Viewing late '95 Discovery V8i Auto - General advice & LRM and

[WesBrooks]

Good morning.

I'm going to view a Discovery V8i manufactured on 31st Decemeber 1995 this weekend. I'm currently intending to use it for a donor for a project, unless it is more solid than expected and it make financial sense to run with it as is for a while before stripping it to chassis, running gear, front floor, bulkhead, etc...

Did any of the Disco 1B's get the cross bolted RV8? According to wikipedia it came out in 1995 but that doesn't necessarily mean it made it to the first series Discoverys.

The buyers guide which I've found most useful so far for mechanical checks is: LRO Buyers Guide are there any other good ones that you can recommend for mechanical checks, signs for cracked blocks etc?

One thing that does confuse me is the descrepancy between the price guides in the Land Rover Monthly and Land Rover Owners magazines.

So for LRM (does not seperate petrol and Diesel, I've heard petrol is generally cheaper due to higher running costs):

Project / trade: £300 - £800

Average: £800 - £2400

Good: £2500 - £4100

Excellent: £4100 - £6900

LRO (Specifically V8 1994 - 1998)

Trade: £255

Price 1: £630 (MoT'ed but needs work for next)

Price 2: £1145 (Shouldn't need major repairs, body cared for)

Price 3: £1515 (Best around)

The differences between these two would tend to make them useless as a negotiating point as buyers would tend to LRO and owners to LRM - kind of ironic really! I think from what I've been watching on Ebay and Gumtree the LRO prices are more reasonable? I've seen what appear mint (yeah, I know, on ebay - I would view before bidding) fail to reach reserve with bids upto nearly £1100, and many donor standard vehicles (lots of welding or serious engine work needed) go for £500-600.

I'm guessing about £800 - £1000 for a discovery that might just make it through it's next MOT and £600 - £800 for a reasonable donor? One I'm looking at has 150,000 miles on the clock. At the end of the day I guess it's a balance of what I'm willing to pay and the owner accept, but I'd rather know when I'm paying over the odds and walk away!

Thanks for your help.

[WesBrooks]

I'd forgotten I'd asked about the cross bolted V8 in the discovery 1 when I was thinking about building a Tomcat. Someone replied saying they thought that was only on the D2s. Apologies, didn't mean to repeat myself on that part of my post! From other things I've read if it's labelled a 4.0, then it's cross bolted. 3.9 and it's not. This is despite both engines being the same size.

[BogMonster]

Yes I think that is right, but I'm not sure about the 4.0 in the P38 RR and NAS Discoverys. They might be the earlier type.

[robertspark]

didn't think the crossbolting aspect was such a big issue / draw unless you were intending to improve the power output substantially.

The bigger issue is porus block or liner slip? Which all 94mm bore engines suffer from potentially except if they have had flanged liners or they have a blue spodge of paint somewhere I thought it was (might be red sploge can't remember, but will look it up if you're that fussed).

Nice to have a crossbolted block, but not essential. Given the choice I'd just get the thing relinered, sort out the ignition and megasquirt it (unless I was going forced induction that is). But then do you really want to spend the money on the liners if the engines are so cheap fully dressed these days, especially in a project generally low mileage intermittent use vehicle?