The Story so far, My snotbag disco...

I feel a bit of a project thread is in order after being inspired by other members vehicles and threads/stories.

The reason I wanted a Landy? (looking back now - god only knows!) However about a year ago now I had just finished a season of trawling the festivals working security as well as doing van man type jobs and some small groundworks jobs using my trusty swb transit.

Although sleepin the in the back of my van with a nice double air bed, heaters etc etc was a luxury compared to everyone slummin it in tents I soon got fed up with the mud in the cab and bumpin it across muddy fields/gettin stuck and tryin to use it to drag stuff like light towers and trailers around sites. My ideal solution?

A 4x4, now I've never been a fan of jap crap and a little zuki just wouldn't be big enough or man enough for my needs so it was a no brainer... I wanted a range rover! Then someone slapped me with the silly stick n I realised after going to look at a few that it'd get trashed in a matter of weeks... So a defender it was, then I remembered having an SHB 90 tdci for a week and realised I couldn't afford nor justify the expense on something that new and remembered how uncomfy and impractical it was when I wasn't working.

So off I went to look as some discovery's... and boy did I look at some! Travelling upto 100 miles some times to look at "minters" I soon got pee'd off with peoples concept of mint, lowered my standards slightly and my search radius considerably and after about 3 months of searching ended up with an Epsom Green 5dr 300tdi.

I paid a bit more than I wanted to for the condition it was in but it wasn't a bad deal... average (hey... everyone wants a bargain!)

First thing to do? Get pics somewhere it looks at home, as she was when I brought it in March 2012:







Second thing to do was speak to me mate n go play on his land for a bit which resulted in this:

Now, the missus was rather happy I'd brought a "sensible" car after looking at some tricked out 90's and a bright yellow transporter van :doh:

So I wanted to plod round the country side some more - spoke to my mate with a nice shiny P38 who knew a couple of lanes n off we went for a couple of hours









and then I stumbled across the Salisbury Plains trip earlier in the year... so in prep I chopped my front bumper off :lol:

Nor sure I have any pics but we've all seen a disco with a chopped bumper... pics on the plains

Which involved lots of this:



and a fair bit of this:



which resulted in a LOT of grins n laughs...

The rest of the pics I've just found:















We departed from the plains after cleaning off the lights n number plates after spending a quality day with a group of quality people on this forum and as Rich (WLM) predicted... I went off n spent money.

Before that however I spend a good half an hour in a layby trying to wash n dry out my air filter n air box as it was well n truely clogged with mud n water - FAIL!

Made it to a halfords with literally 2 minutes to spare to get a new air filter and made it home with a flickering battery light... off to work I went with no sleep since the previous afternoon then on the way home I thought to myself... my lights arn't too clever

Pulled onto the drive n they pretty much died completely - went to start it in the morning n nothing! Off came the alternator as I tried to clean it out but no joy so off I went to get a new one from the autofactors.

Oh yea... and the carpets... they were f****d so out came the stanley knife! All the sound deadening came out with the carpets leaving a few rather tasty looking holes in the boot :doh:

Looks goooood!

Off to work I went and this is when I ACTUALLY got to use the vehicle for what I brought it for... pulling stuff n not getting stuck!

After a Squibb Ford ranger managed to dig itself into the mud and bend its towball trying to drag some 26" twin axle caravans that looked like they came from the 1950's and had flat tyres out of the mud they asked if they could use my landy...

no was the answer... but i'll do it for you! (I don't like people I don't know using my stuff!)

and out they came, low range - on the clutch (much to the dismay of the squibb guy who was driving the ranger)

A few days later I got to drag some more stuff














couple of weeks later I was itching to get back out in the mud and thought about hydrolocking the engine if that water n mud had been any deeper - so I brought a snorkel and breather kit...

unfortunately I had to go up north to do a job... but the company supplied a van... bonus Left the landy at me mum n dads as with my parcels in the boot n came back to find the ol man had got bored n done my snorkel for me... BONUS



At the same time I'd fitter some jate rings and brought some strops n a decent rope

So with my first off-road mods I was chuffed to bits and this is when the landy first got called a f***ING C****** B*******

Powersteering Pipe burst on me as I turned into the gate on site resulting in me loosing all my fluid, got it recovered home n used a company vehicle till the weekend.

Got my powersteering pipe sorted and put nice new fluid in it.

At the same time I:

Blanked the EGR
Flushed and Replaced Oils - Engine, G/box, transfer box, diffs
New belts and filters
Cleaned out the sedimentor

Got rid of the towbar n put the electrics into the rear bumper under the spare wheel to offer protection from any rear impact.

She felt like a new car

Again chuffed with my weekends work off to work again I went... although I was concerned with the growing holes in the rear floor so I ordered up the panels

You'll have to bear with me for now... just sorting through piccies :doh:

its becoming hard work to work out what order to put things in... but I'm pretty sure boot floor was next... which was a bigger task than I first imagined! I shook on a deal with a mate that I'd do all the prep work then when I was away sunning meself abroad he'd weld all the panels in... this unfortunately means I don't have any pics of the panels being welded in and I don't have any pics of the finished item that I left him unfortunately! But here's what I do have...

What I was faced with...



and after some prodding and poking...









and after some cutting n grinding n bashing...



out came the panels that surround the wheel aches as well, I ground everything back to cleanish metal, pressure washed and treated/painted the chassis whilst I could.

Came back off holiday and it was all new and no holes!

12th picture in post number two. I got stuck going into that during winter. Had I not got stuck the car would have been lost as the water was upto where the parked defender is.

Note to all. Don't listen to tossers who encourage you to try things they have no intention of doing themselves.

Your disco looks good mate.

i also got shafted with a fair condition one, in september....now i've got boot floor and everywhere else to weld...looking good though mate...

Cheers hornet, only about half way to where i am with it at the moment, busy all weekend but should get some time to continue monday evening!

I forgot to put in after the plains trip I won a rear ladder on ebay - so I went to collect that from gosport! Luckily for once in my life something I wanted was fairly local!! :lol:

I ran the car like this for a while - quite a while actually just doing routine maintenance and little bits n pieces that failed along the way.

Then in May, I was up in london workin away til midnight. Had a few delays coming out of work/london then at about 2am I heard a massive clonking noise and on came the battery light...

managed to limp past guildford on the A3 to a layby and popped the bonnet - where's me bloody pulley tensioner

so - picked my wrecked fan belt out engine bay, n found me pulley tensioner with the nut n bolt in it, bonus... or not some how the bolt had sheared off near on flush with the head so called the recovery firm n got recovered home. 2 hours sleep n I get up to deal with this





and 4 hours later...



a bit of thread lock n we're back in business:

Since then engine wise I've just done a bit of cleaning up, new clips/hoses and attempts to reduce the oil leaks :lol:

I also got fed up with fuel costs n read a bit more into alternative fuels and started running chip fat which came with a couple of new fuel filters and cleaning out the sedimenter

Pretty up to date now without boring everyone with silly little updates such as "in june I did the top hose" etc etc

The clutch was done (twice) in August along with a HD fork - finally got my refund from paddocks for a faulty clutch in November!!!

Although not long ago I did have a rather epic failure where me throttle stuck open n not having anywhere to pull over I had to keep the revs down using the brakes til i saw a layby - it wasn't ideal not particuarly safe but it did the trick, pulled over n managed to un stick the throttle. Went to pull off to see I was over heating n had no water!

Luckily I had a couple of bottles in the boot with me recovery gear so topped it up n set of... no good! Got about a mile up the road n had the same issue - I either had a H/G failure due to over heating or an air lock. So, recovery home again n flushed/bled the system through. Put some brass radiator bleed screws on too whilst I was at it. Replaced the thermostat and water pump n whilst I was at it put fresh antifreeze in the system.

By the point I'd spent a bit of money and had already met Rob (auf wiedersehen pet) to go upto newbury autojumble where I'd brought

Front and Rear Bearmach blue HD springs,
Selection of shackles
Nato Hitch
Detachable Tow bar
60mm Wheel Spacers
Hubs with swivels, calipers and half shafts attached
and some other bits n pieces that I've forgotten :lol:



I still had the bug though... so purchased some +5" Shocks

Then I made my biggest mistake - I rang Gwyn Lewis and recieved some top notch advice which hurt my wallet (which is the only reason i class it as a mistake )

so sat in the bedroom (much to the missus' dismay) for a couple of months I had:

+2" Bearmach HD Springs front and rear
+5" Terrafirma Shocks
Terrafirma top shock mounts for the +5" shocks
Dislocation cones
Gywn Lewis Turrets
HD Turret Securing Rings
HD Spring Retainers Front and rear
Extended brake hoses
Extended Bump Stops

I went off to the pay n play site in boxgrove and ended up like this:



It was a great day out n I had a right ball but I have to say I was a bit pee'd off with the amount of people I had to ask for a tow due to me naff road tyres this gave me inspiration to set about fitting my suspension so I could get me Mud terrains on when I managed to strike a deal with my ol man for a rear HD tubular bumper - swapped it for some bits I didn't need anymore

Then I went over to Southampton n met ChopperTrash n picked some bits up for my mate n old man - I spied some other bits I was interested in but his mate had got dibs on em

Two days later I got a call to say those bits had been un-dibbed lol so off I went to collect some front light guards n a HD winch bumper - which I stoopidly decided to fit that night! :lol:

So we went from looking like this:









via this:



and the end result:



I decided to use the holes for the fairlead to attach the number plate so it doesn't actually look like a winch bumper at the moment which is good... cos I ain't got a winch! :lol:


Put the detachable tow bar on too... and relocated the electrics (again!)

Right - after the Pay & Play day I was gagging to get my suspension on in the hope to get my hankook m/t's on there for the next play day.

So with a bit of eBay mooching and card bashing I got the last few bits - I was confident I had everything I needed related to springs and shocks.

With the intention to add wide angled props and cranked arms at a later date as I don't think the missus would have been happy if I'd spent all the money on the car 2 months before christmas :lol:

I was also aware my brake pads would need replacing so ordered some middle of the market standard items.

so... started off on a chilly but dry day :suspicious:

So Here's my stock pile that's been stored in the bedroom for the last few weeks...



Pulled it into my workspace



and a quick snappy of me QT diff guards



and how it stands before work commences:





Quickly measure up so I know how much its lifted it by...

Front:



Rear:




First Job was to get it up on axle stands and get the wheels off....



The jack is under the axle whilst axle stands under the chassis - this enables movement of the axle to get springs off/make access to mounts etc easier.


This is what it looked like under the arch...



My plan is to strip everything off and then replace everything... this got boring n i wanted to put shiney noo stuff on and ended up doing the rear axle then the front axle as complete items... here's some piccy's anyway cos everyone likes piccy's :lol:

Stripping stuff down...







Out with the old!



as you can see there's a fair bit of crud on the chassis so I did a bit of prodding and poking and discovered its nice n solid, cleaned it up and slapped some hammerite over it just to cover any bare metal i'd exposed and chucked all the old components in the rubbish pile:



compared to the new:



SHINEYYYY

That there consists of
+2" bearmach HD springs,
terrafirma +5" shocks,
relevant mountings/washers/bushes
Dislocation cones
Extended Bump Stops
Extended Brake hoses

then it dawned on me... heavy duty spring retainers :doh:

So I ran inside and ordered some on eBay to fit at a later date (before it goes off road!)

After a quick cuppa I got back to work and stripped down the other side - no point in more piccies of that, use your imagination or a mirror :lol:

And here we go... time to fit the shiney stuff

as you will notice its getting dark by now - so an extra layer n some flood lights and off I go... nothing like being eager on the first day!





Now, I got the springs on and gave up for the night as it was getting rather late... so I tidied up (chucked everything in the boot) n went in for a warm shower n some grub.

Woke up bright n early the next day (it was early but it certainly wasn't bloody bright!

It was bloody ****ing it down n I had no cover... so off I set with some bungee cord n tarps...



The wind made this end up being an hour long process with lots of swearing n stropping like a 10 year old brat who ain't allowed any sweets :lol:

But I was happy enough with the end result... bit noisy n didn't help with the wind or cold but at least it was dry!

Pictures of the end results from the night before:



Pretty chuffed with that - forgot to put in previously in the thread actually... thats a new hub too as the previous owner did a wheel bearing n shagged the bolts so siliconed the black cap thingy on the end (someone can supply a more technical term I'm sure!)

So, onto stripping down the front end (ooo errrr)

And what a b*****d this was... more cutting involved than the back n that was bad enough!!!

Anyway after cutting the springs and shocks off :doh:

I ended up with this:



***QUICK DISCLAIMER*** DO NOT CUT SPRINGS OFF IF THEY ARE UNDER TENSION my pikey method is not recommended

(now no one can sue me we'll continue)

Rubbed everything back to make sure it was nice n solid and all was good... note my nice new in yer face bump stops



got the brake hoses off...



and both anti-roll bars:



Then my neighbour needed his axle stands back... luckily I was able to put the rear wheels back on:





Quick snap of the rear axle:



Check out all the crud thats fallen off of various bits of the landy



Anyway... less slacking n back to it! Got the old brake pads out...

OOOOPS!



how they only got an advisory 2 months ago I don't know!

The front hoses proved to be a right b**ch to get off and the lines weren't looking to healthy so replaced it all just to save work later down the line:

(forgot to get pictures at the time so ignore the new springs n shocks :lol



Anti-roll bar off:



Lucky I got a de-cat in the shed that flexi looks a bit shabby!

And the finished article up front:





So there's only a couple of things left to do...

cable tie my breathers to the snorkel so they ain't danglin half way across the wind screen... check

Check all nuts n bolts are tightened up.... Check

Wheels back on.... check

Bleed brakes.... check

and drive... fingers cross everything works n nothing falls off...



Looks proper ****ed there but its actually more level than it was - must be the angle i'm holding the camera and the slight gradient in the ground I'm guessing...

anyway another one:




and a quick measure of the arches:

Front:



Back:



as you can see its lifted it up a good 4 - 5 inches so the old suspension components must have been well n truely nakered!

Took 2 and a half days overall... not bad for a first time effort on my own I don't think!

I took it for a drive n what a difference :lol:

I like it though - proper 4x4 driving position!

Still need wide angled props, cranked arms, extended arches and at some point a 2" body lift.

I want to get it out into the country side n get some decent pictures of it too as those pictures don't really do it any justice! There's some nice scenery up goodwood so will have to get up there soon!

Shortly after I discovered a horrid grinding noise so went to price up some UJ's and a rubber donut

Money started getting thrown into the wind and I ended up buying a set of new wide angled props and a 4 bolt diff flange kit!

just a tad under 400 quid later :doh:

Then discovered that the wheel bearings were demolishing themselves on the front axle, the play was quite frightening when I jacked it up so got a lift down to chichester 4x4 n got some bearings n associated bits.

Went to do the bearings (no piccies cos it was a pig of a job and I was getting quite frustrated, cold and wet)

Turns out the stub axles are shagged so took AGES to do the bearings, tightened them right up and there's still play - rang the landy garage n they said its probably king pin shims :doh:

with the amount of labour it requires and the costs involved it was cheaper and easier to order a new axle. Got one with 110k miles on it which I'm sat here waiting to be delivered now!

Going to refurb my old axle over the winter in the comfort of the shed! planning to have a completely refurbed front axle with uprated parts where required.

I'm thinking:

Re-con diff,
HD Half shafts,
New swivels (are the teflon coated ones better??)
Grooved brake disks
all new seals/washers etc..

any axle experts out there recommend anything else?

looking good mate keep up the good work i had the same tires on mine when i brought it there **** off road lol but managed strataflorida....keep it coming i like this thread a lot

I'll be honest I'm quite impressed at the stuff they've got me through for road tyres!

I'm after a set of a/t's to run on those wheels so I'm not running 35" muds all the time.

Thanks for the encouragement! was startin to wonder if I was the only person that looks at this :lol:

disco147 said:

Thanks for the encouragement! was startin to wonder if I was the only person that looks at this :lol:

Click to expand...

You're doing a grand job - especially for a young un!! I wouldn't have touched any of that at your age.

cheers rob!

Not doing too bad, unfortunately the axle swap got cancelled today due to unforeseen circumstances (ol man took his shed keys to work n my axle stands were in there :doh

Forgot to add a couple of things I've done to it so I'll have to get some more pics n post them up later!