Her name is Majesty: North America Disco 2 build

2004 Discovery 2
213,000 miles
Rust free chassis
Engine overhaul in 2009
Pearl White finish
Bone stock

I live in New Hampshire, New England USA. The problem up here is every winter the government uses salt on the roads to combat slippery conditions. Does not work very well if Im honest and the salt does more damage than good to our vehicles. Any vehicle up here that has not been undercoated every year will eventually rot. Land Rovers are no exception. My old grey D2 was a New England truck and was never undercoated. The frame was rusted like swiss cheese. So I decided to browse online for a rust free truck in the southern states where they dont use salt on the roads. I found this gem in South Carolina and jumped on it immediately. I paid $2,000 USD ish and hired a vehicle shipping company to transport my Rover up to me via a truck (lorry).





It had high mileage. Cracked front windscreen. Front and rear bumpers were cracked. Mismatched rims. Bald & mismatched tires. Radiator nipple was broken. Alternator and battery were in rough shape. Rear wheel hubs were making noises at low speeds. Brake pads were worn out and caliper guide pins were seized. Air intake box was damaged. Etc. Fortunately I had a parts truck with loads of new parts and accessories on it so I swapped everything over.

You wanna be stripping the body off that and getting the chassis hot dipped if it's as good as you says.

Welcome aboard.

Gave the truck a full look over inside and out to see what needed to be replaced/fixed. Started with the rear wheel hubs. Replaced both rear driver and passenger side hubs. Swapped out the 18" wheels for 16" alloy rims with 235/65/16 BFGoodrich K02 all terrain tires. Swapped out the broken air intake assembly.

Nice disco. Definitely worth getting the chassis galvanised if the roads are salted as the chassis is not renowned for its rust preventative qualities.

Next up some accessories and cosmetics. Got the high profile SD roof rack swapped over. Installed the Mantec raised air intake. Swapped mover the HD TerraFirma steering dampener. Then I had the badgeing removed, painted and reapplied.

Next I got the broken front bumper swapped out for the ARB Sahara winch bumper and mated with a Superwinch Tigershark 9500. Headlights polished. Both rear upper tail light assemblies had cracks in them and water inside so I replaced those and added G4 tail light guards.

Next I drained the coolant, upgraded the thermostat with the grey TD5 stat and replaced the radiator and cooling hoses, fan/fan clutch assembly, coolant expansion tank, cap and throttle body heater plate assembly. Also replaced the worn out alternator and installed new battery. Once everything was back together I flushed the system several times with cooling system flush and distilled water. Then swtiched to Land Rover red coolant.

Next I changed the engine oil, transmission fluid and changed the transfer case and both front and rear differential fluids. Swapped out the front drive shaft for a aftermarket Tom Woods HD serviceable drive shaft.

Next I replaced the cracked front windscreen. Hired a auto glass company called Safelite. You can stop by their shop to get the work done or for an additional $30 fee they will drive to your location and replace your windscreen on site. I paid $560 for the heated windscreen and installation. I also replaced both driver and passenger A-pillars while the windscreen was being replaced. Next I bought a set of 5 TerraFirma 16" steel wheels and genuine Land Rover caps. I wanted them in white but apparently TF does not supply them in white so I had to send them to a powder coating shop to be zinc primed and powder coated white.

I found an injured seagull on the road so I rescued him and kept him over night in my truck until the wildlife center for injured animals could be contacted. I fed it water and some fresh uncooked fish from the super market. Made a friend. The next day I drove 40 minutes to the wildlife center to drop it off with trained professionals who tried to make it better again. Unfortunately less than a week later it passed away. Still it had a peaceful passing and some good food and it was a experience of a lifetime. People were driving me on the freeway and staring because they saw a seagull with his wings flapping in the passenger seat! Little guy got a little crazy so I had to pull over and wrap him up in a coat so to kept his wings tucked in.

Next I replaced the crankshaft position sensor and the cap for the sensor.

Unfortunately my new TerraFirma steel wheels may be ruined after maybe 2 weeks on the truck. I purchased the set of 5 steel wheels along with some Land Rover steel lug nuts (ANR4851) from a trusted Land Rover parts supplier here in the US. Not the dealership but rather an enthusiast based company. They offered free shipping for the wheels so I bought them. I spoke with them over the phone and told them I wanted to use genuine Land Rover center caps (DTC100810) in conjunction with the TerraFirma steel wheels and I explained to them that the smaller lug nuts I purchased for the steel wheels do not allow the caps to be mounted. I asked if they have any other kinds of lug nuts that are compatible with the TF steel wheels and that would allow me to use the center caps. They suggested (ANR4851) and assured me that these bigger lug nuts are compatible with these steel wheels. So I ordered a second set of lug nuts and installed them myself and torqued them to Land Rover specification. Prior to buying these larger lug nuts I used the TerraFirma recommended lug nuts with the wheels and I actually went to a tire shop and had them swap the tires over from my alloy wheels to the new steel wheels. Also had them perform an alignment and balance of all the wheels. So not long after I swapped out the TF lugs for the bigger lug nuts did I noticed that when driving speeds of around 45 mph or 65 mph, that the steering wheel and accelerator pedal vibrate. Only happens when letting off the throttle but does not happen when braking. So I brought my truck back to the same tire shop and asked them to perform another wheel balancing. They removed the lugs on the front wheels and stopped. They had me go out and look at the wheels. They said that these larger lug nuts are NOT COMPATIBLE with these steel wheels and that the lugs are chewing up the metal. They went around the truck and checked the torque of all the lugs and found them all to be within Land Rover specification. But they said the wheels are damaged to the point that they as a company cannot remove the wheels because of liability issues. I then asked them what would be safer right now: Keep the larger lug nuts on or switch back to the smaller ones and they said "neither option is safe, your wheels may be salvageable but are too damaged and we cannot touch them". I called the business where I purchased the wheels and lug nuts and had them speak directly to the store manager at the tire shop and then the guy on the phone said he would reimburse me $90 for the extra lug nuts that he sold me. I have called them back and emailed them asking them to compensate for the damage done to my wheels and citing that because they specifically told me over the phone that the bigger lugs nuts are compatible with these wheels, and since they have actually damaged my wheels, that the company should have to make this right. I asked them to send me 5 new wheels and allow me to ship them these wheels and now they are pretty much ignoring me. At the same time I also purchased a 3" TerraFirma suspension lift kit with 4 stage shocks. Well when they arrived on my door step I got 4 coil springs and only 2 shocks. I was ****ED. They already f**ked me with the lug nuts and now they are not sending me everything I ordered and paid for. I had to call them back and request that they send the other 2 shocks. They did indeed send me the 2 missing shocks, but have continued to ignore all discussion about the wheels.

I spent alot of money on these wheels and now Iam in a bind.

Stick with it, looks like an awesome setup you have there
And good luck with the wheels

It's looking good @TRIARII !!!!
I'll see you on the Land Rover Forums also!

JUKE179r said:

It's looking good @TRIARII !!!!
I'll see you on the Land Rover Forums also!

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Nice to see you here man. Lot of creativity on this forum that you dont see on our forum

Last weekend I replaced the factory suspension and installed Terrafirma HD 3" suspension lift with 4 way adjustable shocks.