21 replies to this topic

[onefastmoke]

ok then here we go.

bought a 1986 ex-military land rover 90 in November last year, released from the military in 99 and 1 owner since then. to be honest bought it on a bit of a whim as I'm used to discovery's and range rovers and just wanted a cheap runabout while the discovery was broke but on closer inspection revealed an immaculate chassis. it was running on a 2.5l normally aspirated diesel which had just breached 200,000 miles and was running sweet although painfully slow:











after a month of driving I changed the roof for a shortened canvas one mainly due to the original being holyer than the pope and I was fed up of being rained on I also started removing all the flaky paint and counted no less than 17 layers of brush painted Infra red reflective paint (really nasty stuff) spent weeks in the street with tins of nitromors and scrapers, the neighbours thought I must have finally lost the plot







once all the paint was off I repainted using the correct IRR paint and a roller and it turned out like this along with the addition of a genuine miltary wading kit for driving in the sea













during the 2 week heatwave in june I removed the roof and doortops and left them in the shed only got caught out once

[onefastmoke]

got bored of the canvas so changed to a metal truck cab then disaster struck, a loud bang followed by enough smoke to accelerate global warming by 20 years. the engine was dead. so set to work stripping ready to fit a discovery 300tdi engine









I'm using the engine, r380 gearbox and both discovery axles but this did cause some severe headaches. new engine mounts needed to be welded into the chassis rails, oads of wiring modifications, de-immobilising the injection pump, modifying the seat box to allow the gear levers to come through in a different place. and also the addition of a full hard top with a land rover series rear door.
the suspension is all discovery and is now raised by 3 inches ready to go to 35" tyres



photos don't really give scale well currently on 235/85 tyres (approx 32") looking very small in the arches




the very crowded engine bay


new position of the gear levers shown here


still got a few jobs to do and some more painting but its almost back on the road and is drivable after much blood sweat and tears
lol, I wish I had been interested in normal cars I wold be a millionaire by now lol

[Teapot]

Super job Keep the Landy flag flying!

[Juju]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

You're mental. I love it.

Looks great as a lil pickup. Can you get a short hard top for winter?

Not sure I would have bothered with the paintwork!

[onefastmoke]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

You're mental. I love it.

Looks great as a lil pickup. Can you get a short hard top for winter?

Not sure I would have bothered with the paintwork!

Thankyou
yeah keeping the truck cab incase it gets too cold in the winter, I think these are the only cars with a heater worse than a mini lol.

The paint had to be done as it was flaking off in very large pieces and everytime I parked it somewhere I would leave an oil patch from the engine and some loose paint .
just got to paint up the new roof.

Edited by onefastmoke, 19 August 2009 - 03:32 PM.

[racer36]

only just noticed this thread !

how does the 300 discovery engine feel? my 200 is a hell of a lot better than the normally aspirated 2.5 ( same as yours i think tho mine was a turbo) mine also went bang with a ton of smoke !

i see what you mean about the seatbox they are really far back i wasent exepecting it to be that much !

also cant agree more about the heaters lol

how did the discovery axles fit? were they a straight swap? did you have drum brakes on rear orginally?

is that bracket for the air filter home made? i havent got around to doing my filter yet as im still painting the engine bay ( very stupid that i put the engine in first)

will defo keep an eye on this thread i need to get pics on mine sumhow but i cant as i dont have a cable for my phone

good luck with the rest and great work so far keep updated !

[rustandoil]

Good project good result

[JGunn]

looks nice man, ive also got a land rover 90, it has the 2.5td in it, which is getting a bit tired now, im thinking of doing the 200tdi disco conversion, just a bit daunting in the amount of work involved.

[onefastmoke]

looks nice man, ive also got a land rover 90, it has the 2.5td in it, which is getting a bit tired now, im thinking of doing the 200tdi disco conversion, just a bit daunting in the amount of work involved.

thanks. don't let things put you off, theres loads of guides for fitting the 200tdi and theres not half as much work as fitting the 300tdi like me. the only reason I went for it was because I already had the engine and box

[onefastmoke]

only just noticed this thread !

how does the 300 discovery engine feel? my 200 is a hell of a lot better than the normally aspirated 2.5 ( same as yours i think tho mine was a turbo) mine also went bang with a ton of smoke !

i see what you mean about the seatbox they are really far back i wasent exepecting it to be that much !

also cant agree more about the heaters lol

how did the discovery axles fit? were they a straight swap? did you have drum brakes on rear orginally?

is that bracket for the air filter home made? i havent got around to doing my filter yet as im still painting the engine bay ( very stupid that i put the engine in first)

will defo keep an eye on this thread i need to get pics on mine sumhow but i cant as i dont have a cable for my phone

good luck with the rest and great work so far keep updated !

Hi, haven't actually tried the engine on the road yet in the 90 but in the discovery it flew. I tweaked the injector pump, removed the cat and fitted a straight through exhaust it freed up loads of power.
I had drums on the back and yes the discovery axles are a straight fit as the brakes on the rear are the only difference.
the air filter bracket came with the air filter. its a K&N style filter in a sealed carbon fibre tube. I really wanted to keep my military snorkle but no standard airbox would fit in with it so it was the only option.
ordering my tyres this week so will have some more pics soon

[racer36]

only just noticed this thread !

how does the 300 discovery engine feel? my 200 is a hell of a lot better than the normally aspirated 2.5 ( same as yours i think tho mine was a turbo) mine also went bang with a ton of smoke !

i see what you mean about the seatbox they are really far back i wasent exepecting it to be that much !

also cant agree more about the heaters lol

how did the discovery axles fit? were they a straight swap? did you have drum brakes on rear orginally?

is that bracket for the air filter home made? i havent got around to doing my filter yet as im still painting the engine bay ( very stupid that i put the engine in first)

will defo keep an eye on this thread i need to get pics on mine sumhow but i cant as i dont have a cable for my phone

good luck with the rest and great work so far keep updated !

Hi, haven't actually tried the engine on the road yet in the 90 but in the discovery it flew. I tweaked the injector pump, removed the cat and fitted a straight through exhaust it freed up loads of power.
I had drums on the back and yes the discovery axles are a straight fit as the brakes on the rear are the only difference.
the air filter bracket came with the air filter. its a K&N style filter in a sealed carbon fibre tube. I really wanted to keep my military snorkle but no standard airbox would fit in with it so it was the only option.
ordering my tyres this week so will have some more pics soon

where did you position the steering damper? on the discos i have seen they are all on the back but they are on the front on the 90? also are the turbos in the same place on the 200 and 300 engines? if so how did you sort the turbo pipe?

thanks

[onefastmoke]

where did you position the steering damper? on the discos i have seen they are all on the back but they are on the front on the 90? also are the turbos in the same place on the 200 and 300 engines? if so how did you sort the turbo pipe?

thanks

the steering damper is on the back of the axle, I used all of the discovery steering components as i wanted power steering so it was a straight swap and with the added bonus its less likely to get bent on the rear of the axle lol

the turbo on a tdi is an odd one, on a discovery 200tdi and a defender 200tdi they are in different positions hence why everyone prefers to get a defender engine. the 300tdi on the other hand is placed different to the 200 but both discovery and defender are the same. if that makes sense. all I needed to do on mine was extend the intercooler pipes by approx 2" as the exhaust is the same

[racer36]

where did you position the steering damper? on the discos i have seen they are all on the back but they are on the front on the 90? also are the turbos in the same place on the 200 and 300 engines? if so how did you sort the turbo pipe?

thanks

the steering damper is on the back of the axle, I used all of the discovery steering components as i wanted power steering so it was a straight swap and with the added bonus its less likely to get bent on the rear of the axle lol

the turbo on a tdi is an odd one, on a discovery 200tdi and a defender 200tdi they are in different positions hence why everyone prefers to get a defender engine. the 300tdi on the other hand is placed different to the 200 but both discovery and defender are the same. if that makes sense. all I needed to do on mine was extend the intercooler pipes by approx 2" as the exhaust is the same

ah now i think i get it lol

ahh right....( vey confused) what i mean in when i fitted mine the turbo pipe kinks against the inner wing ( will need to sort it soon)

i have just baught a series 3 on ebay and plan on fitting either 200 or 300tdi disco engine into that aswel

[onefastmoke]

yeah, my tyres finally arrived yesterday


managed to sneak them into the dining room for the night before getting them on today

some comparison pics






put a mini wheel into this one to scale it


I think I may need to extend the arches a touch as well as i appear to have a little tread showing



on my final list of jobs now to get her back on the road. just fitted a full extended breather kit for wading, need to start knocking an exhaust together and paint the roof

[mighty mini jack]

Good work, its getting better and better!

I want it ...