leeceltic Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Ok to cut a long (ish) story short (ish) I was the owner of a 1989 200tdi 3 door until a few months ago . Unfortunately due to the chassy rotting enough to actually crack she had to go. (stripped and sold for bit's on ebay giving £1150 return so far as I still have some bit's left) As a replacement I bought a 1996 3.9 V8 5 door in Epson green from a guy on ebay for £755. I have always fancied doing a sort of blog type thingy showing the work as I do it to the car and trying to help others understand some of the stuff. I don't do hard core offroading ,I tend to just do the odd greenlane weekend. However I live in a rural area of north wales and when the weather turns it does it in style.. I owned the tdi for 9 years and did all the work on her myself which was a big learning adventure , now I hope to modify my new ride to make it more capable offroad and still good as a daily driver for my commutes to work/shopping etc while looking good and all within a small budget. There are a few parts I saved from the old car that I will be adding to the new one but most will be new home made items or second hand bought from ebay. where possible I will be including pictures, drawings and descriptions as I go mainly for myself to keep track of what I've done but also in case others fancy having a go at something similar.. To me there is no better looking car than an offroad prepped Discovery.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSheds Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Looks like a nice car for £755 - I look forward to following it's transformation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Good off road, a good daily driver, small budget... some decent tyres should do just nicely. Don't see teh need for anything else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Very nice! Now waxoyl it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeceltic Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Good off road, a good daily driver, small budget... some decent tyres should do just nicely. Don't see teh need for anything else There's always a need for something else..lol It's like a drug.. I could give it up .. if I wanted to....Sniff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeceltic Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Ok after getting the new V8 discovery home it was given a more detailed going over. I'd had a good look before handing over any cash but you can't dismantle some one elses car in their drive then say no..lol I'd seen a couple of small things that would need doing but nothing big enough to put me off buying so the deal was done. The previous owner had done some wax oiling inside and outside the car and chassis but hadn't removed anything so stuff gets hidden. faults found with the body were as follows:- carpet removed and boot floor ok but with surface rust around spot welds and it's been lightly sprayed with wax oil.. rear arches the bit you see when you open the rear doors are just starting to bubble but after having a stab they are still sound. 1 rear cross member mount (filler side) needs attention. I removed the plastic sill covers and both sills are fine . inner arches on the front have started to rust around the plastic rivits that hold the plastic splash guards in place . there is a small hole under where the battery sits (suspect acid has had the paint away and rot set in. along the gutter there are some scratches that I suspect are caused by the legs of a roof rack 2 of these are starting to bubble. rear cross member is fine and inside looks to be totally swamped in wax oil. the chassis is solid every dodgy spot was stabbed checked and re sprayed with wax oil as I went along.(keeping the tin in a bucket of hot water helps..) everything else looks good but I bet there is more when I start digging about. On to the Engine and running gear. It started and I drove it the 35 miles home so it runs... it was over revving a little when standing . it was hunting a little also. there was little or no slack when taking up drive. compaired to the tdi it goes like stink but felt a bit lumpy (can't really explain but after 20 years of driving cars and bikes lumpy is the only thing I can come up with at the mo..). my wife was driving behind me and reports no smoke at any speed ,accelerating or as the throttle comes off. So I'm Happy with my purchase and the family have now given her the name of ....PUG (part of the number plate and part ugly dog.. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeceltic Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 So after getting Pug home and doing the check over I decided that none of the body faults were as pressing as making sure the thing was running right . It came with service information so I knew that the basics had been done (or you would think that) first thing to Google was the high revving at tick over.. several reasons for this came up but I went straight for what I thought it was .. Idle stepper motor . And it was loose..!! I mailed the guy I got it from and he said he'd had a go.... it looks like this.. and is at the back of the plenum chamber. Removing it was just a matter of unscrewing it (it was loose anyway) after removing the wiring plug. It was nice and clean but I gave it a good spray with de-coking spray and then freed up the spring with a tooth pick. and refitted it with a new gasket and a thin smear of sealer.. the plug terminals were a little loose and green so a small rolled up bit of wet and dry was used to clean them then they were closed a bit with needle pliers. and pluged back in. there was an improvement but I suspected there were other things wrong that would all add to the lumpy running and revving.. On to the pipes..... I had a quick look around to try and find out what all the pipes around the top of the engine were for . simply by following them all it was quite easy to figure out which were liquid and which were air.. Air first. the flame trap (a small metal can shaped thing) sitting on top of the drivers side rocker cover was blocked solid with carbon black smeggy muck the pipe coming from this back over the top of the block to the throttle housing was half blocked, the 'T' piece just before the throttle was totally blocked . The Flame trap. the flame trap stops any back fires through the throttle body from entering the engine block and setting fire to the oil and oil vapor buy dissipating the heat of the flame through a fine tightly packed steel mesh..In theory ..... I practice the thing was blocked.. solid... to remove it simply remove the clamp holding the pipe on the top and unscrew.. to remove the filling I used a set of needle pliers pushing them into the mesh while slightly open then squeezing them shut and turning them clockwise a few times and easing the mesh out . The mesh is actually a cylinder or tube of mesh flattened and rolled tightly by un rolling it and threading it onto a pole (I used a broom handle) you can then brush all the solid bits off it with a stiff brush then a good spray of de coke and wipe gets it all good and clean. then simply flatten it and re roll it in to a roll small enough to slip back into the canister where it springs back out to lock itself in place.. but make sure it's dry before refitting , while it was drying I popped a bolt through the canister and fitted the bolt into my pillar drill and used a piece of emery cloth to take off all the paint and rust and repainted it before re fitting .. pics later.. The pipe leading from the flame trap to the throttle body was sprayed and a piece of string threaded through it with a small piece of rag tied to it.. the rag was then pulled through the pipe a few times then the rag changed and repeated until it came through clean. the 'T' piece was cleaned with spray and a tooth pick . refit as per removal.. I also noticed that the small advance and retard pipe that controls the timing had a broken 90 degree connector at one end the whole pipe was replaced with a nice piece of blue 3mm id silicon tubing .. my first bit of engine bay bling.. result ... much better but not quite right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Nice write up. I'm looking forward to the next installment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeceltic Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Nice write up. I'm looking forward to the next installment. Thanks .. I know some will say it's missing some stuff or I'm stating the obvious but I'm trying to give information I have spent weeks, months even years trying to find . simple things to me like cleaning out the flame trap are scary to others just because they haven't done anything like it before, I know because I've read almost every post on dozens of forums about their fears.., I've always been a tinkerer taking things apart to see how they work .And having played with a discovery for 9 years I just feel like if I pass on even the simplest thing it may inspire a few to go further and I might learn something new... and it will save cash and we all like that...lol Can't wait for the mod ok to be lifted so I can post stuff quicker I have to wait until my stuff goes up so I know where I'm up to..lol I'm going to try and do something every few days but at the moment I'm trying to catch up on stuff I've already done.. without making some think I'm teaching them to suck eggs.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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