TD5 Disco

So far this weekend we've had two blips, nothing serious, just frustrating. First the sunroof stuck open. Nothing i did would make it close but it turned out that after the interior trim was removed and the motor unplugged and and then plugged in again, it worked! Not too sure what the problem was but with the rain clouds closing in it did make me panic a little! Also, something tells me that Land Rover didnt use woodscrews to fit trim. The screws I removed are on the left, the right has the screws that I've dug out to replace them with.



There's a special place in hell for those who use woodscrews in place of the right bolts/screws. Im not sure if this was an electrical niggle or a problem with the motor itself. when the button was operated the motor was making a clicking sound, sounded like a relay to me so it seems its getting power. My guess the motor is all gummed up inside as it moves very slowly. once im off work ill get it pulled out again, stripped down and regreased. hopefully that solves the issue.

The other problem is that the numberplate lights were very dim so i pulled the units out to replace the bulb but one holder fell apart in my hand and the other doesnt work. They were both pretty rotten so I've had to order two new units.

Oh, and another thing, the bracket that sits on top and holds the headlights in place was broken on the passenger side has had to be replaced. It was cracked and reglued before but its finally done i think.

I haven't really been doing a lot with the disco recently as I've been getting one of the other past times ready for the show season. A little welding a new exhaust system saw it out of hibernation. Little and large finally met.



Beyond that, can I ask we take a moment of silence in memory of my sunroof motor. It died despite my best efforts to revive it including a strip down and clean. Need to source a new one now, luckily it failed when closed. I've also gathered a Dinitrol underseal kit so in preparation to do just that Ive removed my side steps and the arm for the drivers side in rough, very crunchy and rotten so a new mount will need to be made. Also, found some rot in behind the front passengers wheel on the chassis so that will also need cut out and replaced. All in all, im on a bit of a downer but all will be well!

A week on and the rot has been welded in behind the front passenger wheel. also found some more in behind the rear passenger wheel once the steam cleaning was finished but it was all repaired. the chassis was all flattened back with various discs on the grinder and the wire brush on the drill for the bits i couldnt get in at. it was amazing how much rubbish there was after the pressure wash. it was all treated with the dinitrol rust converter aerosol and then over covered with their under body treatment. lastly, the chassis was filled with their cavity wax and its amazing how much better the underside now looks. i didnt get many photos whilst i was doing it as everything in the garage was covered in dust but there are a few after shots.





there are a few wee bits still to tidy but the majority of it has been done. you can just see the rusty mount for the side step sticking down, and theyre not great. im going to have to take them off and replace them i think, the steps themselves are rotten and have big bits missing so untl they either get repalced or repaired, weve gone side step free!!



truthfully, i think i prefer it like that. i find it easier to get into like this too, no steps to get in the way.

ive also got two more wee jobs done as well, the sunroof motor was replaced and the new one works better than the old, far smoother and sounds more positive and less lethargic than the old. also fixed the cup holder so that it now pops open itself under the power of the spring rather than needing pulled out. turns out the longer part of the arm had popped off its mount. easy fix and best of all, done in 5 minutes and it was free! its the little things. its also easy to see where the expense in these comes from. if your unable or unwilling to do jobs yourself it could easily start to cost a fortune.

Clean

New key (case). The old one had one button missing and the spare was headed in the same direction. New case from amazon (came with LR logo, it was a must ) and transferred all the innards over and the key blades. Dead east to do.

took the heat gun to the rear tyre cover and no more grey! once it was hot i threw poor boys trim restorer onto it and left it to soak and now it looks new!



came out well. same cant be said for the arch trims, theyre still not looking great and its easy to spot the ones that havent been changed. heat gun and trim restorer did nothing so it seems they will get replaced if it starts to bug me enough. also, new number plates. no more plates held on with wood screws.

SXY

That chassis looks immaculate

kudos for the dedication!

Silver is the best colour for the D2 IMO, looks so fresh.

Henry_b said:

SXY

That chassis looks immaculate

kudos for the dedication!

Silver is the best colour for the D2 IMO, looks so fresh.

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Thanks, it looks better in the photos than I think it is in reality but its certainly better than it was. It took almost a week of evenings and a full Saturday to leave it how it is there. That includes the two patches that it needed.

Super nice disco mate hope u have fun

Fry847 said:

Super nice disco mate hope u have fun

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Cheers! So, I've genuinely not been at much over the past few months but I have had to fork out for four new tyres and opted for a set of Toyo Open Country A/T Plus. Whilst they make the Disco look far more aggressive, between work and family I've not had the opportunity to test them but from what I've read online they're meant to be good. MOT is at the end of the month so I figured I'll throw it in early incase there were any complication and of course, there were! Turns out a rear shock must have sprung a leak between me looking around it and the MOT test which was bloody infuriating to say the least. Any way, it failed on it and I managed to get a new set of Monroe Adventure oil shocks. Not the fanciest in the world but I've got Monroe's on my mk2 Golf GTI and have had no problems, and at £60 for the set it was hard to say no. Got them fitted and its amazing the difference they made, the rear end doesn't bounce about as much. That said, it shouldn't have done it all really as the ones that were fitted were less than a year old, still had the Britpart stickers on them! Fitted by the previous owner I'd have thought I'd have gotten more than a year out of them as he used the Disco very seldom, hence the sale, and I've only had it on the road. The burst one was knackered as expected but even the undamaged one offered little resistance and dampening wasn't great when compared to the new one. Not impressed with Britpart's quality in this instance.

Started to tidy up the door frames today and remove some of the rust around the bottom. I knew that there was going to be a little rust that was out of sight but I was in for a shock! The frames were removed easily once I fond the bolts holding it in place, oddly enough.





There was also rust around the top of the frame where it met the mirror. Not sure what caused that, it was very strange. The flatting disc on the grinder soon rook it right back and hey presto, no more rust. (Forgot to get more photos of behind the mirror as it was baddddd).





Someone on here said that Hycote Satin black was a perfect match. Someone give that man a sticker, it's bloody spot on! Whoever that was, thank you!!

To make matters slightly more problematic the window regulator didn't want to play anymore and managed to bend itself and snap out of the runner. Quick dash down to the local Landy spares place with the door still in bits and a new regulator was bought and fitted.



What should have been quick job turned out to be a pain in the backside but just three more to do!

Really should update this more often! The rear doors were next and came up rightly. Good job i took it apart when i did though as the wee bracket that holds the quarter glass was more or less toast.











Once i made up a new bracket and got it fitted i put a wee touch of tape to try and act as a buffer between the glass and the metal.



Really makes a huge difference to the finish. Would love to have some bubble free door rubber but those will have to wait.



So that was all done over the summer and with one thing and another I didnt get a chance to do the passengers. They arent just as bad so hopefully thats continued once the rubbers are taken off and its stripped down. That was all ok and the disco was just being used as it should be. That was until about 4 weeks ago. There was an odd noise that sounded like a playing card in a bicycle wheel and it got progressively louder over the course of a few days. At that stage I took it off the road and as it was due its service did all the fluids, from the engine right along all the drive train. Truthfully i was hoping that that by putting fresh oil into each part and taking it about 100m up the street and back id hear a difference and sound and narrow down where the noise was coming from but hey ho, no such luck. My background is VW so other than the local Land Rover dealers and two other independents, id no idea where to go locally. Problem is that they aren't exactly easy to get to with work etc so I managed to get it to a local garage for a look. Turned out once on the ramps with everything moving, it was the transfer box. The bearing on the outputs for the driveshafts are toast and have some right amount of play in them. Odd thing is that when i gave them a poke and a prod when i was under sealing the bottom it was all grand. amazing the difference a months driving makes. So second hand transfer box bought and a clutch kit because its getting towards 100k on the original, and im still waiting. want my disco back!!