally apart now and its in good order. Needs a good clean but largely its fine. Think its being rebuilt just in time, as the oil seemed to have a bit of water a gunk in it, luckily all the bearings seem fine after washing and oiling.

The main problem is lots of rusted buts and snapped heads. We currently have the welder out, next will be drilling.....

It is also so nicely made, it really is a pleasure to be bringing it back to life, being an early one it could be some 30 years old!

Looking good