Discovering the Discovery... Basic Rebuild...

Well its becoming a long old slog through the winter but I am managing to get bits and bobs done in between the rain and wind. What with Christmas and early holiday not had much time free. I have almost finished the fiddly bits at the front. I have cut out all the rot and welded in new patches and then I should be able to spray it all and get to work on the axle and front suspension. Updates will be coming this year just slowly at first due to some other intervening factors but hopefully come late spring I will have her back on the road.... we shall see

So after a mild..ish, but very wet winter, I am finally able to get back on with the Landy. The pressure is now on to finish it, as I have a house move to contend with, and would like it back on the road before that happens. SO after a long hiatus here are the latest pics.



Swivels and stub axles all in pieces and relevant bits painted.



More of the same..



Axle cleaned up and repainted



Engine bits back together after the cambelt change... This was probably my most triumphant moment... put it all back together put the battery back in and (after months of sitting on the garage floor it still had a charge) first turn of the key she fired up... Timing PERFECT, I was dead chuffed as I've never attempted anything like this before. Anyway my euphoria was short lived as the 'NEW' land rover water pump I brought off ebay sounded like a bag of bolts. Not the end of the world but certainly a pain... Anyway I added a new one to my next Paddock and Island order which is the one fitted in the picture.



Front all done



Not the prettiest patch job but getting short of time I just cut and welded the holes then laid fibre glass over the top for protection. Won't last forever but then I intend to eventually replace the front end properly. For now I need her back on the road and this will keep for a few years.



Last job yesterday was the boot floor. I put the three new struts in and welded them at the ends then laid the floor and plug welded it in to place. I still need to seam seal down the sides but with the lighter evenings now upon us I should make some good progress.

The next big jobs are refitting all the front suspension and doing the near side sill. Once I have done those its filling and spraying the outside and then lastly sorting the interior. Still a lot to do but I can see the end now and can't wait to get her back on the road.

Another fine weekend weather wise meant I was able to have fine weekend working on Bumblebee... She has been named, check out the http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/name-not-name-243747.html
thread to find out why. So I have now got the front axle and suspension on along with all the bits around it.



Axle and Radius arms back on. Radius arms were a pain in the a%&e to do alone as they are so heavy. Got there in the end though.





Springs and shocks back on. I'm really looking forward to driving this again as I think it will feel completely different.



Front calipers stripped and painted



Hubs



Discs



Front Wheels all sprayed up



(Sorry for the quality of pic) Swivels put back on, preload set. The preload was a fun task. The first one I did was really quick, the second one took forever messing around with the shims, eventually got it to the correct 4lbs.





Drag link and steering damper.. and that was pretty much the end of my weekend. So this week I hope to get the hubs back together and back on and then get the tyres changed over from the old RR alloys on to the new steels. then its body work time and sorting the interior. Another month or two and hopefully she will be back on the road The battle is almost won... Almost...

All looking good

Very clean job there !

stutab said:

All looking good

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discomark said:

Very clean job there !

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Cheers fellas I'm not happy with some of the body work but time constraints are now pushing in. When I move to the new place I have plans for a proper garage with a two post ramp etc. Should give me a nice inside area to do things out of the weather.

Last night thought I would have a mess around with some vinyl wrap. I'm looking at doing the front light surrounds and grill, just to tart them up a bit. I went for the carbon fibre look to start with as I think it will fit in with the textured paint. Not sure if I like the result or not. I might look at getting clear indicators but not sure yet. I was reading Paulmitchell1984's thread http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/dorothy-disco-build-pic-heavy-250355.html
and I love the rear light clusters. Paul and MrNoisy pointed out where I can get some from so although not a priority, they are being added to the purchase list

Anyway heres the vinyl I did last night..... Its my first ever effort at wrapping and not the easiest of shapes but I was reasonably pleased with the wrap result if not quite sure about the look of it. I learned a lot from doing this first one, hopefully the next one will be easier.... We shall see.



Old plastic light surround...



Wrapped...



The cool thing about vinyl is its quite cheap and if you dont like it you can just pull it off.

Lovely job mate

I'd recommend ep90 in them swivels not one shot bodge grease

Mr Noisy said:

Lovely job mate

I'd recommend ep90 in them swivels not one shot bodge grease

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Standing to attention... LandyZone Royalty on deck... Thanks for visiting feeling very privileged.. raise:

I have used the one shot bodge grease this time as I don't think the chrome balls will hold up for to much longer. I know doing a job right the first time etc etc, the balls have some life left yet, few stone chips and a little rust, I will probably do them again within the year and put the new teflon balls on.
I understand from reading around that the whole ep90, one shot thing is a very testy subject in the Landy world :behindsofa:, to be honest I'm not knowledgeable enough regarding lubricants and their properties to feel in any way able to enter that debate. One person I have spoken to said it should be one shot with the cv joint. I don't know enough about Land Rovers history to know what sort of joint they used before or when it changed? If ep90 is ok with cv I'll probably use it in the new balls so that I can drain them easier. I have used some bearing grease on the swivel bearings before putting them so the are well lubed.... :drum:

haha mate cheers

you can stand at ease now

well, in a nutshell

chrome balls are far superior than teflon

they are made of stronger material (i have sheared a few teflon balls off now)



plus, the teflon wears through in not much time, rendering the ball scrap

so, any chrome ball is essentially better than a teflon unit

many use teflon without hassle but i have had enough of them now, a good pair of chrome is the answer


next, regards ep90 or one shot, originally land rovers used oil throughout, even oil in the wheel bearings

as it is the best lubricant. it is available is large quantities inside the casing and tends to slosh about, replenishing itself and washing out the bearings etc

one shot was designed as a bodge in the mid 90s as a getaround for leaking swivel balls

i guess land rover owners managed with it but disco and range rover owners were not happy, hence the change. the whole development of land rover axles has moved away from practicality and reliability to minimising oil leaks and allowing fitment of allow wheels.

it is a pure bodge and does not offer any better lubrication for the cvs apart from the small perhaps increase in shear strength of the molybdnum, but it is slight at best

i have now gone all the way back in time with my new build, using the best second hand chrome balls i could find (£100/pair!) with ep90 in the swivels and oil in the hubs

on the subject of which, use RTC3511 inner hub seal as it is double lip and better for off road and fit to 4mm depth

if you wish to use oil hubs simply remove half shaft seals and run oil in swivels not one shot

obviously rear axle is oil anyway

i know its a lot of information to take in so maybe let it mull over for a while

another good reason for ep90 is that as you say it is easier to drain/check/change whereas one shot is kinda in there until you need to take it apart.

removing the oil removes nasties also


anyway, nice work so far, pleased to see the time and effort going into painting, feel free to holler for advice

MrNoisy said:

*they are made of stronger material (i have sheared a few teflon balls off now)..... **a good pair of chrome is the answer....

*anyway, nice work so far, pleased to see the time and effort going into painting, feel free to holler for advice

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*I have heard several people say bad things about the teflon balls. What is the reason yours broke? Is it just the abuse they took?

**So I might be better off, when I come to change them, taking the chrome ones off and refurbing them. I wondered about cleaning them down, filling and smoothing the rust pits then coating with an epoxy resin. Or just sending them away to be re chromed.

*Thanks mate Its not all to the standard I would like. In the back of my mind there are bits I would like to have done better. Such as the front wings. I've made sure everything is solid and safe but its just not perfect. Still I look back where I started and its a big improvement on the vehicle and I have learned so much through this project. Once she is back on the road I can continue to do more projects on her doing one front wing at a time or replacing a swivel will seem like a small job now I've tackled the whole car.

Yep purely abuse, chrome can take it to an extent, Teflon can't hardly take it at all

They can be epoxy coated with great success it seems, re chroming is the answer but can't fathom why nobody who knows anyone that chromes is getting into it, would be big business

Yep you sometimes need to just get back on the road to refresh your brain, I'm 5 months on Thursday out of action and it is driving me BONKAZ

Mr Noisy said:

Yep purely abuse, chrome can take it to an extent, Teflon can't hardly take it at all

They can be epoxy coated with great success it seems, re chroming is the answer but can't fathom why nobody who knows anyone that chromes is getting into it, would be big business

Yep you sometimes need to just get back on the road to refresh your brain, I'm 5 months on Thursday out of action and it is driving me BONKAZ

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Yeah totally!!! I had a lot of fun in her eek: not like that!!... well maybe... ) for the year before I took her off the road. In my head I always thought a year off the road would be about what I needed. That year will be up in a couple of months. Really looking forward to driving her again... Also once the main work is done I can then drip feed money in to it for maintenance .. (upgrades) and the wife will be non the wiser :high5:

A quick goggle search.. thats the beer kind.. brought up several companies who do re-chroming. There seems to be a market out there for classic cars etc. Don't know how much they would charge to chrome my balls?.... :high5:.... sorry couldn't resist...

Quite pleased... Just bought the Pre 95 Discovery workshop manual off ebay for 15 quid. Currently 50 quid new, plus postage... I'm sure some clever person will now say you can download it for free but all I could find was the post 95 300tdi Disco 1 Manual, I've had a Haynes for most of my build which has been good but I like havin the real thing.... Anyway at least if the gear box goes or something I might be able to tackle it with a bit more confidence...

Just read through the whole thread and its a cracking build going to be a new car once your finished keep up the good work

turbominij said:

Just read through the whole thread and its a cracking build going to be a new car once your finished keep up the good work

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Cheers matey... its been a lot of fun and there is still plenty more to do. Although its old I love the fact that it is not over complicated which means I can do stuff on it...

Did I hear you rightly, Garage with 2 post lift Fair play, a man needs his toys

stutab said:

Did I hear you rightly, Garage with 2 post lift Fair play, a man needs his toys

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You did indeed my friend... it will be extremely useful.

700Quid said:

You did indeed my friend... it will be extremely useful.

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Jammy sod!

I'd love to just get my landy in the garage

discomark10 said:

Jammy sod!

I'd love to just get my landy in the garage

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Yeah I think my wife is so ****ed off with it on the drive she would agree to anything it will be a while before its built so this project is going to be finished outside. Mostly looking forward to having the space inside to work and being able to have gas bottles, tools etc safe and sound... and being warm and dry so I can work in the winter... simple pleasures