California Dilemma- 97 Disco 1- Pan America hopeful?

[cbin17]

Okay so i will explain a little bit about myself and then a little about my dilemma.
For the last 4 months, my girlfriend an I have seriously contemplating doing the Pan American Highway. We want to do this in 4 years, so that i believe gives us quite the adequate amount of time to prepare for such a venture. The time we want to spend out is 6-8 months. (We might consider just traveleing to panama then turning back).
Right now I have a 97 Land Rover Discovery Series 1 with an automatic it will probaby have around 130,000 miles at the end of next month when we get back from our next camping trip.
The vehicle is completely stock besides an aftermarket head unit. This car has been in the family for 14 years, and has been completely babied by my sister for those years, regular oil changes and maintence. Well she ended up selling it to me last week for 800 bucks, because things just started to fall apart a bit, and so she could put money down on a brand new car.
SO HERE is the dilemma- i heard when traveling to south america it is better to have a diesel. My land rover is gas and 14 years old. I have been asking around and have not found anyone who will do the diesel conversion for less than 20-30k dollars, second off i cannot find anything on diesel conversions in california.
I have heard that 98 and back you are allowed to do the swap as long as you take it to some dmv out in the middle of no where to get it registered, take the risk? i think not.
Then i have heard from others that it is not legal.
So my question is ...do i fix this land rover w/ the gas engine? and take it to do the trip.
Or do i sell it try and make some money and buy something else?
My budget is 12,000- 15,000 for the vehicle- that means the vehicle itself and all the necessities i would need.
Or thats 12-15,000 into the land rover i have now to go?
I would like to hear some recommendations and advice. I am completely open to ideas!

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

If you play your cards right and keep a close eye on ebay ... check with folks like RoverDude (John Gadd) in California, and Wil Tillery in Virginia, ... you could refurb a truck of the broken bits quickly.
With that type of budget, you could do a lift and tires, diff protection, and some front Hellas, and spend the rest on the trip. (and have some left over).
Yes, diesel is best, but there are plenty of petrol trucks running up and down the same highway.

Just my two pennies.
D

 

[Christian P.]

cbin17,

Welcome to the forum - you will find a lot of information here.

Here is a couple of first thoughts.

4 years is a very long time to plan for such a trip. Many things can change over the course of 4 years - so I would not worry at all about the truck right now. Just fix it, enjoy it - and don't spend all your money on it. Actually, spend as little as possible for now and just save your money for the trip. $12-$15K will take you a long way in Central America.

Don't even consider a diesel conversion - it is not worth it, you are going to waste your money. You do not need a diesel for this trip but in 4 years you may need a vehicle that gets good gas mileage.

$800 is a steal for a Discovery so just keep it and have fun with it. And for the trip, re-evaluate in a couple years which vehicle is the best.

 

[cbin17]

Nashville Rover- thanks i will keep an eye out for some stuff out here in cali

2aroundtheworld- Thank you as well- When i break down the four years it goes something like this,
First off I am only 24, so next year i would like to get my masters, so that knocks off two years. So i would like to set up the vehicle up progressively over the next 4 years, slowly while paying for school and other things, than the last 2 years spend saving and doing alot more shake up trips here and there, and then of course the last year sitting down and charting a course and planning the trip out in its entirety. I don't know if that is crazy or not but its how i have geared such a trip to work.
As far as the diesel conversion the only reason i would really want to do it, is because i could get better mpg, which in turn would mean i would be able to longer periods without having to stop and gas up.
Also, with all these people running gas engines down in s. america, do they chart there entire course based on places they can get premium fuel? or do they simply add an additive to the gas they get?

I will make sure to post pictures of the Land Rover as soon as i can.

 

[discodisco]

Local club

I would say find a local club and join LRRForums and explore your truck as is with people who know about them and then make the decision.

If you want a diesel, I completely understand, but you will generally pay for it. Here are a couple of thoughts about getting a diesel. I love land rovers so I will only speak them. If you hang around the forums enough you can find defender and range rovers that might work for you. I am not sure how you feel about Series vehicles but you can pick up a diesel in good shape for a decent price. I personally love the Series vehicles because with an overdrive unit you can actually cruise at highway speeds. They are also super and I mean super easy to work on. It also means that if you work on it yourself and get it ready you will be able to fix almost anything on the road yourself and you can create your own spare parts bin for traveling with. If you get something with solid frame you can fix it up to how you want it. If you have never driven one, I recommend joining a local club and trying a drive in one it they let you. Granted while you are building it up, it may not be a great daily driver so you have to keep that in mind.

The great thing about a disco series 1 is that they are easier to work on then a disco II or anything newer. 130,000 is not a ton of miles so I wouldn't worry about that. I have 170,000 on my 01 DII.

 

[cbin17]

Thanks discodisco i appreciate the feedback-
I am open to all ideas.
I would LOVE to own a series vehicle but finding one around here is extremely hard, especially without a 30,000 dollar price tag connected too it, and all the ones roaming around are usually petrol based.
Joining a local club might have some benefits that i have not considered.
Thanks again

 

[Series1Rangie]

If you are in California, you have a couple of really great clubs to check out:
NCLR Northern California Land Rover Club http://nclrclub.org/forum/content.php Not a member but hear good things
SCLR Southern California Land Rover Club http://www.sclr.org/ no known affiliation for me
and a great non-club http://groups.google.com/group/mendo_recce some of the best rover folk around.

As some have already said. Make the vehicle reliable, drive it off-highway before making changes. You will be surprised how well a stock D1 will do, it will give you a better appreciation for what you do want to upgrade, and will make you a better driver for after your upgrades. It will also help you "kit out" the truck to fit you and what you take camping/overlanding.

I would think that for less than 5 grand (almost) any D1 could be made reliably expo ready. Take the rest put it in a CD and when you finish grad school, the trip will already be paid for.

When you get to that point, I would recommend keeping an eye on reliability and repairability with any upgrade you choose to make.

I have spent years "upgrading" my RRC. I got sucked into the things that looked cool, or I wanted to do to the truck, now its about what the truck needs, so that I have fun on the trail, not everyone else has fun watching me fix something on the trail. Having something break, fixing it, and getting home are great stories. I have lots of them. My gf brings at least one book anytime we take a rover. I just went on a 3 day 300+ mile trip 60% off-highway, and only had to spend 15 min in a parking lot 30 miles from home to tighten a couple of screws that vibrated loose on some washboard. I will tell you I enjoyed this trip more than some of the others, because I could. Did I still check the fluids? Yes, it is a land rover after all, but I didn't HAVE to work on it, and that was all the difference.

Sorry for the rant. Someone once posted on the forums here that an expedition vehicle is any vehicle that you choose to take. I have had amazing trips in Mitsubishi hatch backs, vw buses, and other assorted fwd and rwd cars. I think a D1 is a perfect vehicle to take inter-continental and I think that you can make yours the right one for far less than your budget in the first post.

HTH and I hope you enjoy your "practice" before heading south.

Mike and Myles

 

[cbin17]

Awesome Series1Range- I really appreciate it and sometimes rants are some of the best things, becasue you truly say what you feel. I was having the same feeling, i think i am going to enjoy it for what it is, and not try to dump tons of money into it.
I am planning on taking it out to Anza Borrego and doing sheep canyon April 1-3 and seeing what she is capable of, there is some rocks, and a small creek crossing. Give a littel taste of everything.

This is kinda off topic for the time, but does anyone know if there is a way to waterproof the electronics on a disco 1? i heard they are underneath the wheel well somewhere? I know the creek comes over the wheels so i am just a little worried. My disco is completely stock.

I really appreicate everyones thoughts, i think i am going to snap some photos, do some offroading and let the vehicle do the dictating of what it needs, and not so much my eyes.

I think i might turn this into a build thread pretty soon after i do some wheeling... i will start to post some photos on sometime soon. I will make sure to grab my gf camera before i head out to anza!

Thanks alot, hope someone can help me out with this ECU thing.