Coyote; aka my 96 D1 5 speed build thread

[Ray_G]

Reflections from a light shakedown camping trip

Took the kiddos up for what is becoming our annual pre-school year trip to the Cove and used it as a chance to try out a few things.

New to the truck SD low rack...def feel like it helps the trucks lines a little more than the high (though I never minded the high rack).

Tried out a water resistant (advertised as waterproof but I've found few things in life are actually that...) cargo bag. I'd been torn as my desire was to go with sealine or perhaps some white water rafting duffles but for the type of pack out I do the expense wasn't worth the investment. This was fairly cheap and well reviewed on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Keeper-07203-...45256084&sr=1-1&keywords=waterproof+cargo+bag). For the purposes of this, it functioned as intended with a little precip day 1. Didn't come close to max capacity

Fits well on the back of an SD rack, still space up front for some pelican cases and room in between for more stuff if needed.

I like being able to see out of my rear & right rear windows...the bag facilitates this by moving light/bulky stuff onto the roof and leaving the rear for coolers/dry goods/etc. We didn't have much packing discipline on this trip b/c we didn't need it (I've got daughters...that's a lost cause anyway).

The eldest did have her first day on the range...round 1 all I'd brought in long guns was an MP5SD .22...we'll call this the modified seated

Top target is her first shot...child of a Marine.

She walked off the range that morning with the silly grin and the comment "I never knew something like that could be so fun". That prompted a quick trip down to the Walmart to get a more suitable beginner gun so she now has a 10-22 vice just the subgun clone.
All told a great trip out with the truck being used as intended, and this shot captures the end of the day as we stopped by a friend's to continue picking some parts off a 97 parts truck.

 

[97XD]

Looks like a great weekend at the Cove, Ray. Coyote looks good in the new rack.

 

[abrooks]

Good to see O is a better shot than her father already at such a young age. . .

Looks like a fun weekend!!

 

[HighPlainsPhotographer]

Great build thread! Thanks for sharing. I'm in the process of looking for a D1, this is certainly some inspiration for me to find the right one. Oh, great looking Disco!

 

[Glenn C]

Greetings from a fellow disco 1 owner across the (rather large pond) just wanted to say what a cracking disco one you have there , very nicely set up my current disco is my 3rd one and is serving me well 3 years on with much abuse on and off the road , love your rear stroage set up aswell :victory:

 

[Ray_G]

Greetings from a fellow disco 1 owner across the (rather large pond) just wanted to say what a cracking disco one you have there , very nicely set up my current disco is my 3rd one and is serving me well 3 years on with much abuse on and off the road , love your rear stroage set up aswell :victory:

Many thanks on the comments (to all of you, except maybe you Tony...I still remember your single-shot AK build...), I feel like by about the 3rd one I am starting to figure out what works for me.
Tonight was another milestone with the truck:


More to come, I need to fix my CB antenna installation, realized I never covered the D90 brake upgrade, have an x-brake to put on, and looming in the distance is the 4.6 build now that components for that are lining up. For now I'll leave with this (staged) photo of a recent mod functioning as intended. (what can I say, the little light guards made me happy and took 2 sec to put on...I know they are absurd.)

Cheers-
Ray

 

[David Harris]

The eldest did have her first day on the range...round 1 all I'd brought in long guns was an MP5SD .22...we'll call this the modified seated
View attachment 116448

Is that a garbage dump you're shooting at . . . ?

 

[Ray_G]

Is that a garbage dump you're shooting at . . . ?

More or less...the Cove in Gore, Va. While they say to pick up brass and the like that's not really enforced as you can see. The ground is literally a carpet of shotgun shells, dunnage, etc. The range offers the opportunity to shoot at all manner of reactive targets like old TVs, printers, appliances, etc (please note my sarcasm font won't turn on).

The upside is the range is right there at the campground (along with the lake(s) to swim/fish in, and everything else they have). The other upside-when I'm not teaching the kiddos the basics of marksmanship-is that nobody cares if you do moving engagements, transition drills, etc. So it does offer something compared to standing behind the firing line with the weapon resting on the bench style range.

cheers-
Ray

 

[brunjc2]

2" lift & 235/85/16 BFG ATs

LR HD coils + isolators + 1/2" spacer in the back​

Terrafirma big bore + 2 shocks​

How do you like the LR HD springs? Would you purchase them again if you were to do it all over again?

I have been contemplating replacing my stock springs with either the LR HD coils or OME, but I'd really like to stick with factory parts on my DI. Also, the 235/85R16 tire fits well with the isolators without rubbing? Thanks in advance, and THANK YOU for serving our country.

 

[Ray_G]

How do you like the LR HD springs? Would you purchase them again if you were to do it all over again?

I have been contemplating replacing my stock springs with either the LR HD coils or OME, but I'd really like to stick with factory parts on my DI. Also, the 235/85R16 tire fits well with the isolators without rubbing? Thanks in advance, and THANK YOU for serving our country.

I am pretty happy with the springs, the rear progressives in particular. I've had OME, RTE, and the LR HD stuff on the truck and it's a toss up for me between the tried and true OME setup and the slightly less height you get from the LR setup.

Where I'm not happy is the shocks, I wanted to try the TF's out but in retrospect I probably should have gone with Bilstein's to compliment the LR springs. As it is now I've got a set of Fox's that will get rebuilt and thrown on sometime this winter.

The only place the 235/85's rub is the radius arms b/c I haven't adjusted the steering stops-otherwise no issues.

Hope that helps.
r-
Ray

 

[bri]

235 can rub the front radius arms and also will catch the back part of the rear wheel well and might then bend your fender.

It could be that they would not rub if you still have rear sway bars intact, as these will limit articulation, but I am not sure.

You can do this.
http://www.discoweb.org/trim/index.htm

I think I just articulated the rig and saw how it rubbed and took of the minimum... less than above and not even noticable.

There is a little bent under part of the fender where the tire will catch. I think I just took this off.

 

[Ray_G]

235 can rub the front radius arms and also will catch the back part of the rear wheel well and might then bend your fender.

It could be that they would not rub if you still have rear sway bars intact, as these will limit articulation, but I am not sure.

You can do this.
http://www.discoweb.org/trim/index.htm

I think I just articulated the rig and saw how it rubbed and took of the minimum... less than above and not even noticable.

There is a little bent under part of the fender where the tire will catch. I think I just took this off.

I've considered the camel cut, had it on my other two trucks, but just haven't gotten around to it yet-will probably do as you mention by mostly working the piece under the fender back toward where the mud flaps would be if they were still on. Thus far in the past year I've had no issues in the back with rubbing though.

No sway bars on the truck, front or rear.
r-
Ray

 

[jscusmcvet]

View attachment 116447
The eldest did have her first day on the range...round 1 all I'd brought in long guns was an MP5SD .22...we'll call this the modified seated
View attachment 116448
Top target is her first shot...child of a Marine.
View attachment 116449
She walked off the range that morning with the silly grin and the comment "I never knew something like that could be so fun".

Warms my heart! My eldest two (daughter and son) both started shooting at 8. Daughter (now 21) solid with a handgun right from the start. Son (now 17) has that weird, calm style and now with his Rem 700 in 223, hits a golf ball at 100 yards at will.

We worked hard early on for safety:
"assume it is loaded"
"never point it at anything you don't want to destroy"
"finger off the trigger"

Sending you a PM.

John

 

[Ray_G]

Warms my heart! My eldest two (daughter and son) both started shooting at 8. Daughter (now 21) solid with a handgun right from the start. Son (now 17) has that weird, calm style and now with his Rem 700 in 223, hits a golf ball at 100 yards at will.

We worked hard early on for safety:
"assume it is loaded"
"never point it at anything you don't want to destroy"
"finger off the trigger"

Sending you a PM.

John

John-
Hit you back on PM, but totally concur on the safety thing. Long before we went to the range they both (even the 5yr old) were reciting the 4 safety rules...then we started on sight picture/sight alignment/breathing control/trigger pull. They'll get there with marksmanship but the baseline starts with weapons safety. Totally not related to the vehicle, but the emerging thing that I've enjoyed with the eldest's starter 10-22 is she quickly realized the stock sights were not optimal and thus I used it as an opportunity to craft the rifle into something I'd wanted too:

So together this weekend we installed the tech sights to give her better apertures as well as the M1 carbine tribute stock, digging the sights and the stock a great deal. The mock stick magazine is less than fantastic but its a start. Quite frankly a curved 25 rounder makes it look almost like an M2 carbine.

To keep things germane to the truck, I did install a better solution in the rear cargo area-initially I went with tan carpet which makes sense if you can keep things clean; but I can't have nice things and should have known better. Thus following the rear cargo thread in the storage solution I decided to imitate the guy who put rubber diamond plate mat down:

Should have done it that way all along, live and learn and a quick fix (the jack and other crap is in there to provide weight as the rubber was glued to the shelf boards)
Not Rover related directly but certainly a lot of fun, I helped a buddy get this to its intended destination the other day and then got to take it for a spin...simply impossible to drive without a smile on your face.


Cheers-
Ray

 

[Ray_G]

Make it stop...brake upgrades

Finished up install of the X-brake that replaces the parking brake tonight (note, if you have a Disco with an LT230 you almost certainly have the wrong cable...go ahead and order the right one at the same time as the X-brake...). A lively discussion on Dweb regarding the merits of the Xbrake is out there, pointing out that the existing drum brake is one of the things that LR likely got right. No argument from me that it is sufficient for the task, and quite robust. I decided to go with the X-brake for a couple of reasons in receding priority: better throttle response, particularly given that it's a 5speed; less rotating weight on the rear driveline (more or less a companion to the first reason).

The throttle response is definitely better, so the objective was achieved. If I had a ZF I'm not sure I'd go through the trouble, but for the R380 I think it was worth it.


Awhile back I installed D90 front brake calipers and rotors on the truck (got them complete with the hub so did the front bearings at the same time). Larger pistons and overall better stopping power-this is a definite improvement and I wish I'd done it on my previous trucks. In a previous life playing with sports cars I lived by the adage that if you make it go fast you'd best concentrate on making it stop first, that has applicability with Rovers too I've found-particularly as you put more weight on/in them. For any D1 owner I'd highly recommend the upgrade.


We'll see what's next as the fall goes on. I think some more interior tinkering like refinement of the chainsaw storage and making a cargo barrier top the list. Rebuilding some Fox shocks round out the near term.
Cheers-
Ray