I bit the bullet last week and bought a 1997 Disco 1 2.5 diesel in gold with 192k on the clock. What sold it was the new MOT and price agreed of £800. What a lot of car for so little cash! A good check over showed very little serious rust underneath, even though the bodywork was bubbling on several panels.




First job was to get an oil change and there's no service history, although some papers show a new exhaust last year and some welding for the MOT. The transmission fluid looks ok and the air filter isn't bad either.

I got to work on the body today. First thing to go is the rusty side steps:


This revealed a couple of holes in the sills. That MOT is starting to sound a bit suspect... Can I fill them with bodyfiller as they are small or should they be welded? Any advice?


I planned to strip and clean the brakes but the wheel nuts are corroded on and the locknut is missing. I guess this means a trip to the local tyre fitter to get the nuts removed as I don't have the tools


And I gaffed up the sunroofs until I can sort the leaks:


The good news is that most of the electrics work:
sunroof tilt & slide - check
electric windows - check
remote locking - check
alarm - check
seat controls - check
seat heaters - not even trying 'em in this heat

But out of order:
front fog lights
cd changer (collection of discs left behind by previous owner)
rear view mirror auto dim - liquid crystal all over the place

I'm aiming to get the underside cleaned, de-rusted and sealed and stop the grot on top ready for some mild off roading. It's a preservation job rather than a restoration.

Final job tonight was to open up the headlight to give it a clean and refix the champagne cork cage thingy that was rattling and rusting around inside. 3 minutes in the oven at 130 and it popped open easy as you like. Another little job sorted.

How do I get photos to embed?

I'm doing my cills for MOT I have two very small holes about the size of a 2p at the end near the wheel arch which need doing for it to pass the MOT, well thats if the holes are within 12" of the posts I think.

Do this for the image

Dont fill anything like a sill with bondo! Its a structural component of thr body so you need to remove rust and weld in new steel. Use yrm or froggats panels for an easier job. Just make sure you cavity wax and schutz eaxoil unferneath after. Check rear crossmrmber and a pillars if you have sunroof leak. Footwells may be going too. They dissolve pretty well do disco 1s

Dont ever fill holes in.just weld in piece of metal. Easy enuf job.

Get a 27mm socket and a big breaker bar for wheel nut and they will give in

Thanks for the advice - off shopping for some tools shortly. I've managed to order 10 spare wheel nuts from fleabay to replace the damaged bolts. Getting the rusty locking nuts off without a key is another challenge, especially if they're tight as the standard ones. Watch this space...

SpaceDawg said:

Do this for the image

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did Spacedawg. Maybe it doesn't like Box.com images

You mean something like this?



I think the images need resizing...





As for the holes in the sills it depends where they are, if they're outside a 300mm 'bubble' that surrounds a structural point, body mount etc then it'll pass. There certainly are some cars out there where you think, how did that get an MOT? As for dealing with them, are you handy with a welder? At least with some parts of the sill if its not too bad you can cut out a square section and weld in a new part. The sills on my RRC were too far gone so I cut them all out and did the classic 3mm box section as the sill. Should last a while.

Latest update: I decided to tackle the non-functional CD changer under the drivers seat, partially intrigued by the magazine full of CDs stuck inside it.

I had to remove the plastic seat base cover which was pretty straightforward once I got the screws shifted. Then on lifting the carpet I found a fair amount of surface rust along joints. Not surprisong considering the seat base cover was screwed through the floor pan - ahh the genius of Land Rover: Let's build a wateproof vehicle and fill it with holes...

So the rust was treated with Curust and the CD player out- and thanks to the guide on Youtube here Investigating The CD Autochanger - YouTube I stripped it down and got the cassette out and hey ho 6 free CDs, including the soundtrack to Superbad and Capt Corelli's Mandolin.

Reassembled it, stuck it back in and it sprang to life - brilliant. Another thing working at zero expense!