My Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE

Well lightened the wallet a bit more this week.
Now have new rear upper control arms, hub bushes, nuts, bolts and washers.
Along with a set of braided brake lines.

Would upload a photo but for some reason the server can’t cope with them at the moment

Added a bit of interior bling in the way of a Disco 4 hand brake switch









Looks much better, unfortunately doesn’t fix this problem





Apparently the plug or wires near the rear wheel are often the culprit



Couldn’t get in with wheel in the way but going to mates unit Saturday to do the wishbones so hopefully can find a damaged wire while I’m under there and fix that.

Weeelllll Saturday was the big day that I was kinda dreading. Reading so many horror stories of seised bolts and breaking parts.
But needed doing and too tight to pay a garage so here we go.


Wheels off to see what we are working with.





Windy gun made light work of the camber bolt



However the rear too bolts are work for the double linked spanner. 1/8th of a turn the whole way!



And of course the bolt is seized solid in the bush.
My blades for the air saw would struggle to cut through cheese which was helpful.
Eventually managed to prise it out by hammer a chisel between the bolt head and the wishbone bracket.



And off



I was relieved by this



Leaving a hole



Starting to think maybe I should have just paid the garage to do it lol



New wishbones, Range Rover sport bushes and bolts



Then the other big rubbish job, replacing the hub bush

Guy on Disco3.co.uk posted about getting them off using pullers.
So had a go



Got the old one off, then a trip to Halfords to get a 38mm bolt that would fit over the new rubber bush and push on the sleeve.
Yep, bought a socket just to push a bush ha ha.



But worth it as it worked and new bush in



Wishbone back on, note I had to undo the air line feed to the shock so I could push the hub back up to the new wishbone
(Remember to do the air line back up before putting the car back together)



Meanwhile my mate had managed to get the drivers wishbone off. Seemed to put up a bit more of a fight.



About 6 hours in lol



Bolts in and new braided lines fitted





Mate had to go medieval on the drivers hub bush



Passenger side finished



Then jack the hub up so there is 485mm between bottom of the arch and centre of the hub nut.

Then can torque it up. Well torqued the hub camber bolt up to spec then the two rear bolts torqued to FT setting with the double spanner arrangement.



Finally on to new lines on the front



Old ones off



New braided lines fitted



And that’s new wishbones fitted and new braided brake lines all round.
Bleeding the brakes was a bit of a problem, bleed the system at least 6 times the old fashioned way and twice with the IID tool running the abs system but still got a bit of sponginess to the pedal
But it was 11:30 at night and we started at 11am so officially called it a night.
The brakes are pretty dam good tbf so I’m gonna get it booked in to the local indi for a brake fluid change (which was the plan anyway) and that should sort that.
Wheel alignment gonna get book in Saturday and got some new tyres to go on my 20’s that will be getting fitted Sunday.

Hell of a lot of work but it’s done now so happy.

Co-Pang-Yang said:

Wheel alignment gonna get book in Saturday

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If they using the latest hunter systems make sure they know what their doing, a lot don't and you end up with car going all over road and wheel not straight

Used these guys for a few years now on all my cars.
Very good at getting it dialed in spot on

Finally got the new boots on which made me very happy.









Since then has the brake fluid replaced at a local independent plus has the tracking.

Now discovered after investigating a squeak that has appeared from the front end that I require two new wheel bearings, a ball joint and track rod spindle.
Wonderful!!

Gonna be replacing the wheel bearings this weekend then next month when the ramp becomes available again replacing both track rod spindles and both front lower arms.
Then I can get the tracking done again.

Oh and I still think I’m gonna need to replace the alternator. Poxi car

@Co-Pang-Yang

hi mate looks as though you’ve been busy , still got mine to look forward to

finally got my front suspension all finished and wow what a difference that made

added some top hub bushes after seeing urs, ( thks for that ) , got the meyle bushes , all genuine upper arms and all genuine rear hoses and pipes , clips etc

got a puller and now looking for a socket , can u remember what size socket u used please to push the bearing out

thks again for taking the time to post the pics up

LUKBENPHI said:

If they using the latest hunter systems make sure they know what their doing, a lot don't and you end up with car going all over road and wheel not straight

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couldn’t agree more and also some don’t put the suspension into tight mode , think that’s what it’s called , lol

@gstuart hello mate, yes just trying to get through the list.

I’m hoping with the lower arms replaced that’ll be it for a while suspension wise.
Think all the top bushes have been done over the last 3-4 years.

Yer they are fun to get out lol. I used a 38mm socket for the new bush.

Not a problem. Should have more photos to add tomorrow of a hopefully successful wheel bearing change.
Plus if there’s time try and figure out why the driver seat heater doesn’t work

gstuart said:

couldn’t agree more and also some don’t put the suspension into tight mode , think that’s what it’s called , lol

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its when they dont chock the steering wheel that gets me then say "but the computer says the wheels straight " when you take it back in and the actual wheel is at ten to four!! im actually looking at old school tracking guages on ebay currently as im fed up of muppets that dont know how to do it properly

Co-Pang-Yang said:

@gstuart hello mate, yes just trying to get through the list.

I’m hoping with the lower arms replaced that’ll be it for a while suspension wise.
Think all the top bushes have been done over the last 3-4 years.

Yer they are fun to get out lol. I used a 38mm socket for the new bush.

Not a problem. Should have more photos to add tomorrow of a hopefully successful wheel bearing change.
Plus if there’s time try and figure out why the driver seat heater doesn’t work

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hi

indeed the lists do tend to grow when previous owners haven’t bothered changing parts as theyve become due

ur not going to cheat and get a complete hub then,lol,

ref ur seat have u put a multimeter on it to check for continuity and what Vdcs you’ve got , might be just the element gone if everything else is working ok , know u can buy just the seat heated squab cushion

bless u for the size of the socket , bought a hydraulic puller which is 2 and 3 prong and will look round for a long impact socket

at this rate i’ll be starting a project thread of my own, lol

can see after the wishbones are done it will be onto basic servicing , will then tackle the brakes , more than likely just drops new discs and pads all round

thks again for the info and keep the pics coming

Aye, it’s had a fair bit done but just seems to be plenty of issues all happening at once.

Ha ha yes fully cheating, two new hubs ready to go on.

No I haven’t looked into the fault at all yet. IID tool comes up with plenty of seat errors with movement and such but not sure what’s causing the heat problem.

Yes Halfords deep impact socket did the job perfectly.

Yer I find it’s good to share ha ha.

Have to say I’m liking my V8 brake setup, thing can stop hard now.

Co-Pang-Yang said:

Aye, it’s had a fair bit done but just seems to be plenty of issues all happening at once.

Ha ha yes fully cheating, two new hubs ready to go on.

No I haven’t looked into the fault at all yet. IID tool comes up with plenty of seat errors with movement and such but not sure what’s causing the heat problem.

Yes Halfords deep impact socket did the job perfectly.

Yer I find it’s good to share ha ha.

Have to say I’m liking my V8 brake setup, thing can stop hard now.

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know what u mean, at last got my front suspension all finished and now onto the rears

great call in replacing the whole hub, lol must make life a lot easier

can’t fit v8 brakes on mine as i only have 17inch rims, but found them very good as they are and don’t tow anything

wonder in that seat connector with the bolt through the middle is at fault , know it just takes time to track a fault through bit by bit, know i had to do that when i had to track a fault in the air bag system, all good fun, lol

never had to do bushes myself and indeed will be a time to learn, will check out the sockets , at least i know what size

ur not wrong makes life easier sharing different jobs in one place and makes the forum what it is

cheers

Yep, forever got stuff to do and my bank balance is suffering.

Yer it does, in fact it’s the recommended option do to how difficult it is to get the bearing out.

Got a lovely set of 20” for sale

Yer could be, can see it being a long process.
Must like trying to fix the faulty hand brake wiring.

Yer that bush was a stubborn bastard on one side.

Aye does help

Co-Pang-Yang said:

Yep, forever got stuff to do and my bank balance is suffering.

Yer it does, in fact it’s the recommended option do to how difficult it is to get the bearing out.

Got a lovely set of 20” for sale

Yer could be, can see it being a long process.
Must like trying to fix the faulty hand brake wiring.

Yer that bush was a stubborn bastard on one side.

Aye does help

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dread to think what it would have cost if a garage was involved, lol

lol, good to hear u got ur tyres sorted out and now have the 111 sidewall rating , what size tyre did u get in the end plse

fingers crossed the wishbones and top hub bearings don’t give me too much grief, famous last words

That’s my motivation for continuing to do it myself. Don’t think I could afford the labour on top.

Had to temporaryly continue with tyres fitted until payday but car is running well.
Am going to be fitting either Avon’s new ZX7 or Uniroyal Rain Sport 3 SUV both in 275/45/20 sizes. Both have excellent reviews and are a fraction of the cost of Pirelli’s.

The load rating on these tyres is 110. To get anything wide enough with a 111 rating or higher nearly doubles the cost in tyres.
And as far as I’m concerned if Australia Discovery 3’s can run 109 rated tyres then I see no reason that UK ones can’t either.

Just gotta wait till payday to order a set and get them fitted.

Yer I’m hoping for an easy life with the front suspension but think that’s probably wishful thinking lol.

Time for a little test for the Posh-Roader to make use of the massive towbar that I have checked with my shin more than once!
Back story, couple of weeks ago too a trip to the local Classic Car Auctions. Always nice to kill a couple of hours nosing around some cool old metal.
Spotted a pretty rare car with what looked like a low estimate. And after 10 minutes of looking it over and 10 minutes googling I was putting my hand up and it was mine!
Completely unplanned and unbudgeted for purchase. New bathrooms definitely on hold for a while now!!

But before I could go pick it up first a quick snowfoam action



Then snuck out in darkness to go pick up a trailer



Got a small house, big drive. All about priorities



Even though it’s not a particularly big car trailer it still dwarfs the Discovery!



Then a 40 mile drive over to the other side of Essex.......



Because I have bought myself a 1971 mk1 2 door Ford Escort!!





Yep, no planning, just saw it and wanted it so went for it!
Got it for what I think was a good deal as it was less than any other mk1 on eBay that ran with mot. And as it’s been in South Africa till January of this year there is no rot anywhere on it.

Was sold with a running issue (carb needs rebuilding I reckon) didn’t fancy the first trip to be 40 miles of dual carriageway so entrusted the Disco.

Which of course it completed flawlessly. Wouldn’t even know it was there even up hills.
Cruise on at 60mph and achieved 32mpg. Can’t complain.

Co-Pang-Yang said:

That’s my motivation for continuing to do it myself. Don’t think I could afford the labour on top.

Had to temporaryly continue with tyres fitted until payday but car is running well.
Am going to be fitting either Avon’s new ZX7 or Uniroyal Rain Sport 3 SUV both in 275/45/20 sizes. Both have excellent reviews and are a fraction of the cost of Pirelli’s.

The load rating on these tyres is 110. To get anything wide enough with a 111 rating or higher nearly doubles the cost in tyres.
And as far as I’m concerned if Australia Discovery 3’s can run 109 rated tyres then I see no reason that UK ones can’t either.

Just gotta wait till payday to order a set and get them fitted.

Yer I’m hoping for an easy life with the front suspension but think that’s probably wishful thinking lol.

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hi mate

love the escort, looks really nice

haven’t seen the reviews of those tyres , i’m not saying a word ,

Thanks mate I’m happy. Going away for a week and have left it with a garage that specialises in classic engines to get it up and running right.
Can’t wait to pick it up next week.

Ha ha I welcome honest opinions over anything else mate.

Theres quite a few old cortinas and escorts making their way over here from SA currently father in laws is after a mk1 or mk2 cortina

Whats plan with it? fix it and drive it or tune it up a bit?