Disco Moneypit
New Member
Hello chaps,
I stumbled across this forum whilst doing a Google search for green lanes in Derbyshire, and I liked it so much, I thought I'd say hello.
So what do you want to know about me? Well, the boring stuff first. I'm in my early 30's, married, no kids, just two cats. I sell machinery for a living, and I currently drive a Rover 75, (daily hack, soon to be for sale once its done 100'000 miles), a TVR Chimaera, (off the road after a full body off chassis re-furb, as it now has a slipped bore liner), a Skoda Felicia, (the wifes), and my 1996 300tdi Discovery.
Right, now thats the boring stuff out of the way, the Discovery.....
Having previously having a Frontera, I thought that I would soon get bored of the Disco, but owning a Land Rover was on my list of cars to own.
I originally bought it to replace my previous daily driver, (a Saab 93). I didn't plan to do anything to it, just keep it standered, but, well, you guys know how these things go?
I've never spent a lot on my daily hacks, with the mileage that I do, (40'000 p/a easy), I just cant see the point in losing so much in depriciation. Then the wife decided to crash it through the neighbors garden wall, so I had to replace the front bumper with a Gaurdian one. Then the rising fuel costs meant that it just wasnt economicly viable to keep running the Disco, as it wasn't unusual to use a full tank of diesel in two days. As the car didnt owe me much, I decided to keep it as an off-road plaything.
Since then I have firmly got the off-road bug, dipping my toes into the water at Sibbertoft, then green laning with Buxton & Distrct LR club, followed by frequent trips up to Frickly Pay & Play centre.
Further modifications have included Guardian steering guard, Guardian rock sliders, diff guards, spot lamps, and replacing the Pirelli Scorpians with Insa Turbo Saharas.
I got the rock sliders from the wife for Christmas, so off I went into the garage on Boxing Day to fit them. Removed all the plastic trim and noticed that the paint on my sills was bubbling a bit. Thought it best to sand them down first. I'm sure that you can guess the rest. By the time I'd finished sanding them down, I had no bloody sills left, or seat belt mounts either.
Fast forward six months and were moving house. Upon removing a coffee table from the boot of the Disco, the boot carpet folded forward a bit, exposing just a little bit of rust on the boot floor. Fearing the worst, I removed all the carpets and sound proofing, (still soaking wet from were I sunk at Frickly), only to find that the only thing holding most of my floor inplace was several years worth of compressed mud. Another session with the angle grinder left my welder, (RT Racing in Sheffield), very little to actually weld onto this time.
Further investigation and picking also brought to my attention rotten inner front wings, rotten driver / passanger footwells, and some rust holes around my windscreen.
The vehicle is currently down at RT Racing being made solid again. Hopefully I should have it back within the next couple of weeks. At least it is in good company down there, being on the ramp right next to a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 race car!!!!!
Now this might seem like an awfull lot of effort to go through on an old Discovery, but to me, even though the car is covered in dings, scrapes and scratches, I really like it. Unlike my old Frontera, which I hated after a couple of weeks, the Discovery has a real charactor about it. Besides the rust issues, it still feels tight as a drum, even with 171'000 miles on the clock. Just like our Chimaera, it may be flawed, but we just cant ever imagine getting rid of it, hence all the effort in getting it tip top, relativly speaking.
Other issues with the Disco have included a tempermental boot door, (sometimes it locks, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it un-locks, sometimes it doesn't), two replacement header tanks, before I had an alloy one made up, and head gasket failure.
Once the vehicle is solid, future plans will include off-road spec rear bumper, tank guard, snorkel, wading kit and full 2" suspension raise.
I'm going to be running it without carpet as well, as all that and the soundproofing do is act like a great big sponge. I've been thinking of doing something to help waterproof the ECU and wiring looms, (but not quite sure what yet, maybe a battery box sealed with sealent for the ECU?), and painting the floor with some sort of rubberised paint with tailered rubber mats / load bay liner over the top? Any suggestions are welcome.
Well, thats about enough of my waffling on. All I meant to do was pop in and say hi.
When I'm not on here, you could proberly find me over at Pistonheads.com, if any of you chaps frequent that forum too?
I stumbled across this forum whilst doing a Google search for green lanes in Derbyshire, and I liked it so much, I thought I'd say hello.
So what do you want to know about me? Well, the boring stuff first. I'm in my early 30's, married, no kids, just two cats. I sell machinery for a living, and I currently drive a Rover 75, (daily hack, soon to be for sale once its done 100'000 miles), a TVR Chimaera, (off the road after a full body off chassis re-furb, as it now has a slipped bore liner), a Skoda Felicia, (the wifes), and my 1996 300tdi Discovery.
Right, now thats the boring stuff out of the way, the Discovery.....
Having previously having a Frontera, I thought that I would soon get bored of the Disco, but owning a Land Rover was on my list of cars to own.
I originally bought it to replace my previous daily driver, (a Saab 93). I didn't plan to do anything to it, just keep it standered, but, well, you guys know how these things go?
I've never spent a lot on my daily hacks, with the mileage that I do, (40'000 p/a easy), I just cant see the point in losing so much in depriciation. Then the wife decided to crash it through the neighbors garden wall, so I had to replace the front bumper with a Gaurdian one. Then the rising fuel costs meant that it just wasnt economicly viable to keep running the Disco, as it wasn't unusual to use a full tank of diesel in two days. As the car didnt owe me much, I decided to keep it as an off-road plaything.
Since then I have firmly got the off-road bug, dipping my toes into the water at Sibbertoft, then green laning with Buxton & Distrct LR club, followed by frequent trips up to Frickly Pay & Play centre.
Further modifications have included Guardian steering guard, Guardian rock sliders, diff guards, spot lamps, and replacing the Pirelli Scorpians with Insa Turbo Saharas.
I got the rock sliders from the wife for Christmas, so off I went into the garage on Boxing Day to fit them. Removed all the plastic trim and noticed that the paint on my sills was bubbling a bit. Thought it best to sand them down first. I'm sure that you can guess the rest. By the time I'd finished sanding them down, I had no bloody sills left, or seat belt mounts either.
Fast forward six months and were moving house. Upon removing a coffee table from the boot of the Disco, the boot carpet folded forward a bit, exposing just a little bit of rust on the boot floor. Fearing the worst, I removed all the carpets and sound proofing, (still soaking wet from were I sunk at Frickly), only to find that the only thing holding most of my floor inplace was several years worth of compressed mud. Another session with the angle grinder left my welder, (RT Racing in Sheffield), very little to actually weld onto this time.
Further investigation and picking also brought to my attention rotten inner front wings, rotten driver / passanger footwells, and some rust holes around my windscreen.
The vehicle is currently down at RT Racing being made solid again. Hopefully I should have it back within the next couple of weeks. At least it is in good company down there, being on the ramp right next to a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 race car!!!!!
Now this might seem like an awfull lot of effort to go through on an old Discovery, but to me, even though the car is covered in dings, scrapes and scratches, I really like it. Unlike my old Frontera, which I hated after a couple of weeks, the Discovery has a real charactor about it. Besides the rust issues, it still feels tight as a drum, even with 171'000 miles on the clock. Just like our Chimaera, it may be flawed, but we just cant ever imagine getting rid of it, hence all the effort in getting it tip top, relativly speaking.
Other issues with the Disco have included a tempermental boot door, (sometimes it locks, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it un-locks, sometimes it doesn't), two replacement header tanks, before I had an alloy one made up, and head gasket failure.
Once the vehicle is solid, future plans will include off-road spec rear bumper, tank guard, snorkel, wading kit and full 2" suspension raise.
I'm going to be running it without carpet as well, as all that and the soundproofing do is act like a great big sponge. I've been thinking of doing something to help waterproof the ECU and wiring looms, (but not quite sure what yet, maybe a battery box sealed with sealent for the ECU?), and painting the floor with some sort of rubberised paint with tailered rubber mats / load bay liner over the top? Any suggestions are welcome.
Well, thats about enough of my waffling on. All I meant to do was pop in and say hi.
When I'm not on here, you could proberly find me over at Pistonheads.com, if any of you chaps frequent that forum too?