Discovery 300Tdi Off Roader

Caster corrected radius arms will exaggerate the prop / anti roll bar interface! Lose the ARB!
Thinking more on this, i used to have spacers on the ARB mounts to lower the ARB away from the prop. They were from scorpion racing ( that's how long it is since i had a disco!!!) But all they were was a block of alluminium between the ARB brackets and the mounts on the chassis.

Looking good though!

Rich

Yeah that's the only thing! Won't be getting them just yet anyway can't afford. I won't be driving it far or fast so should be okay for now. I've bought 25mm spacers for the ARB so will see how that goes.

Got a delivery today of wide angle front propshaft and decat exhaust pipe as it was all i could afford this month but a week til pay day will change that!

Thanks Rich! Working progress haha

Had a pretty decent day to completely finish off the brakes on Saturday.

fitted the front braided brake lines, passenger side I had to remake the copper brake line as the old line was badly corroded and i couldn't undo the fitting so thought it would be easier in a few places to just make new lines. Plus I then know the brakes are sound for a good few years too. I couldn't remove the old rubber hoses from the rear, far far too tight and wouldn't budge. So i soaked them in WD40 and decided to tackle them another day.


Also had a leaky passenger rear caliper so bought a brand new Bearmach one for £37 and fitted within about 5 minutes, easy job!

Old leaky crap calliper (can see the leaking marks on the tyre).

Nice new one!







Also fitted brand new pads too. (would have done discs but they look extremely new anyway, no scratches or warping so left them as is. Just cleaned it as it was caked in crap and old brake fluid.)



New braided goodridge +40mm lines, plus the new copper line as this one was especially hard to remove so cut it and redone. Simple! No stress lol



Then took it for a quick flex after bleeding the brakes. Completely flushed the system with a brand new bottle of DOT4 removing all the old crappy fluid. Brakes feel super sharp now! Way better than all the other land rovers I have drive. (4 haha)





Parked it infront of one of my Dad's Land Rovers which is as close to standard height as it gets. (off road tyres fitted but on standard wheels and standard tyre size.)



Literally can park over his front bumper... Interesting how big it is. Makes my already fairly large wheel size feel a bit small. Thinking in the future once i get it out and use it that I'll upgrade the wheels to 285/75/16's on modulars with same tread when I can afford. Space them out and have extended arches on and it'll be perfect!



Didn't get enough time to fit the front wide angle propshaft or the decat exhaust pipe as i was running out of time and energy. Front prop was a bit hard to remove as everything is starting to round off so got a mate coming up to lend a hand as he knows what he is doing more than me when it comes to that!

Tom

Now I don't need easier access to parts of the car under the boot floor I finished off welding it in place



Also changed the front prop for the wide angle one. Drives SO much better now, the UJ on the old one looked like it was about to sheer off so it's a good job it's been changed. Was a proper bugger to get off though, easy enough to refit!



Also fitted my winch to the front, looks good!



Really starting to take shape now. It is now ready for the MOT, just need to book it in at some point this week!


After driving it around the field, myself and my mate are pretty certain it's had a tune or a boost pin fitted as it is noticeably quicker than a standard one! Which is a nice bonus. Runs well too, main reason why I bought this one was because of how good the engine was and sounded.

In for MOT today finally. Bloody long wait but will be worth it.

Will be drinking some fuel this weekend if all goes well!!

Tomushh said:

In for MOT today finally. Bloody long wait but will be worth it.

Will be drinking some fuel this weekend if all goes well!!

Click to expand...

I've no shame in saying that I reg' checked your Disco to see if it passed today.... congrats!

Haha! No worries, forgot to update the thread was enjoying driving it a bit too much.

Was annoyed for ages about the lights not being on square so fixed that before the MOT. Just one of those things you can never be bothered to do because it's so easy.


Pointlessly gave it a clean before the MOT but looks quite nice really


On the road again!


Pretty soon after a nice tree decided to fall on my bonnet lol



Grew a tree on the roof


Love driving it

Only small issue is the steering at higher speeds, probably due to the tyres. likes to go a little left and a little right and is quite twitchy but it's bearable. Unless anyone has any advice on that of course..

Do you have cranked radius arms?

Not yet, they're next on the list. Lost out on eBay for some QT3 radius arms for £115 because they were too far away and seller didn't want to post them. Probably going to end up getting some adrenaline 4x4 ones expensive but I need them

Tomushh said:

Only small issue is the steering at higher speeds, probably due to the tyres. likes to go a little left and a little right and is quite twitchy but it's bearable. Unless anyone has any advice on that of course..

Click to expand...

That's down to a change in caster angle.

Love the thread, keep it up!

Cheers, will look into getting some radius arms asap then. For the time being as I'll be mainly using it off road should be fine for now.

Got some seat covers off ebay for 15 quid. Really good fit and look nice! Waterproof etc. My drivers seat foam has collapsed and is ripped so for now this will do.



Also spiced up the outside a little bit with some stickers, nothing stupid. Just little things to make it stand out for now.
Golden Special Vehicles sticker (one is on the other side in the same place also)


Nice little Union Jack on the side windows and a smaller one on the windscreen and rear window plus Built not bought one on the rear too.






Went to a local pay site, was only us 3 there so had the site all to ourselves. Wasn't that big of a site but had varied sections and was great to learn the ins and outs of what I've built. Absolutely nothing stopped it, spent a lot of the day pulling my mates Jeep out as it kept being stuck. It's completely standard and on road tyres. He did have some fun though!

I'll dump some pictures from the day from here



























Was a really good day and no damage to report apart from some pre-existing conditions (clicking noise when moving & steering. Speeds up as speed increases)

Forgot to add these photos that my mate sent me from the day too, got some serious dislocation at one point. The cone came completely out the spring for a while and i heart it pop back in place as i was on 3 wheels briefly

Been a whilst since I have updates this but I've done a bit of work to it in that time!

To start with I took the headlights off one of my Dad's TD5's he was breaking and chucked them on mine. Can see why people prefer these over the standard headlights the cut off line is much clearer and I seem to be getting much more brightness out of the same bulbs, all in all looks good and functions well too!



Also dug out my old dashcam and fitted that, it's completely unseen from the drivers seat as it sits neatly behind the mirror, routed all the cables too so they are basically unseen. Also installed a GPS tracker so in the horrible situation that someone steals my precious land rover, I can find it lol. Not posting where I wired it in and what make etc because I don't want people to know how to disarm it haha but it's worth mentioning I now have a GPS tracker too.



Found a spare can of gloss black and thought I'd use it up, for a while I have hated the cream pillar trims as they do not go with the rest of my grey interior dash etc so i thought I'd do them black to match the headlining plus they blend in with the pillar better and are not as much of an eyesore.

Left is sprayed, sanded in finer grades of sandpaper and then polished by hand with Meguiars ultimate compound (personal favorite). Right is partially through sanding after spraying (4 coats)



Look quite nice when fitted, top of the trim I sanded too much and ran out of paint so I'll just fill that in with permanent marker. After all they will likely get muddy anyway lol.


Also had some spare tint laying around and now summer is round the corner it's like a greenhouse in the disco with all the various windows so decided to do 'Dark Smoke' on the back 3 windows

Sizing up outside and cutting, then transfer to the inside and use lots of water and squeegee it all out.


Finished result (same done to the other side too)


Rear window was tricky as it was so large and the wind started to pick up, there is a crease in one part but i've recovered it mostly. Will likely just have some stickers over the area anyway to cover it up. or mud!


cut to shape




All finished!


Also had some POR15 topcoat left over so decided to paint the 'high impact' areas just for protection. In places around the bottom of the doors some of the paint is coming off so I've sanded it down with 600 grit just to give a bit of a key for the paint before roller brushing it up. Also masked up the areas just to get a clean and not messy finish. Turned out pretty well overall!





1st coat


1st coat on the roof (this went mostly okay, however it got really hot on this day that areas went grey on the first coat (since it has dried fully it has come back more so black. But i've got a second coat to do yet anyway which will cover this up good.)





Again you can see it needs a second coat but it's fine for now, was mainly for protection than to look good.


Also the Land Rover writing was looking a little tatty so I changed those for some modern 3D ones that came up on ebay cheap so took a punt!





That's about it for all the work I've done over the last few weeks. Now to enjoy some greenlanes and off road days in the future! Still got other plans but only buying the bits as they come up. Desperately need caster corrected radius arms though, and a wide angle rear prop, and cranked trailing arms, and a tank guard, and a steering guard that doesnt hit my track rod ends... and a lot of fuel

Tom

Few pictures from a couple local greenlanes

Sorry no updates for a while, unfortunately have been very busy so haven't had much time to work on it.

Think I need a new front diff. doing about 60mph on the main road and when coming off the throttle there is a HORRIBLE grinding noise, with vibrations etc. When parked there is play in the front prop when turning it. UJ's are fine, its movement in the diff I believe?

Nah, loads of other bits to go wrong before the diff packs up. I've used diffs with about fifteen degrees of prop play that weren't particularly noisy.

You need to get both wheels up off the ground and then have a play at turning bits and listening/feeling.

May have picked up another Discovery, only as a parts car as it was super cheap and it all runs good. Dad wants the engine so I can steal a few bits off it for mine. Only 300 quid! Just wanting to hear about collecting it etc.

Ordered a **** ton of electrical supplies. Want to get some lighting fitted to it ready for the winter for night laning etc. plus finally ordered some proper cables for my winch. Been sitting on the front for months not wired up!

May invest in a second battery and twin charging setup so I don't have too much going on with one battery. Have the winch run almost solely off the second battery and have my lighting & other various electrical supplies off the other.

Thought as it's been a while since I threw some cash at it. Depending how money is this month I may end up ordering some brand new Adrenaline4x4 castor corrected radius and double cranked trailing arms. 350 for the set so quite expensive but should do the job for years.

After that is sorted and I've found whatever the grinding noise is I'll be upgrading the rear diff to a 4 bolt one so I can have a wide angle rear prop and remove the crappy rubber doughnut.

Will hopefully get round to welding up the front arches at some point also as they have holes in them, but not too fussed at the moment. Rear end is all welded up and sweet. Do need to get some attention to the sills though at some point as are almost non existent at the back lol

Got my wiring kits now, really good quality so should last a long time and handle everything i need.

Went to wire up my winch, as I bought it second hand I can't figure out what to wire up and can't seem to find any wiring diagrams online either. I've temporarily wire them up to some terminals just to hold them in place. They are not connected to the battery currently.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know haha, it's a Champion 9000lb winch.



Then i went for a bit of off roading, completely forgot to shut my drivers window until it was too late. Absolutely covered in mud because we went though about 2-3ft deep water causing a tidal wave at the end but was good fun.

Inside aftermath

There is a small-ish rust hole in the drivers foot well which I will patch up in the future, but was rather interesting going through the water as it was spraying out of it like a coke bottle and mentos up my leg which was kinda annoying..



Outside aftermath



Smashed into something a bit hard and it dislodged my turret and belt one of the bolts, not much of an issue but an easy ish fix which I will get round to eventually



Engine bay is rather dirty. Took this as I was installing my boost gauge that I found, had it for years back when I had a turbo Corsa but never fitted it. So thought I may as well make use of it. I bought a little barb fitting that goes onto the back of the inlet manifold (didn't managed to get a photo but will soon) and then routed the hose through to the drivers foot well and up the side of the dash to the gauge pod. Mostly thought about fitting it just to make sure it's all working okay and then gives me the flexibility to turn the actuator up a bit in the future safely.



Pod installed



Will wire up the gauge pod later on, got a few more bits I want to wire up first.

More to follow

Bought some small LED's to act as DRL's for my motorbike, had two left over so I thought I may as well wire them into the sidelights of the disco. Didn't turn out too bad and they are very bright.





They are nice and small so don't become too much of an eye sore. Properly soldered etc in. Quite enjoying doing some autoelectric stuff, especially when it's done properly and not all connections just tied together like I've seen in the past.

Nice and bright and match my sidelights



Also thought I'd start preparing the only other rusty area on my car being the front wings, they are quite bad but they don't seem to have spread up the arch area too much so will be cutting this lot out and rebuilding the area in coming weeks ready for the winter



Took drivers carpet foam out which makes it look a lot worse than it is. Will be easy to sort! (famous last words)



Other side is just as bad.



But hey ho. I want to keep another disco on the road I won't be defeated! Nothing a bit of hard graft won't fix

Will get some more pictures of the wiring that I have done and also have a few other bits on order relays and switches etc. I bought a light bar approx 150W over 4 separate mini bars so should be nice and bright. Paid 31 quid on ebay for it with the metal bar also! Bargain. Need to fit it and get some pictures also.

Sorry it's been quiet, as everyone says i'll get the project car finished in the summer as there is extra daylight and that but been so busy going here there and everywhere plus full time work makes things a little hard.

Once all these niggles are sorted should be a lovely truck.

Still on the look out for some parts so if anyone has or knows anyone please let me know:
Castor corrected radius arms
33 12.50 15 / 35 12.50 15 wheels and/or tyres
Plastic extended arches
+ anything you have to offer, always on the lookout!

Tom

So some information on how I plumbed in the boost gauge

I bought this fitting from eBay Brass Male M12 X 1.5 Metric Thread x 1/4" (6mm)


Best picture I could get of it fitted in the back of the inlet manifold, there is a random bolt that is there, unsure on it's original purpose but I removed it to put in the barb fitting. then simply attacked the vacuum hose to that barb side and routed it into the dash.

A lot of other people I have seen put it in other places but from previous experience putting the sensor on the inlet manifold pressure gives you the best and more accurate boost pressure reading.



Put my boost gauge in place now, reads the boost well, haven't driven it about yet with this in place but the boost pressure goes up and down a bit when i put a bit of throttle on. All I have got to do now is wire in the power so the LED backlight works! Simple.



Also finally got round to replacing the standard bumper bolts for high tensile ones, should save the bumper being ripped from the front when the winch is in use. The bumper used to move a little up and down by hand before, even when the standard bolts were up as tight as I could get them. Now, it feels much much more secure, doesn't move at all.



Also finished wiring up the kit for all my electrics to go on, at some point I will get a secondary battery to just power the winch, and this one will be for all the lighting and starting it. This whole circuit will also be on a 100a relay and switch that I will manually turn on, so if I have any issues at all (and to save the battery being drained for whatever reason) I can shut all of my additional stuff off in one go. Bought some flip switches that I would like to mount overhead but I will see how I will go about that in due course.





Also drilled some holes neatly through the bulkhead that go straight to where the fusebox is. Will use some sealant when finished to watertight the holes. (not that 'watertight' matters in a land rover lol)