Discovery 300tdi project and full rebuild.

Hi everybody.
I'm newish to this site, been a watcher for a while so I thought I'd introduce myself.
My name is Bruce from Fife in Scotland.
I'm restoring a recently purchased 1997 300tdi discovery.
It is very clean externally but failed its mot on numerous rust related points.
Plans are to cut out all the rot and replace.....
Bootfloor complete.
Rear wheel arches.
Box section sills and repair areas of the floor compartment.
Fabricate inner wings.
Do away with the flimsy structure at the front and build a front front frame to support slam panel to body mounts.
This is to support a large RS 500 Cosworth intercooler, oil cooler and large slim radiator with twin electric fans.
I've made up a polished stainless steel snorkel also.
I have bought already a 1" lift bilstein suspension kit with shockers.
Goodridge stainless hoses, new brakes discs and pads for the 4 corners.
I'll be fitting a winch and winch bumper and I plan to paint the discovery eventually in a VW met silver.
Photos are where I'm at as of this afternoon!

Forgot to say, I'll get some more pics up through the week and keep posting pics detailing the build if anyone is interested.
Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance....

Nice work mate. My mot's due in two months and i'll be taking mine off the road to do these same repairs so keep the pictures coming

Nice Disco mate...you've got good taste in engines and colours! Hehe!

Best of luck with the buildup and looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.
Today I've got the passenger sill welded and done some more work on the passenger front inner wing.
Tomorrow I'll be starting to remove the boot floor.
About the engine. I'm putting a slimmer radiator with thermo controlled twin electric fans.
In front will be a huge RS500 style pace intercooler and oil cooler.
I'm thinking of upgrading the turbo, has anyone got any thoughts or done something similar to get the most usable power from the 300tdi lump?
Any comments appreciated.
New photos up tomorrow.

The boot floor is out....at last.
It was a bit of a mess.
Replacing the floor and boot floor sides.
I'll end up replacing the inner arches aswell.

It might be worth while taking of the rear quarters off to facilitae the repairs.
How easy are they to come of, is it just rivets under the trim?

scotia said:

The boot floor is out....at last.
It was a bit of a mess.
Replacing the floor and boot floor sides.
I'll end up replacing the inner arches aswell.

It might be worth while taking of the rear quarters off to facilitae the repairs.
How easy are they to come of, is it just rivets under the trim?

Click to expand...

you'll need to take the full panel off inc the rear sections, that the lights fit in to. basically strip out the interior panels & roof lining and remove all the screws & bolts that are holding the panel on then peel the panel off carefully whilst an assistant cuts away the panel sealant using a hacksaw blade that's been ground into a sharp.flexible knife.

Edit Not forgetting to remove the windows first, of course.

Some more work and found that the wheel tubs are rotten too!!
Making up some new ones and cleaning up the chassis while I can get to it.
The rear cross member is rotten also, I probably make this up to cut costs.
Any recommendations on good black paint or epoxy paint for the chassis?
I'll get some photos up tomorrow.

Got the inner wheel arches (tubs) repaired and boot floor sides in.
I made up a new rear body cross member and body mounts.
I've put loads of new metal in.
Next on the agenda is the other sill and driver front wing.
I have decided to make most of the panels..(gone this far!)
Also I'm currently fabricating a new derv/veg oil tank and bracket with coolant pipes running through them.
Updates soon.

any photies??..

smart project matey looking forward to any updates think ine will need same work in near future.... dredding it!

Some more pics of rebuild.
Rear crossmember, passenger inner wing, passenger sill, rear floor sides and rear crossmember done.
Drivers side sill, inner wing, arch, body mounts etc to do.
The front end needs fabbed up to accomodate big intercooler, electric intercooler fans, radiatior and radiator fans and TD5 lights.
More pics to follow.

Some more pics.

I'll get better quality pics over the next few days when I get more work done.

Hi again
A couple more piccies of the rear cross member.
I've got a hold of a Garret T2 Turbo and a Garret T35 Turbo.
I'm thinking of making up an exhaust manifold to accommodate the two turbos.
Has anybody done this before on a land rover 300tdi?

I've also got another cylinder head that I plan on porting and polishing when I reach near completion of the body work.A ny tips over and above the norm?
Thanks in advance.

Twin turbo will cause more probs than it's worth. the transmission will probably self descruct under the loading

Made up the body mounts today out of 6 mm channel!
Should be plenty strong enough.
Got them welded in and finished off all the niggly bits of welding on the passenger side.
Tomorrow I'm stripping of the brakes and suspension so that I can get the chassis cleaned and painted.
Does anyone have any suggestions on a good primer and paint for the chassis.
Also any recommendations on what brakes to go for?
Cheers.

scotia said:

Also any recommendations on what brakes to go for?
Cheers.

Click to expand...

if its going offroad keep the standard brakes, dont get slotted or ebc they will wear down too quickly with all the mud and water

EBC 6000 series brake pads are superb tho - deffo worth getting

Quick update for anybody interested.
Almost completed the welding.
Made up the innerwings lastnight and just have to make up mounts for the intercooler, radiator and electric fan.
I've sold the small turbo's I had and got a hold of a 200tdi exhaust manifold and a massive T4 turbo with a 1.52 ex housing.
Not sure how this will perform on the 300 lump but I'll make up an adaptor and have a play.
Also bought a really nice interior from a golf gti that I'm going to fit.
Will be making up mounts for the front and rear seats next week.
Still a bit to go but I'm happy with the way things are coming together.
Pics soon, I promise!!!!

I've not updated in a while, here is where I am now.
Got the new TD5 lights mocked up and fixed in, just a few adjustments to make.
I ended up taking out the passenger side inner wing after repairing it!
I cut the lot out and made up new inner wings for both sides and built new battery trays and a front crossmember while at it.

I've also bought Golf Gti interior which I'm in the process of measuring up to fit next week.

Getting there slowly, hopefully be in a position to fit the new bilstein shocks and springs and the new brakes in a couple of weeks.
I'll attach more pics in the next post.