TD - 5 Discovery

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Discussion

neutral 3

Original Poster:

6,478 posts

170 months

Sunday 1st December 2019
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Bought my first Disco in 2006, it was an Epsom Green scarce 3 door manual 95 N reg 300TDi, many happy memories of that one. But I sadly put it into a telegraph pole Late one night.
Next one was my Late 94 built manual Epsom green 300TDi. Bought this one in Feb 2011. Still have it, but despite regular Waxoyl treatment, it needs some welding to the rear body corners, a couple of patches to the sills, plus the bulkhead etc, plus the footwell water leak tracing, the non working heater, a new alternator, two tires, a battery, a rear light unit etc etc.
Now Needing a tow car @ short notice, I've been looking for the past two weeks for a manual / Non sunroof / rot free Chassis Ha Ha , late TD-5 £ cheap !
And bingo, I bought one yesterday !!
Over the moon with it!! It's a 2003, in dk blue, non sunroof, 160k, 4 odd owners. Base model, so a 5 seater ( hate the daft inwards facing rear seats on these )
The seller ( a bit of a slob ) had very fortunately only owned it for 6 months, so I've only got half a years worth of the dire fag smell to valet out some how!
The chassis if this one is in amazing condition, so much better than I was expecting !!
The Friday eve drive home from East Anglia was dire, awful traffic, but at least I was toasty warm ( I would have frozen in my 300 TDi )
He had never washed it since buying it, the body is absolutely filthy, but 2 mins late Friday night with a sponge and car wash, has showed that it's going to clean up Really well and that prior to him buying it, it's been really well looked after !
Just So many of these out there with dire chassis rot @ between 15 and 20 years old ! Forgot how many times I've done an MOT check on a very clean looking car and read " Severe corrosion to rear ends of chassis"
" Rear top shock absorber detached from chassis due to excessive corrosion" .
The seller Just didn't realise what he had with this Disco!
He told me that it had no history or service book, but lo and behold, there was the service pack and a wad of service and repair invoices and old Mots !
The clutch is on it's way out, the shocks need changing asap, for some decent gas ones ( Monroe Gas Magnums probably ) the coil spring conversion isn't the h / duty ones that I fitted to my 94 300TDi, so il change these asap too.
All of the door hinges needed oiling and the heavy throttle and possibly seizeing up gear linkage ( the gear lever action is very stiff ) need sorting. The down pipe is blowing slightly, as well.
But I'm so glad to have found one in the colour I wanted, with a near perfect Chassis, no awful sun roofs, a late built one and one with a good history file. This one will be a Keeper.


Edited by neutral 3 on Sunday 1st December 04:07

NotBenny

3,917 posts

180 months

Sunday 1st December 2019
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great to hear there are still some gems to be found - a true diamond in the rough!

neutral 3

Original Poster:

6,478 posts

170 months

Monday 2nd December 2019
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Spent Sunday afternoon cleaning it up. It's come up well and will look great when it's given a polish.
Had a quick go @ cleaning up the interior, but ran out of light. I'm planning on swapping the black cloth seats, , for tan or magnolia leather seats.
Il order some Monroe Adventure ( Gas Magnum ) shocks and a set of heavy duty springs. Also a new down pipe and probably a de cat pipe.
There were several factory recalls, so il call Land Rover to see if my one is up to date.

Edited by neutral 3 on Monday 2nd December 03:47

neutral 3

Original Poster:

6,478 posts

170 months

Monday 2nd December 2019
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The car was as filthy as these 2 right side alloys are !