Lengthening a disco body

Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me)
has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe
I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and
really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc, but I
can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the question.
Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made to
fit on a 110 chassis?
My 110 has a galvy chassis, rebuilt axles, 4.0V8 and autobox (both low
mileage) and LPG so I don't really want to get rid of it! If possible I'd
like to avoid having to carry out any welding to the chassis due to it being
galvanised.
It's either go down the disco body route or convert it to a stn wagon and
live with the poor ergonomics and lack of trim.

--
Badger.
B.H.Engineering,
Rover V8 engine specialists.

now live but still under construction,
www.bhengineering.co.uk
www.roverv8engines.com
www.roverv8engines.co.uk

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 14:35:16 +0100, "Badger"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me)
>has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe
>I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and
>really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc, but I
>can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the question.
>Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made to
>fit on a 110 chassis?

It'd be considerably easier to shorten the chassis than lengthen the
body.

Alex

On or around Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:08:43 GMT, Alex <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 14:35:16 +0100, "Badger"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me)
>>has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe
>>I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and
>>really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc, but I
>>can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the question.
>>Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made to
>>fit on a 110 chassis?
>
>It'd be considerably easier to shorten the chassis than lengthen the
>body.

you might find that you can use some of the LSE classic parts. Especially
rear side doors, which are longer. Besides, shortening the chassis just
gives you a disco, which ain't what he wanted. I was always disappointed
that they never made a disco LSE on the LSE chassis - after all, the doors
are available, so it's really only the sills and roof panel and floor that
need lengthening.

I don't think it'd be that hard. Mind, the LSE is 108", so you'd have to
fiddle a bit to get the wheelarch right - probably, cut away the rear panel
and accept the fact that there's a slightly larger gap at the front of the
rear wheel.

"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Sun, 17 Oct 2004 17:08:43 GMT, Alex
<[email protected]>
> enlightened us thusly:
>
> >On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 14:35:16 +0100, "Badger"
> ><[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >>Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for
me)
> >>has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year.
Maybe
> >>I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and
> >>really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc,
but I
> >>can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the
question.
> >>Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and
made to
> >>fit on a 110 chassis?
> >
> >It'd be considerably easier to shorten the chassis than lengthen the
> >body.
>
> you might find that you can use some of the LSE classic parts. Especially
> rear side doors, which are longer. Besides, shortening the chassis just
> gives you a disco, which ain't what he wanted. I was always disappointed
> that they never made a disco LSE on the LSE chassis - after all, the doors
> are available, so it's really only the sills and roof panel and floor that
> need lengthening.
>
> I don't think it'd be that hard. Mind, the LSE is 108", so you'd have to
> fiddle a bit to get the wheelarch right - probably, cut away the rear
panel
> and accept the fact that there's a slightly larger gap at the front of the
> rear wheel.
>
I was considering more the possible method of cutting the disco body
somewhere behind the rear doors and inserting the extra length there Austin,
keeping the doors std disco in the interests of spares availability for the
future. The whole idea behind this is to improve my comfort levels and at
the same time improve upon the disco's loadspace to compete on even terms
with a 110 stn wagon. I know there'll be issues with outriggers etc, I'm
hoping that I can fabricate mount adaptors to bolt onto my nice galvy
chassis rather than start chopping and welding it, I'd imagine this may end
up giving the body a couple of inches of lift over standard as well?
Badger.

"Badger" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...


> I was considering more the possible method of cutting the disco body
> somewhere behind the rear doors and inserting the extra length there
> Austin,
> keeping the doors std disco in the interests of spares availability for
> the
> future. The whole idea behind this is to improve my comfort levels and at
> the same time improve upon the disco's loadspace to compete on even terms
> with a 110 stn wagon. I know there'll be issues with outriggers etc, I'm
> hoping that I can fabricate mount adaptors to bolt onto my nice galvy
> chassis rather than start chopping and welding it, I'd imagine this may
> end
> up giving the body a couple of inches of lift over standard as well?
> Badger.

There was a bob tailed Disco on ebay a short while back, it had been capped
behind the rear seats. Now if you capped behing the rear seats then
installed a HCPU back end then you may pull it off..

Lee D

Badger Hi,

When the Discovery was fresh there was a 6 door variant produced for one of
the Big Sisters (the big oil companies) and I think it was BP.
James Taylor has written a couple of articles on those vehicles and if I
remember well they were 110 inches long.

The way SVO has done it was to insert a couple of short doors between the
original front and rear side doors.
I believe that it will be much easier for your conversion if you approached
the same route to it. Mind you fitting a non opening panel between the two
side doors may prove much easier than opting for an extra middle opening
door.

This will not increase the loading spare unless of course you choose to move
the rear seat a coupe of inches forward and therefore split the additional
length between the axles to the rear occupants and the loadspace. You may
also find that this way you can also give the front seats a bit of
additional rearward travel.

As for properly covering the extension this will be VERY easy if you use the
outside panel from a pair (left and right) of rear side doors. Inside the
passengers cabin it will be much easier since the B pillar is covered by
only a pair of plastic covers (upper and lower) which can be cut in the
middle (lengthwise) and have some sort of sturdy material added to fill the
gap and then cover it with leatherete in the proper colour of the vehicle's
interior. Remember that Discos up to 1993 had leatherete on the B pillar so
it will be an almost factory look alike conversion on the inside.

hope this helps
Pantelis




"Badger" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me)
> has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe
> I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and
> really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc, but
I
> can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the question.
> Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made
to
> fit on a 110 chassis?
> My 110 has a galvy chassis, rebuilt axles, 4.0V8 and autobox (both low
> mileage) and LPG so I don't really want to get rid of it! If possible I'd
> like to avoid having to carry out any welding to the chassis due to it
being
> galvanised.
> It's either go down the disco body route or convert it to a stn wagon and
> live with the poor ergonomics and lack of trim.
>
> --
> Badger.
> B.H.Engineering,
> Rover V8 engine specialists.
>
> now live but still under construction,
> www.bhengineering.co.uk
> www.roverv8engines.com
> www.roverv8engines.co.uk
>
>
>

Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible
disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated.
Still concerned about mounting to chassis though. Will take tape measure
with me!

--
Badger.
B.H.Engineering,
Rover V8 engine specialists.

now live but still under construction,
www.bhengineering.co.uk
www.roverv8engines.com
www.roverv8engines.co.uk

On or around Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:08:09 +0100, "Badger"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>
>Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible
>disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated.
>Still concerned about mounting to chassis though. Will take tape measure
>with me!

I still reckon LSE doors would be nice, seeing as you're gonna have to move
the wheel arches anyway. And presumably, they still make spare LSE rear
doors and parts - they made quite few LSEs not that long ago.

Austin, Badger and other people Hi,

One thing that you will have to consider if you opt for the RaRo Classic LSE
doors is that they will only provide you with an extra 8 inches of
bodylength instead of the 110 required for the chassis you will be using.
You see the LSE was 108 inches and not 110 inches long between its axles.

Take care
Pantelis

"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:08:09 +0100, "Badger"
> <[email protected]> enlightened us
thusly:
>
> >
> >Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible
> >disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated.
> >Still concerned about mounting to chassis though. Will take tape measure
> >with me!
>
> I still reckon LSE doors would be nice, seeing as you're gonna have to
move
> the wheel arches anyway. And presumably, they still make spare LSE rear
> doors and parts - they made quite few LSEs not that long ago.
>