Disco 1 Weld prices?

Hi! First post and diving straight in with the questions.

Bought myself a Disco 1 300TDI. Needs welding and little else, drives sweet at the moment despite strong smell of chip fat haha. I know it's not easy to quote welding without investigation and probably starting to cut out rot but I was just wondering if anyone could give me a 'best case scenario' estimation. A mate who owns a garage has told me this needs welding.

Both sills
A frame crossmember
N/S/F chassis near gearbox crossmember
N/S/R arch
Rear body crossmember

Also if anyone knows a good a reasonable welder near Sheffield (preferably IN Sheffield or towards Chesterfield) that would also be helpful TIA

Best bet for that amount of work - buy a welder. These vehicles need constant work so you either need to DIY or get yourself a money tree. A mate of mine only does welding, for a few local mot garages and I reckon he would quote about 4 - 500 for what you describe. The problem is that It's so time consuming.

Rawwhhh said:

drives sweet at the moment despite strong smell of chip fat haha.

Click to expand...

If youre single tanking the 300tdi, be aware that its direct injection and that feeding it with cold veg oil will probably limit the time span of your enjoyment.

If you dont want ring gumming and the like, twin tank it, or run bio.

I'd love to do the welding myself, just nervous. It seems a case of buy the tools and steel probably for the price of the welding but then get it wrong and have to pay out for welding anyway and have a bunch of tools I'm gonna have to practise with for next time. I'd rather have it welded properly and then get a few years practise. But then the sills look like a peice of cake.. So I'm torn right now!

As for the veg oil, the previous owner must have used it, I've been putting diesel in, I can just smell it!

It will be worth scrap, when you get a quote from a welder.
Time to get yourself your own Mig welding set up and learn how to weld.
I've just finished a project Discovery. Back and front inner wings, both sills and some chassis work.
I reckon to pay someone would have made the repairs uneconomical and would have to have scrapped the motor.
Instead took my time and rebuilt it over 4 months, mostly nights, did a fair bit of mechanical work on it too and it was MOT'd last week after lying for 3 years unloved, passed first time with no advisories. Cigar time and also the pleasure of knowing that I sorted it myself.

PS - if the sills are gone, you can guarantee that some of the floor will have also gone, once you start tapping lightly with a screwdriver and hammer.

Once you learn on one side, it becomes a lot easier as the other side is just a mirror image and only takes half as long
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Discokids said:

Best bet for that amount of work - buy a welder. These vehicles need constant work so you either need to DIY or get yourself a money tree. A mate of mine only does welding, for a few local mot garages and I reckon he would quote about 4 - 500 for what you describe. The problem is that It's so time consuming.

Click to expand...

DIY is the better option for this work - decent tools will cost you more than having it "done" by someone else, but you will have the tools essentially forever.

I don't think the D1's need constant work - if you do the cills with decent replacements, and if it is done properly ( a huge "IF" with most garages ) - they should last at least another 20 years - MUCH longer if looked after.

I have just done the OS cill on mine with the "easy on" panels full cill kit, (NS cill is on the list next ). It was time consuming, but I guarantee it will never need doing again due to tin worm.

IME, £4-500 is not going to do both cills - the cill kit, per side is nearly £200, let alone the rest of it... but YMMV.

I used box section for the sills. 150x60x3mm £42 in total from the Metal Supermarket
also had then cut sheet metal to various sizes for me for the inner wings and floors as well as the chassis repairs.
Didn't even spend £100 on metal.

The rear offside floor started off with a few bits of surface rust but on closer examination required a little fettling

Rawwhhh said:

But then the sills look like a piece of cake.. !

Click to expand...

The sills are not overly hard - IMO, start with the chassis - its thicker steel - easier to weld as a beginner. But the main thing is practice - I have been welding for over 40 years, and even though I don't need much more, I still forget stuff!! ( could be my age though)

PLenty of vids online aiming to show you how, or, if such things are still available, do a nightschool course?

I think it really depend on what you want out of the vehicle - to justify a D1 and the repair costs, both money and time, I think you need to make a fairly long term commitment to it - but some people like to change their motors more often than the setting Sun - which, with a D1 is going to make a hole in your wallet very quickly.

biggeeeee said:

I used box section for the sills. 150x60x3mm £42 in total from the Metal Supermarket
also had then cut sheet metal to various sizes for me for the inner wings and floors as well as the chassis repairs.
Didn't even spend £100 on metal.

Click to expand...

Perfectly reasonable approach. hats off to you.

Just because I can, I am doing more of a restoration on mine - so want to keep it approximately original.

The way I look at it is if you spend £500 on it you have a good usable vehicle for the next few years

Disco1BFG said:

DIY is the better option for this work - decent tools will cost you more than having it "done" by someone else, but you will have the tools essentially forever.

I don't think the D1's need constant work - if you do the cills with decent replacements, and if it is done properly ( a huge "IF" with most garages ) - they should last at least another 20 years - MUCH longer if looked after.

I have just done the OS cill on mine with the "easy on" panels full cill kit, (NS cill is on the list next ). It was time consuming, but I guarantee it will never need doing again due to tin worm.

IME, £4-500 is not going to do both cills - the cill kit, per side is nearly £200, let alone the rest of it... but YMMV.

Click to expand...

After another glance at his original post I still estimate that the OP has bought a typical rotten disco from a PO who didn't look after it, letting it rot this much and scrimping even more by running it on chip fat or whatever. I do not think he plans on doing a full original resto. Hats off to you personally for obtaining the correct sills for £400, but I would estimate that currently most discos for sale simply aren't worth it and most owners would opt for the £50 box section approach.

@Discokids - thanks

And I agree, most D1's will not be worth it.

I have made a long term commitment to mine - whether I regret it or not remains to be seen - ask me again in ten years !!

I think if you still have it in 10 years you will be very glad you kept it. Mine was a shed but I still miss it 18 months on. I only got rid because of terminal chassis rot, and oddly, the bulkhead was dreadful too. And the rear body crossmember. And, well, you get the picture. It really was past it.

Try looking for "easy on" panels and sills on ebay. http://m.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=frog12113&_pgn=1&isRefine=true

They have videos and guides on youtube too
Its daunting at first but the better you get at doing it the cheaper your mots will be in the future

Another vote for the easy on stuff - this is what I am using. Its good value, the owner of the place is mega helpful, and they are quite close to me too!!