My first landrover project

[handymanchris]

hi all, im brand new virgin to all this, the only experiance of welding i have is making a log burner from a empty gas bottle and getting welders flash lol.
ive decided to buy a landrover discovery 1998 R from a guy at work he says its solid with no rust and should fly through an MOT as it has only done 1000 miles since its last MOT So here i am £700 lighter in the pocket and the new owner of a disco. After doing some research on this site and others and finding what rusts were i decided today i was gonna have a good look round the disco and see how much welding it needs ive removed the rear side seats, carpet and rear (midle seats) and found there is lots of welding to be done. any advice would be very welcome on how to go about carrying out the repairs ive attached a few pictures just so you get the idea.

p.s ive also brought a SIP turbo mig 140 from ebay will this be big enough to carry out the works?

thanks in advance

chris

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum, jumping in at the deep end I see

 

[handymanchris]

thanks,
starting with something small is no fun. its one of those projects were the more i look the more rust i find lol doesn't look half as bad as some thou.

 

[Robotstar5]

ive decided to buy a landrover discovery 1998 R from a guy at work he says its solid with no rust and should fly through an MOT

Do you still work with him?

...and welcome to the forum from another green oval fan.

 

[waldershelf]

Old Disco's rot, chassis, body and everything in between. They can be a nightmare, however pretty much all the repair panels are available at sensible money and once sorted they are a great offroader and despite their reputation, mechanically they are very robust and last forever as long as they are serviced regularly.

 

[Highway_Star]

Sills, boot floor and rear wheelarches. Have you looked at the front inner wings, rear body crossmember and the fuel tank and rear seat belt chassis crossmembers?

http://www.yrmlandrover.com/ These people are good and will become your friends.

The outer wheel arch panel used to be available from Simmonites.

 

[p0689109]

I would hate to see a car your workmate said was rusty!!

 

[dboy]

Ah looks like you have a disco with the factory fitted rust pack fitted there. Looks just like my one did before I started to cut it up and fix he dam thing.

 

[handymanchris]

Thanks for all the replies. Highway_star i tried to get the seat belt anchor points out today but seems the bolt that holds the double clip point has had a normal hexagon 17mm bolt put in and seems its got a nut the other side so im thinking a rusty/rotten chassis rain stopped play today. ooking forward to learning to mig weld thou just need to make sure the setup i got is man enough to do the job (picture attached). ive got 6 months to complete the disco as its next job is conquering the northern french alps towing a trailer with building materials. also looking at fitting a whinch to front and rear if possible?

 

[rtbcomp]

SIP TopMig

 

[duncmc]

That all looks oh so familiar!

 

[naughtyboy]

That all looks oh so familiar!

dont it just.
mind looks better than mates one we did few years back.
took 5 full sheets of steel to sort had to do all front inner wings as well.

did it all using his no-gas mig as my mig had died.

 

[duncmc]

I would also have a look at your front footwells, front inner wings, rear body crossmember, the bottom of the A posts, the body mounts and the area behind the headlamps.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

My Disco was like that at around 6-7 year old !
Check out genuine panels from main agent as I found they were actually cheaper than pattern items !
As much as I like Land Rovers (had 3 x Range Rover, 3 X SIIA, 2 x SIII, Disco and Defender) I'll never have another due to the rot problem.
Even my current Mahindra MM540, at 20 years old, still has a 100% rot free chassis and no big holes in bodywork !

Paul H

 

[rtbcomp]

.......
As much as I like Land Rovers (had 3 x Range Rover, 3 X SIIA, 2 x SIII, Disco and Defender) I'll never have another due to the rot problem.
........
Paul H

My position exactly.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Don't waste your time fitting original type sills as box section steel is a better substitute.
If you haven't already seen them this company is worth looking at -
http://www.yrmlandrover.com

Paul H

 

[Coo]

Well done, best way to learn, cheap project.

Enjoy!

 

[rtbcomp]

When it's finished you'll know it inside out and future problems won't be as daunting.

Sign up here, very helpful forum

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?act=idx

 

[pedrobedro]

A friend of mine just bought a 300tdi for £450 to use the engine, transfer box and wheels in his Land Rover. With it he got a set of spare panels, boot floor and some other bits and sold them and he got £160 for the scrap body and chassis. It was same colour as yours.

 

[Westfield-builder]

A friend of mine just bought a 300tdi for £450 to use the engine, transfer box and wheels in his Land Rover. With it he got a set of spare panels, boot floor and some other bits and sold them and he got £160 for the scrap body and chassis. It was same colour as yours.

Brown ?