Somebody slap some sense into me; I can't stop looking at Land Rover Discoveries

Remember, the "seems like a leaky head gasket" is the benign failure mode for the liners.

The other one occurs when the liner drops quickly rather than slowly, and drops the crankshaft out the bottom of the engine.

chaparral wrote: Remember, the "seems like a leaky head gasket" is the benign failure mode for the liners. The other one occurs when the liner drops quickly rather than slowly, and drops the crankshaft out the bottom of the engine.

Got it. Thanks!

RossD wrote: In reply to Smarta$$ McPoopyPants: Sure when I suggest a Ford Ranger in your ATV thread, I get scoffed at. But here you are looking a Disco for your ATV use. LOL. If you get it start a build thread so I can get the RR want out of my system too!

Dang.

Cotton wrote:

mad_machine wrote: since I replaced the engine in mine almost two and a half years ago, I have had three issues. The Clock Spring in the steering wheel went ($35), one of the wheel sensors is bad so abs, traction control, and hill descent do not work, and I had to replace the 02 sensors. I do not consider any of those issues out of the ordinary for a vehicle approaching 100,000 miles. I drive mine at least 5 days a week back and forth to work (25 mile+ a day) plus a couple of long trips a year. Since the new engine, )2 sensors, and replacing the exhaust with a stainless Magnaflow system, I am up to 14mpg in mixed driving

Dang, the twin turbo v12 in my cl600 gets 17.5mpg and that tank is probably as heavy as the disco.

it's not the weight, it's the full time 4x4. It has no way of disconnecting the front axle from the drivetrain so you are ALWAYS sending power to the front wheels.

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote: So if I *did* decide to replace headgaskets, how big of a job is it?

replacing headgaskets is a bandaid. They don't go bad, the surface they are sealing moves away from them.

Catastrophic failure mode, which I experienced, is rapid dumping of coolant out the exhaust. I was five miles from home when mine went, I went through almost 15 gallons of water to get home

Pinning the cylinders or doing an engine swap sounds like the ticket to long term reliability.

There is a place 25 minutes away from me that that seems to have 3-4 Land Rovers rotating in and out at any given time.. If you could find some place like that locally to do the pinning, they probably have it down to a science.

I pinned a cylinder liner in a two stroke dirt bike when I was 15 it really works. I used a hand drill and a roll pin.

There is an 00 disco near me for $1000, they think it needs a head gasket.

Do the same vintage Range Rovers suffer the same ailments? They are just as cheap to buy.

The disco was so cheap & convenient I could pass it up. $1500. Ice cold AC. 4WD works well. I'm SMITTEN!!!

akylekoz wrote: Do the same vintage Range Rovers suffer the same ailments? They are just as cheap to buy.

not as much. The 4.2 was a pretty decent engine but the blocks are all suspect. True story, I broke the crank(!!) driving around town when I first got mine. I pulled that motor, bought a 4.2 long block to replace the 3.9 for $300. Replaced all seals and gaskets and it's been running well enough for the last 3 years. I get stopped at least 3 times a week to talk about it and someone texted me this morning asking if I wanted to sell it. It's comfy inside, has the right amount of dorky and rugged and rides as smoothly on the interstate as my odyssey, aside from some side to side sway from the lift. I personally think the classics are the way to go, and this seems like the perfect group of people to own one.

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote: The disco was so cheap & convenient I could pass it up. $1500. Ice cold AC. 4WD works well. I'm SMITTEN!!!

Congrats! Atlantic British is probably my favorite go to for parts. Register with Rovers North because they have a free cool magazine they put out quarterly. ALLOY and GRIT is a rover magazine that just started and I think the next issue is focused on the disco. discoweb is a huge spot on the web for them. They're great trucks, have fun with the build!

I loved my 1995 Disco. British Racing Green "Center Edition" with a 5 speed manual. I had everything on it. OME 3" lift, fancy steering stuff, big safari roof rack. I drove it everywhere. All over the Oregon desert, through the woods, over logs, trips on the highway to California pulling 3 sportbikes for track days. It was a great car. I miss it sometimes.

But......

As I piled the miles on, it started to break more and more often. I was busy with work and had no time to be working on it instead of using my limited time off to actually enjoy it. What was worse was that everything I needed to buy usually came from single sources. Power windows stop working? One place has the switch needed, and it's $250, and they can't send it for 5 days. Power Steering pump? Sure, just send mine in before they send out the rebuilt one, oh BTW, that will be $500.

I had a parts rig, and needed another parts rig because I was using up some of the stuff from the parts rig, so larger WT factor than my HOA was okay with.

I cleaned it up, tuned it up, and made it as nice as I could. Then sold it for more than it was worth, along with a Freelander (NEVER BUY OR EVEN ACCEPT A FREELANDER EVEN IF ITS FREE) and sold the parts Rover (which was actually a whole complete running Disco)

This got me enough cash to pay for 1/2 of a 2008 Jeep JK Unlimited Rubicon, brand new, lifetime drive train warranty, and heavily discounted since it was 2008 and the economy had crashed.

I still have the Jeep. In fact, I now have 3 Jeeps. Commander with a 5.7 Hemi, the Wrangler JKUR, and an '86 Comanche. I didn't even like Jeeps before I bought the JK, but I am now a dedicated fan.

The Commander is at least as good as the Rover was, serious range rover comfort, pulls 8K pounds, and has a 400 HP Hemi that's the same one as in every other Ram truck on the road. Broken in rural Idaho? Stop by NAPA.

The JK Wrangler? 130K miles. On 35" tires, pre-runner suspension, tons and tons of things done. I have off roaded the hell out of it, driven across country several times, driven it to work (70 mile round trip) and am going to hop in it right now and do my errands, do some wheeling, and not worry that anything will break. If I do break something, I will be faced with the problem of having to decide which of the 100's of vendors I'll buy my part from.

Just my opinion. I still see Rovers and get a little teary eyed thinking about the one I sold, but then motor on, happy with my solid American 4x4.

I just completed a there and back run to Annapolis in my Disco. Not only did it handle the miles well, but it was pouring big cats and dogs on the way back, I felt very safe and secure as everyone nervously tiptoed through the rain drops.

today I replaced a fender with dodgy paint.

Having owned: jeeps, land cruisers and land rovers, the jeeps are the worst off road stock, but have the best support and an amazing array of mods. Rovers are the best stock and decent mods available, but parts are costly. Cruisers are the most reliable but far and away the most expensive.

This will be driven roughly 200 miles/year. It may have been used to deliberately hit a tree today.

48 hours in: The A/C, 4WD, and power everything still work, and it hauled 5 people, a bunch of inflatable floaty things, fishing rods, and enough beers/booze to kill a small villiage to the creek and back.

And my girls berkeleying LOVE it. "Daddy, this is WAAAAAAAY nicer than Mommy's car. Why don't we drive it instead?"

"Well...um...honey, there's a reason we don't live in the United States of United Kingdom...."

Did the tree have it coming?

Grizz wrote: Did the tree have it coming?

Did you see the way she was dressed!?

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote:

Grizz wrote: Did the tree have it coming?

Did you see the way she was dressed!?

you should leaf those jokes alone

mad_machine wrote:

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote:

Grizz wrote: Did the tree have it coming?

Did you see the way she was dressed!?

you should leaf those jokes alone

Or go all-in and branch out into stand-up.

ebonyandivory wrote:

mad_machine wrote:

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote:

Grizz wrote: Did the tree have it coming?

Did you see the way she was dressed!?

you should leaf those jokes alone

Or go all-in and branch out into stand-up.

I think I'll stick with my day job.

Is there an "easy-button" for push-bar/winch?

PS: Confession: It literally took me and the aerospace engineer 10 minutes to figure out how to get the goddamned fuel door open

In reply to Smarta$$ McPoopyPants:

Easy yes. Cheap? No.

I would just get a front and rear 2" receiver mount and use them for an 8,000lb winch mounted to a plate.

That way you don't have to mess up that pretty face and you can store it away (bolted to the floor in the back) when not in use.

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote: Is there an "easy-button" for push-bar/winch? PS: Confession: It literally took me and the aerospace engineer 10 minutes to figure out how to get the goddamned fuel door open

the button only works when the key is in the off position. Shoot me any questions you may have, I drive mine at least 5 days a week back and forth to work, so I know of most of it's issues, foibles, and head scratching design work

mad_machine wrote:

Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote: Is there an "easy-button" for push-bar/winch? PS: Confession: It literally took me and the aerospace engineer 10 minutes to figure out how to get the goddamned fuel door open

the button only works when the key is in the off position. Shoot me any questions you may have, I drive mine at least 5 days a week back and forth to work, so I know of most of it's issues, foibles, and head scratching design work

Will do! Thanks!