o_teunico

Yes, quite strange the regulations we have here...

Could this be an option to hot dip galvanishing? http://www.zinga-uk.com/ With a 50um coat thy claim a 100 years of service life in rural/arid enviroment!

Mmmmm...interesting this engine...if I go the OM606 route with my bros broken engine Discovery Tdi I could use some badges from a SEAT/FIAT 131 wich were equipped with MB diesel engine Will look like factory fitted I what car are you planning to use it? It´s for the Jeep?

...but certainly no cheaper than a simple grinder disk I have been thinking about how much work will be involved in a -15/+15cm suspension and if it will pay off itself. -5cm along with 205/65R16 will be good for 90% of underground parkings in my area, and +5cm seem to be enough for 35" tyres. That will save me the chassis "U"s, engine relocation, four link front suspension...all in all I will use it as a daily runner and for local 4x4 club events (no Croatia, Breslau, Ladoga or similar). Instead of bobtailing it I could just remove the spare from tailgate and make bespoke front and rear bumpers. This way I will maintain seven seats while shortening the vehicle 12" overall. Quotation for this will be: -Running Discovery: 1500 Eur. -Y60 Patrol front + rear axles: 1000 Eur. -Y60 Patrol PAS box: 100 Eur. -MQ Patrol main box + transfer: 250 Eur. -Tormado DIY exocage kit: 150 Eur. -Engineer + MoT approval: 1000 Eur. If I do all the work by myself and make the height adjustable suspension out of scrap metal I could have a vvv good car for little more than 4000 Eur.

Cheapest lowrider suspension you can have! Unfortunately the Disco has "square" coils and...

How does that work? It´s something like a screwed rod with an electric motor? EDIT: Something like this? How was your experience? Electrics and mud don´t mix well

8X8 seems good for getting grip, but I don´t think that it would be a good car for corners or tracks needing good articulation.

Airshocks are nice, but you will need about 400 Eur. for each wheel, compressor, valves and air lines apart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsNkVPg7uko

Yes Bill, that´s my idea, but using a simple pin instead of hydraulic. I posted the picture of the GQ chassis because it was the closest thingto my idea that I have managed to take from the www. I have at home some tubular double shock turrets (from Padddock) that will do the trick. Some years ago I saw a Discovery (I think) in a LRE magazine that used some hydraulic rams to achieve a 8" lift. It could be lifted wheel by wheel. There is an off-the-shelf system from KW, but it´s aimed for super low sprts cars and it will eat all my budget. At 1min 20sec you see how it works

Full mechanical engine and 400HP sounds good! That´s one of my dreams. If you use a six speed out of a 4x2/4x4 rig with centered rear output, you will have a second low-box, that you could use as a "crawler box".

Someone in this forum said "if it rotates or contains any liquid, avoid blue boxes"

Don´t worry, you haven´t offended me

For a "simple" air suspension, with no chassis moddifications, no crash-test is needed. You will need to provide the following data to the engineering company: -Make and model -Max operating pressure -Max axle weight -Piston size -Air volume of the entire system -Shock type -Anti roll bar type -Air line type -Air bag description -Drawing, pics and other relevant data. Regulations say that the system MUST have some kind of mechanical or electronic self leveling device, that is, you cannot just fit some valves to the bags and pump them by hand. At least that was what regulations said back in 2004. With plenty of P38 at scrapyards it could be possible to adpapt it´s suspension to the Disco, but it will be less reliable than coils. The Discovery we have broke the timing in it´s original engine (four years ago). My brother saw some cracks in the head while overhauling. He bought a secondhand head. Then a friend told him that there was a good 200tdi complete engine in good condition in a garage in Portugal and he traded some cash and the seconhand head for that engine. After fitting engine in car, it refused to start. He started overhauling this second engine, but then he said he was fed up and left it as it is today. Some of the engine parts have dissapeared, like a new camshaft he bought. Once I have a job my budget for the Disco will be something between 4000 to 6000 Eur. Despite beeing free, I have thought many times that it could be cheaper to buy a running Discovery (about 1500 Eur) than repairing my brother´s one (no engine, rotten body and lots of seized parts). If I go this route I could use my bros Disco as a test mule, and once I get crash test approval, addapt it´s moddifications to the running Discovery. This is my bros Discovery. With sagging rear coils, some load and slightly aired down tyres, it´s pefectly leveled. Max height with this setup is exactly 1.9m. Rear axle to bump stop distance is 80mm. Without those inverted "U" in chassis I think that -50mm will be the maximum safe suspension drop I could get. Since I want an exocage+roof rack, a Rangie (nearly 150mm lower overal) will not solve anything. This is the exocage (light bar) that I will fit. It´s from Tornado Motorsport. Cheap and very well made. Engineer said it´s OK because it´s rounded and stays close to body=pedestrian friendly. I could add a small roof rack over it while maintaining the same height as a standard Disco. With some 205/65R16 tyres the whole car will lower another 30mm. Only the older parkings have less than 1.9m height limitation. Today most of them are arround 2.1m, so I think that I could live with a total -80mm if I´m not allowed to fit those "U". I will also save the engine relocation needed for the -150mm suspension. My idea of mechanical height adjustable suspension is this This is the pic/drawing I have sent for evaluation to the engineering company. Original pic is from an aussie GQ with hidraulic bump stops. The ram will enable extreme suspension drop, and the pin will set the riding height. You will need to jack the car for adjusting it, but since each position is related to one tyre size, and you jack the care for changing tyres, there will be no problem with this setup. -City/Road: lowest position and 205/65R16 -Mild offroad: standard position and 205R16 -Extreme offroad: +150mm position and 9.00R16 I´m still waiting for the engineer´s response to see if this suspension, chassis and body (bobtail) mods will be possible to make road legal.

Better aerodinamics for the Defender!

Found this in a Transit forum This is a photoshopped L322 (found on the www, not my creation) Some years ago I found a very good looking Forward Control L322 (photoshop). Will try to recover it. Overload? What overload?

MickeyW, thank you very much for your post. I have to say that I have never seen this thread as something negative. I thought that "one idea=one thread" was OK, but putting all ideas in just one thread can also be positive. I have gained lots of knowldgements in this forum, and hope to keep doing it in the future. Bill´s drop box made out of series transfer box parts is something I would like to build in a near future. I love real builds, like Dirtydiesel´s Jeep, but, at the moment, all I can give to this forum is just "vapour". It will be great to see more ideas and "vapour builds" from other members in the new "pass the bucket" thread.

That will make future reference much easier. Thanks.

Want a house? Want a 4x4? Want a boat? Just build a body, in the style of the Saab 92H, in a Land Rover chassis and make it waterproof. You will have a Land Rover houseboat! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNTwUnM5pJY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CrcLNtOtrc

If correctly designed, legs could be even tyreless! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD-i4j-NBl8

London Taxi replacement using Range Rover parts: The CR6 prototype Lots of protos at http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/

Done

Just some examples for starting this topic. Land Rover/Citroen/Nissan/Jaguar hybrid http://www.citroen-ds-id.com/ds/Landrover_with_Cit_Suspension.html "Centaur", half Stage I V8, half Scorpion tank Super body lift And lastly, my own (photoshop) cration, the multi-lot parking friendlybobbed Discovery lowrider

Mmmmmm...that´s a good idea. Will create a new thread at "International" for crazy/dumb ideas

Oh, a thread with my name! I´m feeling now important Will I build ever something real, not just "vapour"? Certainly yes. When? Who knows... Now I have all the time in the world for thinking (and sharing) all my crazy ideas. To my surprisen some of them are not so crazy, and have been built decades ago, like the belly halftrack. All I have now is a Discovery with a broken engine, no money and a fu**ink local regulation that bannes all my ideas if I want a road going car. A guy with a 1999 BMW 328ci, with pick-up body conversion, has contacted the engineering company I talked to. He has been asked for a second car, with same body moddification, for crash-testing it. Absolutely senseless! And they cannot assure that the second destroyed car will pass the test with an "OK". I have even thought about simply buying a cheap small car (Fiat Cinquecento or similar) and forgeting about a road going Discovery. My brother followed that route and uses a Lancia Y10 for road and a Santana ,with no paperwork, for playing arround the farm. Another important part is that all this crazy ideas, and all the feedback from the LR4x4 community, are keeping my brain busy, and not thinking in this crisis we are suffering. More crazy ideas will come soon: Discovery forward control, Discovery waterproof motorhome that floats and doubles as a boat...

My idea is to use some Patrol Y60/61 axles. Rear one is 4 link. Will use LR´s A frame and the not used two Nissan upper links will go to front axle, along with moddified Disco II radious arms to create something similar to this. I´m waiting for the engineer´s answer to see if chassis/suspension could be modified under the new road going car regulations.