The MOT is looming for my Discovery. I had noticed a couple of rusty holes in the inner wing and decided I should patch them up in preparation. Unfortunately as is often the case with these things the holes grew a touch.
Very handily placed right next to the servo and wiring loom as well Ain't it just always the case? I was once volunteered for a similar job on a Range Rover till I went round and looked at it. It was a basket case with nothing left to fasten anything to and I ended up avoiding the owner.
There are two problems with my parents garage, 1. It is full of my furniture and white goods as I am moving house and the new one needs loads of work doing so I can't live in it. 2. The Disco is far to tall and wide to fit in it. So it is working on the drive with tools in the back of the car and the Mig in a space cleared in the garage.
The jobs keep growing, I started poking the sills and there is nothing left of the drivers side apart from a patch of 2mm sheet I put on as a repair 2 years ago! I have promised the car I will not get rid of her but I may have to find a temporary run around until I get it all done.
Also my new bathroom arrived Monday so I have to fit that and re-plumb the house and fit a kitchen which arrives on the 1st Feb. I may find another job to take up all this spare time I have.
have you looked at boot floor
its the first place to look at if your disco has rot
have scraped a few due to rot the good side is i have gained lots of parts for my defender from rotten disco's have a brand new full rear floor in garage from the last one i was going to do and changed my mind
I'm prepping my series 3 landy for its mot, its a 1980 and has its own share of rust.
I was thinking its gonna be a big job, but I spose its not so hard with the body being ally.
I have fitted a disco engine and disco front and rear axles, been a bit of a job, then when I removed the fuel tank to fit a diesel return I noticed that the rear cross member is shot, so I'm gonna have to do that, and out on the drive as mine doesnt go in the garage either, and just to make things more interesting they dont make crossmembers repair sections for the lwb, I'll have to get a swb and mod it to fit.
Theres a point somewhere around the rear axle that the disco chassis rots away, better check that before your mot.
If you decide to scrap let me know I might be interested in bits if your not far off.
Scrap it....over my dead body. I would rather do a 'Trigger' and replace everything 5 times.
Rear floor is fine as I did that in the summer. Also the Chassis is solid everywhere, one day I will get around to waxoyling it.
My new reactive helmet from Weldequip arrived yesterday so as long as the weather is dry Saturday more will be done.
I am thinking of getting some 5mm wall box section and replacing the Sills completely. It depends on the condition of the NS one. I will give it a firm poking at the weekend and make a decision.
I'm with you Pat repair it and enjoy it! So old disco's are rust buckets, so what! That's part of the fun, YRM make some good repair panels, might be worth a look at.
I too have a rotten disco in need of some tlc with a welder, rear floor,(done) inner front wings and still have a few patches to do on the sill's. Have been told to scrap it too! But I can't do that I like it too much!
See you in the mud some time.....dusty
Fair play to you guys, it's too easy to take the money and scrap it, then what ? to go and buy another with rot in, might aswell sort yours so you know you have a sound one
Hi, ive just helped a friend weld up her discovery.
We thought it was only needed a few parts welding in, but when we started it was a lot worse.
We never scrapped it but i didnt think it was ever going to end.
Inner wings both sides, both bulkhead sides where alll the relays bolt to, inner sills at the front both outer sills, pillar repairs on all the pillars, rear wheel arches, rear floor, rear floor supports, fuel tank strap, rear cross member and both side rear quarters.
The car is all finished now and mot'd and what a nicer car it is to drive now, All the doors shut properly there is no water leaks which take a bit of sorting. Some have probably been there from new.
Its stiffer on the road so all round i would say do it. To many people say scrap it there will be none left if we all did that.
If you want some photos let me know and ill post some on for you.
I must admit though i did buy a lot of panels to speed the job along but there are a lot you can make yourself if you have access to a good folder.
did my mates 300tdi on 94 plate took us 4 full sheets of steel had to make boot floor all inner wheel arches at back front footwells and inner wheel arches amongst other things.
brill feeling when it went through mot first time.
Dont scrap it! I've got a vw camper which is my current project, the only reason there are still so many on the road is people used time and money 20 yr ago to fix them when they werent worth anything. I enjoy doing the work and like the other guys say you end up with something you know inside out.
Looks like you've made a good start on the repairs, so if it is good mechanically- carry on and get the car back on the road!
One bit of advice- when doing all those inner wing repairs, make sure the outer wings still fit. I'm not familiar with the Discovery, but it looks as though the rust has formed underneath where the outer wing sits. Therefore a good idea to check for outer panel fit.
Too many discos are going to the scrappy, I let one go last yr just too much to do, no time and lack of proper facilities caused this one to be sold to a youngster to play with on their farm.
So all was not lost, the replacement has lots done it inner front wings, boot floor, some work on sills done, needs one patch doing next weeks job for me, then I am doing what I have never done before and having it 'pre mot' checked.
Hopefully this will highlight any bushes, joints or other small or large holes I have missed, giving me 4 weeks to sort it out, rather than have to mess around carless.
Some are too far gone to save and once the chassis is rotting (as my previous one was) around the anti roll bar brackets and tow bar mounts (common place) then serious thought has to be given, I wish I had the space to have parked the old one up for spares, but those ones that just need a bit of tlc and mechanically sound(ish) and contains just a tad more sound steel than tinworm infested crud, are worth the effort.
Anyway better the devil you know than some unknown quantity that others have messed around with to replace the origonal.
Chickenjohn makes a good point about the inner wing, that box section that goes all the way down from front to back, it usually rots behind it at the bulkhead end.
More work done this weekend. I was quite lucky with the weather, Saturday was dry and I got the OS sill finished. Started on the NS as well, initially it didn’t look too bad. However after a firm poking it got much worse. I was limited on materials so started the patching with 2mm sheet ( is it still sheet at 2mm?) The new helmet was fantastic, being able to see what you are doing is a real joy. Sunday was again mostly dry but lots of gusty wind which made things a bit messy. I was just about to start getting annoyed when the grinder decided enough was enough and gave up the ghost. At this point I stopped and went to the pub.
There is a good thread over on lr4x4.com were they have repaired the sills with box section,they look a lot stronger than the original way.Ive got the rear floor, sills and inner wings to start on mine.The joys of an old Discovery.