Chronicles of my Disco

Long post alert!

So then, back in 2009 I wanted an RRC, but I wanted diesel. I couldn't find anything reasonable at all that was also affordable so I thought about a Discovery instead... I'd never really been drawn to the Disco a lot of which was down to the interior (previous experience was limited to the 200 series) but one was advertised for not bad money fairly close which was in a colour the wife approved of A few hours after the phone call and I owned a 300tdi.



Then passed very nearly 5 completely uneventful years with it. It needed nothing more than routine servicing and a new battery (which was the only time it came close to letting me down).

Then, of course, that changed.... Back in January I was merrily heading to a job when I stopped moving forward. I suspected the cambelt, the recovery guy suspected the cambelt, even my dog suspected the cambelt. So after getting towed home the rocker cover and shaft came off and I found these:



So the 88 got pressed into service and the Disco got put on the 'to-do' list. Last week, I got to 'D' on the list Still, it's only 8 months...

Timing cover off, this was inside:





Not the best start, but it could be worse - and worse it got...











That's right, everything in the timing case is ruined... "But how does a belt failure cause all that damage?" I hear nobody cry - in short, it doesn't.

What does cause all that damage is a 'Land Rover Specialist' replacing the cambelt.



Yay, free tool!!

To be continued...........................

.......continued it is being.

Earlier in the year I bought a 'complete with all ancillaries' running 300tdi engine (and a pair of axles - I'll get to that...), at the time thinking that worst case I'd swap the engine over.

As it is, I admitted to myself I don't have the facilities to swap an engine sensibly so I took it apart instead - after scavenging the rocker shaft (my original one looks fine, but I had to take it off anyway), the pushrods and everything inside the timing case I set about putting my engine back together using a new belt.

The timing got set (hint, using a digicam is 'easier' than a mirror for aligning timing marks, especially if you can't remember where your inspection mirror has gone):



then I had a cup of tea while I mentally prepared myself for the engine exploding when I turned the key....



It didn't explode at all! In fact, it idled smoother than I ever remember it doing in the past. Now I could move it around again - so I put it somewhere I could get to the front axle easier.

Yes, the axles I bought.... I got them for a reason. When it got recovered it was put on a spec lift (with a dolly on the rear) - as the strap on the nearside was being tightened there was a bit of a crunch and the wheel moved nearly an inch, which didn't sound or look good at all. I had a look and the swivel bearing(s) had collapsed (or similar, I haven't taken it apart that much). The easy fix for that was to simply unbolt the swivel assembly complete from the 'spare' axle and from mine, and swap them over - so I did. I didn't take any pictures because, a: my hands were dirty and, b: it's not very interesting to look at (until I strip the swivel housing anyway...)

Since then - I have repadded the brakes, chosen the best pair of rear calipers from the 4 I had on hand and cleaned/painted them (picture later) and stripped most of the interior in preparation for a little welding.

Very interesting fact - if you ignore rust long enough it just goes away! Unfortunately, it leaves nothing in it's place.

I 'think' the majority of the rust is in non-structural locations, but as I need to get an MOT I'll find out which is priority soon enough. It will all be getting done regardless though so I'll try to keep updates flowing as and when I attack bits.

Well that makes up for your 5 years trouble free motoring.good luck.

cambridgecockney said:

Well that makes up for your 5 years trouble free motoring.

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Was just thinking the same thing

Keep the posts coming pauldg

Love the colour of your Disco. Not seen that one before!
Looks very tidy, too.

Did the mechanic leave a socket in the timing case?
Wow. Thats rubbish if so.
Unusual colour disco I like it!

Good thread keep us posted on it

ronsealdeath said:

Did the mechanic leave a socket in the timing case?
Wow. Thats rubbish if so.
Unusual colour disco I like it!

Click to expand...

It's not a socket, it's a 3/8" - 1/2" square drive converter. Obviously the 'mechanic' in question only had a 3/8" drive torque wrench when he set the belt tension...

I'm assuming it was left in at the last belt change - there is only one belt listed in the service record and there's no other reason to remove the timing case or put a drive into the belt tensioner (the square hole shows signs of something beating it around in the pic above).

If that is indeed the case, then it's been rattling around in there since 1999 and covered 68,954 miles before killing the belt - still inexcusable to leave tools inside the engine though.

I've never really thought about the colour, but now I do I haven't seen many the same shade.

Well, back to making up a new brake line or two

Your taking all this very well... Id be ****ed if the belt snapped but really really ****ed if it was due to someone leaving half their tool kit in my engine lol

Ok, so it ended up being just one brake line I needed to make. When I took the rear calipers off one of the flare bolts was stuck to the end of the pipe (of course) and the 'only' way to remove it was to cut the pipe.



That looked close enough to fit...



Oh look, it fits

As I was saying before, there is a little corrosion here and there to attend to. Just concentrate on the caliper and brake line and everything will be fine.

The plan then, because I do have a plan, is this:

Fix the Discovery until there's nothing left that needs fixing!

I have to spend a week or two underneath getting the chassis and underbody stripped of the oem 'wax coating/underseal' to as close to bare metal as I can get it - this will inevitably lead to finding some extra drainage holes that are in odd places and not of the usual shape... Then, paint will be getting applied. I have yet to fully decide on what colour the chassis will be ending up, so far I'm thinking white would be novel.

Now then, I have here a can of worms labelled 'future rust prevention' that needs opening. There is no way any form of coating containing wax or oil is being applied... Every car I have ever worked on that has had such treatment has subsequently suffered with rust (so the product just plain doesn't work in my opinion) and this presents a problem with repair - the product is just a bit flammable so welding becomes an issue. My Discovery has a wax chassis coating and it looked intact, but when I scraped some away it exposed rust patches and a couple of holes so it just backed up my theory to me. What I need to do (which I fully admit I haven't done so far) is keep the underside properly clean and make sure the paint stays intact

I think that'll do for the minute, unless anything else springs to mind...

Littelwill said:

Your taking all this very well... Id be ****ed if the belt snapped but really really ****ed if it was due to someone leaving half their tool kit in my engine lol

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Maybe a few years ago I would have got more irate but I think having a couple of kids has increased my fuse somewhat plus, I have actually made use of the (surprisingly still serviceable) tool I gained for free!

I could get annoyed about it, but what good what it do? I know the 'specified' interval is 72k which it didn't reach, but I really should have changed it sooner. I also know that most of the damage inside the case would have happened already but that would have bugged me more to be honest - to open it up expecting a routine change and finding it all mashed - at least this way I had an 'excuse' to buy a spare engine. I'm still idly toying with the idea of putting it in the 88.

It's sort-of the same with the swivel bearing collapsing when it got towed home. I could have jumped up and down about 'damage caused by recovery' but to my mind I'd rather have it go under those circumstances than on the road - it was obviously on the way out anyway so there is nothing to be gained even by complaining to the recovery company. It's an easy fix and the parts are cheap and I know it's done.

Great post, keep the updates coming

Update for today...

Did family things, then put another coat of paint on my shed floor

Oh, the disco.

Right then, the bushes are shot (now there's a surprise) so I thought I might as well make a start. It might seem a bit strange to start on them when there's 'other' things to do, but chances are the linkages etc. are going to have to come out a few times and it's going to be so much easier if I know I can slip everything in and out with the minimum of fuss and bother. Polybushes are going in - o.k. so they may not last as long as oem, they may change the ride 'quality' and all the rest - but they're a hell of a lot easier to put in, and then change when required.

First thing to do is say "don't try it this way at home kids"...

I already have the rear end up on stands with no wheels as I'm part way through doing the brakes too (haven't had a chance to get more brake fluid yet, so they still need finishing). Now, you really shouldn't even consider trying to crack off rusty high torque bolts unless the car is sat on the wheels, but hey.

So, I picked the rear right to start with - it's the easiest to get to at the moment.

The radius arm is coming off, so to stop the axle going on a little excursion it has to be secured somehow:



Couple of ratchet straps, one each fore and aft twixt axle and chassis. Also, you can see what happens when you start to pick at those little bubbles in paint around the arches

Then, undo the nuts - simple.

Or it would be, they are tight - very tight - and rusty... Still, got them out and liberated the radius arm leaving the chassis mounted bush and plate in place. Here is a terrible picture of the radius arm sat on the floor:



I got out one of the bolts holding the plate to the chassis mount. Then I got called in for dinner.


Then it started to rain.

So the plan changed from "change the bushes" to "play on the internet and watch telly instead".

Just thought I might as well clarify something.

It's about my 'trouble free' nearly 5 years......

Nothing serious happened, or at least not to my mind considering the age of the car. Apart from routine servicing I had the following problems and fixes:

Driver's door window - one day I went to lower the window, it made all the right noises but didn't move, then it dropped about 6 inches... The metal channel along the bottom of the glass had rusted and come away allowing the glass to be free. As a temporary measure I held it in place and put the regulator all the way up, then unplugged the motor inside the door. I got a used passenger side window with a good channel and swapped them.

Rear windows would only sporadically go up and down - no surprise there. The 'fix' was to undo the window ECU and leave it dangling on the wires under/beside the glove box, this meant the wife in the passenger seat could give it a swift kick to make the windows work again It's still on the list to give it a soldering...........

Driver's seat webbing collapsed and I suddenly felt 5" shorter - I stuck a cushion on it. A few weeks ago I got given a matching front passenger seat so I put that in. Only 'issue' is that the recline and lumbar support knobs (not electric seats) are on the wrong side but dilligaf? Being a passenger side seat it's had very little use so it's actually comfy again.

The tyres wore out - I put new ones on. Mail order and fitted them myself in the garden.

The brake pads wore out - I put new ones in. I happened to have a set that I bought for my RRC but never fitted.

Neutral position on the main gearstick has changed - it used to be betwixt 3rd and 4th, now it's betwixt 1st and 2nd. Sometime I shall replace the little spring that's gone awol.

Fan belt tensioner bearing started squealing - I took it off, removed the seal from the bearing, slathered a load of grease in it and put it back together.

Headlining has sagged - I have ignored it for a while but will recover it when some more important things have been completed. At least I don't have sunroof holes to fanny around.



All-in-all I don't think that's bad considering how little I paid when I bought it.

I do have some slight modifications planned for it, but whatever I do it has to stay usable as a family car as well as a work vehicle so don't expect anything too extreme

On a side note, yesterday we had someone come round to collect some garden bits the wife had sold - he commented on how it's 'not worth fixing' and strongly implied I should just scrap it and get something else.... Yeah, ok.

pauldg said:

On a side note, yesterday we had someone come round to collect some garden bits the wife had sold - he commented on how it's 'not worth fixing' and strongly implied I should just scrap it and get something else.... Yeah, ok.

Click to expand...

It really ****es me off when folk say stuff like that Fact is these old busses if looked after will last longer than any of the modern garbage and will drag any of em backwards lol

I had a windscreen fitted a while ago and the spotty little nob who came to do the job says Im supposed to do a survey of what's cosmetically wrong with your vehicle he says im not gonna bother as it would be quicker to say what right with it CHEEKY **** he then goes on to lecture me about polishing your car and how he spends his saturdays valeting his honda type R

Anyway rant over Your doing a good job keep it coming

They hook you like that you know a few years fairly trouble free having fun then before you know it your changing engines and all sorts

Well today I got the rear brakes bled through, and I put the new bushes in the rear lower link arm - getting the old ones out was a pig of a job as I'm sure many of you know...

So then I had a look at putting the new rear shocks on. The old ones still function just fine, but the shroud had come off one of them and it just looks tatty - I have new ones so why not?

The top mount bolt/pin sheared off, that's why not bugger.

Ho-hum, another thing to do then.

I really should take some pictures, but I didn't earlier and now it's dark... Yes, I have a flash but using that realy accentuates the rust

So, I have rebushed both lower link arms and put the new shocks on. Now, I said the top mount had sheared on one side - well, the other side did exactly the same thing... I made a call and new mounts came in at 50+vat for genuine or 19+vat for pattern. I just knew that if I tried to replace them right now it would cause other issues (for a start, the mount bolts would be sure to break as well) so rather than just opening up a money pit for two little studs I formulated a cunning plan.

I trimmed the broken studs down to where they are machined from the larger section the shock eye goes on, then I got a bit of threaded bar and cut 2 lumps off and welded them on instead - shocks are fitted and not going anywhere. Success.

I also had a bit of a look at the window ecu. "Oh yes, it'll be this joint gone dry" say some people. Well, no it's not - that joint is just fine thank you very much. On the other hand, I stopped counting after I found 5 other joints that are dry instead - I'm just going to reflow the damn lot and have done with it. If it still continues to mess me around I'll make up my own relay board and find some way to live with the loss of one-touch front windows

Right, well I'll take some piccies tomorrow...

I really will get some photos soon, promise...

Anyway, a little bit of a pre-pic teaser. Last Monday it got dragged kicking and screaming through an MOT. Advisory on start of some rust (which I knew about) and play in a wheel bearing (which was fine when I put the whole swivel sub assembly on a couple of days before...)

As it turns out, the play in the wheel bearing was because the nuts weren't done up - I got nearly 2 turns on the inner nut by hand. Still, I stripped it out for inspection, bearings were perfect and smooth so new grease, do it up properly and job's a goodun.

I didn't realise until I got there, but the big tubey sockety thingy I bought to do the hubs on my 88 also fit the disco - that's progress for ya

Disco pre dates a series 3 kind of; based on rrc late 60's design, its basically that old in origin! So axle wise not a lot changed over the years including hub nuts.
Will be good to see some pics