Hello everyone.
My name is Joe. I'v been lurking for a few months and thought its time to give back to the forum here. A few months ago I purchased a 1994 Discovery 5sp manual. It was a basket case; would not start, none of the windows worked, leaked from every possible location, sounded like an Abrams tank in the grand canyon, and PO stated he had to "put water in it every day to keep it from overheating". The previous owner was an 18yo punk kid from Chicago who treated it like a beater and trashed the hell out of it. Well thanks to the volumes of information here I was able to bring her back to her former glory. I am proud to say after small fortune she runs as well as the day she left the dealership.

Which brings me to the reason for this post. I am a mechanical engineer I spend most of my time testing various bits of aerospace equipment for failure. I recently discovered my employer has a fully stocked metal shop that was once used for building small scale aircraft models for testing. I have the proper permission to use the shop as I need.

I am designing and building an up armor kit. Front bumper, Rear bumper, Frame Sliders, Skid plates and expedition roof rack. I feel its important to pay forward the help this forum has given me, so I will release the Plans, prints, views, drawings notes and files. Anything that you would need to replicate what I have done. So far I have drawn the front and rear bumper shells. They are still in the design stage, this week I will have full scale mockups made in corrugated cardboard for test fitting. Considering I am relatively new to the discovery, I am open to design recommendations. I will continue to post updates as the project progresses and completed files once the finished products are complete.


Thank you to everyone for your guidance
Respectfully
GIJoe

 

Great work. That said, inward slanted center brush bars never look right on the Discovery. They don't follow the vertical line between the grill and headlights.

This is the nicest looking bumper I've seen:
Nice bumper - DiscoWeb Message Boards

The old Mantec and Safari Gard bumpers were very nice as well.

Good luck

 

KVT



I love the lines. The brush guard is a factory one cut up and welded to the top.

 

Nice job, Joe! Do you live around the Chicago area?

 

Wow what an opportunity. Great work so far

 

Very nice work on the bumpers.

 

Looks good so far. I have been wanting to desing and fab my own for a while, just haven't been able to dedicate the time.

 

Nice work fish and I want to come play lol

 

Thank you for the support. I agree the inward slope looks a bit off cue. I will adjust the slope to parallel the grill lines. No I am not from Chicago northern Wisconsin or southern Canada. Depends on who your talking to around here.

Today I spoke with a welding engineer and he suggested I include a DIY plan that would eliminate the need for a press brake. So the flat pattern file of the shell will be formatted so the home builder can take the file to staples have it plotted in a 1:1 scale, transfer to a full sheet of 10 ga steel, cut with a plasma torch and bent by hand. He said it's easier for the garage mechanic than having to fit individual pieces. The shell will fold together like a big piece of steel origami.

A question for the more experienced. How necessary are rock sliders. Iv read the debate between sliders that encapsulate the sill and those that bolt or weld to the frame. Both have merit and drawbacks. Is there a preferred type ? Or it is as needed for your type of wheeling?

Thanks
GI Joe

 

frame mounted will be stronger, for sure. i haven't been around these trucks long enough to give you a more specific answer. but i will say that a DIY kit would be VERY well received. i'd probably be the first in line.