So I'm sure some of you saw the FS listing for the Sand Glow yellow Chevy powered Discovery 1 that had been floating around the classified section for a period of time. Well, I'm the "lucky" guy who bought it. There's an old saying that goes "You get what you pay for" and that certainly stands true here. Considering in 2010 it was originally posted for 9K, and when I bought it on 1-24-15 for less than half that, I thought I made out like a bandit.... In the beginning I was certainly sold on the truck for the number of mods and upgrades it had done versus the price it was listed at. I had the Camel Trophy fantasies we all dream of, but in reality it's been more headache than overall winner of Kalimantan 96.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...4-3l-Vortec-engine?highlight=discovery+vortec
When I bought it, it was located in Houston Texas. I was unable to drive it back myself (work commitment) so I sold a buddy on the idea of flying down and driving it back for me. Here it is when he picked it up.
In route back to Park City, Utah where it now lives.
This was a very very common sight over the first two months of ownership.
It first dropped two cylinders on its trip from Houston, which ended up being dead fuel injectors. In week one the clutch master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder both blew out and had to be replaced. The panhard bar bushings were completely shot and those also had to be replaced before I could do an alignment.
When I went to do an alignment I noticed that the steering stabilizer was hastily welded onto the drag link instead of using a u-bolt. So for now straightening the steering wheel is done one full turn at a time....
A day after the alignment my LR OME shock broke. I guess this might have been a blessing as both rear shocks had ZERO dampening left in them. They were both blown. (still week 1)
The radiator fans never worked so a coworker rewired the whole system for me. Which is only the start to a lot of rewiring this truck needs. I just don't feel safe really getting into the back country with this truck the way the wiring is on it right now. There is a lot of extra wire and a lot of unnecessary and unsafe power and ground connections.
The "New exhaust system from the Y-Pipe back" is really a bunch of NAPA press bends bubble gummed together and rooted ridiculously low under the truck. The drivers side of the Y-Pipe actually sits ON the Anti-Roll bar.
I don't have pictures of these repairs. But I also pulled and resealed the front windscreen as 3/4th of the top and all of the drivers side of the front winscreen was completely unsealed. The windscreen guy told me "This is the most unsafe window I've ever seen."
The right side rear window also came off its track on the way home so I spent a little time repairing that. Both front headlights have burnt out and been replaced. The RF blinker has never worked and still does not work, I need to invest some time to find the wiring fault deep inside the loom somewhere.
And best of all so far. At roughly 3:30pm MST today 3/24/15 (exactly 2 months from when I took ownership) the gearbox lost 5th gear and with that it also lost reverse. So I'm currently scrambling to find a R-380 gearbox or the specialty tools I need to rebuild it myself. :ar15:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...4-3l-Vortec-engine?highlight=discovery+vortec
When I bought it, it was located in Houston Texas. I was unable to drive it back myself (work commitment) so I sold a buddy on the idea of flying down and driving it back for me. Here it is when he picked it up.
In route back to Park City, Utah where it now lives.
This was a very very common sight over the first two months of ownership.
It first dropped two cylinders on its trip from Houston, which ended up being dead fuel injectors. In week one the clutch master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder both blew out and had to be replaced. The panhard bar bushings were completely shot and those also had to be replaced before I could do an alignment.
When I went to do an alignment I noticed that the steering stabilizer was hastily welded onto the drag link instead of using a u-bolt. So for now straightening the steering wheel is done one full turn at a time....
A day after the alignment my LR OME shock broke. I guess this might have been a blessing as both rear shocks had ZERO dampening left in them. They were both blown. (still week 1)
The radiator fans never worked so a coworker rewired the whole system for me. Which is only the start to a lot of rewiring this truck needs. I just don't feel safe really getting into the back country with this truck the way the wiring is on it right now. There is a lot of extra wire and a lot of unnecessary and unsafe power and ground connections.
The "New exhaust system from the Y-Pipe back" is really a bunch of NAPA press bends bubble gummed together and rooted ridiculously low under the truck. The drivers side of the Y-Pipe actually sits ON the Anti-Roll bar.
I don't have pictures of these repairs. But I also pulled and resealed the front windscreen as 3/4th of the top and all of the drivers side of the front winscreen was completely unsealed. The windscreen guy told me "This is the most unsafe window I've ever seen."
The right side rear window also came off its track on the way home so I spent a little time repairing that. Both front headlights have burnt out and been replaced. The RF blinker has never worked and still does not work, I need to invest some time to find the wiring fault deep inside the loom somewhere.
And best of all so far. At roughly 3:30pm MST today 3/24/15 (exactly 2 months from when I took ownership) the gearbox lost 5th gear and with that it also lost reverse. So I'm currently scrambling to find a R-380 gearbox or the specialty tools I need to rebuild it myself. :ar15:
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