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Which Disco 1 V8s were cross bolted & Disco 1 or Disco 2 for Tomca


WesBrooks

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Afternoon All,

Considering getting a 4.0 V8 late Discovery 1 or earlier Discovery 2. It would be a second vehicle used for a little green laning, UK holidays etc. Once I've got any back log of maintenance for the mechanics of the vehicle under control and perhaps megasquirted it / breathed on the engine a little I'm considering using it as a donor for a long wheelbase (106") Tomcat build.

Which would be the best donor vehicle? D1 suffer body rot, D2 suffer chassis rot. The D2 can have ACE (optional extra) and air suspension (7 seater) which both have posatives and negatives. I'd be concerned that in use the air suspention bags would warm significantly resulting to the car feeling very different when you firt get in to later on - is this noticable? I appreciate the ACE is a benefit only really to the road and could be costly to fix. These two issues aside I've heard that the axle swivels are different on the D1 to the D2? Finally I've heard you have to pick a D2 carefully to get all the physical components of the centre diff lock, but may have to fit the linkage. In general I'm just looking to use the vehicle with the most durable runnining gear as standard. I'm guessing the popularity of both vehicles are going to make parts relatively easy to source at not silly money?

As for the engine it would get serviced and well maintained while in the discovery guise, and rebuilt with some blueprinting when transferred over to the Tomcat. The later you go into the D2 years seemed to have suffered from progressively worse castings - I realise statistically there are many good ones but in order to stand the best chance of a rock solid block I'd like to pick carefully. I've heard mixed reports of what years the cross bolted engine made it into the Discovery 1. Some have said none - only D2, others have said 97/98, and others 95-98. I think it coincided with the distributor being removed? Are there any other ways of easily identifying the cross bolted engine from photos of engine bays?

Thanks for any help!

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The D2 body is 5" longer than the D1 and generally more refined.

ACE is brilliant and with common sense maintenance (protecting pipework from rust etc) tends to be very reliable. Interesting info on ACE here but to paraphrase, it has benefits off road too. Imho if the initial use is holiday with a little laning then given the low prices these days there's no reason to choose a D1 over a D2.

I wouldn't let air put you off, even if you didn't like it it's easily swapped out. (it's only in the rear, on 7 seat models)

There'll be CDL (without linkage) on cars up to 2000 model year (possibly up to '01), and 2004 cars have CDL with linkage. There are various options to get it hooked up. D1 linkage can be modified for the D2 and there are some after sellers who offer custom kits more like proper D2 items. Tend to be kinda expensive though.

Your comment about choosing carefully really goes for the hole car rather than just to get CDL. Rot is more than common in the rear of the chassis. Check for body leaks, they can be chronic and while easy to fix, a pain in the ass to get to sometimes. A car with a lot of knocks in the suspension can be transformed for peanuts and a socket set - ACE arms and anti roll bar bushes are really cheap. The Watts linkage is a little more work, but still really easy and not crazy expensive.

I have a magazine review article from '98 about the then new D2 that says ACE is so good it shouldn't be just an option, that the car is improved in every way over the D1 and that the only thing that could possibly make it flop was if it didn't prove reliable.

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I thought the castings got better with time as they had problems & moved to a different caster (Coscast?)

I also thought only D2 & P38 got the 4.0 cross-bolted, all Disco 1 & RRC being 3.5 & 3.9 (and 4.2 in the RR LSE).

If you're going down this route why not look at 4.6 P38's, no substitute for cubes and P38's terrify everyone enough that they're dirt cheap to buy.

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