This is the diary of Discopoo, here you will find a brief and sometimes humorous ( I hope ) account of some of the work and mods I have done to my Disco
September 07
Initial purchase
Whilst at the Ibstock fair with the club I am a member of, AMOR , a very nice man named Rob happened to mention he had a Disco with a few mods he was thinking of selling.
Apparently he had a 92 Disco with a 2 inch lift, mud terrain tyres, diff and steering guards and a nice set of Modulars. Also fitted was a 9000
superwinch, and was prepared to sell it at a very reasonable price. But and it was a big but, no pun intended ladies, It had a little welding to be done on the boot floor.
Now those of you out there who own older Discos are already ahead of me but for the uninitiated let me explain.
When someone says a little welding to the boot floor run away, very fast, it will, inevitably mean a whole new boot floor and in my case a new rear body cross member and closing panels. Now the parts they may cheap enough but when your welding skills are non existent you know you are about to use up all your favours in one hit.
It's at this time I would like to say a big thank you to Paul, my long suffering friend and to Ken, my longer suffering brother, for their hours of lying upside down and grinding and swearing at mostly me but also at said Disco.
After many nights and a couple of weekends Discopoo was finally moted and Taxed and ready for her first outing.
November 07
First outing
So here I am, off to do some Warwickshire lanes with the club, gently hurtling down the M40 thinking to myself " It feels a bit bouncy on the front ".
Now most people would have been at least concerned by now but not me, I was just happy to be out in the new motor. On arrival at the campsite every one gathered around to inspect the new addition and ask how it handled and all, when I explained about the "bouncy" bit, Mark, a fellow Disco owner had a quick squint under the front and came up chuckling. Not one to take things to heart I remonstrated that the welding was not done by me but apparently he thought that was very neat. He was chuckling at the fact that the front shocks were on upside down, a fact missed by me, Brother, Paul and interestingly enough The MOT man ?
Now not one to panic too much I decided to go on the days laning and rectify the problem on arrival back at H.Q. Which I dully did and to my surprise the handling was transformed overnight.
December 07
Snorkel ?
It's about now you will realise that not only am I a bit tight but I also work on a tight budget.
I wanted a Snorkel but was not prepared to pay upwards of £180 for one so in my normal "I can do it for less" and I meaning enlisting the help of someone else, in this case Paul. decided that 2 inch drainpipe and some elbows would suffice. Fitting the drainpipe and sealing it was not a problem, the hole in the wing was another thing. Fortunately, up steps Paul to cut said hole for me. Once the pipe was in position a little heat in the right place to get the bend to keep it neat against the screen pillar and away we go, £15 from Wickes.
January 08
Rear Diff
OK, so I forgot about the wading kit ? Rear diff filled up with water and knackered the front seal. Fortunately brother Ken is breaking his J reg Range so a diff was on hand, as for the wading kit, 15 metres of air pipe from the aquatic shop and some connectors has done the trick. It does stand out a because it's clear pipe but hey, it only cost £6, result.
Also this month had to do the Hardies in the front prop, not much drama but a pain all the same but cheap enough thanks Mr Craddock
February 08
Some toys
Quieter month this month only managed to fit an Inverter so small son could watch DVD's while we were out
March 08
More mods and a bit of refitting ?
First of all found that I needed a bit more power to the inverter so purchased a 400watt one for the front and put the 300 in the back,. Secondly fitted an extra battery, split charging system, not as hard as I thought it would be but not with out much swearing and grazed knuckles and scratched arms lol.
Everything working fine even the Laptop works in the front, now I just need to work out how to use Memory map lol
May 08
Just when I thought it was safe or, one busy month
OK, where do I start.
I had noticed that the Disco had got a bit vague on the steering, I do a 40 mile round trip every day, a lot of Motorway, so it became a little disconcerting. On inspection I found that the front trailing arm bushes were gone, not to worry, had a spare pair on aforementioned Range, with poly bushes already fitted, result. No, because on closer inspection it had also taken out the front prop again with all the movement. Not only that but I also found that the rear dif had done the front seal again. On closer inspection I found that the rear prop had stopped sliding ?
So this time, nicked the front diff out of Kens Range, front trailing arms, Mark from the club had a good rear prop and Paddocks came to the rescue with a nice shiny front prop. So guess what I did May day weekend lol. Fortunately I had a couple of extra days off for Voting and one thing and another, so work commenced on the Thursday finally finishing on the Saturday morning by the fitting of the new prop, which was just as well as I was due to go laning with the Club on the Sunday. Got it all done and what a difference it made, the Disco has now got so much better road manners that I can't wait till I can afford to replace the rear trailing arm bushes.
Did another event with the club. this time Stainby quarry, no damage on the day but when I came out of work on the Tuesday night I noticed the steering box was leaking. No problems, Mark to the rescue again, he had a not too old second-hand one, although it did have a different drop arm so I had to nick a steering arm off Ken's range to help but I got it done.
June 08
Nice and quiet
Nice easy month this one, no off roading and just a little fettling.