My Disco II Build

[kcabpilot]

Nice work, good to see people building D2's

I did the headliner in my Alfa 164 last year. I went to the fabric store and got in a long line with a bunch of women. When I got to the cutting table she asked me how much and I said oh, six oughta do it. Well it wasn't 'till I got home and was walking into the garage with this huge bag of material that it dawned on me - hey, I got WAY too much of this stuff. Well yea, that's because fabric is measured in YARDS you idiot! So I've got enough left over to do two more cars. Duhhh

 

[MStudt]

Nice work, good to see people building D2's

It's a bit of a love/hate relationship, but she seems to be coming around. It's going to be tight getting everything finished up in the next 10 months, but we should make it. In addition to building this up to live out of I still need to rebuild the top end of the motor for the second time. Pretty sure I'm going to yank the motor out this time to make sure it's done correctly.

 

[kcabpilot]

Yes, I love my Disco - probably to a point that most people would consider unreasonable. I can probably give you a few tips as I am pulling the engine out next week and will be installing a transplant 4.6 that I picked up to use while I build my uber motor. The plan I've conceived is to have top hat liners installed which supposedly fixes the head gasket problems for good then use the crank and rods from my donor engine to upgrade my 4 liter to a 4.6. The cost, including $1500 for the liner modification, comes out to just under six grand and that's with all new parts right down to the motor mounts and a Crower cam.

It may sound unreasonable to most but what else are you going to get to compare with a good D2 with a brand new engine for $6k?

 

[MStudt]

Yes, I love my Disco - probably to a point that most people would consider unreasonable. I can probably give you a few tips as I am pulling the engine out next week and will be installing a transplant 4.6 that I picked up to use while I build my uber motor. The plan I've conceived is to have top hat liners installed which supposedly fixes the head gasket problems for good then use the crank and rods from my donor engine to upgrade my 4 liter to a 4.6. The cost, including $1500 for the liner modification, comes out to just under six grand and that's with all new parts right down to the motor mounts and a Crower cam.

It may sound unreasonable to most but what else are you going to get to compare with a good D2 with a brand new engine for $6k?

We tossed around an idea close to that. We almost pulled the trigger on a TD5 swap with manual transmission, but decided not to go that route. Then we started looking at the big picture, and realized that in a couple years we want to upgrade to something with more room. We decided to fix the stock motor, and save the money to invest towards a van that we can put a pop-top on.

 

[MStudt]

I finished up one project, and started on another. I've had the headliner done for a bit now, but never got around to posting it. I've only got 2 pictures at the moment of the finished project. It looks the same from front to back so 1 picture should do.

 

[MStudt]

I've started on the sleep/storage platform for the front section. I've only been working on this for a few hours so far, and hope to have the framing finished by the end of the week.

This is how the project began.

After removing the seats I needed to bend some metal that I could use as a mount. I have 3 of these plates that'll bolt into the factory seat bolt locations, and they'll get tied into the platform. These will be the anchor points for the front, and I'll continue to use the turn buckles in the rear.

I have 3 small sections mounted to the rear section. These sections will be used to bolt the front and back sections together.

These 3 supports will be tied together on the top/bottom in the front/back. I plan on welding some wire mesh in the center section to act as a divider.

 

[MLu]

Ooh.. following this with some interest. My solution for sleeping is a raised platform in the back with piano hinges that fold twice forwards over the rear seats when you fold them flat down and move the front seats all the way forwards. Not quite prepared to lose the rear seats.

 

[kcabpilot]

The thing about those rear seats, if you're not going to actually be using them, is that they weigh a freaking ton. That plus they are easy to remove - well they're easy to unbolt anyway, getting the big half out takes some thought so as not to injure your back. It's probably 150 pounds on it's own.

 

[MStudt]

Ooh.. following this with some interest. My solution for sleeping is a raised platform in the back with piano hinges that fold twice forwards over the rear seats when you fold them flat down and move the front seats all the way forwards. Not quite prepared to lose the rear seats.

That's basically how the platform in our 4runner is. We kept the rear seat in, and have a section the can be slid forward after the seat are folded down.

Since I have the parts laying around we're going to make this section with gas lifters on the lid to open them, and hold them open. The lids will also be made so they can act as a recliner of sorts. We'll be able to prop the lids up so we can sit upright, and have a back to lien on.

The thing about those rear seats, if you're not going to actually be using them, is that they weigh a freaking ton. That plus they are easy to remove - well they're easy to unbolt anyway, getting the big half out takes some thought so as not to injure your back. It's probably 150 pounds on it's own.

The small section isn't bad, but I needed help getting the larger section. I couldn't believe how much those things weighed. Besides that it was just 8 torque bolts.

 

[kcabpilot]

I've pulled them out a couple of times for excursions, there's a method to it. Remove the small one first then unbolt the big one and drag it out the rear hatch. Use a hand truck to move it to the storage area. Reinstall in the opposite order, big one first. They are heavy but, as rear seats go, they are very nice and quite comfortable.

 

[MStudt]

I've been moving right along on the front section of the platform. It's just about done at this point, but I don't have any good pictures at this time. This section is built just like the rear section. I countersunk t-nuts into the plywood, and then put formica over the top. All of these panels are held on with fasteners from the inside for a nice clean look.

 

[MStudt]

I've been able to get quite a bit finished up over the last week or so. The rear door is finally complete, and everything is working as it should.

Rear door panel finished up.

Dual fold down tables that are supported with our trekking poles. These are covered in HDPE for easy cleaning, and they can serve as cutting boards. The rear door also has a bottle opener, magnetic knife bar, led light on a gooseneck, modified rear door pull, and grap handle.

This is the cooking arrangement with stove, knives, and cutting board.

LED on a gooseneck, and the small on/off button to the right.

This is the modified door handle, and grab handle. The Rover used to have a handle flush mounted into the original rear door panel. That was no longer usable due to the panel that I made. I drilled a small hole, and ran the original cable from the handle through it. The added some heat shrink around the cable, and clamped it together. This will also us to open, and close the door from the inside it we need to.

 

[MStudt]

The front section of the platform is just about finished. I still need to add another section to the very front to extend about another 14" forward. I'm considering making two fold out sections to act as headrest, and to make the platform 74" in total length.

Looking from the rear forward. The back section has two large drawers that'll house all of our cooking supplies, and other things.

Side shot of the front section. I'm thinking of adding some black edge trim to the exposed plywood. Just not sure if I want to be able to see the unfinished wood or not, But maybe I'm just being OCD since it's never going to be seen once the custom bed is in there.

There are two small side compartments that are going to be used to store personal items, and things that we'll need to have close by. Even have a his, and her side. Which, will most likely end up as her, and her sides.

The handles for the side compartment are a push type knob. You push the knob down, and the it pops up. Once it's up you turn it 45*, and pull up.

The middle of the front section also has two large hatches that flip up for more storage. Each hatch is held down by two rubber draw latches, and has one gas lifter for easy opening.

Here you can see the latches. I was able to install out two 1 gallon Rotopax just under the lips of the hatches. These Rotopax are going to be for drinking water, and will be kept inside most of the time.

 

[Howski]

Great rear door setup. The LED light looks like a very helpful feature when cooking

 

[BMWJNKY]

Nice build. I made my sleeping platform in my Land Cruiser out of the same material. It was cheap, easy to work with and lighter than an all plywood one. I miss how comfortable and quiet my D2 was on trips and just daily driving and every now and then think about going back to one but it would be hard to give up my current FZJ-80. If I got a small trailer or RTT to go with the D2 it would probably make it easier.