Modifying a disco in daily use

I've been watching Ralph Hardwicks recent youtube uploads about his disco 1. It's got all the toys. (Can be seen here; Home).

Thing is, I imagine an all singing all dancing exped landy like that gets pretty poor MPG and what have you.

For someone like me, who uses their disco as a daily car, for greenlaning , and trips around England and Wales, I was wondering how all these mods, heavy roofracks, rooftents, fridges, awnings etc. impact the handling, fuel economy, day to day reliability, etc. of a vehicle.

For those that have the money and space to have a landy prepped with all the upgrades and bolt ons, sat in the garage, these aren't huge concerns, but for most of us, who use our landys daily, what are the worthwhile modifications which allow for greenlaning once or twice a month, and longer trips a few times a year, but still maintain on road performance?

I think back to the ridicule the episode of wheeler dealers got when they turned a normal discovery into a "spec'd up expedition off-roader" (the words of Mike Brewer), but infact, bolted on a snorkel, roofrack, and some light guards.

Personaly like you mines my daily drive, so you know what mods will help YOU , any thing else is just something else to fix.if you dont need a lift kit dont do it, if you do fine,get my point.

I use mine as a daily drive unless I want to cycle to work. It is modified under its skin with all new suspension, lift kit blah blah blah and I am more than happy driving it around. If you are timid then a modified disco isn't for you. Me, I'm brash and in yer face so a lifted disco with big tyres is all me.

Plus anytime I fancy I can just go for a trip off road. However the boss does insist that I wash it before parking on his drive at work as it left loads of muddy water last time I went off roading and parked up at work when it rained. His nice block paving needed a hose down lol.

Ultimately a standard disco with a few small mods, say a 2" body lift will take 33" tyres and will go almost anywhere a full moded one can. For example, as the tallest discovery almost my mates, I got stuck under a tree the other month and the others didn't.

Yeh fair points. Each to their own taste I suppose. I've got a quick question on tyres, but don't want to start another tyre thread to ask it. So has anybody tried the cheaper manufacturers mud tyres. I'm currently running BFG muds on the front, and all terrains on the back, but they're coming up to replacement time. I don't relish shelling out on BF Goodrich, and the likes of these PUMA 265/70R16 FREE DELIV RRP £73.12 from MJ Motor Spares and similar tyres is tempting. They seem cheap and cheerful, but are they cheap or nasty? or worse, cheap and dangerous?

Here is what I am thinking for my daily driver:
Swap the 3.9l for 4.6L, lift the suspension a couple of inches, slightly bigger tyres, diff guards and LSD front and back, steering damper relocation (defender item), poly bushes and a snorkel

ReadySalted said:

I've been watching Ralph Hardwicks recent youtube uploads about his disco 1. It's got all the toys. (Can be seen here; Home).

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Nice link, think I'll take some time to read through that page. Looks interesting.

ReadySalted said:

Yeh fair points. Each to their own taste I suppose. I've got a quick question on tyres, but don't want to start another tyre thread to ask it. So has anybody tried the cheaper manufacturers mud tyres. I'm currently running BFG muds on the front, and all terrains on the back, but they're coming up to replacement time. I don't relish shelling out on BF Goodrich, and the likes of these PUMA 265/70R16 FREE DELIV RRP £73.12 from MJ Motor Spares and similar tyres is tempting. They seem cheap and cheerful, but are they cheap or nasty? or worse, cheap and dangerous?

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I have Kingpin MTs and they are fine. Sidewalls are probably not as stong as the more expensive tyres but its not very rocky round here so its not really an issue.

Tuskenraider said:

I have Kingpin MTs and they are fine. Sidewalls are probably not as stong as the more expensive tyres but its not very rocky round here so its not really an issue.

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Sweet. People say about getting really good mileage out of BF Goodrich tyres, but I'd rather pay a couple of hundred quid now (instead of 4-600) and get at least a couple of years worth of greenlaning out of them.

Do chunky muds make much difference to noise and handling on the road?

ReadySalted said:

I've been watching Ralph Hardwicks recent youtube uploads about his disco 1. It's got all the toys. (Can be seen here; Home).

Thing is, I imagine an all singing all dancing exped landy like that gets pretty poor MPG and what have you....

For someone like me, who uses their disco as a daily car, for greenlaning , and trips around England and Wales, I was wondering how all these mods, heavy roofracks, rooftents, fridges, awnings etc. impact the handling, fuel economy, day to day reliability, etc. of a vehicle.

For those that have the money and space to have a landy prepped with all the upgrades and bolt ons, sat in the garage, these aren't huge concerns, but for most of us, who use our landys daily, what are the worthwhile modifications which allow for greenlaning once or twice a month, and longer trips a few times a year, but still maintain on road performance?

I think back to the ridicule the episode of wheeler dealers got when they turned a normal discovery into a "spec'd up expedition off-roader" (the words of Mike Brewer), but infact, bolted on a snorkel, roofrack, and some light guards.

Click to expand...

Readysalted
I'm glad you're enjoying the website. I am in the lucky position that my disco can be a bit of a 'toy'. My wife has a Freelander 2 which we use for general use and she uses it to commute to work. Up until recently I used the disco to take me to the airport and back each week as I worked away from home. Therefore it only covered 50 miles per week and was parked up most of the time.
However I shall be using it on a daily basis more often as I have changed jobs.
With regard to fuel consumption, I get 26 mpg on a run and, probably, nearer to 20 around town. Although I could improve on this if I lifted out a lot of the stuff. But, to be honest, I can't be bothered.
I ru on Goodyear MT/Rs and fine them pretty good. I have done 40k on them and still have reasonable tread left. I thought about buying a set of road biased tyres for general use but it would take several years to get my money back so, again, I didn't bother.
As for reliability, my biggest issue has been the batteries whilst parked up at the airport for 5 days each week. Hence why I have now added a stonking great solar panel on the roof.

Cheers

Ralph

Mines heavy, expensive to run as I commute with it, it handles like a pig with lifted suspension and big ole 35" mud terrains, BUT... I love it! It makes me smile every time I drive it, even when it breaks I love repairing it! Like a few people have said do whats needed, I only put the roof rack on when I'm going off camping - This helps a lot with daily driving and handling etc. The main thing in my opinion is tyres, if you don't need full-on extreme mud terrains with a massive height on them, stick with half sensible all terrains. They're much nicer for daily driving

Mine is a daily driver with 2" lift (rear ARB removed), 235/85 Grabbers and the usual underside protection.

Perfectly capable of all I drive it at off piste, yet not too shabby for the commute. Not sure I'd want MTs for regular road work but the ATs didn't actually make all that much difference MPG wise once I'd factored back the difference in rolling radius into my previous mpg figures.
I also wouldn't be tempted to try going without the front ARB.

Hi guys, just reading this thread, my Disco will be parked up for quite long periods too..
was interested in yr comment about the solar panel on the roof.. can you send me some info / links..

how does it work out for you ?

thanks

chopper007 said:

Hi guys, just reading this thread, my Disco will be parked up for quite long periods too..
was interested in yr comment about the solar panel on the roof.. can you send me some info / links..

how does it work out for you ?

thanks

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Plenty on ebay to keep your battery topped up..

I have a fairly well preped disco. But the roof rack with all its kit stays off when it's not needed or it gose throught fule that fast that I feel like I have been raped.

So in a nut shell if it's not needed it gets removed.

gazdav said:

I have a fairly well preped disco. But the roof rack with all its kit stays off when it's not needed or it gose throught fule that fast that I feel like I have been raped.

So in a nut shell if it's not needed it gets removed.

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I guess it;s what you are used to.
My previous 4x4's have been 4.2 TD Landcruiser (80), 95 4.0 High Output Cherokee and 2 Ford explorers, 1 4.0 v6 and 1 5.7 V8 (RHD converted).
Both fords managed a consistent 22mpg, 17 off road and with 3ton on the back.
Cherokee managed 27 on a run but 25 with mixed. I once made 27 in the Toy but usually about 25.
My 300Tdi Auto manages a regular 30+ on mixed roads (hills and about 45mph) and I'm too bloody lazy to take the roof rack off.
I have managed (with no roof rack) on a long run through France heavy laden a solid 37mpg at 60-65 mph. So I don' think these old trucks are too shabby on economy.

mines a little modded
snorkel
winch bumper and winch
light bar
steering guard
diff guard
lifted +2"
33.12.5.15 mt's on +5 modular
Flat dog arches
Found that polybushing helped loads
Its not the best on fuel but still gives me between 24-28 mpg

chopper007 you can read about my solar setup here

I have gone for an 80W panel because I want to run a fridge when camping. You could probably just get one of the smaller dashboard mounted 'battery savers' if you just need to keep your battery in good condition.
Something like this

cheers

Ralph