More fun and games now that we have got some nice warm weather, and I can get out to play in the evenings after work.
So, out with the grinder and wire brush.....

Drivers floor coated with rust killer liquid first, then Hammerite Rust Eater primer. This will also get a coat of red oxide on top

Template made from cardboard to fill in the hole, then transferred to metalwork and welded into place. Rust killer, red oxide, seam sealer then underseal and wax to come

Improving access to the rusty stuff....

In order to properly assess and attack the rust in the A pillars, I've had to remove the dash (which is a nice job, plenty to unplug and unscrew)

This allowed me to fully inspect the n/s A pillar, and also spot where the water leak is on that side too, although i suspect the heater needs resealing to the scuttle panel too.

Bottom of A Pillar on N/S

Bottom corner of windscreen on N/S

Top of A Pillar on N/S - only surface rust, but i'm sure it will get worse when i get the N/S wing off

May 2012 - Rusty stuff cont.....

So out with the angle grinder and 1mm discs......

to get rid of the inner wing rot (and under the battery tray)

there's still a few seams to finish, and then make up a plate to go under the battery tray to close that off. After that a liberal coating of rust killer, followed by red oxide, seam sealer, then lots of cavity wax and underseal to the under arch area, and a coat of paint to the under bonnet area.

May 2012 - "I think i'll start tidying up the front end a bit today" - oh dear......

Well, one of those mad moments came about on a nice Sunday morning. I thought, quite innocently, that i'd start to tidy up the RH headlamp box, rust treat the surface, and paint it up to stop it getting worse......

Looks good, but as you can see, the wing is off too...........here's why......

lot's of rusty stuff to play with. You can see from the top picture where the water has been running through the drain hole in the side of the scuttle panel, down the A panel along the wing stiffeneer, and then gathering at the bottom causing corrosion. I can only really put this down to the poor seam sealer, as it crumbled and lifted off when i started to prod.

January - March 2012 - Quiet times......

Not a lot to report for the first few months of 2012, apart from finally fitting and wiring up the roof light bar with my work lamps

they are 3w twin LED worklamps, which produce enough light to be useful, but not too much to produce the infamous illuminated dash problem. Wired up through a relay (even though they don't really need one) and independantly switched from main beam so i can isolate them if needed.

I also got round to removing the steering bars (with the help of Landrover tool number 1 and my trusty angle grinder) and fitting the HD steering bars. These were a direct bolt on replacement for the old ones. In order to set the tracking, i find it easiest to measure and mark the two lengths required - 924mm centre to centre for the drag link (from steering box to n/s swivel) and 1230mm for the track rod - onto the floor of the shed, then set the bars accordingly. Much easier than trying to measure and set them on the Disco. Whist i was at it, i reset the swivel preloads, to try and stop some of the "death wobble" that was starting to appear.

The insurance expired at the end of March, and so the hunt started for an alternative. With quotes ranging from £300 upto nearly £1500 (I'm late 30's, with no claims stretching back for nearly 20 years) I gave Sureterm (who also give a discount for Discovery Owners Club members) a call (www.sureterm.com) and they came back with a brilliant quote of £260 fully comp, based on no more than 5000 miles per year, and to be fair, since taking out the policy, i haven't even done 1000 miles, so i may adjust that down even further yet.

It's something i would advise any owner of an older Discovery to do, get a cheap runabout for day to day use, then keep the Disco for weekends/playing/special occasions, that way it makes it a lot cheaper to run (especially at 28mpg), and you still get to carry out important maintenance without having to worry about it being ready to use for work on Monday morning.

December 2011 - Time to refurb the Boost alloys.....

When i bought this one it had the rather desirable Boost alloys on it, finished in the ES two tone Westminster/Arken grey with silver rim. Now time hadn't been kind, resulting in some serious corrosion and lacquer peel

as can be seen, even after a quick clean they still looked rough. Nitromors wouldn't touch the paint, so it was out with the coarse sanding paper.........

and re fitted with the BFG's (white lettering out - of course)

September - November 2011 - More additions and upgrades....

After reading a few posts on other forums, i decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my front brakes, whilst replacing the bearings etc at the same time, to vented discs and 110 calipers.

All in all it's a bolt on replacement upgrade, that gives better brakes (useful when towing) with only a marginal increase in pedal travel.

pity they never stay like this for long though.

September - November 2011 - Swapping the goodies and some upgrades......

After all the work and extra's i had added to my previous 300 TDi, it seemed silly to not swap them onto this one, with the suspension lift, Allisport intercooler, silicone hoses etc, it makes sense. So one weekend in late September, the suspension was swapped, HD Blue Bearmach springs front and rear (the +2 springs are too soft on the front) and +2 Pro Comp dampers.

looking much better on her 235/85/16 BFG All Terrains

As can be seen the front parking sensor has also been added, along with my big spots. What can't be seen is the sump guard that lives behind the bumper.

After this, the intercooler was swapped, and the fuel pump adjustments began - this is to be continued after the rest of the work is completed.

In order to tune the fuel pump properly, i managed to find an excellent guide on the internet, that explains perfectly how to tune the Bosch Ve pump.

Link : http://www.legionlandrover.com/index.php?sec=31&id=12&tipo=Todos%20los%20modelos

they are about ten lines up from the bottom and are in PDF format, so can be downloaded and printed easily.

August Bank Holiday Weekend 2011 - The Start of the Rusty stuff.

After some investigative work after getting the Disco home, i discovered that the inner rear 1/4 panel behind the rear jump seats was rather badly corroded - to the point that the seat belt nearly parted company with the panel.

after removal of the trim and remains of the inner panel, this is what was left........

after cleaning and removal of rust back to sound metal

which extended as far as the sill upto the A pillar

 the wheel arch was also removed and replaced with a new one

after some remedial repair work it looks a lot better, and is now well protected with underseal, lot's of seam sealer to all joins, and cavity wax internally. All exposed metal was treated with jenolite before being treated with the top coats

and that concluded the Bank Holiday Weekend's work....or so i thought.

The front prop needed replacing the following day due to seriously worn joints causing vibration, which resulted in the need to cut the old bolts off (they had rounded badly) and then replace the diff flange - oh the joys of owning a Landrover.

Anyway, in August last year (2011) I decided that i had better get on with the MOT work that would need doing to the green Disco, rear arches, sills etc, and it soon became apparent that there was more work than i could realistically justify for a vehicle so old.

So, the hunt began (at rather short notice) for Disco Number 4.......and this is where "Big Blue" comes in.....

Pic as Per eBay ad.

This was how she looked after getting her home.

Advertised as taxed until November, and MOT until May 2012, she was a bargain at £1300 for a 1998 model (registered Jan 98 - which has caused a few headaches with the insurance company - more on that later). There were a few small niggles that i'd been told about. The wipers had a mind of their own, the n/s headlight trim was a different colour (i'll get to the reasons for that later too, makes interesting reading), one foglight missing, but a new one was provided, small dent in rear 1/4 panel, and a few small issues that really weren't too taxing.

In the beginning - a brief history

It all started about 4 years ago. I was running around in a 1990 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.0i, that I had played with quite a bit (rebuilt engine to stage 1 spec etc...) and was getting a hankering for something different.......so decided to look at Discovery's.....the rest (or should that be rust?) is history.....

The first one I found was a 1991 (J Reg) 200 TDi 3 door. Looked good enough on eBay (oh dear) and was a bargain compared to others I had seen (and lost out on).

So the day arrived, and we set off to the South Coast to track it down and bring it home. To say it was described "accurately" on eBay is not exactly true - it was a nail :( - rusty sills, inner wings, rear crossmember, gutless 200 TDi engine with 220k on the clock, no drive unless it was in difflock (turned out to be a destroyed CV Joint (not mentioned in the ad) both headlights badly corroded, and to top it all off, they didn't work, interesting when you've got a 200 mile journey to do in December.

So this one stayed with me for a while (well, about 3 months) before I had the option of my second Disco - a 1990 3.5 Efi 5 Door with LPG - in exchange for my XR. It was lightyears away from the J plate diesel, only requiring minor work to the sills and rear arches, along with a pair of headgskets. The smile it gave when you booted the loud pedal was rather pleasing, the rate the fuel gauge went down wasn't, and with the lack of LPG stations round here, it had to go.

Enter Disco number 3 (in almost as many years). A Caprice Green 300 TDi ES Spec from 1994, another eBay purchase (I really should learn) advertised as taxed and tested, but having suddenly lost drive one morning. Snapped up for the bargain price of £600, it was collected and the investigation began. One secondhand gearbox later (the output splines had stripped - more on that when i get round to a history of my Disco's) and she was on the road, delivering a sterling service, until August last year.......