2 door 1998 disco tdi - replacing rotten bits

guzzi lemans · Jan 11, 2022

All the joys of Landy owner ship, with bells on it.
Started to replace some of the body mounts which led to replacing the rear cross member, rear floor, side skirts, repairing the near side wheel bay, replacing the tank top strap and making up a replacement chassis mount on the rhs, a number of repairs needed to the chassis rails and a shock mount. As the springs etc were off they have been replaced, and new bushes. A frame top pivot and bushes replaced, lower link to do when its off the ramp. moving forward, the ns rear outrigger is to be replaced, and some repairs to the foot wells, the sponge masquerading as insulation was sticking out the side of the floorpan when interior was stripped out, bad repairs to cills and front wings are being sorted and front body mounts replaced. new springs/shocks/mounts etc for the front with bushes to do.
weird turnbuckle rear seat belt mounts in floor replaced, and dinitrol cavity wax to inject.
chassis now looks good having been stripped back to good metal with proper repairs made no patches here!
hopefully the floor will go in this week, and the front end made good with wings and doors back on.
honourable mentions must go to YRM Metal solutions for the supply of the galvanised panels, mounts etc, Rimmer bros and JGS for the running gear and incidental parts. Dishonourable mention to the supplier with restrictive terms who will not get any business from me again ever for any of my landies or any other vehicles.
Next month is engine & transmission service, replace timing belt, check turbo for wear, new brake discs, pads and maybe new callipers as they look crap, might update to improve the discs rather than standard.
At least my v8 is ok, Japanese re-import, with regular dinitrol cavity wax. Pity it costs so much to run, lpg is getting scarce.
I didn't bother with pictures of the floor etc as it was too depressing.

Stanleysteamer · Jan 11, 2022

guzzi lemans said:
All the joys of Landy owner ship, with bells on it.
Started to replace some of the body mounts which led to replacing the rear cross member, rear floor, side skirts, repairing the near side wheel bay, replacing the tank top strap and making up a replacement chassis mount on the rhs, a number of repairs needed to the chassis rails and a shock mount. As the springs etc were off they have been replaced, and new bushes. A frame top pivot and bushes replaced, lower link to do when its off the ramp. moving forward, the ns rear outrigger is to be replaced, and some repairs to the foot wells, the sponge masquerading as insulation was sticking out the side of the floorpan when interior was stripped out, bad repairs to cills and front wings are being sorted and front body mounts replaced. new springs/shocks/mounts etc for the front with bushes to do.
weird turnbuckle rear seat belt mounts in floor replaced, and dinitrol cavity wax to inject.
chassis now looks good having been stripped back to good metal with proper repairs made no patches here!
hopefully the floor will go in this week, and the front end made good with wings and doors back on.
honourable mentions must go to YRM Metal solutions for the supply of the galvanised panels, mounts etc, Rimmer bros and JGS for the running gear and incidental parts. Dishonourable mention to the supplier with restrictive terms who will not get any business from me again ever for any of my landies or any other vehicles.
Next month is engine & transmission service, replace timing belt, check turbo for wear, new brake discs, pads and maybe new callipers as they look crap, might update to improve the discs rather than standard.
At least my v8 is ok, Japanese re-import, with regular dinitrol cavity wax. Pity it costs so much to run, lpg is getting scarce.
I didn't bother with pictures of the floor etc as it was too depressing.

Good for you!
I don't think I have enough lifetime left to tackle a major job like this!
So well done and it'll be interesting following this.
You mentioned a ramp.
Jealous isn't the word!

guzzi lemans · Jan 11, 2022

I am very fortunate in that a friend for many years has a business with several ramps and he allows me to use one of them. I've just spent the last 2 weeks cutting out rot and preparing the chassis and body for welding. For anything too technical I have a mate who will help (such as the rear crossmember and the front and side body mounts) to make sure they are good. I looked like a coal miner apparently, what a mess!
Spent a good 1000 so far on parts, last bits coming later in the week - new shock turrets and fuel sender unit. It should be a good solid vehicle when it is complete. Just remembered, need to buy some replacement insulation matting to replace the sponge I've thrown out. The headlining will need replacing as well, but that was going to be done anyway.
This is what the outside looks like.

Stanleysteamer · Jan 11, 2022

guzzi lemans said:
I am very fortunate in that a friend for many years has a business with several ramps and he allows me to use one of them. I've just spent the last 2 weeks cutting out rot and preparing the chassis and body for welding. For anything too technical I have a mate who will help (such as the rear crossmember and the front and side body mounts) to make sure they are good. I looked like a coal miner apparently, what a mess!
Spent a good 1000 so far on parts, last bits coming later in the week - new shock turrets and fuel sender unit. It should be a good solid vehicle when it is complete. Just remembered, need to buy some replacement insulation matting to replace the sponge I've thrown out. The headlining will need replacing as well, but that was going to be done anyway.
This is what the outside looks like.

Looks very nice.
My 300tdi is an Anniversary so has the lovely paint job, but it too is sitting waiting for me to attack it with the welder. But I am hoping it isn't as bad as yours must have been!
Yours being 1998 should be an "Annie" too shouldn't it? Maybe they only designated 5 doors as that, dunno!
Wish I had a mate like yours!

guzzi lemans · Jan 19, 2022

cut out the rear cross member on Monday, braced the rear end with 4x2 so it doesn't budge, ready for welder to fit replacement, then will be working forward replacing the floor, side skirt, fabricated replacement bracket for tank top strap, a couple of repairs needed for chassis beams, then replace rear n/s out rigger,, repair wheel arch were seat belt is mounted with new anchor, new rear seat belt mounts through rear floor, a couple of repairs to the front foot well, repair bodged front inner wings then replace front o/s body mount. will try and take a picture tomorrow of the rear. I've bought a couple of extra repair strips for the rear wheel arch bottoms where the side skirts fit, basically the joggled bits that the rear floor pan sits on, to give a bit more support to the wheel arch tub and floor interface.
took me 2 weeks to cut out the rot. the rear cross member was awful to do. hopefully welder will be able to get on it next week.

guzzi lemans · Jan 25, 2022

Discovery sans floor and rear cross member, hopefully start the rebuild next week. New rear suspension installed, bushes, pivot and tidy up axle once rear is stabilised.
Freelander 2 engine replacement has taken precedence, timing belt snapped. It is a frog eye sprint underneath.

discool · Jan 25, 2022

guzzi lemans said:
Discovery sans floor and rear cross member, hopefully start the rebuild next week. New rear suspension installed, bushes, pivot and tidy up axle once rear is stabilised.
Freelander 2 engine replacement has taken precedence, timing belt snapped. It is a frog eye sprint underneath.

So your using an Austin Healey Sprite bonnet as a drip tray then

Also as you have unlimited access access to the ‘A’ frame ball joint, its an ideal time to do a bit of preventative maintenance and replace it.

guzzi lemans · Jan 25, 2022

Hi, yep that is the plan, once the cross member is replaced and the body has stability I'll take both upper and lower arms off and replace the bushes and the top pivot.
With regard to the cross member, is it best to fit that to the chassis with the body mounts and weld up then fit the outer infill panels, or is it the infill panels first?
I've got 4x2 timbers keeping the body stable at the moment.

Stanleysteamer · Jan 25, 2022

guzzi lemans said:
Hi, yep that is the plan, once the cross member is replaced and the body has stability I'll take both upper and lower arms off and replace the bushes and the top pivot.
With regard to the cross member, is it best to fit that to the chassis with the body mounts and weld up then fit the outer infill panels, or is it the infill panels first?
I've got 4x2 timbers keeping the body stable at the moment.

Not sure what you mean by "infill panels" but in my experience of building and repairing ladder frame chassis and kit cars, it is usually best to get the cross members and side members of a chassis welded up first, preferably in a jig, before adding anything else, to avoid distortion caused by incidental welding.
So my money is on the cross member.
The welder if experienced in this, will have his opinion, and this might have to do with how awkward it may be to do the infills once the cross member is in place.
Whatever happens make sure stuff gets tack welded and all measurements sorted, before final welding and keep the stabilising timbers etc in place until it is all finished.
Best of luck mate.

guzzi lemans · Jan 25, 2022

Hi, advice from YRM is to fit the cross member first, they call the 2 fill parts end caps.
Hopefully next week will see the start of the rebuild, after moving the sprite first of course! fortunately I have my other disco to check it against (monty python - 2 sheds Jackson comes to mind !)
My Owner is complaining about the boxes in the house full of bits, so will have to make waves with my mate about getting on with it.

guzzi lemans · Feb 5, 2022

Rear cross member fitted, floor pan drilled off ready to go in after temporary fit with self tappers to mark out positioning, just got to sort out the sides before the side panels bits go in with the joggles for the floor pan to sit on, I've also used the repair strips with joggles from YRM to strengthen the sides and form a lip for the side panels to sit on, forgot to take a picture yesterday.
First attempt at spot welding (any welding), don't think I'll be coming out of retirement on the back of this example but at least it is secure if not pretty. Lots of patches to make to replace the rot along the rest of the floor and replace the rear seat belt anchor on the left hand wheel arch. At least it has started to go back together at long last.

guzzi lemans · Feb 10, 2022

Latest view of todays efforts. Side floor panels trial fit showed up a need to fettle the front sections, hopefully can get them sorted tomorrow and ready for weld. Front body mount loosely fitted and ready for weld, noticed the front tank mount bracket was almost gone, so cut off and replacement fabricated. The thought of 90 odd litres of fuel hanging off a wafer of rusty metal brings on a bit of a shudder. Something to be careful of.
A frame was surprisingly easy to remove, unfortunately I had the wrong bushes for the chassis end so will have to back in the future.
Now the structure is getting back in place I can start to think about how to replace the headlining.

guzzi lemans · Feb 24, 2022

Well, as I'm waiting for the welding on the rear floor and front body mount I used the time to service the diffs, gearbox and engine, and change the timing belt. Taking off the cover the bolts had a lubricant so good, when the cover came off the casting was fill off black fluff, same on the housing, looks like the belt was ready to fail, though wear was not obvious, I guess it was due to alignment, vin is WA so was under impression that the misalignment issue was sorted by then.
Anyway, replaced belt, idler and tensioner. What a palaver, Digital torque wrench in one hand trying to keep the prescribed 11nm, whilst tightening the tensioner Allen bolt; yeh right! The fiddling about fitting the idler so that the tensioner pivots on a shoulder was fun. Replacing the oil seal in the cover was not fun.
Still, it's done now, as the belt was 5yrs old and had only done around 25k miles I think I will inspect it every year, now I know how to do it, and the cost is just the gasket and the coolant.
Changed the front springs and shocks too, all good fun and got rid of more boxes, yippee.

2 door 1998 disco tdi - replacing rotten bits

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