Discovery Rust - Boot, Sills and Wings

Well today was another day of disappointment lol.

The alternator that I picked up was a ****part (no choice othe matter) and true to form it wasn't working. So called the local 4x4 place and they didn't have another in stock. Useless. They also didn't have any 100amp alternators either.

So I was well racked off as I have the pay and play tomorrow and it is the first time I have had a chance to go in the Hornet. Therefore is determined frame of mind I drove back to the shop and looked at a defender unit.

These are 70 amp standard units but handed differently. Got it home and split the body, rotated it by one bolt hole and voila - done. Fitted and charging like a goodun.

So roll on tomorrow with a sunny day and a whole load of off roading.

GreenHornet said:

Well today was another day of disappointment lol.

The alternator that I picked up was a ****part (no choice othe matter) and true to form it wasn't working. So called the local 4x4 place and they didn't have another in stock. Useless. They also didn't have any 100amp alternators either.

So I was well racked off as I have the pay and play tomorrow and it is the first time I have had a chance to go in the Hornet. Therefore is determined frame of mind I drove back to the shop and looked at a defender unit.

These are 70 amp standard units but handed differently. Got it home and split the body, rotated it by one bolt hole and voila - done. Fitted and charging like a goodun.

So roll on tomorrow with a sunny day and a whole load of off roading.

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TOPMAN.... nice little tip there.. where theres a will theres a way

I must admit, I was absolutely amazed that a specialist 4x4 place that runs a challenge truck and clearly services many many landrovers, did not say the following,

"I'm sorry sir we don't have any alternators for your Discovery in stock, but as you are stuck we can take a Defender item and simply rotate the body and it will be a perfect fit. Would that help."

But no all I got was "computer says no"

All I need to do now is get a set of replacement brushes for the old unit and I have a spare.

OK so a day having fun was on the cards and Sunday was no let down. Sunny weather, sand mud and water plus a couple of good mates meant it was a real good time. Here are some vids.

the green hornet,abit of articulation.MOV - YouTube

the green hornet going for a swim,slab common.MOV - YouTube

green hornet,little hole ).MOV - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2IK6z3Wbtg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6T4jWhCSi0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It works then

Yeah but I could do with some serious tyres like silverstone extreme. The GT Radials are an excellent compromise though.

Just need a new drivers seat after I collapsed mine during a heavy bump session lol

nice vids .. looks like you had a mint day. nice to see the hornet in action spot on...

Mr noisy what was the total spend on the beast if you don't mind me asking?

Noooooooo!

thats like askin a woman her age!!!!

Lol am a Geordie you no. Lol

Can't really tell and it is much more than thencostbof adding stuff you have bought. I spent every weekend for about four months working on it cutting all the rust out and welding new metal in. Then when I wasn't doing that I was researching on the net to make sure it wasn't making the wrong choices regarding set up.

Judging by the way she goes over stuff I am really happy. Literally it is the tyres that are letting her down at the moment off road but then you have to have a compromise somewhere.

My misses would kill me if I sold it but she herself has promised to go at it with a baseball bat should i leave her lol so that's got to be worth a few quid.

I still have the front and rear bumpers, radius arms and trailing arms, defender transfer box, tank guard, tree sliders air lockers winch, roll cage, expedition rack, plus much much more to finish it off. Big mistake was getting it on the road as I just don't have the money and can't be without it now so it will be another year at least before its finished.

para01 said:

Mr noisy what was the total spend on the beast if you don't mind me asking?

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over 5 k.

Well I'd better tell the wife we are not going on holiday this year lol the disco looks top notch just hope my disco will look as good.

Teach me to read questions properly, thought I was being asked how much

Anyhow, here's a couple of extra vids that MattBaxter has just posted.

Me almost finding the balance point - YouTube

Awdc slab common - YouTube

Mark & Ian @slab common awdc - YouTube

Looking good!!!

LT77 Stiff Gearlever

Yep that sums it up really. After a good weekend in mud and sand I found that the Gearlever was getting stiffer and stiffer going into reverse. Also the natural bias of the lever wasn't working. Finally on Sunday evening I put it into reverse to park in the drive and the lever went all floppy. There was no gate and I could put it into any gear. After checking I noticed that the reversing lights were permenantly on. So I thought that I would look at the levers and here is what I did to solve the problem.

First off I removed the centre console and the rubber seal from the transmission tunnel and this exposed the top of the gearbox.



I removed the two screws and took off the cover. This cover holds the reversing light switch so I disconnected the wires and then removed the whole item.



What I found was a lot of water and sandy sludge from the weekend before. As you can see there are two springs that create the bias position of the lever to third and fourth. To the left there is the reverse plunger, this was stuck in on mine and there was so much grunge in the lever ball area that the Gearlever just wouldn't move via spring pressure.



The first thing was to remove the reverse plunger. It was full of crap so plenty of WD40 and then a grease up and it was working again soon after.



I then removed the bolts and the springs, quickly followed by the top plate which has a vertical tab attached to it which the springs go up against. Under here you see the oil seal as well. All around this there was wet sludgy sand and crap.



Next out came the Gearlever. A few taps and it came out covered in crap and water. Scary thing is this is the top of the box so what ever gets into here gets into the box.



Once all the bits were removed I needed to clean all the area up.



First of I cleaned the lever and then greased it well.





After assembling the lever, oil seal, plate and springs I bolted on the reverse plunger.



A quick check that all is fine and the Gearlever sits perfectly and the plunger is sat in its retracted position. Here near my finger.



Then with the reverse gear selected you see the pin pops out which pushes the reverse switch in and turns the lights on.



All this was caused by not fitting the metal ring that secures the rubber transmission gaiter to the top of the Gearlever. After lifting the body 2" I found that the rubber gaiter was being stretched quite a lot so thought nothing of leaving the ring off. Luckily I fixed the ring around the transfer box lever so that was fine but now I need to get a new ring before finishing the job off.

After this is done I have the CB aerial to fit and then weld up the drivers seat. The runner snapped when going up a particularly large bump. Must be fatter than I think lol

Hope the photos help.

Nice one..

A simple fix to a problem that is easy to safeguard against. Hope the descriptions of use.

See you didn't remind me about the rivnut tool did you........ tut tut!!

para01 said:

Mr noisy what was the total spend on the beast if you don't mind me asking?

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Hi fellas

Great vids there Ian, really good to see it out there working. The articulation is phenomenal

Yeah you will find, as i do, that the tyres will let you down when compared to Simex or similar. However they are just fine when on most off road sites, most lanes and most tarmac roads, so you do really have to think hard about upgrading. Personally i cba spending the extra money and just get the winch out.

I also made the same mistake with the gearlever, although it wasnt my fault really, the vehicle didnt even have any rings round the sticks so i had to get some from a scrappy! Also, dont bother with britpart reverse switches, they last about 2 weeks. I get Intermotor from local motor factor. LT77 switches are a fairly regular replacement, im onto about 4 now!!

Otherwise, regards the total spend, i'm onto £7500 i reckon, £7000 for sure.

Cheers.