Mark L's D1 300tdi restoration/build thread

[Mark L]

I've been threatening to start this thread for the last 12 months now, so here goes...

Purchased at around April 2011 and having sent my last 3dr D1 to the scrap yard in the sky (excessive rot and general bag of sh*t) I decided I needed another D1 in my life to mess around with and stumbled across a perfectly straight and unmolested example which had been sat doing very little for the best part of 2 years.

This too had more than it's fair share of rot, but don't they all?! But at £500 and for the good condition that most of it was in, it had to be had.

Regrettably, I didn't take any pictures of it from day 1 and kick myself over it regularly, but have plenty from the 'restoration' onwards, so here we go...


This is Storm's old D1 which was IDENTICAL to what mine looked like pre restoration & modifications:



Back to mine now - pretty much the entire floor plan from rear cross member to front inner wings was replaced:






Brand new panels from YRM Metals were used to replace both inner wings in their entirety. A brand new cross member was also purchased.

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

1st reply!!!

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

Wow, didn't realise you'd replaced so much bodywork. Keep the updates coming.

 

[Mark L]

1st reply!!!

...and permanent subscription to thread.

 

[aaronmorris]

...and permanent subscription to thread.

Yes, We need more

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

...and permanent subscription to thread.

You know it makes sense! Now what you waiting for - start uploading!

 

[Mark L]

You know it makes sense! Now what you waiting for - start uploading!

I'm on it now. There are so many, dammit!

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

Took me ages. Sorted all my photos by date and went from there.

 

[Mark L]

Being as a lot of parts came off my old D1 to help build the next one, I feel it needs a mention at this point.

Below are pics of it in various stages of its very thorough dismantling.












The boot floor was recent and pretty mint in this one, so it was crudely cut out and later tidied up before finding its way into the next one:

 

[Mark L]

Some new and some refurbished suspension parts:




Heavy duty steering arms & adjustable panhard rod painted up.
The original plan was 2 have 2 sets of wheels - 1 set for off roading and another set for every day use. More on that later...


I purchased a set of near brand new Modulars via eBay. The tyres were removed and put on the above refurbished Boost style alloys and existing Special Tracks fitted to the Modulars:


Reclining bucket seats now removed and fully guarded:

 

[Mark L]

Having now got the Disco back from the guy who welded it all up for me, the Modulars, light bar and rock sliders are next to be fitted.
The interior consists of only a drivers seat and dashboard at this point.


That gearbox oil cooler looks pretty damn poor and inefficient. We'll come back to that later too...

 

[SpaceDawg]

If you can work out a cheak way of improving the oil cooler I'd love to know, I've had my gearbox oil light on twice already.

 

[Mark L]

Took me ages to source the specific bumper I wanted. Trouble is, it turned out to be slightly bent, so ended up selling this one (much to the delight of Sideways Ste who wasn't bothered by this ) and replacing it with an identical, non bent one.


Interior now starting to be put back together:




Buckets seats now going in:


...and continue to be guarded.

 

[Mark L]

If you can work out a cheak way of improving the oil cooler I'd love to know, I've had my gearbox oil light on twice already.

Well I've got this one fitted to mine now, but that's another chapter.

AlliSport Uprated Automatic Gearbox Oil Cooler for Land Rover Discovery Tdi | eBay

 

[Mark L]

3 steering guards later and I finally find one that's compatible with the bumper.
The problem lay with bumper fixing points fouling the previous 2 steering guards.
I was very pleased with the one I ended up with as it matched the metal guard plate on the bumper quite nicely.

Also note the clear indicators at this point...


M SUX?? That's gotta go...


MUCH better...

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

Bet it wasn't as cheap as mine.

 

[Mark L]

Bet it wasn't as cheap as mine.

£250 DVLA entry level reg, and that was all transfer fees included. Just needed a bit of 'outside the box' thinking to come up with something worthwhile, and ANYTHING that got rid of that last reg!
Note I kept the plate year specific to its actual reg too.

The next price bracket on their site after that is £399, so was quite pleased I got the LRO plate for the cheaper price.

 

[Mark L]

Just an example of the LRO plates still available via DVLA and how expensive they can get!

Prefix registrations search. Searches prefix style registrations

 

[auf_wiedersehen_pet]

I transferred mine from my Series 1 - cost £80. Simples!

I'd love....

D15 TGV (Disco TGV) - Sold since I last checked - £345 ++
T28 TGV (Turbo 2.8 TGV) - My LR is too old for this.
L1 FAD (LIFAD; Liebe ist für alle da - Rammstein Album) - Sold as soon as the album came out.
S73ELE (Steele?) - Not for sale.
666 RS - It's listed as "Ask". Last time I saw this it was in a pair with RS 666. Way out of my league.

I guess I'll stick with mine.

 

[chrisyleigh]

Keep it coming !

How cum you got someone else to weld it? Surly that was more expensive than actually buying a welder amd learning and doing it yourself?