Discovery 2

I wasn’t going to post a thread for this but it’s somewhere I can keep track of updates and I guess it’s possible some other people on here are enjoying British engineering.

I initially set out to buy a early 2000’s Mazda built Ford Ranger for lugging about mountain bikes etc. Roads round here are shocking and prone to flooding, after many years of driving low/very low German cars I needed something a bit more sensible. After looking at a few Rangers and just checking the MOT history of a few more I soon realised that they are all rotten. Obviously an old Land Rover isn’t rust free but parts and information seem abundant compared to the ranger.

I am now the proud owner of this discovery 2. 3 previous owners 93k miles and a large selection of options, it doesn’t seem to have been abused too much although being a 18 year old car it isn’t without its problems.

I’ve had it a couple of weeks now and done a number of minor things; Removed headlights to clear out condensation and replaced bulbs whilst I was there, obviously a couple of the bolts were rusty and snapped so had to be drilled out and rivnuts replaced the original welded nuts on the slam panel. Interior lights replaced with LED’s. Covered the 1 piece of “wood” interior trim with black leather look Vinyl. Factory sat nav unit removed and replaced with a borrowed headunit temporarily until I can get a new one (going to go for a unit that fits into single din but has a double din sized screen). Whilst I was messing with audio the rear door has been dyna-matted and new speakers installed. The speakers in the rear door where destroyed but the rest of the factory Harman Kardon system is surprisingly good. Next weekend I’ll be doing a full service and replacing the cam shaft seal on the front of the engine as it has a pretty serious leak which is being blown everywhere by the fan.

Plenty of plans in the pipeline from remap too a mild lift and then we will see where we go from there.

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Love this shape of Disco, and thankfully they seem to have got rid of most of the roll that existed in the Disco 1.

Mine has ACE (Active Cornering Enhancement) which is basically a hydraulic controlled anti-roll bar. I'm not sure how to tell if its actually working or not but it really doesn't handle bad considering size and weight.

I suspect the way to find out is to take a passenger and get them to tell you if it feels like they are on a rough ferry crossing of the channel...

I drove a Disco 1 down to the Alps once, in shocking storms, was certainly an experience.

Oh this is great! Excited for updates!

Any more photos?

Sorry, I’ve been a bit slack keeping this thread updated. I’ll get some more pictures tomorrow! I have been working on it but nothing particularly exciting and once I get going I never remember to take photos. I’ve almost done full fluid change including gearbox and transfer box, just the diffs left to do. The cam shaft seal has been replaced (I’ll attach before and after pictures). Replaced the front passenger door lock actuator which is a bigger job than it sounds, have to remove the window frame! Also re-wired all of the tow bar electrics ready for a bike rack as what was there didn’t work at all and was wired incorrectly anyway.

I’ve got a new exhaust to fit tomorrow without the huge centre box which apparently makes a very noticeable performance difference.

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