Flat Bed Disco 2 Project - Anderson Connector Finally Fitted.

DefenderPilot said:

Thanks LD. So what are you going to do now you've had a figurative kick up the arse?

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I think the hole in my a pillar will be getting sorted soon so I can finally paint. Been putting that one off for a while. Got a load of raptor since lockdown and it's shelf life is the timer for getting it done. Got piles of parts to spray and will start to attack it. Less gold rush, more work

I've spent days finessing, cleaning up rough edges and prepping the panels for paint. Not a job I particularly enjoy. They're all in primer now so hopefully tomorrow I can begin the process of fitting and finally painting them. I've made a temporary small platform for the back of the Disco to hold the batteries so I can move it around with the bed off. This'll give me room in the garage to work on the bed properly.

This green is absolutely ****. I hate it. It's supposed to be NATO green. It's more like grass green. There's a rattle can lid in the second picture for comparison. That's what colour is supposed to be in the tins. I could see it was wrong when I was spraying it but I hoped it might look better once dry. I just thought I'd build one side up to see what it looks like with the black and it's still ****.

Hmmmmmm personal choice of course, but if you were doing the whole Vehicle that colour IMHO it'd look well cool, however if you were keeping the Blue (again personally I love that colour), in that case IMHO I would paint the panels to exactly match the Blue

Don't suppose that helps one little bit really lol, but just my 10p worth

The colour scheme for the whole vehicle will be NATO green and black. I've done it before and it's a look I like. It goes well on 4x4s anyway. Not so good looking on a eurobox maybe.

An old project below. That's the green I wanted.

Ahhhh I get you, yes the flat Nato Green will look good on the whole Car

I've now got the bed floor panels sorted. It suddenly looks enormous with these on. They're not fixed yet and I still need to cut out the section for the battery compartment. I've also made a panel for the back where the number plate and associated lights will go. It's mounted on brackets made from stainless steel angle and is slightly angled in at the bottom. I've removed the chequer plate from the bonnet as it didn't fit properly as well as the "D I S C O V E R Y" lettering as I wasn't keen on it. The chequer plate will be cleaned and painted before being refitted properly (after the bonnet has also been cleaned and painted) but I won't bother with any brand badging.

And finally, I ordered the new galvanised chassis this morning complete with galvanised cross members from Richards Chassis. Currently there's a 14 week lead time on these so I won't get it until February probably.

Bed looks great with the Chequer on it
Coming on well

Thanks Dave. Yeah, it completely transforms it. Almost looks finished.

I can't wait to see the Chassis

I've bought another part dismantled D2 with less rusty axle casings than mine, complete rolling chassis, still got the Auto Trans / Tfer and Props, Suspension and Steering. It comes with same wheels as mine, so can be moved around and steered etc. It also has a shell on top, no interior and a few windows missing .........

The idea is I will strip off the shell and keep the good remaining spares, panels etc, then scrap the actual shell, blast the Axles, Chassis etc etc with Oily Waxoyl and cover it for now.

When the time comes for mine to need a Chassis, I will either get the 2200mm rear section and weld into that one, or just go the whole hog and rebuild the axles etc into a complete Galvy like you are getting
Full Galvy is what I'd like to do !! See if funds allow nearer the time

That way the whole swap will go a lot faster when the time comes

A Disco is for life, not just for winter. Hopefully, this one will see me out, which is why I'm spending big bucks on it now.

I've been making up a "badge" for the rear panel to balance out the number plate. I'm using a standard 4x4 rear plate set to one side so the other side of the panel would look plain and boring. I've cut a small ally panel and repurposed some of the bonnet lettering and the rear door handle LR badge. The rear panel will be body colour (NATO green) and I'm in two minds about what colour to make the "badge". Either body colour so the black lettering stands out or black so it's more stealthy. Either way it'll be bolted to the rear panel with stainless cap head bolts and stand off by about 5mm. Or another option that's just come to mind is just polish the ally and clear coat it.

DefenderPilot said:

A Disco is for life, not just for winter. Hopefully, this one will see me out, which is why I'm spending big bucks on it now.

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I couldn't agree more, same here, if I had more in the projects pot I'd be doing my Chassis this Xmas Shutdown, but I'm hopeful with all my welding repairs, and a few more to do still, it will see at least it's next 2 MOT's, so at least 14 months now

I like your Badge panel, nice idea for your trucks new body

I have had my D2 almost 4 months now, and the DVLA have only just yesterday finally sorted the paperwork so finally it now legally has D15KOE Number Plate, DVLA are worse than ever atm

I think a lot of services/businesses are struggling to cope at the moment. Probably short staffed and with massive backlogs to clear. Not to mention a resurgence of demand for just about everything post lockdown. It's going to take a long time to get back to normal, assuming we ever do. I'm finding that stuff I order on-line arrives in wildly varying timescales but I'm stuck with it as I can't get most of what I want locally, or if I can it's much more expensive. Not much the likes of you or I can do about it though. It's just a symptom of the changing times we live in. I just hope I get to enjoy my Disco before the goverment legislates it off the road. And I have my suspicions that will come sooner than we think having just seen on the news what they've signed us up to at COP26. Somebody in the goverment must have thought they weren't bankrupting the country fast enough.

This is more like it. I've got a different make of paint and did a quick test spray on a spare bit of ally after getting home from work tonight. Now I'm happy with it I can order a load more so I'll have it for my next shift break. Bits and pieces are slowly arriving through the post too so I'll have plenty to get on with on the next raft of work.

Small update. The rear panel is complete and in the correct colour. Brand new number plate and trailer LED number plate light. And of course, the new DISCO badge, or bodge perhaps. I stuck the letters to the plate using the same sealer/bonding stuff that I used for the permanent panels on the bed. Once it's gone off it's super sticky.

Another small update. I've fitted the rear panel and made the final connection to the number plate light. The rear lights are now properly fitted. It's a bit gash but it's simple and it works. So now that the rear loom is finished I've taped it all up and pushed it back into the cab out of the way for now. I've also sprayed the side panels the proper colour.

Little steps but still progress. More template making today. I decided to make splash guards for the insides of the wheel arches to stop the chassis under the bed getting covered in crud. I have a roll of heavy duty rubber mat in tread plate pattern so I used that. It will also have the benefit of providing a bit of protection for the exposed filter housing/filter element in the offside wheel arch. I also intend to make covers for the insides of the rear lights with this stuff.

I've actually been wondering lately why we couldn't just relocate the Filter and Housing in the Engine bay, (whether there is any good reason), I can't think of one

Dave2302 said:

I've actually been wondering lately why we couldn't just relocate the Filter and Housing in the Engine bay, (whether there is any good reason), I can't think of one

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Unsure of a correct answer. But I thought it was a water trap,there for if it was in the engine bay would the water get up the pipe work to the engine bay?

Dave2302 said:

I've actually been wondering lately why we couldn't just relocate the Filter and Housing in the Engine bay, (whether there is any good reason), I can't think of one

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It is probably optimal to mount it low down on the vehicle, for the reason Phil has described.

But a good water trap has a centrifugal and gravity trap, so it will have some effect wherever you mount it.
Try and keep the lines with as much rise and fall on them as possible, or you may run into problems with bleeding air out of the system.