And so it begins the development of DiscoveRaid

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R

RallyHippo

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92
Location
Selby, North Yorks
I've been pratting about all my life with Motorsport having had various toys, I have been bitten well and truely by the Rally Raid bug but as in my nature I'm never content having something off the shelf so after countless hours researching Desert Warrior's, Tomcats, Wildcats and Tornado type trucks I've embarked on a production based truck using the d1 as a base frame.. the plan is to (with the help of Long Ranger) concert the 5door family truck to a 2 door pickup install twin shock hoops and a Custom cages multipoint weld in cage before embarking on a Tomcat style rear body to enclose the rear mounted rad and spares.. couple that with a meaty BMW M57n twin turbo lump from an x5 and we're well on the way to a very competitive Discovery, or since it's a Raid car we've decided it's going to be the DiscoveRaid.. the donor arrived this am..
 

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So having started out life as a 300tdi auto es spec the shell has had a hard life starting out as a managers car tramping the motorways, evidence remains of the original Motorola car kit however latterly it appears to have been lesser cared for finding a sheet of 2.5 mm steel plate teck screwed to the frame in replacement of the original boot floor- this will come in handy repairing the passenger foot wells and reinforcing ready for the roll cage pickup points.. it even came with 1/4 tank of derv.. the place I got the rolling shell from removed the engine and gearbox already as they specialise in defender auto conversions so I was happy with what I got at the cost really.. as of tonight all that remians is the main shell dash (even that's minimalised) and front seats..
Next step either this week on a night or next weekend is to cut the remains of the rear floor out along with rear arches to allow me to start looking at suspension hoop geometry.. once the rear suspension hoops are spaced and tacked in place We can get on with the cage..
More photos soon..
 
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Ok so plans had to change a little, having starting to look at the structural integrity of the shell we find it's had an even harder life than first thought, the passenger floor has rotted beyond patching and both he inner and outer sills on the passenger side are dead and have been plated over extremely poorly..
Not a problem as I have to replace the sills with 3mm steel box section anyway for our regulations so out came the angle grinder and let's just cut until we find something we can save..
 
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Disco1BFG said:
Mmm..... interesting project.... watching with interest :)
Click to expand...
It's the first time I've ever done a build blog but I wished i had on other builds so it's nice to see others taking some interest..

We now have the passenger sill cut out and the new "regulation spec" 100x60x3.6mm section cut and offered up ready for welding.. this weeks job on a night is to make the new heavy duty body mounts.. the idea is that they are going to be sealed turrets which are accessed from inside to save problems getting at them as standard, the turrets will then be capped off at floor level in the front and cut to shape to follow the contour of the rear "bench"... I'll put some pics up of them as I get them made..
 

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So night work didn't happen this week thanks to real work and a set back with the d2 daily drive needing an injector harness..
so cracked the whip this morning and got my mounts made..
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And got my n/s sill welded in..
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and mounts mounted..
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Tomorrow's job is to cut the front inner wing free of the bulkhead and turn the car around so I can start on the other side..
weather permitting that is..
 
So it's been a while and in amongst seemingly a million other projects... we've made progress...
Both sills are now replaced with box section complete with heavy duty mounts.. the rear has gone today :)
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I've also been pondering the option of building my own body.. then was hit by a brain wave a couple of nights ago.. I wanted a raid style rear end similar to that of a tomcat so why not do it using disco lines..
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front wings are cheap enough and plentiful so decided I'd cut up a rear door and see what I came up with.. the following ensued..
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Further to this that I've sat the bonnet on to square it up and will pull it out next weekend all being well and complete the other side, then with the assistance of some plywood I'll build the box on the top which will house the rad, fuel tank, rear cage and spares, keeping to the discovery bonnet press lines.. don't think it's doing so bad so far do you??
What I love is that it will be a complete one off as well, but everything of it's styling will be born from a discovery..
 
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