ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Landy Disco? Party time?ToolsnTrack
@overdrive
Club Retro Rides Member 134
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Ok, so I'm off to view a 3.5 Landrover Discovery. It's an early model (j plate), Over 200k on the ticker, fairly cheap, 3.5i and LPG. Am I entering a whole world of pain? Has anyone had any proper experience here that can advise?
For those wondering the retro rides connection, think jacked, BFG's and satin black when I get it.... ;D
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Ok, so I'm off to view a 3.5 Landrover Discovery. It's an early model (j plate), Over 200k on the ticker, fairly cheap, 3.5i and LPG. Am I entering a whole world of pain? Has anyone had any proper experience here that can advise? For those wondering the retro rides connection, think jacked, BFG's and satin black when I get it.... ;D Think scrap after its next mot,complete rot boxes,steering box issues,electric issues in fact issues with everything. Your even getting the second worst model after the pointless 2.0 litre montego engine,ok there's LPG on it but as they'll struggle to do single figure mpg your still only getting 20 mpg average. Credit where it's due though their great off road and bits are in abundance while reasonably cheap. However if you want longevity and reliability you'll need to look elsewhere.
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Am I entering a whole world of pain? Yes For those wondering the retro rides connection, think jacked, BFG's and satin black when I get it.... ;D If you want to do that, you;d be better off with a hilux surf here is my old one lifted bigger wheels, satin black blah blah
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Wrong section.
Watch for vague wandering steering and rust - loadsa rust and the last one I drove with that kind of mileage was horrendous. Steering was all over the placce and ALL suspension bushes needed replacing. 3.5? you sure its not 3.9? My RRC does 14mpg on lpg.
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Current cars: 1999 VW Bora SE tdi 1998 Daihatsu Storia X4 (x2) 1995 Volvo 850R 1994 Umm Alter II 1992 Alfa 155 - LPG 1990 VW Scirocco Scala - TSR 1.9 1989 Renault Espace 1988 Mitsubishi Galant Sapporo 1987 Honda Accord Aerodeck Exi auto (x2) 1979 Lancia Beta Spyder
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if they used less fuel and didn't rot, they would have sold so many more.
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Landy Disco? Party time?ToolsnTrack
@overdrive
Club Retro Rides Member 134
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So just to clarify, these might have some issues? Ok, already arranged to view it so will have a thorough raid for rust and niggles. Cheers for the opinions.
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Any signs of over heating - walk away as the block has probably cracked around a piston liner any clunking from gearbox/transfer box- again walk away as its a full strip to replace the gearbox output shaft rust can be sorted but these rot at a fantastic rate,with so many mud traps in the car outriggers/ boot floor /ineer wings will be worst areas
engine noise more than makes up for it tho i had an early G reg 3dr in black with the 3500 v8 straight through exhaust and big wheels had people making room for it on the road 12 mpg wasn't fun though,even if fuel was only 75ppl !
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bl1300
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,678
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Lift the boot carpet if that floorpan is seriously rotten then the chances are its hiding a lot lot more.
Basicly used discoverys can be really nice but they can also be absolute money pits go over it with a fine tooth comb and then again for good measure and if it has lots of problems walk away!
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Current fleet.
1967 DAF 44 1974 VW Beetle 1303s 1975 Triumph Spitfire MkIV 1988 VW LT45 Beavertail 1998 Volvo V70 2.5 1959 Fordson Dexta
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i've had my £700 300tdi disco for over 6 months now and treated it badly whilst off roading and it just takes it! the last MOT all it cost me was three evenings of my time and some welding wire. my advise would be take an mot tester with you and to buy a welder do it if you want to have a good time off roading. look at it this way a fairly good 90 will cost £3500 upwards, i could buy 3 or 4 discos before it starts to cost anything like that.
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Mine (200TDi) wasn't very old when I bought it, to replace a Range Rover Vogue, but rust had already got a serious hold. Worse area of chassis was the rear rails behind the axle as drain hole gets blocked. Body then inner front wings, sills, inner rear arches when door opened on 4 door, whole fo boot floor and the rear body crossmember (under the rubber flap between bumper and door). Gearbox is LT77 and has a known fault in that insufficient lubrication so the output shaft to the transfer box splines wear and you get a clunk when taking up power. I've had such gearboxes that the splines have amost completely worn away ! If the chassis is sound and body solid then everything else is solvable and not too expensive to sort as plenty being broken plus loads of pattern parts. I'd have another but rot free chassis and good body a priority - anything else I'd walk away.
Paul H
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MonzaPhil
Posted a lot
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought
Posts: 2,456
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As captain V8 fan, Yay, but I'd get a Tdi every time, the V8 is all but useless in this application apart from noise making. Bear in mind these cars are seldom treated well. How cheap? Just bought an S reg 300 for £300 and an N reg 300 for £400 (at work, not personally). T and T V8 is worth about £500 tops unless it's amazing and has less than 100 miles on it, scrap money otherwise. As mentioned, check EVERYWHERE for rust, inner wings, bulkhead, roof, gutters, sills, boot floor, chassis, outriggers, hinges, door carcasses, diff casings. Expect oil leaks, it's how you know there is oil in there, if it's not leaking it might be empty! Can do you a good deal on a TD5................... or many, many bits from 200 and 300 models.
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This is now a clicky linky!
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,328
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Good to see some constructive responses above. We've used my brothers 20 year old tdi disco for general dog duties, dragging curse word around and as a dump run vehicle on and off for the last coupe of years. It's also served its time very well off road. Mot is shortly due to lapse and it looks as though it will finally end its days as a breaker due to rot around the back end and general worn suspension components. If they werent so cheap to buy, this one would be fixed up abd ready to hit the road again. He's keen to have another to replace it at some point and I can see the appeal. The tdi engines are lively enough, pull like trains and the space in the back is cavernous. For the money they fetch, there really is nothing out there to touch it. Despite the fact you're going for a petrol/LPG disco, as long as its solid and drives well (and you're prepared for poor fuel economy, same as any other vehicle of its weight and gearing) I say go for it and have a laugh with it!
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Last Edit: Aug 4, 2012 15:01:33 GMT by MK2VR6
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Landy Disco? Party time?ToolsnTrack
@overdrive
Club Retro Rides Member 134
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Well I went to check it out. Mechanically it seemed fine. LPG did what it should, drove fine.
Body had evidence of welding. Usually fine, but panel gaps were way out in places, and not I guess from bad alignment. Long tale short, I wasn't getting good enough vibes to even start haggling 700 quid down to the 500 I was closer to paying, so I walked away.
As some of my followers (if they exist!) will know my prior aim was a phase 1 Cherokee 4.0 on gas. Although that 8 pot sounded lovely, it wasn't good enough to convince me out of a Jeep.
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,117
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Landy Disco? Party time?ToolsnTrack
@overdrive
Club Retro Rides Member 134
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Sorry, should have mentioned, a bit thumbs up to those who posted the constructive pointers above! Certainly helped for appraising the car.
The search continues!
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This thread should be renamed, it's turned into a pretty handy buying guide.
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I have had quite a lot of old landrovers of various types, and quite a lot of japanese 4x4s, basically LRs need more looking after but are better off road while the japanese ones will still go pretty much anywhere any normal person would want to go but need far less fettling.
Bits used to fall off my LRs all the time, admittedly it never stopped them working, but various non essential parts would just vanish, or pack up working and they all seem to leak, both water and oil, both into and out of the cars.
We often had both here at the same time and if i wanted to go any long distance i always picked up the keys to a japanese truck without even thinking about it.
Thats not to say the LRs cant do long distances, just that its more of a risk IMO, especially if like me you have to drive cheap cars.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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panel gaps are nothing to worry about,thats how they came from the factory! Range Rover is pretty much identical underneath.same chassis/running gear ect. any 80's rangey still going has probably been looked after but they still have the same potential to turn into a money pit could always look into the Pajero/Shogun lwb the v6 seems to go well on lpg,but may be out of your budget as they do seem a bit more expensive
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as above, panel gaps big enough to stick your finger into is standard fare!
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I have a TD5, after having a 200TDI Range Rover, 300 and 200TDI Discovery.
TD5 costs a fortune, wiring in the engine bay gets oil contamination and fails, ACE system can cost a fortune our whole system has now nearly been replaced, its poor on fuel rarely getting above 28 mpg but that is to be expected, mechanically and rust wise its pretty good mainly electric gremlins and air suspension.
Ours has just clocked 170k.
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Some days you just need to take a grinder to an inanimate object, just to make your day a tiny bit better!!
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