Voyage of Discovery: 2003 - A Solihull Odyssy

[scruff]

The advantage with a lorry or a bus is that it already has a shit hot air compressing system, not a diddy little pump which may, with the wind blowing in the right direction, last seven years+

 

I do agree with your general point though, there's a lot of nice cars out their ruined by tightarse owners and dubious advice. 

But then, I wouldn't buy a P38 or a D2 as a shoestring motor, there's much better options out there. 

[RichardMoss]

I remember when I had a BX that blew a rear suspension strut when it was 8 years old and 150,000miles.  I replaced the whole rear subframe and suspension with nearly new used parts for £50 plus a couple of litres of LHM.  My father in law, an aircraft engineer who doesn't like Citroens, said that it was expensive, complicated rubbish - and then went and spent £400+ on new shocks and springs for his similar age Rover 216.  Looks like I got the better deal

 

Airbag suspension is like conventional suspension - it wears out.  I would expect 10 year old Discovery springs and shocks to be nearing the end of their life and for repairs to cost about the same as fixing up the airbags SLS

[RichardMoss]

I should add that, in suitably shite-ist fashion, I bought some new wiper blades for the Discovery here in Al Ain - and they were supplied by unipart!

[RichardMoss]

Work done in the last few weeks:

New ACE actuator - ACE system bled and working beautifully and now NOT leaking oil everywhere. This thing handles REALLY well on road
All brake pads replaced. Every single pad was down to less than 1mm of friction material and the brakes were potentially lethal.
Transfer box oil seal replaced - oil now NOT coming out all the time
Axle oil replaced - the stuff that came out looked like black treacle with metal shavings in it and could well have been in there since "The Tank" was built.
Steering track bar and balljoints replaced
Missing A-pillar trim replaced
Broken C- pillar trim repaired
Mangled rear bumper and reversing lights repaired - properly
Broken breather hose repaired - properly (rather than the previous bodge).
Coolant replaced
Cooling fan clutch replaced
New tyres (bigger than standard at 265/65x18)
Rubber coil spring inserts to firm up the suspension
Front scuttle trim panel replaced (lower windscreen trim)
Proper cupholders fitted to the centre console
Plus lots of those little jobs that you can never remember doing when writing up a post like this

Additionally, I've got a trusted garage to replace the leaking power steering pump, do an engine/transmission oil change, fit a new engine accessories drive belt and tensioners and fit replacement rear shock absorbers (dampers).

Initial impressions of OFF-road performance are good - plenty of power, better AC than the Jeeps but you can really feel the extra weight and bulk working against you. The permanent 4WD seems to work well but I think that it would benefit from a locking centre differential (autumn project, I think). Once I've got the hang of, it it should do the job nicely. ON-road it is much more civilised than the Jeeps but the seating position feels like I'm sitting on it, rather than in it.

[RichardMoss]

Photo catch-up time:
Old water pump and new water pump - spot the difference.  When will people realise that you still need anti-freeze in the desert? (not for the frost protection but for the anti-corrosion properties).  The amount of crap that I flushed out of the radiator and engine was incredible.




Windscreen lower trim panel replaced.  The old one literally fell apart when touched (damaged by UV light). The missing A-pillar trim has been replaced.



Bigger tyres fitted on the standard wheels.  By flipping the spare wheel carrier through 180 degrees you gain enough space to fit the bigger wheel on the tailgate.  I found that the wheel studs were ripping out so I welded them back into place.





The steering trackrod was replaced because of worn balljoints:



Rear bumper repaired.  Front to do





Finally, here it is on the sand

[RichardMoss]

Thanks for the link.

 

Sadly, as a 2003, it won't have the internal gubbins so I am looking at £500 plus shipping plus fitting. Better to buy a good, used locking transfer box and fit that.

[RichardMoss]

Long overdue for an update - that will be along shortly

[RichardMoss]

Well a few things:

First, it turned out that it DID have a lockable centre diff - despite the fact that as a 2003 model it shouldn't have.  So I just bought a second hand Discovery 1 linkage and fitted that.  Now I have MUCH better off traction

Second, a check of the engine number revealed that it is fitted with a 4.6L engine not the expected 4.0L one - a pleasant surprise.

 

I decided to tackle the "chuffing" exhaust manifolds and found that each manifold to downpipe flange had a missing/broken stud and on one side there was no gasket, either.  A simple fix and whilst at it I did an ugly but sound repair to the cracked downpipe flange on the left hand side. All quiet on the Eastern front now

 

Whilst under there I found that both engine mounts were broken so genuine Landrover ones were fitted.  I have to ay that both the exhaust and mount jobs were much easier than expected, the benefit of having plenty of space, I guess.  Old one on the left, new o the right.

 

A rear door ladder has been added - to aid access to the (yet to be fitted) roof bar extensions

 

A small suspension lift was added by fitting spacers under the spring seats - this was to restore the ground clearance lost when I fitted the side steps.  The steps were genuine Landrover ones that I was given - over £500 worth at new prices.

 

Britpart steering guard.  Huge, strong and rather heavy.  This has now been partly removed to allow the winch to be fitted.

[RichardMoss]

Another job was fitting a front winch.  I didn't want to fit a heavy (and expensive) metal "winch" bumper, so went for a winch plate under the bumper.  It's a "rugged Ridge 8,500lb winch which I picked up at an attractive price from Icon 4x in Dubai.  Fitting was fairly straightforward:  the mounting plate needed a little "adjustment" with an angle grinder in order to get it to fit around the steering guard brackets but it fits nicely below the main bumper bar and in front of the radiator and aircon condensor.  A little bumper trimming was required, not a problem as the bottom of the bumper was already broken, and it now looks neater anyway.  The steering guard plate has been removed because it clashes with the winch mount - it will need to be trimmed to fit.

 

the control box is mounted on a bracket in front of the aircon cooling fan - but the box is mostly in front of the fan motor body and should not significantly reduce the airflow.   The remote control plugs in on the front of the box and the plug is accessed through the slats in the grille.

[mat_the_cat]

Nice job on the winch - I too dislike the 'in your face' winch bumpers usually fitted, so managed to find a similar discreet mount and fitted it behind the original bumper.

 

 

TBH, it's mainly for help with dragging timber for firewood, and as an insurance policy if out alone. I don't want any modifications which make it more of a compromise on-road, so a winch and limited slip differentials are the only things I can think of which don't ruin what handling it does have!

[RichardMoss]

The handling is still OK.  I only fitted a 1" lift to compensate for the side steps and with ACE fitted (and working) the handling is surprisingly good anyway.

[Guest Lord Sward]

The handling on them is very balanced actually, once you get past the idea of 2.5 tonnes sitting at over 6'tall and on a 100"wheelbase.  I've also found all my Discos to be surprisingly tail-happy under power and in slippery (road) conditions.

[RichardMoss]

It's certainly tail happy - you can do donuts on sand