Dicovery rust

[bill_gj]

No, it's not a new satellite TV programme, it's a question about rust on LR Discoveries.
One of my driveway decorations is my elder son's Disco 200 TDi (about 1991) that I have been doing some engine repairs to.
Now that it's getting close to being MOT'd, I'm worried about rust on the body.
The chassis is fine - it passed it's last MOT before being SORNed but has been standing for about a year and now I find rust under the door sills. It's finding you can poke a finger through the sill that bothers me.
I expected a chassis-based motor to pass with holes in bits of non-stressed body, but what is the experience of all you Disco owners out there?

Will sill rust fail the MOT?

 

[Bobtail4x4]

rusty cills will fail

use 100x60 box

a search on LR4x4 will find loads of pics and how to guides.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I had an Escort with a fist sized hole in the wing and it failed as a pedetrian could cut themselves on it.

So I slapped some plasic insulation tape over the jagged edge and it passed...

Regards
Peter

 

[bill_gj]

Bobtail and Peter - it just goes to show what a crock the test can be when you get these extremes, doesn't it?

A sill hole on a vehicle with a substantial chassis will get you a fail and tape over a sharp edge will pass OK.

Thanks for the tip Bobtail, I do browse the LR4x4 from time to time, but I wanted to see what experience the 'welders' have. Much appreciated.

 

[Justme]

The sill will fail as its structural if its within 30cm of the seat, seatbelt, chassie, brakes or steering mounting points. The wing is none structural in most cars.

 

[Chipper]

Don't Discos normally go on the back door sills, which is near the belt mount points re MOT. Not sure. Some we looked at were 'ventilated' there....

 

[pedrobedro]

If you type rust into google it comes up with Discovery I've welded Land Rovers and 2 door Range Rovers but never done any on a Discovery, are they similar to the Range Rovers ?

 

[Robotstar5]

I've welded Land Rovers and 2 door Range Rovers but never done any on a Discovery, are they similar to the Range Rovers ?

Disco I is a 4 door Range Rover with a different body! (quick & cheap method to market a new product)

 

[Disco_Mark]

As has been said - The Discovery 1 is basically just a reskinned, slightly extended rangie shell...

They are however, notorious for rust.

The common areas are:

Inner Wings
Footwells
Sills (inner and outer)
Base of the 'C' Pillar (on 5 door variants)
Rear Arches - including seatbelt mounts
Boot floor, including the supporting metalwork
Rear Body crossmember
All body mounts!

To be fair these are all the same areas as Range Rovers, and the fixes are pretty much the same too - with the exception of the rear body cross member.

As has also been said, most of these repairs have been covered in the technical archives on LR4x4 (mostly by me...)

Cheers
Mark

 

[Disco_Mark]

What I also meant to say was, if you are finding significant corrsion damage in the sills, then it will be worth your while lifting the boot carpet, and checking what floor is left (I suspect a lot will come away with the carpet.... ) as well as the other areas listed above...

Cheers
Mark

 

[bill_gj]

Oh ****** - looks like a lot of work for 'dad' then.

 

[Disco_Mark]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I seem to have gained a reputation for condemning vehicles, but I think people should be aware of the full extent of an issue...

None of it is insurmountable, and many (but not all) of the repair panels are available from the likes of these guys.

 

[bill_gj]

Thanks for that link - prices seem reasonable and there's a few more bits on there that I think we'll need (battery tray for one)

Cheers !!!

 

[Dusty]

You'll be surprized how much inside trim needs to come out to 'Do' the rear floor!!!!

if the sill's are holy then you can garantee the floors gone, and the inner wings.......

Still most are repairable but take a lot of time, wouldn't want to have to pay somebody else to do it......

 

[Disco_Mark]

incidentally, if you want it to last, consider fitting the aluminium floor out of a pre-86 range rover rather than the pressed steel replacement. It's a fairly easy swap, and actually involves less welding....

 

[Bobtail4x4]

but the mot man wont like it?

the floor is structural on a disco.

 

[Disco_Mark]

it is no more structural on a disco than it is on range rover.

 

[Highway_Star]

Boot floor from a Range Rover will be too short surely? The Discovery has an ever fatter ass!

A mate of mine fabricated an ally rear floor from checker plate, he added ribs underneath to stiffen it up. Worked a treat.

There's no MOT issues in doing this.

I'm going to put a ally boto floor in my '90 Range Rover, when I get my hands on an ally boot floor. The exisitng floor is starting to make efforts towards returning to it's natural state

 

[Disco_Mark]

Other way round - If you use a discovery floor to repair a range rover (as the panel isn't available for rangies) you have to add ~4" of material to get it to meet the back. The discovery bodywork is actually shorter than a range rover (hence the large bumper).

The ally rangie floor had 2 less supports in than the steel version too, so given that I don't bother putting those back in - therefore less rot.

I believe some people are starting to supply an ally chequer plate panel as a replacement but I am unconvinced.

The main problem tends to be that the metalwork that supports the floor disintegrates, and needs to be replaced before you can put the nice new floor panel in (from whatever source).

 

[Highway_Star]

Ah, cheers Disco_Mark, I knew there was a discrepancy somewhere.

Aye, my mate had to rebuild the edges of the flat bits either side of the boot floor. He got a local fabricators to press him some plates with the right size of 'L' down the long edge. That, with new cross supports and the ribs he put it, well it's survived a couple of trips to Africa and back laden to the gunnels.

It's a bloody nice old Range Rover, he sold it recently on Ebay, I'd have bitten his hand if I had the cash spare at the time.