The DiscoDavis Discovery 3 Build Thread

[DiscoDavis]

As mentioned, an issue with the truck was that one corner would sit down over the course of 24 hours. The strut would pressurize fine for driving but it looks ugly parked like that. I hated coming outside in the morning and seeing a droopy truck

Land Rover in Walnut Creek sorted this one out. Swapped a strut (might have been part of the problem, still unsure about that), and then a few weeks later changed the rear EAS valve block. There was a pinhole leak on the passenger side of the block in one of the lines. To its credit I drove around with that leak present for 11 months before it was addressed, so it wasn't exactly a critical issue.

Story time

It made the journey from DC to San Francisco with (almost) no mechanical failures (one tire did blow out). Just outside of Elko, Nevada, tire pressure warning hit the dash as a loud whooshing noise hailed the news that a tire was going, at 80mph mind you. We were almost halfway between Elko and the next town, stuck on the side of the road for several hours (there was the LR donut, but all my worldly possessions were stuffed in the truck, and I was convinced either by my copilot dad or the tow dispatch people that someone would be by soon. Blowout was maybe 19:00 or 20:00, we didn't reach Elko with the towtruck and landy until about midnight. Bought a new set of tires that next morning. Turns out the landy ran over a half-inch bolt, put a nice neat hole in the tire that was unfixable.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Early modifications:

With some bigger mechanical stuff out of the way, I did a few things to make driving the disco much nicer.

Cargo cover and bluetooth-to-aux module.

One day before I drove out of Virginia, somewhere in Fluvanna County.

Velcro-in vinyl cover for the rear

AUX input location is garbage. I never understood why they would put it there because it is always getting kicked at. I have it plugged into the stock location but electrical taped to the console so that it routes towards the drivers seat. No problems yet... Moved the USB plug for unit power to the drivers side plug up front.

The little bluetooth unit is actually tacked with a hot glue gun to the square space on that plastic cover. Perfect amount of space and nobody notices it unless you point it out. Has not moved at all in several months.

Wiring not pretty but functions great.

 

[DiscoDavis]

The Drawers

I travel long distances (~500mi) every week and need to carry a certain amount of fluids/tools/parts just in case. I also don't always end up in super nice places where theft doesn't exist so I needed a secure way of transporting a lot of gear while keeping the potential for projectiles in an accident down. I also wanted it to serve as a starter for a sleeping platform, and keep the ability to tie down cargo to the top and carry day to day niceties.

Dimensions: 11" high, 41" wide, 39" deep

Left the drawer pulls on while I waited for latches to arrive by mail. The holes in the back of the housing are to allow for air to move when the drawers are pulled out/pushed in. Painted with rattle-cans first rock texture then several coats of black. Drawer slides are the cheapest ball bearing 22" slides I could find at the hardware store. It is tied down to the factory points.

 

[A.J.M]

On the diffs and stuff.
I didn't have the upgraded breather on mine till a couple of years ago, I never knew of it and it was said 3 owning mate that give me it.

There are 3 diffs for the D3/LR3. Diesel manual, diesel auto, v8 petrol auto, this is for the uk market. They have different ratios and you need to exchange like for like. There was a story of a D3 in Africa that had the wrong diff fitted after work. It nearl my had a nasty accident after the diff wound up and dragged the car violently off to one side.

Failure on uk cars is very rare, I wonder if there is something with the v8 diff and ratios that makes it more prone to failure.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Huh... That I did not know. We are splitting the diff open soon and trying to replace the bearings on each side but this could complicate things. Do you know if they all run the same bearings, and the only difference is the ratios? I have heard a lot of the grinding problems with the diffs attributed to some bad batches of timken bearings or maybe the strain/pollution of the diff.

Yeah just another reason we looooove the NAS vehicles.... I have seen the rustiest diesels run for so long without problems. Next ten years will be a good indication of the D3's legacy.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Drawer latches

I was concerned about making sure the latches could stand up to some abuse so they were mounted in a heavy-handed fashion.

They have no problem with heavy loads :ylsmoke:

How it looks as a commuter setup. Some weight needed to be shed so the factory tool kit, jack, and spare/winch were removed. There is a cutout in the drawer floors so the winch could be accessed with a socket extension through the jump seats but I didn't want it there and the full size spare needed to be aired down to fit, which is not ideal until I can maybe find a compressor to put in the truck.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Belts

These came up on the maintenance schedule. Helps to get the correct fan tools

Wrenches 8007, 8036

The Assenmacher guys were great, fastest email reply I think I have ever gotten, and they worked perfectly. The fan nut took a fair bit of muscle but came off okay. Since the 4.4L has 3 bolts on the main pulley instead of 4 that is more common here, it was a nightmare trying an autozone rental kit.

Pretty straightforward.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Rack and ladder

Saw a post on the LR forums that a guy was selling a baja, spare roof mount, awning mounts, and the jerry can mount for a fantastic price near where I work. Snagged those. Ordered decking that night. The PO was nice enough to leave me some warn light mounts on the rear. Score!

The haul

Had a ladder waiting around for a rack so that came out

Should have gotten some step bits for the drill, but I made do with 21/64, 23/64 standard bits and made the rivnuts fit. Also should have gotten a rivnut tool but I made one from spare parts. Holes needed to be 9mm

 

[DiscoDavis]

Rack decking

3 sheets of polymax poultry flooring arrived shortly. Shipping was

Each sheet is 24"x48". Magically a Baja rack will fit 3 panels with very minor trimming. Front basket (1 panel), and main basket (2 panels).

They are durable, but ridiculously easy to cut. I trimmed them with a hacksaw and a swiss army knife saw.

fitted two panels into the main basket, used the third to cut up and fit the rear jerry can slots and part of the front basket next to the spare. Lots and lots of zip ties :ylsmoke:

 

[DiscoDavis]

More misc. maintenance items


Control arms

Front LCA's replaced, Old bolts vs new...

Thermostat

Engine threw a CEL and the code P0128 - Coolant Temperature Below Thermostat Regulating Temperature, after a long downhill where it could finally tell the loop couldn't be closed all the way so op-temp would drop significantly.

Old and new, That is exactly how it looked when I pulled it out of the housing. Side note: don't lose the tiny thimble that sits on top of the spindle part of the thermostat.

Here is how I should have done it: (I made several mistakes namely not removing the housing entirely and doing the work inside on a bench)

>remove engine cover
>remove bleeder tube outlet from T stat cover and let some coolant drain from that location
>remove 3 screws holding t stat cover
>remove the other two hose clamps and hoses from t stat cover
>take inside and swap thermostat, make sure you swap over tiny thimble thing (also known as: Xanthor, destroyer of wallets)
>remove and replace gasket @ engine with some tiny pliers
>replace cover with new t stat on engine with the 3 screws
>reattach hoses
>fill coolant system

bleed/burp
>fill as needed
>leave expansion cap open
>don't use the bleed valve T or the bleed screw. Not necessary
>Rev engine between 2500-3000 rpm to warm up
>get engine to 195-210F(which is where thermostat opens)
>shut down immediately after loop opens, let cool, check coolant level
>add coolant if necessary
>do process one more time (or two)

done.

Airbox

After a trip to the Lost Coast, I went to look at the air filter and it had MUD stains on it...
Pulled the airbox out to find that the flappy drain valve had completely rotted away (look at the open hole in the middle of the box) and was sucking up water, dust, and mud directly from below. The L-shaped rubber tubing that connected the box to the "hallway" of the fender for the air intake had a ton of holes in it as part of the design. Never knew that and immediately siliconed up the box and those holes. Started thinking about a snorkel just because of the dirt/dust I found.

You can imagine the quality of air getting into the engine on dirty trips. Photo is AFTER we cleaned up the area to get the box out. Took a bit more scrubbing to make it really clean.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Lost Coast and plans for better modification

Brenton (who put on the Camel Trophy night at TAD last month), about to winch the disco out of the sand on Usal Beach.

Racing the sunset to our beach camp down in the valley ahead. (Mendocino County, California)

Fellow ExPo member NCLRBear descending down towards Usal Beach

This was the first time I used my current sleeping system and it was a resounding success. An extra platform bolts onto the drawers and acts as a shelf for the mattress/sheets, and allows for storage beneath (and the bracket for the fire extinguisher. Build below.

Everything is twin-sized: sheets, mattress cover, duvets, down pillows. The mattress is some tempur pedic knock off thing from bed bath and beyond if memory serves me. 3" thick, holds up well. thermarest Z-lite closed cell foam pad underneath. I snored through a massive rain/windstorm the second night on the coast. Stepped roof is king for headroom.

If the camp is on a hill you need to get a little creative. Couple rocks and a hilift plate doesn't hurt. I copied the D2

Platform

More 3/4" plywood. The platform has an aluminum channel bolted on that fits the lower support and the lower support bolts through the channel.

 

[sunrisehiker]

So, how well did you sleep in that rain storm ?
How was a condensation inside, Lr3 is known for a tight cabin , no air leaks at all , so was wondering what is your set up in terms of supply of fresh air , especially in rain,did you leave a rear gate open a little bit or did something else to prevent CO2 suffocation ?

 

[DiscoDavis]

So, how well did you sleep in that rain storm ?
How was a condensation inside, Lr3 is known for a tight cabin , no air leaks at all , so was wondering what is your set up in terms of supply of fresh air , especially in rain,did you leave a rear gate open a little bit or did something else to prevent CO2 suffocation ?

That is a good question. I honestly didn't think about it... but I am still among the living so it seemed like more than enough. The truck was only closed for a few hours at a time, max. I may have cracked the windows and or the sunroof with a tarp over the rack to keep rain out. As for the lift gate I learned really quick that if it rains hard enough the runoff slopes from the edges of the hatch down the strutts and begins POURING onto the tailgate. Did NOT have that open. That night was after a few beers and a generous helping of (I believe) fireball, so I did have to journey to and from the latrine a few times during the night, thus cycling fresh air in through the rear doors :sombrero:.

In a perfect world I would like to have an awning on one side so that those windows can be cracked open a few inches.

 

[Ray_G]

My vot partner slept in his and had some jerry rigged mesh, a more refined version would be to get some screen and magnetic tape, glue gun the screen to the tape in appropriate dimension and there is some airflow. These also strike me as an even more elegant, if costly, solution: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Window-AIR-...covery-Pair-/171907320768?hash=item2806798bc0

 

[colb45]

For your spare tire conundrum, grab one of these http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0036E9VB6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

I tuck my 265/65-18 KO2 up in my spare well, and use that little guy to get it going, also nice for airing down etc.

Only complaint is its a bit of a bugger to get the tire up there I find i use a floor jack and it just pops it in there, dont want to blow up the little winch. Rear bumper and tire swing is on the "To-do" list.