Mark

Me and Orange and superpants and Tom (whose usename I can't rememebr) will all be there as participants... Don't let that put you off though... Cheers Mark

I believe a common thing to do on a 300 is to move the washer fluid bottle or fit a 90 one which hangs off the suspension turret. The space next to the bulkhead can then be used to put the battery in. With a 200 you can just lump the battery into the mirror image of where the factory one sits, but as you have said the air cleaner is in the way on a 300... Somebody round here (freeagent?) has the second battery fitted in place of one of the rear dickie seats... Cheers Mark

There are two products I have used for re-proofing breathable fabrics - both of which are branded nikwax, and are generally available from blacks or millets. Tech-wash is a detergent that dosn't damage the waterproofing, and is worth using before you re proof the coat. TX-Direct is the stuff for re-proofing. Fabsil is not breathable in the same way, so will likely wreck your nice breathable coat.... hope that helps Mark

To be fair, Orange has a rusty 4 door one to use as a reference, and we were kinda wondering if the 2-door rusted in any different places to the 4-door? I know very little about rangies, but I know more than I ever wanted to know about sticking rusty disco's back together that I am very wary of rusty rangies!!!

Ok, it's not the most extreme mod in the world, but several people have commented, so I thought I would post something up about my Map light... It's in the Int forum, cos the same fixture could be used on a defender or a rangie, but its in a disco for me... Here it is: For those not aquainted with aeroplane fittings, I aquired a Grimes cockpit light from a specialst breakers and thought it would make an excellent map reading light. It was origianlly 24 or 28 Volt but I just added a 12V bulb, and all is happy. It swivels 360 degrees but is also removable from the base. It has a built in dimmer (although it isn't much use on 12V) as well as an push to make switch to turn it on. The cord is attahced to the vehicle to it can safely dangle on it's own wire - which is simply tapped into the courtesy light feed. Mounted up high it points on the navigators map very well, but doesn't blind the driver, and you can drive with it on without any problems. It also has a red filter if you want that under cover commando feel to your navigating! It proved it's worth on the recent treasure hunt! Apparently they appear on eBay occasionally, but other than that I wouldn't know where to get one. This one came from a fokker f27... Anyway, thought some might be itnerested, so there you are. Cheers Mark

Yep, twas a tad blowy in weybridge. Decided to make a break for it from work at 4 before it got any worse when we started reading the traffic reports of the A3 closed and pretty much every road out of weybridge closed or severely blocked. As it was the roads were very quiet! My route home is along a number of country lanes, and there were plenty of trees down, and one road closed because of it, but I was still home by 5, which is result! More wind please, then I can use my 'working from home card' tomorrow that my boss handed me on the way out! Cheers Mark

You need 20 posts to post in the classifieds - have a read of the sticky threads in there, but basically it just keeps the spammers out... Mud/Sand Mats? Not entirely sure what you mean, but if you mean the standard ex-military sand ladders someone like anchor supplies will do them, but depending on where you are, the shipping might make it impractical. You may find that a pair of waffles would be more use in the UK: (seen here being used as a seat, cos it's the only decent picture I could find) Hope that helps Cheers Mark

Hello Mike, glad you found your way in.... Cheers Mark

surely more of a Stig Welder???

Make sure you take a good look under the boot carpet (I mean lift the whole lot up, foam insulation and all, till you can see metal!) - on a '96 the Boot floor is likley to be starting to go. Also check the the inner and outer sills. They should have a plastic cover on the outside, but get underneath and look at the bottom and inside of them. Last thing to check is the footwells and the inner wings. These are all the common rust traps on a Disco. If any of them are starting to go then make sure you are happy repairing them yourself when the time comes, ar be prepared for some quite involved bills All the other stuff you mention is easy to fix for a diy type mechanic, and parts are fairly cheap and plentiful. They do give you good bargaining power though... Enjoy Mark

Jim, I would be interested in seeing how the 8074 compares... so count me in! Cheers Mark

Not necessarily back to the drawing board, just add some strength to what you have got. It is a start, and it is certainly better than some I have seen at pay and break days... Cheers Mark

Looks like good work chaps. I really must get up to try some of the lanes you boys are working hard to keep open. Cheers Mark

Rog, My concerns would be: Thickness of material - The bumper itself is not hugely thick, so on anything other than a straight forward pull is likley to start to bend. Solutions would be to tube the mounting holes, and to put a spreader plate on the front face - 6 or 8mm would be my choice. The bracket welded on is also acting as a spreader plate, but again dosn't really look think enough to me, so possibly a bit more material back there... This was on the front of my lightweeight: and whilst it was in the middle of the bunper, not up against the mounting points like yours, it had an 8mm spreader on the front a a 10mm spreader on the back. Other than that, As has been said, make sure the bolts are at least 8.8 grade (the head should have it marked on it). A lot of people would say 10.9 or 12.9 would be better, but 4 8.8 grade M12 (?) bolts should be OK. Cheers Mark

Red and Whites are Range Rover Heavy Duty Rear Springs. Sometimes referred to as police spec. They come in at around the 170lb mark, so are pretty soft, but as has been said they are cheap and long. Mark

Ahh! That would be why your paint leapt off your car, and landed on mine when we passed by the same county as your car then!!! :P

I have a Warn 8074 - which is something of an oddity. It is the rpedecessor to the 8274, and shares a lot of the design characteristics, if not the components! This is it fitted to my Disco. Setup is a scrapiron Bumper, modified to suit the winch, Warn 8074, 2nd Battery, Split Charge I found it at Sodbury and got it because it was cheap compared to anything else that was available at sodbury that time. It ended up needing a new motor and a complete rebuild, but was still cheaper than buying new. It was somewhat more labour intensive though, as I had to rebuild or remake certain bits of it, and modify things to suit. Installing the EP9 onto Oranges Rangie was far simpler, and took a fraction of the time. I went Electric as it is the easiest and cheapest to install and use. I use it mostly for self recovery, and have done a few winch challenges with it. Doing similar Mods to the Brake Disc as for an 8274 has made it much more reliable. Warn 8074 - £80 Bearings for rebuild - £30 Other Stuff for Rebuild / manufacture - £ ?? (from stock and/or Scrapyard) 38m (125') Dyneema Bowrope 11m & Ally fairlead - £160 Warn 5.6HP Motor - £150 Winch Wiring 35mm^2 Cable - £ not much (came from the scrap yard) Second Battery - £Free (From a mate's scrap pile) Split Charge Relay - £11 Split Charge Wiring - £ ?? From Stock Total £431 + some other bits from stock... Rear Winch will be: Husky EW8 - £170 Plasma Rope of some description (prob 11mm Dynema, to keep it the same as the front) - £150ish 35mm^2 cable - £as little as possible Some kind of mounting Hardware - £as little as poss, again probably from scrapyard Control Cabling/ Switch - £5 Rear winch will be electric as I already have the second battery and split charge. The Husky will pull all day and get me out of trouble. I can lower out on it safely, worrying about heat build up degrading the Plasma. If I was going to go out and buy a brand new winch, I would almost certainly go for an EP9 for sheer value. Cheers Mark

Have used Thunderpole a couple of times, and have been more than pleased too. Mark

So Tonk, about those Photos you were going to post up? Just wondered, as I would be very much interested in mounting a mondeo alternator on my Disco 200.. Cheers Mark

Yeah, just read through your thread again, and noticed that I asked Tonk how he mounted it. Some Photos were promised, but never appeared. I think the application of a sharp pointy stick to Mr Tonk may be required...

Problem is Nige, it sits on the wrong side of the engine, so all the mounting lugs are wrong - I need two at the bottom and one at the top when the alternator is mounted on the nearside of the engine... Your thread got me thinking a while ago though... Cheers Mark

On the Disco I currently have the standard (65A) 200TDI Discovery alternator and a twin battery setup with a split charge system. When we were doing some long pulls at the recent KentORC punch challenge I don't feel that the alternator was keeping up with the required amount of charge. I feel that a Higher output alternator is in order, but am not really sure which way to go. I would ideally like a cheap off the shelf (or scrappy) high output unit of around 100A that is fairly close to bolt on. The Mondeo ones are 90A but I believe are the wrong side? I have seen 300TDI Disco alternators fitted to Defender 200TDIs (Western?) but will these also fit the Disco High mounted position? I realise the wiring will need to be uprated, but that is not really a problem. Boring out pulleys can also be done, as with swapping poly-vee pulleys for single v-belt pulleys. I believe there is some debate over how much power a standard v-belt will deliver, and whether this is enough for a 100A alternator on full load (ie when winching). So, Does anyone have an good suggestions for units to try? 300TDI Disco units? Do V8 ones fit? any other alternates? Cheers Mark

No Problem - Ask miketomcat about building a tomcat on a disco Chassis, as that is exactly what he did! Cheers Mark

You can build a Tomcat on the Disco Chassis, or pretty much anything that can be done with a range rover I guess - Dakar etc.... Mark

Chris, I would just like to echo everyones comments and say thanks for an excellent day! Some superb lanes, and some tricky clues. Had one minor stuck, which had to happen with an audience of quad bikers! Also we skipped the 'really deep ruts' bit due to our skateboard size tyres... Followed the route exactly? Not from where we were sitting! Glad to be of service in testing water depths... must get a snorkel one day... Thanks again Mark