DiscoClax

G'day all, Has anyone got the standard factory advance curves (spec or measured) for a 3.9 serp interim? I am going to drop in a high comp stroker in the next couple of months and am trying to work out if a standard dizzy will do the job (retimed) or a re-graph is mandatory. So I'd like a baseline to work from. By current dizzy needs a rebuild - so i can't just work out the standard curve from it. I have spare dizzys that are either 2 or 3-pin, single or dual stage (mech advance). It seems that any new dizzy on the market is a one-spec-suits-all and that doesn't ring true given the vast myriad variations of Rover V8s (3.5, 3.9, 4.2, 4.6, high-comp, low-comp, with cats, without, etc, etc.) Cheers in advance

Sounds so simple, even I can do it. Cheers mate. Good guide. I'll try that and then see if that sorts it.

The lock stops are set on both sides so that the tyre juuuuuust rubs lightly on the radius arms at full hard lock so that I get maximum wheel cut angles. My tyres have sidewall protection moulded in, so a bit of light rubbing won't hurt them... Is there a process of 'centering' the steering box or something like that?

My brother picked up my new D2 headlights for me today. I'll get them on the weekend They look like they're the Magnetti-Marelli aftermarket ones off the OE tool (logo still there, but ground off). AU$210 for the pair, which I thought was quite reasonable. That'd be about £130 at current exchange rates, for those of you in the old country. Will post pics once fitted of before & after. Only two more sleeps.... Thanks for the advice.

Something caught in the fins (blades) maybe. A leaf, twig, choccy wrapper, etc? Or a shot bearing allowing the fan to rub on the housing? I've had this in other cars, but not my trusty Disco

OK, this may seem a dumb question.... But I have almost 1/2 a turn of steering lock more one way than the other. How do I adjust that? The steering wheel is straight ahead. I noticed the other day that I could turn tighter one way than the other and then went looking for reasons. Only got as far as the steering lock difference.

G'day Thierry, Not sure I can answer that as I don't run anything that large (yet... anyway), but I can give you some indicative info based on my smaller tyres. There will be others on this forum running that size rubber (or bigger), and I'll guarantee it's been covered in another thread, so I would suggest you run a search. It'll depend on the offset (backspacing) of your rims, as to how much trimming you'll need to do, but you will need to do some bodywork renovation to fit those boots on a Disco1. A 33x12.5R15 is roughly the same size as a 305/70R16, for reference (same diameter as a 285/75R16, but an inch wider). Note that the lift itself won't stop any rubbing, it just moves the tyre away from the vehicle a bit in normal driving. During articulation, the tyre will still come all the way back into the arch anyway, unless you extend bump stops, etc to reduce suspension compression. To run my 31x10.5R15s on 15x7" rims with P19 offset (P33 is standard), I've had to trim the trailing edge of the rear wheelaches and notch out the front upper section of the rear aches as well. I've also pushed the trailing edge of the arches outboard by about 3/4" with extended stays. I still get a bit of rubbing at full articulation in the upper forward section. Note that a lot of the aftermarket rims are very low offset (0, +6) or even negative offset (-25, -10) so your tyres may sit out further in the guards than mine, meaning a lot of trimming and fender flares as a minimum. I've heard that front bumper end caps need to be trimmed as well, but I run an ARB Bullbar so haven't seen that issue. Advice? OK - I would fit the front prop shaft from the D2. It has a double-cardan joint at the transfer case end (looks like two UJs next to each other in one assembly). You'll need to fit the matching transfer case flange as well (the D1 is different to the D2 one), but it's a straight swap. Castor correct the front end either with offset bushes or new front radius arms (2.5-3.0º) or you'll always be chasing the front end around while driving (especially bad under hard braking). Do these mods together or your driveline angles will be horrible (lots of vibration, early death to the joints) - don't do the castor correction before doing the front prop. You'll be able to get rid of the circular mass damper on the diff nose (at the steering damper bracket) at the same time, as it's there to tune out some of the vibration caused by the standard UJ front prop shaft. The double-cardan joint (DC joint) is effectively a form of CV joint (constant velocity) and can run at big angles smoothly, unlike a normal UJ which has to be under 0.5-1.0º to be truly happy. Just check that it's nice and tight without any play in the centering mechanism or it will vibrate and that part itsn't usually repairable. Oh yeah, and if you are still running a front sway bar (anti-roll bar), you'll need to space it down away from the chassis by at least an inch. Otherwise the bar with make hard contact with the front prop at full droop. I used some steel hollow box section (1 x 2-1/2") and longer bolts (M8 or 5/16" from memory) with new nylocks. Good luck

Alright, I've been a bit slack and not provided a update for yonks. So here it is... Firstly I have to come clean and admit that I have been horrible to these tyres. Since fitting them they weren't rotated, or re-balanced, or anything. Tyre pressures adjusted only. The front wheel alignment ended up way out (around 12mm toe-out, due to worn tie-rod ends, etc) and was left that way for far too long. Plus I lent the car to a mate who drove it for about a year sight-unseen by me, around town mostly, having the tyres chewed up. I got it back in October and then I set about fixing the wheel alignment, etc as it was returning to use as a daily driver for me. So the tyres had completed just over 65,000kms (40k miles), and I've just replaced the fronts only. They were still easily legal, but getting a bit low on tread to be much chop in the slippery stuff and heavy rain at highway speeds was starting to get a bit 'interesting', especially before the castor re-adjust . They've now gone onto my trailer for a second life. The rears have still got around half their tread remaining, or more, by eye. Noise levels did increase slightly with age, but the difference between well worn and brand new wasn't that much, and the worn noise was really no worse than a decent A/T at the end of its life (my previous 225/75R16 BFG A/Ts made more noise). The front tyres had scallopped a fair bit, largely due to the whacked-out front alignment. And yet the overall tread wear was reasonably even across the face, but with a bit of high-low'ing and tapering of the blocks on the shoulders. The tyre wear rate did seem to accelerate towards the latter part of its life, but that may be more due to the different drive-cycle (urban grind vs open-road)and buggered alignment. Tyre grip dropped off a bit towards the end, too. But the step up to the new ones wasn't as big as you'd expect. The worn ones were still doing 90% the job of the brand-spankers, I'd reckon. When I had the fronts replaced in late January (with another pair of KL71s 'natch ), I asked the tyre joint to spin the old ones up (all four) just to check the dynamic balance. None of them were more than 20g out. All run/ran true, no bulges or problems at all. They have held their tyre pressure very well, with maintenance involving checking rather than re-filling. I'll take some decent pics and measure the actual tread depth and post that up. But, here's a couple of pics of it recently, and one of the new front tyres after being 'run-in' on the way home... The outer shoulders of the rear tyres have chopped up a little bit (tyre to fender lip handshaking), but otherwise the tyres have held up very well to the use/abuse I've put them through. Having said that, I haven't driven on much flinty stuff, so can't comment on chip-resistance under those conditions. No problems in/on mud, dirt, sand, gravel, or sealed-road, though. I would agree with Brookers that the side-bite and rut-climbing isn't steller. It's OK, but there are better performers out there. As an aside, I've just fitted up 3º front radius arms and a D2 front prop-shaft (DC joint at T/C end) and got rid of the mass damper on the front axle. Smooth as a baby's bot now. Should have done that mod years ago. Highly recommended mod. Worth every cent. Next step: a bit more lift

Ah, yes. But that refers to the later '03 update "quad" lights. Not the single reflector '99-'02 ones. It is a good write up, though, for those looking to go the whole hog.

Good suggestion. We can't easily get them in Aus (unless bought from LR for mental $$$$s). So I have just ordered a vehicle set... but got stung for VAT, and the seller wasn't willing to remove it. Bugger. Oh, well. New lights to be picked up on Thursday, and clips now on their way

Cheers Rob. That is much appreciated. It certainly won't take much for the poppers to give... They've been broken for years. Cable ties are a wonderful thing...

Welcome! I have a '94 3.9 auto that was converted very early in it's life (within months). Now has more than 300,000kms on it and still hasn't had a spanner near it. Economy (mainly highway) is around the 18 ltrs/100kms (petrol) and 22ltrs/100kms (LPG) - that's around 16 and 13 MPG in the old money. (That's corrected for the bigger tyres, too). Cheaper than a diesel to run on LPG and sounds way better with better performance, but the range is poor. 42ltrs of petrol (aftermarket aux tank), and 66 ltrs of LPG (twin scuba tanks, underslung). And mine's an older system with the 'orrible Impco 125 mixer. More modern injected systems are significantly better for both economy and performance. Getting a Disco V8 has been one of the best decisions I've ever made Go for it!

Hi all. I've just had one of my headlights destroyed *grumble* and can get a pair of early D2 (pre facelift) ones for a reasonable price. The LR specialist dismantler reckons they won't fit my D1 update ('94-on), whereas my understand was they would, and that's the general consensus above. Can someone who has actually done this swap confirm it is do-able and whether it's plug&play or there are any tweaks required before I put down my hard-earned? Much appreciated. Cheers.

The first thing that springs to mind is positive camber on that corner (ie the top of the tyre is further outboard than the bottom). Given that adjustment involves pulling the hubs apart and fitting wedged shims, and that no adjustment should really be required, I'd go looking for excessive wear in the joints (like the swivels) or a bent axle housing or similar.

Dead right. A lift only reduces the change of rubbing under 'normal' lightly-loaded conditions. Doesn't help tyre clearance when being used semi-seriously off-road at all really. Returning to the original question: On standard 16x7" P33 offset rims, I reckon 245/70R16 (or equivalent) would be the limit of what will fit at max articulation on a Disco1 without guard mods. I had this size for quite a while and I'd still get a light touch condition at full compression.

Howdy all, OK, so I've searched through the forum and found all the info I could on different speedo driven gears applicable to RRC/Disco1 and collated it and attached it here for ease of reference... There's some really good info there, so thanks guys I've got a '94 Disco 1 V8 (3.9 EFI) so I'd have to conclude that I've got a blue 20t gear (FRC3310) factory fitted. With my 31" tyres, the speedo is pretty much dead-on (error of <1%) - GPS verified. I'm about to fit 4.10:1 diff gears (to replace the standard 3.54:1 gears), so that'll increase the speedo reading (and engine speed) by 15.8%. Increasing the number of teeth on the speedo gear to 23t (FRC9339) will slow down the speedo signal by 15.0%, which should bring it all back to an overall error of around 1-2% which is perfect. Are there any flaws to this logic that I'm not aware of? Like issues with swapping the speedo gears, or finding them, or a change to the sender/cable/housing/output shaft gear/whatever that doesn't allow this? Does anyone know the colour of the 23t gear? Apart from potentially having to replace the o-rings on the sender, are there any other "consumables" that may be required for this job? Also, where could I procure a 23t speedo gear in SE Oz? Please don't mention LR dealers, as my mortgage is already maxxed-out. Cheers

G'day, I've got 31x10.5R15 KL-71s in 15x7" rims with P19 offset (standard is P33) with 2" of lift. Those tyres are equivalent to a 265/70R16. I got away with pushing the lower rear corner of the rear guards out by about 3/4" or so (longer brackets/stays) and trimming the underside return in that area. I also had to fold the arch lip over for most of the rear section and some of the front. I've got the factory plastic fender "flares" which hide all of this. Without the extra wheel offset, I may have been able to just get away with pushing the rear out a bit and a retun lip trim (all still invisible), but this way I haven't lost any steering lock. There's a number of threads on this topic within the forum. Do a search and see what you find... Cheers.

Hi Jim, I don't have any direct experience with the Yoky A/T-S on a Disco, but I got a set for a mate who runs an '04 Suby Forester (215/65R16) and have driven that a fair bit on and off-road. He's followed me through a few places that I really didn't think he'd get through (or should get through), and I run 31" muddies on my D1... In isolation I'd provide the following feedback on these tyres. Excellent on-road manners both wet and dry with quite reasonable wear rates (45,000kms so far and still have 60+% tread). Minimal tyre noise on the blacktop. A much better tyre on the road than the factory OE tyre (Yoky Geolander) and incomparable off-road. Good tread depth and reasonable self-clearing for an A/T tyre. Surprisingly good grip on both sealed and dry loose surfaces (like gravel). Minor gripes, not surprisingly, is that the treads can clag in sticky mud and halt progress, and that the sidewalll construction is only 2-ply, but that's pretty much as expected given the tyre design and positioning. Overall I've been very impressed with these tyres and beleive that I could recommend them for on-road and not-too-demanding off-road work. Definitely suits a spirited driver that heads off-road occasionally, or even regularly. They aren't a BFG A/T or Cooper ST, but they're much closer to that than you might imagine. I've driven on the Pirelli STR's in 265/70R15 size on a Ford Ranger and found them to be very road-bieased and not very effective off-road. Smooth, quiet, and grippy on road, but not overly great on loose surfaces, and useless in anything muddy or claggy. I've experienced neither in snow. It really depends on what you want to use it for. In my opinion, the Pirelli's would provide slightly superior on-road performance, with much reduced off-road ability compared with the Yoky's. Over here the Yoky's are much cheaper as well.... Or you could fit a set of Kumho KL-71s (like I run). Just an amazing tyre all-round, off-road ability up with the best mudders, and with on-road manners that better most A/Ts. I'm at nearly 60,000kms on mine and I've still got more than 40% front, 60% rear and they're still relatively quiet... Cheers.

Thanks all for your responses and advice. I've pretty much decided that the Qt's are the way to go and a small price to pay for the insurance. Annoying that they cost more than twice the price here in Aus that they do in their homeland, though. I'm seriously thinking of just importing a pair and waiting for the snail mail to do it's job. I wouldn't mind so much, but the people actually making them are seeing so little of the purchase price, and the middle-men are lining their pockets. - whinge completed -

Hi all, I'm looking to fit front & rear diff guards to my D1. I like the look of the Qt's but they're over AU$200 each down here (call it about GBP80 ish). Was hoping to spend a bit less than that, but will shell out for them if they're REALLY worth it. I'm interested in the experiences people have had with different types/brands of diff guards and what is good & bad (protection offered, ground clearance, access to fill & drain plugs, etc). Cheers

I'd agree with Mr Freezer. Suggest you start by replacing the thermostat with a genuine item (after checking the new one works in a saucepan on the stove, thermostat suspended with wire so it doesn't touch the sides/bottom). Make sure it starts to open at about the specifed temp and is fully open within 10 deg C of cracking open. It's a bugger when you replace the stat for a new unit and then work out later it's not quite right either... Been bitten... Check the "old" one also to confirm it's the culprit.

Sorry to say that mine's on gas and burns about that on a highway run (with some hills) - about 20-22 ltrs/100kms [~13mpg]. Slightly better on petrol (18-20 ish [~15mpg]) but still scary. Terrifying if flogged... The local Disco's are low comp (8.1) and run open-loop (no oxy sensors) so therefore are a bit less efficient than the "proper" pommie ones. Welcome to Oz, mate.

Thanks guys. It's what I suspected (hence getting the replacement unit), but nice to have it confirmed by others before I go rounding off nuts and losing skin for no reason. *sigh* now to find some spare time... Cheers.

G'day all, My Disco has become a weekend warrior in the last couple of years due to the wonders of a company car When I drive it now, it takes an enormous amount of pedal pressure to get the bugger to slow down. I'm not a small bloke and at maximum attack I can't lock the tyres anymore. It seems to have degraded slowly over the last couple of years with more and more pedal pressure required to slow it down. Because of that it has taken me a while to realise it's not as it should be. It's always had a firm pedal and I know that modern cars are over-assisted to buggery so was expecting to have to use a bit more welly, but now beyond a joke. If I pump the vac out (engine off) and then hold the brake pedal down whilst starting I can feel it "pull" the pedal down as it starts (as expected), but only very slightly, and not nearly what I'd expect. I've checked for a vac leak in the booster hose and it seems OK. Equally, disconnecting the booster hose from the manifold and plugging the manifold hole indicates that the booster system isn't leaking significantly either (ie. no change to engine revs/smoothness with it plugged or connected, big difference when open as expected). No big difference between cold and warm, quality brake pads fitted with lots of life, etc. Note that the pedal is hard, not spongy. Like someone's put a big chunk of dense rubber between the pedal and floor. Are there known issues which would explain this? Should I just replace the booster? I've got a fully functional spare out of a D2 V8 so that's no problem, but don't want to do it unnecessarily if it's something else. As always I would welcome any thoughts, comments or suggestions from the brains-trust. Cheers.

Thanks Guys. Great feedback. I'll definitely go ahead with it. Cheers