Brought my Project Discovery 1 over here

[Nigelw]

Time for some picture goodness in this thread

I fitted new brakes front and rear, and while the front hibs were apart I changed the 4 short studs in the diff housing and all new hub seals all round, happy I did the fronts especially as they didn't look so good.







Good to see the drive shafts are barely showing any signs of wear.


Using correct box spanner for the hub nuts not a cold chisel


This picture shows a method of removing the old disc from the hub, you can do it this way but you "will" require a new hub seal as the block needs some mighty bashing to free the disc from the hub, I just put it in my vice and vented my frustrations upon it


Always be sure to clean off the old thread lock and rust, either by wire brush, or by the appropriate tap and die.




New discs on and torqued up with thread lock.



New Corteco seals





Although the new seals are pre-lubed, I like to add a bit more and add a good smear of grease on the stub axle too.



Locking washers are pennies, fit new ones, your life depends on it!



Finished article



Repeat times 4 and jobs a good un, unless the calipers stick

[Nigelw]

Should the transmission fluid come out looking like this?




Found me a Christmas tree on the sump plug too.



Here's a look at how the fluid that came out compares to new ATF.



Found a few chunks and flakes in the filter but hope there is nothing much to worry about.

Oh the joys of refilling it, best advice I could ever give is to buy a good quality oil syringe, the one I bought was expensive by my standards but it was still rubbish, will invest in a better one or maybe a pressurized filler for the future.

[Nigelw]

Here are some pics of the winch being fitted, not planning on getting stuck anytime soon





Trim grille to fit and done.





Looks quite good now

[Nigelw]

So after each roll of the dice I scored an own goal at the keuring, how random that they can actually miss things and then add them on to the next test

But yes, spatlappen!!!!!

Decided to make my own.

Trip to the shops yielded some goodies



This was my take on takling the mud flaps.

Take one piece of old conveyor belting, an old card board box to make a template and a sharp stanley knife.



Make template to suit, cut belting to size.





I used a hole punch for the bolt holes but an over sized drill bit works fine too.

Fit and forget.





This last picture demonstrates the width of the new flaps too.



Very happy now, but not for long!!! I had it suddenly dawn on me that with my new flaps being so long that they will get ripped off if I just bump a curb, so, on the bottom of the new flaps there is now a piece of flat bar rivetted on with a link from an old chain welded to it as to enableme to hang them up out of harms way when on an off road situation and to ensure that they do not get dragged under when reversing over a curb LOL.

[Nigelw]

Found some LED lighting to brighten up the interior a little at night when I need to see what I am searching for.

Before.



After.



Not bad hey

Then came the fun bit I have been putting off for the last few weeks, finding a good way to wire the winch in that does not make it look like a complete after thought, came up with this idea, cable tie cables to the radiator valance panel and then drill some holes through into the engine compartment to connect up, was going to re-locate the solenoid pack but it is very well sealed as I discovered when I opened up the housing so just brushed every terminal and connection over with vaseline to stop corrosion and water immersed contacting.







Test fit over and happy, get it done



Used a small piece of hose pipe with a slit in it to sheath the slam panel stay and then cable tied the two cables to that.







Really want to get the split charging sorted but not 100% on how I want to do it!

[Nigelw]

The good bits and bad bits update.

Bad bits first, well, I, erm broke the indicator stalk off in my hand after getting a little heavy handed whilst trying to turn left, looked a bit like.....

This..............





I can still use the turn signals and turn the lights on and off, but the horn, flash and high beam are currently unavailable until I get a new switch.

Now some good new and an improvement. Anyone who owned a car in the 80s and 90s will be able to recall how woefully inadequate the interior courtesy lighting was, now I had already addressed the front lighting with the LED panel replacement of the tube lamp and wanted to get another to fit in the middle light unit but they had sold out, time to get creative!!!

Went from....



To this.....



Left the back still dark and seedy, much like a hookers den not the back of my working truck!!!



NOW this is a vast improvement over that pesky little 5W tube lamp.......





Getting there slowly...............

[Nigelw]

So this now brings us pleasantly up to date.

I started off with a €3,500 budget to get a Discovery and get it on the road in a tidy order, kind of went a bit over the top.

€1200 Discovery.

€860 tyres

€750 winch and bumper

€375 repair panels

€160 replacement blower motor

€480 power steering box

€450 new shocks all round

€85 steering damper

€300 Discs and pads all round

€40 HD drive flanges (to stop oil leaking from front stub shafts)

€145 replacement oils, fluids and filters

€165 polybush kit

€80 genuine part headlamps (old stock from an independent supplier)

€130 seals, gaskets and sealants(hylomar and silicones for engineering purposes)

€80 miscellaneous second hand trims and interior parts

€320 new batteries(main starter and second aux battery)

€125 various electrical parts, components and cables

€200 welding wire and gas

€75 cutting and grinding consumables

€240 primers, paints, stone chip etc.

€100 on vinyl to re-trim dash

€140 complete new exhaust system

Think I'm up to date there.

total €6180

+ another €450 in tests and garage fees to enable getting to the test as it had to go on special trade plates and I cannot take it on those, €85 to get the new plates on and certified at the keuring station.

Oh my!!!

Not even started the mods and upgrades yet

Shocking hey.

[Nigelw]

Ik ben zo heel veel blij, de Belgische kenteken was hem terug na 6 maand geleden en sinds dat punt ik hebben en stuk of tien tot de RDW kunnen hulpen verder. Maar nu ik hebben mijn eigen Nederlands kenteken, twee geele platje op de Discovery gezetten en terug op de baan.