Ryan Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I'm having a mid 30's crisis at the moment and looking to buy a 90 to replace my Discovery. However, after some discussion around the camp at Gaydon this weekend, I'm starting to get second thoughts. What I want to be able to do is have a vehicle that would be "camping friendly" - a sort of mini-expedition vehicle. Now to the point of this thread. There are a number of existing threads around preparing 90 & 110s, however, I cannot find anything based around the Discovery. Mine is a 4 door, 5 seat 300 tdi. I'm looking for options on making the rear load area more friendly for storage, or possibly removing the rear seats and using the whole of the rear. I suppose I really want to know whether is it going to be worth keeping the Discovery and modifying it to suit. At the moment, it will need to have the rear floor replaced as it is rotten in a couple of places, and I think the gearbox and/or transfer box are making some noises they shouldn't be so may be due recon units (the Discovery has done a bit shy of 160k miles. So do you have a Discovery that has been kitted out? Any pictures? Any links to other sites that you've kept hidden away for a rainy day? Thanks in advance. Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I started this thread about a month ago; http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=25442 I've got a 300Tdi Disco, which is both daily driver and expedition truck. I need to keep the rear seats (well at least one half) as our 1 year old daughter will be coming down to the pyrenees this summer. i'm building a raised rear floor in the load-space, which will have 2 large 'really useful' boxes under it, with a stack of Wolffe boxes on top. I was hoping to do it without a roofrack, but by the time we've packed the tent/travel cot/folding chairs/ folding table we'll run out of room... currently we're looking at fitting a small roof box to put the tent/chairs in. I reckon the disco makes a fine expedition truck, we went down to the Sahara in ours back in 2006, and it did really well. They are so much better value for money than defenders at the moment, and basically the same mechanically. i've replaced the track rods with Sumo bars, fitted basic underbody protection, gas shocks, uprated rear springs and 245/75/R16 tyres... people like Frogs Island and Footloose 4x4 do everything you need for Disco based expeditions, but it pays to shop about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 I started this thread about a month ago; Typical, and I searched using the forum search and google...thanks Freeagent. I think whichever vehicle I end up with, I'll want to be able to remove most things without having to remove other stuff that I don't need. Stacking is a bit of a PIA when you know that you'll always want whichever box ends up on the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Yep, know what you mean, thats why i'm putting the plywood 'shelf' across the loadbay, that way i can pull out the two larger boxes underneath to get to our breakdown/ recovery gear in one box, and food/ cooking stuff in the other. the stack of Wolffe boxes will have the least used at the bottom, with the 'hope in never need it' box of vehicle spares buried inside passenger compartment, as i'm probably going to bin the single rear seat. everything will be well lashed down, as i've had stuff flying everywhere before, and don't want anything hitting our daughter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streaky Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I've had my 3 door Disco kitted out for the past 8 years now. Disco's don't pack out quite as neatly as a Defender because the inside load bay has too many wierd shaped bits, wheel arches, footwells etc...but all in all it's do-able. The longest I've actually lived out of it was 2 weeks...not really an expedition..but enough to know that I needed to re-organise my gear. I made a rear stoarge drawer system out of marine ply...filled it with the regular gear. It was only then I realised how heavy all this kit was! The drawers have been removed now along with the back seats and I'm in the process of making a aluminium rack that I can slide my wolf boxes into. I also use a Military sized foot locker for larger items that are difficult to strap down. The Engal + TwoZone is the one thing that I simply couldn't do without. Cooking gear also takes up alot of space so I bought a 'WaveBox' Microwave that runs off the battery. I keep pre-cooked meals in the Engal and warm them up in the Micro-wave. All of my Sir Thefrican mates carry barbie grills...so i don't have to eat Micro meals every night! I have two under sill tanks for an extra capacity of 190 liters. Onboard V-Twin compressor goes in next week and a 5 gallon air tank for the rear arch. The name of the game is keep it as light as possible...if you can make things from aluminium instead of heavy steel then do it. I have a roofrack and an Eazi Awn RTT but lately I prefer to use my Tencot...it's much lighter and packs away faster. If I can do trips without all that gear up-top then it definatly helps when sand driving. Having used my 130 for a number of years on trips I much prefer the comfort and cruising capability of the Discovery. The A/C is better and I can listen to music straining to hear it. Regards. S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cipx2 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Here are some links with pics for rainy days: - northbyrover (site no longer available) here are the relevant pics (dial up warning!): http://forum.offroad-bulgaria.com/showthread.php?t=655 - http://www.neneoverland.co.uk/4x4services/...preparation.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 dial up warning! Even on broadband that seemed to take forever! Thanks for the links. A very nice Discovery. Pity I can't read Bulgarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cipx2 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 It basicly describes the mods in the pics. Here's a word for word and very rough translation just to give you an idea. But you can contact the owner (he's from US) through expeditionexchange or expeditionportal forum (search for "northbyrover" with or without ".com"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streaky Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Crikey! Talk about a cheque book off roader! All that gear looks brand spanking new. It's nice to see someone who actually uses the gear that they buy rather than use it for sheer posing value...what agreat trip. Doing some of that off roading with a roof tent and all that gear up top would be quite precarious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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