Orange

Martin, PM Mark (name and forum name!!) as he got some recently. Think he went direct to MPS's supplier in the end...

Having driven my Discovery 2 for the first time in a couple of weeks tonight, I was plodding along a dual carriageway and the engine seemed to cut out for maybe half a second and then carry on again. It did this a couple of times. I arrived home to ask SWMBO whether this has happened to her..................."oh, it's been doing it for about a month"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I was looking back through some previous issues of LRM (or LRO, can't remember) as I remembered reading something about it... The first signs of this blokes problems seemed to be the same as mine.........am I in for a treat when I get back from Seven Sisters?? How much of a challenge is changing the wiring loom and is it available from anywhere other that LR?? Or shall I just bite the bullet and get a genuine one? I'm guessing that the new one would benefit from silicone in all of the possible places... TIA Adrian

Disco exhaust and inlet manifolds are the invert of a Defender engine. The whole timing chest, cover, fuel pump, water pump, thermostat housing, alternator and power steering pump set-up is different, too!! I've just built all of my Defender bits onto a good Disco block so it's all fresh in my memory.

Trouble with holiday cottages is at that time of year, not many are hired out to holiday makers, so a lot are let on a short-term lease, or occupied by the owners... Sounds like Martin has a good solution! Pub next door for breakfast, dinner and drinkies..... How much of a discount could you wrangle out of them, Martin??

Timing is good - either weekend for me. Ideas are good, too. More than happy with hotel/B&B, but something a little cheaper than the last stay at Llandovery would be good!!

Remember that part 5 (NRC6235) needs to be a dished washer with a lip to fit into the hole on the axle bracket. I ordered a pair of ProComp shocks and allof the washers were the same. This means that the bottom of the shock isn't located very well and ends up wearing the bracket and the shaft of the shock away (hence I was replacing mine!!) Luckily there were some spares lurking in the garage where I was doing the work!! In short....... The ProComps came with all the bushes and the right number of washers, but not all the washers were the right type. HTH Adrian

I would be interested, too... Another of your famous mystery tours, please, Mr Watts!!

Tom, I am just about to put a 200TDi Disco engine into my 200tdi defender as a short term fix. You will need to change the flywheel housing to be a Defender one in order to use the Defender gearbox and bellhousing. Otherwise it'll drop straight in (I'll let you know if it doesn't on Sunday!!). The Steve Parker kit is well worth the money. Mine arrived last week and it's a very well put together item. Much easier and better than a cut and shut job!! HTH Adrian

Sticky numberplates can be reflective. You just need to get them from the right place!! There was a guy on ebay selling them a couple of years ago....may be worth a search. Short of that, do you have a light bar? Both Mark and I got ours made up with numberplate mounting brackets in the middle so the plate was between the 4 spots...like this... I have also seen them mounted on small brackets using the fairlead mounting holes...

I would be very tempted to remove the rear seats and surrounding trim to see exactly how far the rust goes... I did the same job in my old Range Rover and it wasn't pretty!! HERE is the right up. We planned to use a Disco floor panel, but eventually came across a good condition Ali one from a much earlier car - same with the (steel) rear crossmember. The benefit was that the Ally floor is riveted in... I think a couple of people have said that a sheet of corrugated ali is the way to go for the Disco, too...

I'm happy with my TDS, too. It came from David Bowyer. Why not wait until Billing and go for a good wander round the trade stands. All companies will be offering some form of discount and you can then see them in the flesh! I'd also wait and buy a winch/plasma combo at a show. Both times I have bought a winch from David Bowyer, I have bought them with plasma and haven't paid list price!! That's if you can get to a show, of course. I'd definitely be making a special effort to get to one if I had £1k burning a hole in my pocket! You'll get more for the money, or the same for less. And you get to walk away with it in your hands. No messing with couriers, etc.

Have a look at the one that Pete (Raceface120) has got on his Disco HERE. It used to be on my Range Rover and originated as a Southdown bumper. Very tidy and very close fitting. It came to me drilled to fit an EP9, so that's what I bought at the time. I (we) modified it to remove the pin hitches and add a couple of 20mm bar recovery hoops welded to the bumper in line with the chassis mounting points. Served me well.... It's worth giving Southdown a ring to discuss at the least... Or visit their website for a look

They seem to be very nice - if you like spending that sort of money!! Ifor Williams do a nice little range of horse boxes for substantially less money, but as always, you get what you pay for. That by no means infers that Ifor are inferior products, by the way. I'm more than pleased with the one my father recently purchased!

I wondered if the 'noise from the rear' followed the 'sticky steering moment'!!! As has been mentioned, the steering UJs will get full of crud and need a good clean out and soaking with a combination of WD40 and spray grease. If you have the ability to leave the truck unused for a couple of days, it's worth taking the UJs off and soaking in a pot. Mind you, if you are going to go to the trouble of taking them off, you might as well replace them - they aren't too expensive...

Bear as in what sh#ts in the woods Mach as in Mach 5 (or warp speed as it is more commonly known!!)

Bearmach! Never failed me yet. I get what I ask for and they know that I don't take too kindly to inferior quality parts! It helps that I have managed to negotiate a good 'relationship' with the local branch

Front seats are easily removed by 4 bolts each. The nuts are captive - there's a small plate that's got one pop rivet in it to make sure it stays still!! If they do fall off or rotate they are easy enough to get to from underneath/in the battery box once the seat box covers are removed. Middle or rears, I haven't a clue about!! HTH Adrian

No cut-out for the rear winch, then?? Top work as always, matey! Very simple, very effective and a damn site more structural than any of the off the shelf replacement items!! I trust that the cereal packet prototype is hanging in the garage for a further production run.........

Cheers for all the feedback. JST has the same idea as me. Throw the Disco lump in with all ancillaries plus a SP downpipe, then rebuild the Defender engine at my leisure. I've looked at the ebay alternative downpipe and came to the same conclusion as Steve and Jase. Just not good enough!! Even though this is only a short-term solution, I still want the engine to perform well..... And I can also resell the SP pipe when I'm done with it B) More questions: Do I take it the fittings on the power steering system are different between Disco and Defender? i.e if I leave the Defender pipes on the truck, will they fit the Disco pump other than being in different positions? It has been mentioned that the flywheel casing will need to be swapped over - I assume this is because the bellhousings are different (the Disco one is longer)??? Are there any special tools required to remove the flywheel?? TIA........again!! Adrian

Having banged my head against the wall for what seems like an age trying to get to the bottom of my engine troubles, I think I have decided to cut my loses and throw an apparently spare 200TDi Discovery engine into the Defender. This may lead to an engine rebuild over time, but I need a fix sooner rather than later with the Jeep Club 7 Sisters event looming ever closer.... The Tech Archive and most other posts on here discuss using the whole of the Disco set-up; however, I am starting with a 200TDi Defender........ I know I can buy a Steve Parker down-pipe kit, so that’s not an issue. I do however have some questions about the plumbing side of things.... what do I need in the way of heater pipes, rad hoses and intercooler connections? Steve Parker also offers a hose kit. Am I best to buy this as it states that it fits to the Defender stuff? Or will I not use a load of the pipes? (Bear in mind that the hose kit is £140+) Are there “off-the-shelf” items that I can buy? Next up are the power steering pipes.... Will the Defender ones fit, or will I need to use Disco ones and reposition the reservoir? Also, the oil cooler connections. Are they the same between the Defender and Disco? With all of these questions in mind, I hope to look under the bonnet of a Range Rover with a Disco 200TDi in it, tonight, but that can only answer a couple of the queries... All help and any pointers much appreciated...especially if you think I’ve missed anything!! Cheers Adrian

Bodymounts are located at the front (next to radiator) th the back of the inner wing, front and rear of the side sill, then at the rear crossmember. Should be 10 in total. They will be a b#gger to get undone and the rubbers will probably need replacing while you've got them apart. As for a lift, there are a few posts on here about them. Have a search and see what you can find (probably better to use the Google version as body and lift are quite common terms on here). In short, you'll have to cater for the fuel filter pipes, steering linkage, gear shifters (manual/ auto and the hi/low one) and the seat belt mounts. You may also want to fill the gap created benesth the rear floor supports. HTH Adrian

Have a word with the other Adrian..........

No. This is incorrect. The same principal applies here as does for towing. It's not what you are actually carrying, but what the vehicle could carry. Pull the seats and seat belts out - yes. Folding the seats down does not alter the potential passenger capacity of the vehicle. It is still an 11 seater with or without seats folded. Correct.

How much would I have to change to get a Disco engine in?? Apart from the inlet/exhaust manifolds and the ancillaries, is it just the timing case on the front??

If you increase the lift by a further 2", you will, as Bish says, have significant stability and propshaft issues. Tyres - if you fit 33s under 6" of lift, they will look ridiculous. 35" as a minimum, I would say. Alloys - whatever floats your boat, but rember that if you bend one, you'll have to buy another. With steel you can at least take LR special tool number 1 to it and beat it back into shape for use as a spare... T-box is probably the cheapest and easiest way of sorting the gearing, but remember that if you lower the range, you'll be doing more revs in top gear and therefore using more fuel and creating more noise etc... With the ECU - there is a lot of slack in the existing cable. My advice would be to give it a bit of a tug and see how much spare you have in yours (knowing LR build tolerances, they're probably all different!!) then go from there. HTH Adrian