Stolenheron's 04 D2 thread

[stolenheron]

This is my 2004 Discovery II SE7. I figured i'd make a thread just to keep the post clutter of updates all in one thread. I wouldn't exactly call this a "build" but i'm putting what parts i can on the truck whenever i can. It is my DD but it suits my main hobby of working out in the wilderness with wildlife...mostly reptiles. its used for light offroading and weekend trips and hopefully this summer will be used for longer trips to nowhere. I live in Fort Myers, FL but attend college in Auburn, AL. so this truck sees quite a few highway miles every year traveling back and forth, so i doubt i will lift it any further or ever go past a 33" (when i get there). I've learned quite a bit from this truck, both from a mechanical/maintenance perspective as well as a wheeling/exploring perspective. I haven't done any "hardcore" wheeling by any means, but i've dealt with water crossings, deep mud, sand, and rocky terrain between florida, georgia, and alabama.

2004 Land Rover Discovery II SE7. originally purchased in May of 07 with 16k miles, bone stock.

^picture taken the day i took her home.

Current Mod List- 02/13/10
-Tom Woods Front Driveshaft
-Rovertym Engineering HD 2" lift Springs
-Rovertym Rear bumper with integrated trailer hitch
-Old Man Emu Shocks
-Old Man Emu Steering Stabilizer
-Flipped and notched spare tire carrier
-Toyo Open Country A/T 285/60/18 tires
-custom fabricated 1/4" thick rock sliders (Fabricated by Michael S.)
-Magnaflow Muffler/Resonator-straight pipe delete
-2 Maglight mounting bracket with 3D and 2D LED Maglites
-Hannibal Basket Style Roof Rack #10914
-Rover Racks Rear Ladder
-Land Rover Genuine Upper Rear Taillight Guards
-McCulloch 8000k H11 HID foglight conversion
-Custom (2 Piece) Canvas (3 layer) Cargo Liner
-Actron OBDII AutoScanner
-WARN reciever Shackle Bracket
-Rovers North Front differential guard welded on
-QT Rear Bolt on Differential Guard
-QT "Mud Plugs" (Anodized Blue Aluminum drain plugs)
-QT Motor Mounts
-4 Hella FF300s on front of Hannibal
-Hella Work lamp on rear of Hannibal
-7mm Magnecor Spark Plug Wires
-Discovery 1 Rear Spring Seats
-remounted factory rear mud flaps to the RTE bumper
-Hannibal Double Jerry Can holder
-Wedco NATO Water Jerry Can
-Wedco NATO Gas Jerry Can
-Lev-O-Gage
-Hilift Jack mounted on roof rack via 4xrac
-HLC fab front bumper
-homemade washer fluid reservoir
-limb risers

some of those mods are petty and i'm sure i'm forgetting several.

Future Mods-
-winch
-Hella 4000s mounted to front bumper
-Roof Top Tent
-1" rear spacers to level the truck out
-snorkel
-breather kit
-hood black out
-Bed Liner interior
-Dog Guard
-16" rims with 33" tires
-lockers would be wonderful, but i doubt i'll ever get that far
-dual batteries
-gas tank skid plate
-a hardwired CB radio and antenna
-extended ABS and Brakelines
-awning

^there is plenty more hopes and dreams where that came from, but like i said i am forgetting some and i doubt i'll get all of that done....if anyone has access to anything on my "future plans" list, let me know and we can work something out.

 

[grasshopper104]

Very nice looking DII.

 

[stolenheron]

i've been debating to paint them black or not for months. i bought a spare 18" 6 spoke from someone just to test it out and see if it looked ok lol. we'll see if i do it or not.

 

[grasshopper104]

I have to agree - the black wheels would look nice on there.

 

[stolenheron]

adelatoa, what did you use to paint your rims? what kind of prep work, etc? like i said, i have a rim i can practice on to perfect the technique before i pull the 5 rims off the truck.

 

[adelatoa]

There is a lot of fuss about weather to powder coat or just paint because they would get scratched in trails. But my truck does not do heavy rock crawling so I went with powder coat. Powdercoating is tough when removal of dust. Plus I was able to just drop them off at the powder coated and pick them up. Plus I got a killer deal on five wheels $180.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

adelatoa, what did you use to paint your rims? what kind of prep work, etc? like i said, i have a rim i can practice on to perfect the technique before i pull the 5 rims off the truck.

I used the Duplicolor paint on my wheels several times with good success. It has held up pretty well on the truck, just depends on what "look" you want. The clear coat gets scratched by the same sorts of things that scratch the paint on my truck, but the colour coat has held up. So, while less durable to light scuffing than powder coat, I don't care because no point having the wheels prettier than the rest of the truck.

The only things that scratch it right down to the metal is the same thing that removes metal, and powder coat won't fare any better than paint.

I've also got track car rims that have been painted for a number of years, and held up to red hot brake dust attacking them.

I don't see any point to powder coating when the paint works that well. And it's real easy to do. I just scuff the paint with sand blast and sand paper, and then paint them. Never bothered taking them down to bare metal. Just give the paint something to bite.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

they were painted silver from the factory. what's the big deal to paint them black?

Conform to the Norm.

 

[stolenheron]

i don't see the big deal in doing something for visual appeal or going away from the norm.

i wouldn't go the powdercoat route, it would be rattlecan which would allow me to touch them up whenever the need arises.

trust me, i'd love to have a set of steel wheels, but I just can't afford them at the moment and i have higher priority modifications like a functional front winch bumper on the horizon. The alloys are serving me just fine, hell i have 6 of them laying around, and i'd be absolutely shocked if i bent a rim around here. there is a big difference between Utah and South Florida as far as terrain. And even the trails and areas i've played on while in GA or AL, while there was rock, it would still be difficult to bend a rim.

if you want to know "why" i want these 18" alloys black, its because i think it might look good. have i painted them yet? no. will i? i'm still not sure. Who says i would even by black steelies? i can get them in several different colors and i honestly i don't care which it would be in. Regardless of the cost of the rims, steelies would require me to go to 16"s, which as awesome as that is as far as tire options...that would mean i need to buy new tires. a very expensive venture. I'm on a college budget, i'm putting on what i can when i can. steelies/new tires just can't happen now.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Does he think that people with black steel wheels have them because they are..........Black?

The post before:

if you want to know "why" i want these 18" alloys black, its because i think it might look good.

Car enthusiasts have been painting allows something other than silver for about 10 years now. Why? Because they like the look, and actually WANT to look different than a set of factory alloys. It's so popular in fact, that Duplicolor has a line of wheel paints, all in something OTHER than black. Gunmetal, bronze, white, etc. But it's not a Land Rover factory option, so I guess that's why some don't know about it.

 

[SMD]

Future Mods-
-Winch Front bumper w/ Winch
...
-lockers would be wonderful, but i doubt i'll ever get that far

OK, so on a budget...

I highly recommend getting lockers,even just a rear DT, before the winch. Assuming you bought new then an ARB or RTE plus winch would run you around $2k, IIRC - haven't priced them in awhile. How much to drop an ARB air locker into the rear? Better yet, ARBs front and rear plus stronger gears? Again, IIRC, I think it's comparable.

Neither are cheap, but I've found my TT/DT useful on nearly every trip since installing. The winch, only a handful of times. If I were to do it all over again I'd put in ARBs F/R long before the front winch. Especially for driving in the slick southeast.

 

[JeffRRC]

You are correct. At least they are silver springs, not black.

 

[adrenaline503]

Anyway, nice Rover stolenheron. White ones always seem to look pretty nice, and I for one love them with black wheels regardless. I painted some steel wheels on my Jeep with the Duplicolor paint after scratching them up. I hate rust with a passion. It held up just fine and was easy to touch up.

How many miles "off road" can you cover in Florida at a time? I've never explored that part of the country as an adult.

 

[stolenheron]

i know about pete's wheels timmy, but at the same time i know dozens more where its turned out fine.

florida really doesnt offer anything with regards to distance with serious offroading.

but with the stuff in big cypress and areas just north of everglades city the rural roads and abandoned areas left by the Army Corps like the Fakahatchee strand offer a couple hundred miles of grid system which nature has taken back. leaving clean cut paths through the swamp. without a GPS you can get extremely disoriented very fast. 1/3 of the roads have been taken back by tall grasses, the next has remained untouched as sand or gravel, the last 1/3 turns to mud or can be under as much as 3ft of water during the wet season.

florida doesn't have many point A to point B trails in my area, as far as i know. most are just large tracts of swamp/mudholes or stuff like this where its a broad area, but doesn't truly cover much ground unless you drive taking random turns or going in circles....for me its perfect for finding wildlife, but for driving's sake it can be less than exciting during the dry season.

 

[Alaska Mike]

On a street-driven vehicle, I don't see a problem with painting allow wheels- as long as the prep work is done properly and the paint adheres correctly.

I've seen where Florida sand and salt can take off paint over time, so be sure to buy extra for touch-ups. Once you've done it, you're pretty much committed to the look since it can be a pain to get them looking stock again.