nathan5346
Well-Known Member
Ive done well, over 20 years driving and loads of motors and for most of i aint really spent much on repairs... Thats all gonna change avin 2 discos 
sergeantcookie
Active Member
So how much should I be looking at spending? Like I say I don't mind if it needs a bit of work doing. I just don't want to end up with a complete shed that needs hundreds spent before I even think about adding bits to it. Welding won't matter, nor will bodywork. Just something that at least runs with minimal engine problems
Teflon
New Member
I'm in a similar situation, I want a bit of string.......... come on! If you know 'cars' you know how daft that kind of open ended question is!
Lets get seriouse here; first up, why a Disco?
Most common of the Land-rover products in the last twenty years, but not the only one....... and chucklin the alternatives at you; you could go for:-
the 'Classic' leaf-sprung 'Series Land-rover'
the Ubiquiteouse coil spung 'Spen King' Range Rover
90/110/ 'defender' shed-shaped coil sprung 'Land-rover'
Discovery
or.... well... OK for completeness.... a Free-lander.
All of them make great garden orniments.... sorry 'Projects'! and all of them can go 'off-road'.... even the Frisby..... just......
For a 'Project', lot to be said for a Series...... simple, (ok, 'crude') duplo mechanics, all DIY-able, with plentiful supply of reasonably cheap spares, new or used.
You want something a twelve year old can strip down, and put back together for when they are old enough to drive, THAT is the one to go for.
If you are lucky, you can get series project bases for free, if you hunt hard enough, or ones with a little life in them for a few hundred quid; more reasonably though, expect to pay between £250 & £500 for something as a starting point.
Next up would be a 90. Not much more advanced tha a Series, with the benefit that it shares comonality of parts with the other coil sprung models, so theres a lot more bits around for them, new and second hand, both OE spec and go-better goodies.
If you want a project, THIS is the one I REALLY urge you to look at.
Doing a car up, these are the ones that fetch more of their build cost when flogged on. some even make a profit.
Starting with a farm-find 90 truck cab with a rotten chassis and smoking old 2.5Normally aspirated Diesel; you get a rotten Disco, and perloin its axles, suspension, gearboxes (with higher final drive ratio) and engine (more powerful 200TDi) and either put it all together on a new galvanised chassis (about a grand) or after patching plating or cutting in repair sections to the original.
Expect to pay from £500-£1500 for an older 90 as a base, (£500 would get you something thats strictly spares or repairs; £1500 would get you something drive away useful, in need of little more than maybe a new rear X-member or out-rigger before its next test)
Around £200-£500 for a dead disco for the bits to bring it up to later defender spec; (Again £200 for something completely shot, fit ONLY to be broken, £500 for something with more useful mechanics, and maybe a couple of months T&T that could be driven out of it before breaking
And you shouldn't loose money on the project if you sell on
Though chuck more at it overhauling, restoring or modifying chunks of it, you may end up with a car worth more, or less than build cost depending on what you do. (generally, you'll sell a nail with a lot of bolt on goodies for more money than a more standard looking one, with lots of well fettled mechanicals under the bodywork)
BUT of ALL of them, its the one that is most ecconomically viable.
Disco or Rangie..... anything from £200 up for a dead donor. £750ish gets you a runner with some T&T but expect welding and lots of niggles to sort.
You'll get more for your money with a Rangie, V8, though, as people put off by 13mpg fuel consumption.... LPG though IS good!
Doing all the usual suspects on a dead disco or rangie, you are looking at the front inner wings, sills and outriggers, rear wheel arches, boot floor and rear cross member.
Your project base probably wont need ALL of them doing straight away, but it is a lot cheaper and easier to tear back and blitz them in one go than trying to do it in sections on the hoof, keeping the car on the road in between.
Last April, I aquired a replacement for my previouse RRC, which needed almost all the usual suspects tackling and basically had to come off the road to be scrapped or dealt with properly, so chucked £600 at a better example, with a few 'running issues', and some very rotten sills.
Blitzed it in the first month of getting her; I'm dissabled so I cant weld, really any, more, but cutting in box sections in substitution for the folded sill sections, with a little shaping around the wheel arches, and plating over the boot floor, was £150 worth of steel, and £200 to a freindly welder. But the car had already had the rear wheel arches done, and the boot-floor hadn't gone so far as to need attension...... yet.
Mechanically, she needed a new steering box, and a lot of tinkering; the LPG system didn't work, the engine ran rough, and she didn't have the 'oomph' a V8 should.... Oh and the headlining is STILL falling from the ceiling..... must try and get round to that one...... most of the jobs I sorted perloining bits off the 'old' Rangie, but if I hadn't had that luxuary, there was probably about another £250-£300 worth of 'stuff' to get her into serviceable shape.
THAT is 'typical' of an old Rangie or disco..... sort the rust and the rest is worth doing.... dont sort the rust and you may as well drive it to death.
Paying high, doesn't seem to weed out the better cars from the rot boxes, and buying newer doesn't give more assurance that the rust wont have crept so far..... the younger examples seem to rot faster, so its pot lock which has more rot, a 96 model or an 86 model!
And at the end of the day; fixing up a Disco or Rangie, top book on an older one is barely more than a grand, it REALLY doesn't seem worth while chucking more time effort or money at one than you absolutely HAVE to to get the use out of it.
IF you want a 'cheap' green-lane & P&P tool though, does make some sense; you can get something serviceable and reasonably reliable for what a 90 project would start at.
But, a 90 Project, is the one that is worth the effort; and for off-roading, will handle everything you chuck at it.
Back to the question why do you want to go for a Disco?
And why a diesel one?
If its a project, 90 or Series makes a LOT more sense; practically and financially, added buy cost insignificant in overall project cost; and something much more saleable when you've done.
Range Rover, if its a 'hobby vehicle' where the 13mpg thirst isn't such an issue, is a lot nicer drive, and for all diesel afficionados will try and tell you they are 'no good off road'.... sole suggestion for that is they have an ignition system! thier arguments over 'torque' dont hold water.... V8's have more of the stuff at tick-over than TDis do at peak!
Trying to sell you on the idea here, but REALLY I cant explain, the grin factor of opening up a four litre V8 in low range on a climb, with the wheels scrabbling for traction, and that the GROWL from the tail pipe, with the throttles wide open, and the motor on load, and you are scrambling up the bank.......
Here have a look at a vid! (or more important, listen to that ENGINE!)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBOzuUfTHE"]YouTube - Salisbury Larkin[/ame]
(You'll have to excuse the camera work, it was my nine year old, and watching me slew around, weren't all that comfortable about it! - I was messing around on the street tyres that came with thecar, to see how useful they were BTW!)
Completely different to a TDi defender, with the motor bogging, and sounding like a tractor about to explode, dissapearing in a cloud of black smoke!
REALLY worth a thought! They do work well off road, and they CAN do water, if you do a bit of basic prep on them.
But, basically, doesn't really matter what the starting point is, and cheaper isn't always better, even for a complete tear down renovation, as said, doing a 90, ecconomics are more favourable buying a better 'base' and better 'donor' disco, to get better mechanicals and give your self most motor for least work.... and its pretty much true of the other options, really.
Set yourself a budget for the project as an entirity; look at what is out there on e-bay and the in the small adds on the boards, work out how big a project you want or can take on, and what works you'd preffer to do, and which youd prefer not to, and where the best place to chuck your budget is.
Normal rule is, less you spend, more work you have to do, and the more the base car needs to begin with, the more expensive its going to be overall to get it up to some kind of standard.
Big chunk of advice here, if its any-use to you:-
But best I can say is think ghard about it, and DO think about the alternatives to the Disco, and REALLY ponder the practicalities & ecconomics of chucking your efforts at a 90 instead.
sergeantcookie
Active Member
Wow. Thanks for that advice. So you are recommending that I go for a 90? I have always wanted a disco ever since i was a kid. Dont know why, i just do . Although if i can find a 90 at the right price i would seriously consider one.
. Although if i can find a 90 at the right price i would seriously consider one.
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sergeantcookie
Active Member
is this 90 worth looking at?
1987 LAND ROVER LR 90 4C REG BLUE on eBay (end time 28-Sep-09 19:00:04 BST)
Thanks
1987 LAND ROVER LR 90 4C REG BLUE on eBay (end time 28-Sep-09 19:00:04 BST)
Thanks
nathan5346
Well-Known Member
depends what he wants for it
Teflon
New Member
If you want a 'Project', yes, I'm recomending a 90. It's the model whose resale values warrant chuching the time effort & money at.
If a Disco is your 'Dream Car'........... seek medical advice........ SORRY!... Go for it, live the dream!
But you're less likely to be so dissolusioned by the reality, looking up-budget and going for a £2-£3K example that's not a 'Project'.
If a Disco is your 'Dream Car'........... seek medical advice........ SORRY!... Go for it, live the dream!
But you're less likely to be so dissolusioned by the reality, looking up-budget and going for a £2-£3K example that's not a 'Project'.
sergeantcookie
Active Member
Lol, its not my 'dream car'.
sergeantcookie
Active Member
what would you say would be a reasonable price?
