The Little Discovery That Could (financially ruin me)

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Tango91 said:
Sheila's wheels rang me yesterday to discuss my renewal. The poor lass couldn't understand quite why i burst out laughing :p

I'm (still) waiting for my esteemed colleague to come up with this fancy MIG he keeps going on about, so in the absence of being able to get in the workshop this weekend, set about emptying the old bank account.

I -think- (hope) I've ordered everything I need to get it back on the road :)confused:)

Previously ordered:
braided brake flexi hoses all round
a new fuel filter (rusty)
bump stops (it had one lonely one previously),
shock absorber fixing bolts (seized)
clips for the brake hoses
a new exhaust flexi section (currently bluetooth)
new body mounting bolts all round
Oil for the gearbox, MTF94

Now ordered
fuel line clips
brake pipe clips
a front shock lower bush as one has collapsed
cupronickel brake line
brake line fittings to suit

Still to fit (Historic):
Reverse light switch
coolant temperature sensor

For those of you playing along at home, this brings the rolling total to £4109.31
Don't tell my mrs please
Click to expand...




tell 'im to get his friggen finger out.............we're waiting fer more pics :mad:
 
Moron said:
we're waiting fer more pics :mad:
Click to expand...
Will this do? I call it "Life, uh, finds a way"

DSC_5402.jpg
 
DefenderPilot said:
It also doesn't have the requisite number of wheels.
Click to expand...

It has the same number of wheels as my disco currently has. :rolleyes:

On that note, time to cheat death once again.

IMG_6335.jpeg

up under the front spring mounts was looking crusty and I thought I'd better do it properly while i've got access to everything.

I'm trying to conquer my phobia of the needle scaler, gave everything a blast, this time turned out... better.

IMG_6339.jpeg


A moment of silence, please, for the lone, brave bump stop that was left on the chassis

IMG_6340.jpeg

And hit the primer with a coat of truck chassis paint.

I hate painting, don't know if I've mentioned that before.

IMG_6344.jpeg


Starting to look less... erm... scrap?

Bonus photo round: points if you can identify the farmer fix.

IMG_6338.jpeg


:rolleyes:
 
My colleague Ross has informed me that tomorrow is the day and he'll get to welding, so I finished up a couple of things after work to get things ready for him.

These nice lengths of 5x70mm steel plate were kindly provided by the skip at a local engineering firm I was working at the other day.

IMG_6356.jpeg


I cut two of them down to ~450mm, bored the holes out a bit to clean them out, and ground the mill scale back around the edges.

I envisage them going on like this once the two halves are joined, to brace across the bottom of the join and stop the whole thing folding in half should your mum climb into the back seat. :cool:

IMG_6359.jpeg


Necessary? Probably not, that was just mean.

As for the plates, every little helps I guess. I'm not going to be running anti roll bars (because I don't have any and they're expensive) and I will be greenlaning with it so I'd expect some amount of stress and flex over what a road car would see.

I also ground the top outer corners of the new chassis section back so that Ross can get the wire in to the metal of the old chassis underneath and tie it all in better. This will also probably happen on the inside top corners.

IMG_6361.jpeg


And finally, I would like to show you a picture that all Land Rover owners will find scary.

I call it "Other half stares disapprovingly at money pit" :eek:

IMG_6362.jpeg
 
I have been a very busy bee today.

Ross did a bang up job of most of the welding during the day as he wasn't out on a job. Thanks Ross!

IMG_6365.JPEG


IMG_6366.JPEG


I finished at 5 and picked up from this point.

Nice to see it supporting it's own weight again, dog approves

IMG_6370.JPEG


First job was to pull the back axle around and fit it to locate the radius arm mount support gusset things that needed reattaching.

IMG_6371.JPEG

I don't claim to be much of a welder but I was pretty happy with how these came out, and I didn't even blow through anywhere or start any fires :p (using the monster MIG with 1mm wire)

IMG_6379.JPEG


A grinder and paint, etc, etc.

Ah bugger I hit the wrong button and posted this before I was done :confused:
 
^^ Don't read this if you didn't read that ^^


Moving on...

I gave the bare metal a quick clean with the flap disc to get rid of most of the weld spatter and started primering the bare bits, then noticed a couple of small un-welded bits, so had to strip that back and weld them up

IMG_6380.JPEG

Long story short, a couple of quick coats of primer and then it was on with the diesel space heater to speed up the drying.

IMG_6386.JPEG


Toasty.

While that dried I pressed the collapsed lower front left shock absorber bushing out with that nice press that handsome guy built

IMG_6387.JPEG

IMG_6389.JPEG


I forgot to keep taking photos at this point, but next I reassembled the front suspension with some nice yellow springs that were in the boot of the Disco when I bought it. They're of unknown provenance and variety but seem to be the same size as the rusty blue ones that came off, and my thinking is that yellow will make it go faster.

Once I'd removed the spring compressor from the block wall where it had become lodged following a brief bid for freedom, I put the back axle in again, got everything but the shocks connected up, and here we are.

IMG_6392.JPEG


IMG_6394.JPEG


This was 10pm when I called SWMBO to pick me up, and I got in trouble for staying up past my bedtime.

Cheers! :cool:
 
Worked late again tonight. This might be brief, I'm knackered.


  • Fitted the rear shocks. I couldn't find one of them at all yesterday, then earlier today remembered that I'd thrown it in the boot when it broke off the old chassis.
IMG_6397.jpeg


Would you believe that i had to resort to the angle grinder to get the bolt out? :rolleyes:

I unbolted the first section of exhaust from the cat to replace the flexi pipe that was broken, then discovered it was not broken, just... flexi?

IMG_6406.jpeg


Either way I couldn't see anything wrong from the inside. Bargain! Except I already bought a repair section :rolleyes:
  • Fitted the mid and rear sections of exhaust
  • Greased and fitted the rear propshaft
  • Fitted the fuel tank
The new tank cradle bolted up no problem, but the tank strap bracketry on the new chassis didn't match the old one, so I bent up some stainless and made it work

IMG_6400.jpeg


The crossmember where the securing plate thing at the front of the tank had threaded holes on the original chassis, this one just had hexagonal holes, maybe they forgot to put captive nuts or studs in there? Either way I just drilled and tapped new holes.

IMG_6399.jpeg

  • fitted new bump stops all round.
The brackets for the bump stops on the original chassis had nuts welded on the back, the new one didn't, and the hole was too close to the bend to get a nut in there, so I ended up cutting down the heads of two bolts and doing it that way

IMG_6408.jpeg


Not helpful.
  • Drilled drain holes at the bottoms of the chassis legs at the lowest point either side of the fuel tank
I figure that water's going to get in, right? so better have a way for it to get back out again, something that's curiously absent on both the original and replacement chassis

IMG_6403.jpeg


Can't hurt, right?

...Right?

Either way, looking good from here

IMG_6407.jpeg


  • Re plumbed the fuel system into the tank with slightly less new clips than I needed, and a new fuel filter/water separator. Lucky I took photos of the pipes before I took them apart!
The holes in the bracket for the fuel filter didn't match the bolt holes in the housing, but it ended up not mattering because it broke getting it apart anyway, so 1 bolt and a big cable tie to the rescue

IMG_6409.jpeg


I also got the wiring loom back where it needs to be but not fully tied down yet as I didn't have the clips that arrived in the post while I was at work.

As it stands right now, I can just about see the light at the end of the tunnel

IMG_6412.jpeg


A question for those in the know: I have a lot of unused wires, for the compressor and the levelling sensors, and the fuel filter water sensor that I don't have fitted.

Is it wise to remove the unused connectors and wires? 3/4 of the loom going to the back is just flopping about with nothing to plug into and presumably filling up with water. Can I (Should I) just pull the wires through and de-pin the connectors at the front end?

Cheers :cool:
 
Tango91 said:
Sheila's wheels rang me yesterday to discuss my renewal. The poor lass couldn't understand quite why i burst out laughing :p

I'm (still) waiting for my esteemed colleague to come up with this fancy MIG he keeps going on about, so in the absence of being able to get in the workshop this weekend, set about emptying the old bank account.

I -think- (hope) I've ordered everything I need to get it back on the road :)confused:)

Previously ordered:
braided brake flexi hoses all round
a new fuel filter (rusty)
bump stops (it had one lonely one previously),
shock absorber fixing bolts (seized)
clips for the brake hoses
a new exhaust flexi section (currently bluetooth)
new body mounting bolts all round
Oil for the gearbox, MTF94

Now ordered
fuel line clips
brake pipe clips
a front shock lower bush as one has collapsed
cupronickel brake line
brake line fittings to suit

Still to fit (Historic):
Reverse light switch
coolant temperature sensor

For those of you playing along at home, this brings the rolling total to £4109.31
Don't tell my mrs please
Click to expand...

This is a great write up of your project.
Really enjoy reading it.
If it makes you feel any better, I had allowed £1k per month to rebuild my series 3.
The first 6 weeks saw £7.5k leaving my bank account.
 
codfather79 said:
The first 6 weeks saw £7.5k leaving my bank account.
Click to expand...

I'd suspect that you managed to raise the value of the SIII by the end of it though :D This Disco will always be worth sweet FA

Not much to report today, didn't have much time. I stripped the air suspension wiring out of the loom and tidied everything up, didn't have to cut any wires.

There is an orange plug that comes out whole with the loom, one of the pins has to come out of the big 2-pin power plug (the other is for the fuel pump) and 3 smaller pins to take out of the smaller grey plug up at the engine end. I filled the backs of the vacant holes with some tiger seal just to stop water getting in.

IMG_6419.jpeg



As far as I'm concerned, less unused wires and connectors flapping about under there getting covered in mud and salt = more betterer .

Now it probably won't start or the headlights will make the washer motor run or something.
 
I had to work yesterday morning but in the afternoon I got a lot of little jobs done that were required to move forward.

Changed the oil in the transfer case and gearbox while I've got good access. Both lots came out looking well used but not glittery or anything. The gearbox drain plug had a fair amount stuck to it but no big chunks so meh.

IMG_6422.jpeg


I also changed the coolant temp sensor, which had been giving funny readings and upsetting the gauge cluster, found that the connectors were full of oil.

I know that the TD5 pushes oil up the injector harness but I wasn't expecting to see it here!

IMG_6424.jpeg


I also changed the reverse switch in the gearbox as it was kaput, and I've ordered a new CDL switch as despite not ever being fitted with the lever, the one appears to be naff as well.

I also had to order, annoyingly, new heater matrix hoses as the longer one that runs between the back of the head and the firewall had rubbed through to the wires, was very crispy when moved, and had been farmer fixed with sealant and electrical tape. I can't believe it wasn't leaking, it must not have gone all the way through. Cheap insurance to change them both though, i think.

IMG_6425.jpeg


The next thing before I can make up new brake lines was to fit the flexi hoses to the calipers, and to do that I needed new hangers for the back of the chassis as the old ones had to be cut off thanks to rust. I'd have liked to order some stamped ones like the originals, but time is getting on, so I cut and bent some from 2mm stainless.

IMG_6426.jpeg


I hope that these will be rigid enough in the long run but they seem pretty good for now. Mounted up:

IMG_6428.jpeg

The front brackets that are attached to the front axle lower spring seats needed fettling as the new hoses need 16mm round holes to clip through but the old ones have half-round-half-square holes and they were pulling through. I could have been fancy and made something up but in the interests of saving time I just welded the corners up and filed it out to mostly round, which worked well.

IMG_6431.jpeg


Not pretty, mind, but should be ok. Some paint and you'd never know.

The next thing to do then is to make up the new lines that run to the rear end.

Cheers!
 
I have considered it, and to be completely honest, I'm trying not to think about it :D

There's a small hole on the OSR wheel well up near where the outrigger goes, and the inner wing up by the driver's feet is pretty ropey.

At the moment I haven't got access to a welder that wouldn't blow right through bodywork unless I can learn to TIG quick fast in a hurry.

I'll have to put the body back on the chassis first, that way I can move it around. I can pick it up with the forklift no problem, but I can't fit it sideways through the workshop doors :rolleyes:

In any case, I won't be refitting the carpets anytime soon, that can wait until I've nailed down where the leak is :p
 
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