The Story so far, My snotbag disco...

disco147 said:

Redhand, I did give this method a go but the battery didnt gave enough grunt left in it to crack the nut, the engine just stopped dead. Whats the reason you'd remove glow plugs?

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So the starter isnt fighting engine compression

Ah yea... :doh: could be why I didnt think the battery had enough grunt then! Will try that method again then!

disco147 said:

Redhand, I did give this method a go but the battery didnt gave enough grunt left in it to crack the nut, the engine just stopped dead. Whats the reason you'd remove glow plugs?

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Engine turns easier, no compression, so the power of the starter turns it over and undoes the nut, I'd guess.

Have you tried tightening it a bit first? Maybe a jack under the end of the breaker bar and jack it up?

Gotcha paul, cheers! Trouble with the breaker bar is trying to lock the pulley off rather than getting enough force on the breaker bar... I think next stage is going to be cranking the engine over again and if not what you have suggested but maybe locking the engine off at the flywheel... unfortunately monday is the soonest I'm gonna be able to have another go at it!

Again, I've neglected this thread somewhat :/

I got the engine going after cracking that dreaded bolt by locking the flywheel using a modified bolt (thanks to chichester 4x4 for the lending of a tool they made specifically for this and letting me make a copy of it!)

I got the engine timed up and after some cranking and some fresh fuel she runs - she was smokey as hell at first but cleared through after fresh diesel and some injector cleaner was run through it.

I took it down to the MOT station and she overheated :doh:

Putting it down to an airlock as she's sat where she is since I trailered it back - Had a lot going on recently (nothing catastrophic, its just been particuarly busy with re-skilling/work/missus/fixing other people's cars etc)

I have made a small start though and removed the rear seats as I never use them and decided to fit a set of 4 point harnesses I had from my old mini to try keep myself in the seat better whilst off roading!

I've also removed the tubular rear bumper after bending it at a P&P, causing the paint to crack and start to rust. I've ground it down to clean metal and sprayed it up in red oxide ready for a coat of black. Before I refit I shall be putting a patch in the rear cross member and giving things round the back end a tidy up/lick of paint.

Then I'll move forwards and patch up the inner wings

I then need to get a decent battery as the current one is nakered - probably gonna save some pennies for an optima red top!

Once that's all sorted I'll take her back to the MOT station!

It sure has been a while.... Hope you been well

Sure has ifloochies, been busy and feeling guilty for neglecting the old girl!
Hopefully another update before the end of the week!

quick update:

Replaced battery with a new Optima Redtop, looked to replace the wire coming from the stop solenoid as its not the original. As I'm tracing it back I find an inline fuse holder... with a blown fuse :doh: replaced the fuse and put the spring back into the stop solenoid, fired it up and boom - working perfectly!

Bloody land rovers (reads blood idiot owner)

Also removed rear seats and donated them to a mate who wanted them and fitted harnesses to try and help keep me in the seat when off roading - left the passenger side seat belt in so there's a choice, easier for when I'm running about on the road as it saves me adjusting the harness all the time for different people!

Also ripped the headlining out as it was sagging and going mouldy, stored it in the shed with the intention of relining it but decided I quite like the look without! After some tidying up with the wiring/removing rear sunroof and alpine lights!

Need to wait til its back on the road and see how much it affects cabin noise/coldness etc though until I decide to completely bin the headlining!

I've got my headlining out and it didn't make much difference to road noise but it gets a LOT colder and you get a f#ck load of condensation when it's cold too.

godzilla84 said:

I've got my headlining out and it didn't make much difference to road noise but it gets a LOT colder and you get a f#ck load of condensation when it's cold too.

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Mine has been in the front room for a year and I agree cold and wet. Having said that I now have fixed all the leaks inside so its going back in this month.

its gonna be marmite I think :/ lol

The cold and noise I can deal with... wet, I think not!

Will just have to see how bad it is when I get it on the road, if not I'll get the missus to re-trim it with something funky

Work is on hold currently as I have someone else's disco in for a complete brake and wheel bearing replacement, front and back which isn't going to plan! :doh:

Managed to break the drive on a breaker bar today trying to crack the wheel nuts (He's only just got the landy) and after lots of swearing/trying different things I gave up 'n' borrowed a mates snap on impact gun which rattled em off in a matter of seconds!

Seriously good bit of kit but at £800 I don't think I'll be adding it to my tool collection any time soon!

Love this's thread, you're a couple of steps in front of me and my build.

When you fitted the 35's, what lift were you running?


Keep up the good work dude!

Hi Twinkletoes,

Thanks for the positive comments! Running a heavy duty 2" lift at the moment and thinking of adding a 1" body lift as it does rub badly on articulation off road. I know a 2" body lift will clear the arches completely but I want a compromise so I can fit down greenlanes without scraping on tree's etc all the time!


Latest update - Fitted an Optima redtop battery - what a battery! So much grunt and doesn't go flat!

Also started on operation tinworm!

After a bit of fertan and a wirebrush I got a disk from the local body shop that was recommended for removing flakey old paint and crud onto the rear cross member which did a pretty good job:



So I cut the diddy hole out and found more grot:



and ended up with this:




The plate that goes over the top of the body mount has been replaced at some point and the welds have come away so I shall remove that + about an inch either side and replate then cover to prevent future rusting and then I'll make a plate up to patch what I've already cut out - next free day is going to be thursday/friday so hopefully the paint shop have some satin black back in stock by then!

Latest update includes lots of grinding/cutting and some attempts at welding!

After cutting out as shown in the previous post, I decided the rear cross member would only have to be patched/replaced again in a few months so I bravely (or stupidly - I'm not sure which yet) decided to go balls deep and start cutting it out to replace it...









I priced up a new rear cross member and decided that I may as well do body mounts as well then remembered discopol's thread about his box section rear crossmember... after a quick LZ search I found the thread n took myself to the local metal merchants. £30 later I had a 2m length of box section 100mmx50mmx4mm and a sheet of 2mm steel to mount the boot floor too.

I ordered 2 new body mounts up, although they weren't nakered I decided it was silly to try and use the old ones when I was replacing so much of the disco's bum anyway!

I'm currently sat here waiting for YRM to get the body mounts out to me so I can continue, but in the mean time I got bored and chopped the back box off and decided I best have a crash course in welding and made myself a rear side exit up!







A mate of mine laughed and asked if I'd developed parkinsons since I'd last seen him when I sent him a pic of my first welding experience - He's a tosser though so it doesn't matter :lol:

Its strong, seems to have penetrated enough but it is splattering and spitting, I'd quite like to make it look tidier before I start welding the box section/body mounts together and onto the car. I've read that lack of gas can cause spitting and also dirty surfaces - I used a bit of sand paper to clean up the exhaust but it wasn't sparkling clean so could this be the cause?

Hoping someone with lots of welding experience can come along, see the pic and tell me what's going amiss?

Failing that I've got some clean sheet metal I'll have to sacrifice to do some more practising on before the body mounts turn up I think!

Also waiting for a shiny exhaust tip and a universal exhaust hanger for kit cars to turn up so I can actually fit me new exhaust!

I would clean the metal down even more, remember there could also be a zinc/ galv coating on the exhaust. If it dose it will be a right pain in the ass to weld neat with out the galv cleaned off first.

I use a flap disc to egg anything back to shiny "new" metal before I weld.
Also what gas are you using? Is your wire speed set to high you should be able to feel it pushing back the torch if it is set to high,

Have a look at MIG Welding Tutorial, Techniques and Practical there's a lot of good advice here.

disco147 said:

its gonna be marmite I think :/ lol

The cold and noise I can deal with... wet, I think not!

Will just have to see how bad it is when I get it on the road, if not I'll get the missus to re-trim it with something funky

Work is on hold currently as I have someone else's disco in for a complete brake and wheel bearing replacement, front and back which isn't going to plan! :doh:

Managed to break the drive on a breaker bar today trying to crack the wheel nuts (He's only just got the landy) and after lots of swearing/trying different things I gave up 'n' borrowed a mates snap on impact gun which rattled em off in a matter of seconds!

Seriously good bit of kit but at £800 I don't think I'll be adding it to my tool collection any time soon!

Click to expand...

I used to be a Snappy and those guns are fantastic they will also undo crank pulley bolts so I kept one when I left you should be able to get one on promo for less than £800 and maybe get something else with it, for instance I think the 3/8 gun is on at the moment with a ratchet, if you already have the ratchet flog it on ebay and get money back towards the gun
Kev

I would also advise using a flap disc to clean the metal before welding. You can also use it to go over your welds afterwards to tidy them up a bit if you wanted, as all that matters is that the weld is strong enough for the job.

Example of a where flap disc was used on a weld that has to be flush with steel

thanks for the feedback guys! Will spend a couple of hours playing around today before work (working nights ) and see how I get on with cleaner metal and get some more piccies up!

latest update:

This turned up yesterday:




So the kid in me came out, the welder stayed where it was and I got to fitting the exhaust.

I'm chuffed to bits with it and think it sounds brilliant! I can't wait to hear it working under load!

Saturday is rugby day and sunday family day so monday/tuesday will see the next update where I will be tidying up underneath the landy and looking to do some more welding.

Anyway, piccies: