disco_al

Now i know these can be purchased for a small-ish wedge of cash from various suppliers, but i was wondering about being a cheapskate and making one. was thinking of maybe 3/4" or 1" box section for the main span (eliminate any chance of flexing) and then some supports at the end, that will mount into the drip rail. my main reasoning behind this is to A) save some cash & B) its a good excuse to be playing with my new welder during the xmas break, which has got to be better than suffering the endless drivel on the telly this year. any pointers i should be considering before i start?

best i can do at the moment (camera phone) it did manage to creep as far as the bottom of the scale on the gauge this morning, with a small amount of heat output.

had her just over a month now, all hoses are in the right areas as far as i can tell (it all looks normal anyway). was filled using the filler in the top of the rad (no filler in the 200tdi stat housing) and the tank level appears to be fine. the only time i see the gauge move is when it's on a long run, last week when we went to coventry it was lovely and warm, i even had to turn the slider down a bit. i may disconnect the heater hoses later and try to back flush it, just in case of a blockage. which hose is the inlet btw? if all else fails i will drain the system at the weekend, and refill it.

when i took the stat out last night to replace it, the water that was on it "steamed" quite happily in the cold air (it had been sat for about 1/2 hour after getting home last night), although the water in the head was not that hot. i think i will leave it for now (getting too cold to be messing about outside again tonight, and i keep getting hassled about putting some decorations up ready for something happening next week) and have a look at the weekend instead. extra jumper in the morning for me i think

even after the cruise to work (first section is twisty lanes, so usually 3rd or 4th @ 2k rpm for 4 miles) it still isn't warm. was suggested to me earlier by one of our garage customers about the rad, as he had a 200tdi with a similar problem last year, rad was partially blocked causing it to not warm up (strange i know)

have changed the stat for a land rover one, and it's still running cold. did have a small amount of warmth from it this morning, but only by the time i had got to work (10 miles @ average of about 30-40 mph), and it was barely enough to warm my hand. top hose had some warmth in it, as did the heater pipes, but, not enough to make you take your hand back off, i could have quite happily held them for ages before they got too warm to hold. water in the header tank was freezing cold, as was the bottom hose, could it be the rad is blocked? or even the water pump vanes disintegrated?

well this morning checked the hoses when i got to work, and the top hose is still pretty cold, barely any warmth in it, so going to change the stat i think, see what happens.

a mate of mine has got a n/a defender 90 on a C plate (86 vintage). January this year the engine was rebuilt as one of the pistons lost half its skirt in to the sump, so new pistons, big ends, rings, head (was badly pitted) valves, valve springs etc and it was put back together. all was running well, apart from what he perceived as a lack of power from the engine, he has been working away for the last few months, so it has only been used at weekends. The other week he went the short distance to town, parked her up and left it. went back out later, and as he was returning the engine started to lose power. i was called upon to tow it back to his place with my trusty disco (had only had it 2 weeks at this point) for diagnosis. he has not really looked at it since then, he did strip the sump off to have a look from underneath in case a piston had died again, but no tell tale lumps of metal floating around anywhere. when turning it over on the starter it sounds like it's trying to suck in loads of air, quite a loud <shlurrp> <schlurrp> type of noise.... any ideas anyone where to look?

have you tried the local tool hire firms? hewdens etc, they will hire a trailer out for about £50 for the weekend

have checked the viscous this lunchtime, and its nice and easy to turn by hand with the engine cold, so i don't think its that.

it is an 88 deg stat that i put in, may well get a genuine one (direct a/c with BM here) so will be nice and cheap. cheers all

fan turns even when engine is cold, will check it lunchtime (if i get chance) to see what the resistance is like. i take it that it should turn quite easily when its cold?

my 200tdi does not want to warm up in the mornings, have changed the stat for a brand new one as well. the only way to get any heat is to blast down the main road at 60 for about 10 mins. left it ticking over this morning to defrost and it was barely warm. the gauge very rarely gets off the bottom of the scale, and even when it does hit the 1/4 mark after cruising for a while, it soon drops back down when i hit traffic. any ideas guys n gals? it's too cold to not have a heater

cheers both. from what i have seen when i have been underneath it the chassis looks nice and straight, and i have no reason to think it has been damaged in the past in any way (seen a fair bit of collision damaged cars before now, so know what to look for) will check the bushes when i get chance (tipping down here at the moment)

when i first got my series 1 disco i noticed it had a slight lean to the RHR, no problem i thought, the rear spring has gone weak, i'll change it soon for some new ones..... well, changed all 4 this week for brand new Bearmach HD items, did the front shocks as well, as they were rather knackered, and i had already done the rears a few weeks ago. but, it still looks like it has the lean to the RHR.....it can be felt on road too, LH bends it rolls badly, but on RH bends it's almost as if it sits level. any ideas please guys n gals? i'm seriously enjoying my disco (even with the usual leaky bits in this fine weather) but this is annoying me sseing it leaning to the rear like this...

try www.interparcel.com use them at work. all you do is enter the quantity, size and weight, and it will give you a comparison off several companies with prices too. used them several times, even for international stuff with no problems.

try www.mininova.org v.good for torrents

that's what mine looked like when i took it apart. cv cage had disintegrated inside the swivel housing

that's what i was hoping to avoid. however, it may well end up as that. gutter mount will be ok for everyday use, but for some night time action (oo-er) on the hills (anyone remember DX'ing?) i have a 7ft firestick (fibreglass pole, i once broke a gutter mount with that one - the casting snapped) any more suggestions?

Have just bought a CB to stick in the Disco, any suggestions as to where to mount the aerial. Don't really want to go down the route of drilling holes in the roof for a stud mount (it leaks enough without adding more holes ) initial thought was a gutter mount, but then i may get height clearance concerns, and it will be a pain getting through car park barriers. has anyone used one of the spare wheel mounts that i have seen on fleabay? any good? my other thought was a stud mount in the rear bumper, but that could cause problems too

1nsane is good, especially on LAN with a Behemoth 8x8 to play with.......

never seen one do that before, hell. LUK have supposedly got a lifetime warranty on them against defects, and are the clutch of choice for most OE manufacturers. (i work in a factors, has it's advantages )

The rear floppy load cover was missing from my bargain disco when i got it (not unusual i know), but what i want to know is has anyone made a replacement shelf? was thinking of getting a sheet of 1/4" or 1/2" MDF and making up a rigid load cover, covering it with some material in a similar colour to the recycled hearing aid beige interior and mounting some speakers in it (the standard ones in the rear pillars are cr*p). It would also serve as a way of hiding whatever i put in the boot space (usually a toolbox or two)

sounds electrical. is there a diapraghm in the pump, possible it could have split, hence it only happens when you boot it, diapraghm opens, split opens, power loss.....just a thought

have got poly's on my xr4x4, and compared to the standard rubber bushes the difference is amazing. be warned, it will be a bit more bumpy on rougher roads, as the poly's have less give, on the plus side it keeps all the suspension geometry stable, rather than varying with the rubber ones as they give. will be doing all the bushes on my disco