another lovely machine!

griffman, where have you been all my life?! :D

Driving TVRs and working my nuts off to pay school fees

Last couple of years got the Landie bug - something we can do as a family.

TVRs are great but only for singles/couples - landies are fun and practical and family friendly.

When I first met my wife she had a TVR Griffith 500 and a Series 3 for gardening - what a lady - made my puny little chimaera 450 look a little jaundiced.

Anyway when the 90 is finished I will be selling the beautiful Disco to some lucky bugger who will benefit from it as we won't need two Landrovers.

We both have daily drivers from Audi - I did have a 2009 TDV8 range rover but it kept leaving me stranded!
 
Will that thing need a wheelie bar on the back when all done!!??

Is that a standard rover v8 serpentine front end bolting straight to the front of the chevy? Mates got a 5.7 in his garage and a poorly 3.5 disco!

Did Ashcroft not recommend fitting their stronger half shaft and cv joints.

P.s if i had your money and workshop space i'd be in a field somewhere upside down on fire in a landrover laughing
 
Will that thing need a wheelie bar on the back when all done!!??

Is that a standard rover v8 serpentine front end bolting straight to the front of the chevy? Mates got a 5.7 in his garage and a poorly 3.5 disco!

Did Ashcroft not recommend fitting their stronger half shaft and cv joints.

P.s if i had your money and workshop space i'd be in a field somewhere upside down on fire in a landrover laughing

Yep

Wheelie bar and parachute methinks.

It is a standard serpentine front end which Overfinch adapted to fit the chevy - shows that they must have just bought long engines from GM Power.

When it was in the Disco it also had the air-con compressor but when I rebuilt the top end I ditched this as I knew it was going into the 90.

As far as the CV joints and half shafts - Dave said if the car is a hotrod for the road then leave well alone - rather the CV joints go than the gearbox!

If I ever decide to do some offroading I can look at that that then.

The workshop belongs to my buddy who is doing the engineering work - a serious engineering man called Derek - has been working Land Rovers since he left the Army in 1975.

What did he do in the Army? REME mechanic working on Landrovers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Series 3 for gardening?

Her folks have a few quid?

Nice Discovery

Self-made lady I'm afraid - folks are wealthy but she has never had a bean from them - too proud! She was a big cheese in the IT world until our daughter came along.
 
Looking good there Victor :) I'm sure I'll be able to hear it from here when you get her going!

I am of course insanely jealous! Will look great when it's finished .... who am I kidding? It looks great already and we've only seen a few bits of it! :) At the rate you and Derek are progressing it should be finished by the end of the week ;)

Good luck with the rest of the build, looking forward to seeing (and hearing) the finished article :)
 
Looking good there Victor :) I'm sure I'll be able to hear it from here when you get her going!

I am of course insanely jealous! Will look great when it's finished .... who am I kidding? It looks great already and we've only seen a few bits of it! :) At the rate you and Derek are progressing it should be finished by the end of the week ;)

Good luck with the rest of the build, looking forward to seeing (and hearing) the finished article :)

Thanks for your kind comments Mr Barry Wabbit - I am pleased to here that Elmer Phudd was wong and no buckets have yet been kicked.

I have a CD with the detailed engine build provided to me and I will upload some pics from that at some stage - it is amazing just how simple the process is - the skill is in doing it to tolerances and getting it right first time.

I have to say my Engine builder Paul from Paul's-Place V8 is a great bloke - former Royal navy weapons engineer with a total eye for detail

In 2008 he built a 900 bhp Supercharged Big Block chevy for one of the top guys at Santa Pod and after 3 seasons of winning the european championships and a load of other stuff besides he has finally decided a strip down and check over was required. I have a lot of confidence in him - google him and see his website - very interesting.

I am hoping the car will be MOT'd before the end of the month so my lovely wife, for whom it is destined, can drive it on her birthday on Jan 29th.
 
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wow ace build, i know what engine id like next. what a beauty, not sure my chassis would stay very straight if i fitted one those lumps though.
 
would recomend uprated half shafts or atleast aa cover cos youwill snap them...#### the gearbox..i am on number 7 in mine now..atleast when that gives way it dont try and kill you..

and lsd's..they are fun,but do both..detroit truetarack swill handle the power easy..they do on mine and me pushing more..
 
oh..how you stoping the chassis flex??i having to use double locks now to keep the tailgate etc from pooping open when you floor it..and thats with roll cage fitted!
 
mine..:p (but rather nice though)

Mr Zen

it's also slow in comparison to my wife's TTRS which does 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and my 7.0 corvette Z06 which is even quicker but at the end of the day the idea was to build a nice torquey reliable 90 that was different and could be enjoyed as a family.

Fast road use will be the order of the day.

I hear what you say about halfshafts etc but there wasn't a problem when running everything for 2000 miles in the discovery. The gearbox is Ashcroft's stage 2 upgrade which is better than the stage 1 upgrade used by Overfinch and we have fitted a huge torque convertor which locks up very quickly.

As for chassis flex - Eliot Mansfield gets it under full throttle on his twin turbo Dakar racer but the Richards chassis is built using 3mm steel(2mm from factory) and I have an internal/external roll cage and the 300tdi crossmember fitted so I should be ok.
 
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2mm from factory ? Thought it was 3mm from factory……last chassis I repaired was all 3mm
 
Richards' website says their chassis is 0.5mm thicker than factory - actually 2.5 as opposed to 2.

Hmm maybe thickness from series to fender changed then, that and theres obviously going to be a degree of inaccuracy when rolling the steel out
 
Hmm maybe thickness from series to fender changed then, that and theres obviously going to be a degree of inaccuracy when rolling the steel out

Mornin' Doc - how is Mini Me?

Main thing is a Richards chassis will have better torsional rigidity than a standard item - in addition to the thicker steel the quality of the welding is also much better.

griffman
 

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