Flat Bed Disco 2 Project - Anderson Connector Finally Fitted.

Yes. Removal was brutal.

So don’t have a local glass man coming to fit 1 then?

Once the windscreen gets here I'll try to find someone who can fit it for me. I've done all the hard work removing the old one. I don't want to risk breaking another not installing it properly. It's not something I've ever done before.

It's not worth the risk, I tried doing it on my 90. Bought a windscreen for £70, broke it just at the last bit then got national windscreens to supply and fit for.........
£70

A bit late now but why the rush to remove the cracked screen? Not an MOT problem, could have just made do until time suited.

WoodyO said:

A bit late now but why the rush to remove the cracked screen? Not an MOT problem, could have just made do until time suited.

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My thoughts exactly.
The crack was quite high up, and considering how splendid your vehicle is looking, I doubt anyone would have noticed.

Love the stance looking at it from the front.
Absolutely stunning work.

Anger and frusration got the better of me I'm afraid. I should have waited until I'd calmed down and thought about it properly. Besides, it would have annoyed me having a cracked screen when the rest of it was looking so good.

I've made good progress on the bodywork and problem solving the last few days.

Bodywork wise I only need to paint the passenger side door and refit the window trim and mirror, fasten down the bed floor panels and fit the B pillar trims. More paint on order to finish the door.

Found a few electrical gremlins as I've been refitting and testing stuff. Brake lights were stuck on and needed a new switch on the pedal box. The reverse lights didn't work and needed a new switch on the gearbox. Central locking didn't work in the drivers door, which was a broken wire in the door loom. One front sidelight didn't work but that just turned out to be a dodgy connection.

The headlight aim function doesn't work at all. No idea about this, I need to look into it some more. The fact that both motors don't do anything leads me to believe there's a common cause, perhaps another electrical gremlin.

I've also managed to track down the mystery clonk in the steering. I didn't replace the knuckle joints on the drivers side when I did the passenger side because I thought they were good. Turns out they aren't so that's what I'm in the middle of right now.

Been another busy couple of days. Here's the latest progress update:

Chequer plate bed floor now riveted down.
Battery compartment cover fastened down with stainless steel tapered allen head bolts.
Fuel pressure regulator leak fixed.
Stripped the area under the windscreen to take out the wiper mechanism which was seized solid.
Used wiper mechanism bought from ebay.
While this area is exposed it will get a clean and paint before everything is put back.
Drivers side steering knuckle joints replaced. Unfortunately this didn't cure the steering knock. No idea what this is now.

DefenderPilot said:

Been another busy couple of days. Here's the latest progress update:

Chequer plate bed floor now riveted down.
Battery compartment cover fastened down with stainless steel tapered allen head bolts.
Fuel pressure regulator leak fixed.
Stripped the area under the windscreen to take out the wiper mechanism which was seized solid.
Used wiper mechanism bought from ebay.
While this area is exposed it will get a clean and paint before everything is put back.
Drivers side steering knuckle joints replaced. Unfortunately this didn't cure the steering knock. No idea what this is now.


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The steering shaft goes through a sleeve in the firewall that generates a knock when the plastic carrier/bearing within wears.
Seated in the driver's seat, try gently levering on the steering shaft under the dash with your foot, and if there's movement/knocking, you've found your culprit.

Just a small update today. The Disco came with chequer plate on the bonnet when I bought it. I removed it during the build as it wasn't lined up properly. So today I lined it up properly, redrilled the rivet holes and painted them both before refitting it. You can see how far out it was by the positions of the holes.

Been busy doing mainly cosmetic stuff with Project Disco over the last few days as I want it looking as good as possible for the Shetland Classic Car Show (4th & 5th June). It'll be going on a trailer unfortunately as I'm back on shift tomorrow for two weeks and I'll only have a couple of days free after that before the show. So no time to get an MoT even if it was ready. The windscreen is yet to arrive and I still don't have fully working headlights and the steering problem is yet to be resolved. Never mind.

Anyway, the front bumper was letting things down somewhat cosmetically so I took it off, stripped it down and treated/primed/painted it. Also took the foglights apart to clean up and paint the fronts of them. Refitted them with stainless cap head bolts. Made some tread plates to cover up some ugly holes in the top of the bumper which were presumably for headlamp washers. These were fixed on by drilling and tapping the bumper and using stainless tapered allen bolts. Also decided to fit a pair of the HID spots that came off my old Defender.
Also fitted the 2nd hand wiper assembly which works perfectly, painted the area under the windscreen and fitted the bonnet. Passenger seat is also now in and the seat base trims refitted, as well as bolting the seatbelts back to the seats. Finally, cleared all the trouble codes and dash warning lights and fitted the front number plate. This will need to be moved when the winch is fitted.

Well, the windscreen finally arrived not long before the Shetland Classic Car Show so I ended up fitting it myself. To make things as easy as possible for myself I built a platform to work from as it's impossible to do it yourself from the ground. Spent hours prepping and about two minutes dropping it in. Those two minutes were bum clenchingly stressful but I got it spot on thankfully. After the windscreen went in I refitted the plastic trim at the bottom of the screen and all the underbonnet rubber strips, as well as the bonnet catch and release cable. Then I went to fit the brand new wiper arms and blades but the blades didn't fit the arms. I've had them for ages but just put them away until I wanted to put them on. The blades didn't come with the usual assortment of plastic clips that I would have expected.

By then I'd run out of time to get anything else done as it was being trailered to the show the morning before. The show was great and the Disco attracted a lot of attention. It was trailered back late last night and now it's time to get back to trying to get it ready for an MOT.

@DefenderPilot saw a motor like yours last week. Spare tyre was slid in where your ladders are.
I’m liking the design of these motors & they don’t look out of place on the road. There were 2 other discos in convoy with roof tents & other camping stuff hanging off them which made them look untidy.
Keep up the good work

I'm still pondering where to put the spare. It would help if I actually had one.

DefenderPilot said:

I'm still pondering where to put the spare. It would help if I actually had one.

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What about a disco 1 rear door type mount?
Put on rear of your body work and you can brace this out before all the panel work goes on.
Been on the rear means it should not snag on branches,also easier than getting off the roof. Any where else will take space up in the living.

You mean on the back of the cab?

DefenderPilot said:

You mean on the back of the cab?

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Bracket on the Back of the living area.

I'm not sure what you mean by "living area". The cab or the flat bed?

The Disco is finally MOT ready! Booked in for Thursday 23rd June.

Since the last update I have:

Fitted the A and B pillar trims.

Fitted another new hub and sensor on the rear drivers side. I was having loads of trouble with fault codes and went through two more sensors before buying a complete new hub.

Fitted brand new wiper arms and blades.

Fitted a better pair of headlights.

Fitted headlight guards.

Fitted a new heavy duty adjustable panhard rod.

Fitted the snorkel. This is just to cover up the holes in the wing for now, it's not plumbed into the air intake but will do that at my leisure.

Wired up the extra reversing light.

Took the rear step off my daily and re-engineered it to fit the passenger side so that my wife has an easier time getting in. It gave me a chance to practice my welding. Think I've done a good job with this. It's not fitted yet as I'm waiting for a new hydraulic ram for it. The old one was goosed.