A few months back I had the opportunity to buy PDXDisco from near Portland, OR. If anyone has ever followed the XD on Instagram then you know which XD I'm talking about. I've been following him & admiring that XD for years. Well it came down to do I ship it to TX or do I fly up and drive it back. I like adventure, and I love road trips so I said to heck with it and booked 2 one way tickets to Portland, OR for me and my friend Chris. Before the trip I got a run down of the XD, and ordered some spare parts to have along for the ride just in case we needed anything. The #1 thing that needed replacing was the front driveshaft.

On 9-14-23 at 6:30am we headed out from IAH to PDX. We had a short layover in Phoenix, but we arrived in Portland a little ahead of schedule, and got our ride sorted out to my brothers house just outside of Portland. We got there, and set to work on installing the new front drive shaft. Chris checked the lights, fluids, and he fixed the brake switch which was out of adjustment causing the shifter interlock to barely work and no brake lights. I had a bit of a struggle getting the old drive shaft flange off the TC as it had chewed up 2 of the nuts and bolts when the original drive shaft let go. I finally got the flange off, and got the new drive shaft installed. I said my good byes to my brother and we set off around 2pm in the XD. Up until this point I'd never driven it or even heard it run!! We got into Forest Grove and hit up Wal-Mart picked up some spare fluids, tools (couldn't bring those on the plane), and a tote to put it all into. We also got a cooler, drinks, and plenty of snacks. It was very weird to check out of Walmart without a single bag to be seen!!!! Thank goodness I bought a tote and a cooler lol. Didn't have to fill up as the XD already had 3/4 of a tank. We got into Portland right as traffic started, it was slow at the tunnel as usual, but no accidents or construction. Once outside of Portland I started to get a feel for the XD. It had a clunk from the front end and at our first fuel stop near Biggs Junction I checked fluids, and crawled under the XD. The LF swaybar mount on the frame was crushed up against the frame causing the sway bar to sit very close to the rear steering bar which was also bent. Over big bumps they'd touch. I had a spare HD steering bar in the back, but I didn't feel it was needed.

Once back on the road we had a local Sheriff blast past us like we were standing still, about 10 miles ahead we found out why. A very bad motorcycle accident had happened and both riders were killed. The sun started to set and I turned on the lights. They were like fog lights vs low beams lol, but I turned on the aux driving lights and that helped once I re-aimed them. As soon as it was fully dark out our little friend "Stewart" made his first appearance! Chris was like I think there is a roach in here, then when he turned on his flashlight a little mouse was looking right back at him! It had apparently made the XD it's home while it sat at my brothers house (we did notice the hood liner was all messed up....) We then drove thru Deadman Pass which brought 18 Wheelers down to 35MPH. The XD maintained 55MPH with no problem. We stopped in La Grande, OR to check the TC as we had noticed a bit of fluid being slung around at the Deadman Pass rest stop. I ran into Wal-Mart and grabbed a pump, 1/2 extensions, some 85/140w, and some mouse sticky traps for Stewart. We were attracting all kinds of attention and at one point Chris noticed some complete stranger standing at the back of the XD taking an inventory of what all we had inside. We quickly topped the TC off and left that Wal-Mart just as 5-6 local Police showed up. Once back out on the road we cruised along and we were getting right at 300 miles per tank or a little under. We were pretty much hitting every other Loves Truck stop perfectly for fill ups and restroom breaks. Stewart started getting brave and at one point he jumped onto my head then onto my shoulder, but he was not falling for the sticky trap and peanut butter or cheese sun chips lol.

Midway thru Idaho they had the Interstate completely closed, they directed everyone off into what looked like potato fields. Just a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere! They NEVER directed us back onto the Interstate and we had to figure that out on our own along with everyone else behind us. The Interstate was closed off due to 2 18 Wheeler's completely tearing each other apart and tossing their cargo everywhere. Made it into Utah, and we stopped at a Flying J to check the XD, refuel, restroom break, and I bought a hoodie as it was down into the upper 40's. I let Chris take over so I could rest, but right as we hit the road the sun was coming up and it was SO beautiful I couldn't close my eyes. Chris drove until about 10:30AM and we were well into Wyoming at that point. He needed to do some work on his laptop so I jumped into the drivers seat.

I had decided since we left ahead of schedule on Thursday afternoon vs Friday morning that once we made it into Denver, CO we'd get a nice room, eat a good meal, and rest up. At the same time I picked up a set of Compomotiv 18inch rims for my RRS. When we got there we had to re-organize the back with all the spare parts, and our bags. I told Chris to open every door, and maybe just maybe Stewart would make an appearance. Sure enough not even 5min after we started I spotted him between the 60/40 rear seat as it was dumped. I ran around to the front so he wouldn't run back up under the dash. The very nice man selling the rims (Eugene) was like what are you guys up to? We quickly explained and he joined in on trying to rid the XD of Stewart!! Chris got him to run towards the rear cargo door and Eugene quickly brushed him out. Then of coarse Stewart didn't just run off, he darted into the rear bumper. We quickly closed all the doors, and I even turned on the blower in case he tried to enter the XD the original way. Chris grabbed a can of brake cleaner and sprayed up into the bumper (I was dying laughing at the site of that btw). About 1min later Eugene's wife spotted Stewart making a run for it. We said our goodbyes to Eugene and his family and we decided to leave the sticky traps in case Stewart had a girlfriend. We got some food, and then a great nights sleep. In the end the only things the sticky traps caught = us lol.

Got up around 8:30-9am, checked, out, checked the XD, and hit the road. We stopped off at a local Sams Club for fuel, and spotted the only 2 older Land Rovers we saw on the entire trip! One was a 03-04 D2 lifted with a roof rack, and the other was a lifted and nicely modified RRC SWB. Had a little traffic due to some construction, and after that it was smooth sailing. Got into New Mexico pretty fast, passed the cool looking Capulin Volcano, and then we stopped at Clayton, NM for a fuel stop. Stopped at the Texas state line & took a picture then hit the road again. Shortly after the state line we came across some beautiful rolling hills/valleys. Then on 287 there was this older 18wheeler cattle hauler, it had a flying pig hood ornament and all kinds of custom stuff on it. It honestly had the same presence as the 18wheeler in "The Duel" except it had a unique custom teal paint job. Well we passed thru I dunno how many small towns & he would blaze right past us, then back out on the open road we'd eventually pass him. This went on for 2.5hr and we were going up this slight grade and he was slowing down so I got over to pass him, just as I was dead even with him, Chris and I heard him downshift, Chris looked up at him and the guy signaled to race/go for it lol. When that turbo spooled up he took off like a rocket. I said to heck with it, downshifted, and slowly caught back up to him. Chris said he waved and had a HUGE grin on his face. After that we stayed ahead of him until we pulled over for our scheduled refueling stop.


After the fill up it got dark quickly and the miles just started flying by. Victory was in sight lol! We had some typical slow downs around Fort Worth, and eventually made it onto I-45 the last stretch before reaching Chris's house just south of Conroe, TX. This is where our only mechanical issue popped up. Chris leaned forwards in the passenger seat and said the floor feels hot (we had been monitoring engine temps the entire time with a ScanGauge II), he put his hand down and he said it was wet. I did the first off roading in the XD as I crossed over to the access road vs sitting on the side of I-45. Either the heater core started leaking or one of the O-Rings, but I turned off the XD, popped the hood, cut the heater hoses going to the heater core, and bypassed it. As I was tightening down the hose clamp Chris was bringing the bottle of coolant I'd bought in Forest Grove, OR. Topped off the coolant tank (it took maybe 1qt), and we were back on the road in under 10min. Temp was up 4F from what it had been and then it settled down to 2F warmer. We finally made our exit, and pulled up at the casa at 2:45am.

What a FANTASTIC adventure in an old classic LR!!!! PDXDisco is now home in TX, where I'm going to fix up a few things, and continue to wheel and drive that great XD. Chris was a great Co-Pilot, and we made a darn good team on driving a 97 XD half way across the USA pretty much sight unseen. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Just wanted to share my adventure and for anyone wondering if you can drive an older LR home after buying it the answer is YES. Just "Be Prepared" like an Eagle Scout, and you'll have a blast. I will post some pictures when I get a chance. Total time on the road was right at 41HR flat. We weren't in a race & we drove it normally without stressing it out, and during the entire trip we got right at 280-300 miles per each fill up.

 

11-25-23 Update:









With the cooler weather finally getting into TX I've been able to tinker and slowly start to fix things on the new to me XD (formally known as PDXDisco). The first thing that was driving me nuts was you had to cycle the key 2-3 times for it to build up fuel pressure to start nicely. The fuel pump worked, but was loud so I found a good deal on a replacement and ordered it. I installed it, and sure enough the reason why it was loud = fuel pump was swapped out for a Corvette fuel pump. That sadly didn't fix the hard to start issue, so I swapped out the fuel pressure regulator and BINGO no more issues with loosing fuel pressure at the rail. While looking around under the hood I also noticed the IAC motor had bent arms on it. The O-Ring was so stiff when someone tightened down the IAC it actually bent the entire unit. Ordered a replacement, and my good friend Chris later stopped by and I did an adaption reset. Idle is good again, and now it's sitting nice and flush.

The brake switch which had given us a little trouble before we set off finally just completely went out so I ordered a replacement and installed that. I also had a RR parking light out during the trip, and it simply turned out to be the bulb socket wasn't turned fully. Next up was crushed swaybar. I went ahead and removed it completely as I'm going to copy my other XD's suspension setup. I then used a giant BFH to beat the crushed mount back into place. Next up I wanted to look into the suspension as the front was sagging a good bit vs the rear. The front had OME 2inch MD coils while the back had what I believe is the Britpart Yellow MD/HD coils. I had another set of D2 SE7 rear springs so I slapped those on the front of the XD and it leveled it out perfectly. I also installed some 1inch aluminum spacers that Chris dropped off when he was here. So it's now sitting on a 3inch lift, and I removed the rear sway bar as well. Next up will be extended brake lines (which I have), and I'm going to be replacing the shocks sometime next year as well. I also removed the severely bent rear steering bar, and installed the HD TF unit I had in the back of the XD. Also removed the 3 remaining brake dust shields as the RF was already gone.

Electrical wise the LR passenger window wasn't working. When I removed the door card I found some interesting things going on inside. The window motor was completely missing, and I found a small but heavy block of wood that was doing absolutely nothing sitting in the bottom of the door. I went out to my D2 parts truck and got a motor, and the pigtail. Timed the regulator, and installed the pigtail for the motor. When I went to test the window it still didn't work, and I knew what that meant. I pulled the window ECU and found a bad solder connection. I had a good spare so I swapped it out, and I repaired the original and put it back into my spares bin. Now the LR passenger window works perfectly. However I now discovered the RR passenger window is apparently in the same condition the LR was so I'll be repairing it next. I also cleaned up and repaired a few wiring connections for the Aux lights on the ARB & switched the lights out with a pair of KC LED 6.5 lights. I also rewired the amber lights in the ARB as the connections were just 100% bare and could short out against each other. D2 99-02 headlights were also installed. The other electrical thing I found which I removed and tossed out was a 100% fully exposed electrical trailer wiring harness. It had a PCB that was simply uncovered and resting on the frame/fuel tank. I unplugged it and tossed it into the trash as I have absolutely zero plans on towing anything with my D1. I then installed a new grommet into the floor so nothing could get in (like stewart the mouse lol). Speaking of Stewart I also removed the HVAC blower and removed the nest aka hood liner material from the cage.

While crawling around under it I'm pretty certain I know exactly what happened to this XD very very very early on in it's life. It has a reconditioned title and I'm 99.9% sure it had a very severe impact on the RF. The frame was straightened right in front of the transmission crossbar area, and then patched (very nice welds and 3 plates). The only part which wasn't fixed 100% is the RF lower radius arm mount on the frame. From the looks of it whatever impact happened on the RF pushed the lower radius bar basically thru the mount. They beat it back into place and welded it back, but as it sits right now the axle isn't 100% straight with the frame, it's more like 98% straight lol. I'm either going to get a radius mount off of a donor RRC/D1 and install it or if anyone makes a set of lower radius bars that are adjustable I could get the axle straight simply by adjusting it and locking it into place. It had to be when the XD was nearly new because something like that now days = total it and send it on down the road to the scrap yard. Then the 3rd owner hit a deer shortly after buying it, and then had an accident off road (reason for the black hood and LF black fender). I re-installed the original LF fender and I just massaged by hand the damaged front piece that surrounds the parking light. It'll never be perfect, but I'll take a little trail damage look vs a black fender any day!! The black fender will be painted to match one day and new graphics installed, but for now I'm happy as is. Hood wise I'm going to leave it black for now. I'm going to order a set of custom Land Rover hood decals in yellow to offset the hood.

That's about all I've done to her besides a few small things like finding a metal clip to hold the load space cover when used (haven't had a D1 with a load space cover in years!!!). This XD is also pretty cool as it's got the rear jump seats in the correct cloth. I wish I had the window sticker, but from the looks of it, she was either special ordered with jump seats or they were installed at the dealership because all the trim is correct for a D1 that rolled off the line with jump seats vs tossed in later. I'll keep this thread up to date, and I'll add pictures as I go.

 

Definitely needs more photos

 

Sorry it's been a while with work and family taking up most of my time. I've changed the setup around for more of an Expedition Setup. Some folks will frown upon the changes saying that I've ruined the XD look, and yes the roof rack, and LED Light bar is not what the XD rolled off the factory floor with, but this is 2024 and I already have an XD which is purely going to stay setup as an XD and off road config. This XD I wanted to be more capable of taking trips to Big Bend, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah and enjoy camping and comfort.

I've fixed a lot of suspension issues, replaced seeping OEM oil cooler lines, I've installed stubby front shock towers to keep the awesome riding Bilstein shocks, and I've got some rear shock lowering mounts, and rear coil spring retainers on the way (hopefully get them in and installed before SCARR). Then I removed the Safety Devices roof rack for a Front Runner so I could install my iKamper 3.0 RTT, and 270 awning. I installed a 42inch LED Light bar neatly under the front of the rack, re-installed the rear work lamp, and for the first time in years I have a D1 with a rear load space cover. I just had to source the little tabs which hold it into place once extended. I've decided to just leave the hood black as it has history on why it's black, and I actually like it. I'm going to look into getting the wording "Land Rover" on the hood in AA Yellow to contrast the black hood. I'm also not planning on replacing the LF wing as it to has a story and character IMHO. I do have a replacement front core support and that will get addressed one day as the original has seen 3 severe front end boo boo's in it's life.

Mechanically I've done some small things, but she will eventually need a HG job as the rear of each head is starting to seep (I have driven a D1/D2 like that for 40k in the past by just keeping an eye on the coolant level). I've got a set of 5 brand new black sawtooth rims I might slap on just to make it stand out a bit more (I might have the outer edge polished down the bare aluminum to mimic the XD look). Besides that I'm just enjoying the XD and love driving it. Like my other yellow XD & Kalahari I can't go anywhere without people asking questions or complimenting me on how nice my LR is. Just wanted to take a moment and update everyone in it's progress.

 

we love our ikamper but it definitely takes it's toll when wheeling with that much weight so high up.

 

Yep this XD won't be doing anything super hardcore/technical. I've got my other XD for that. I'll be prepared like a Boy Scout of coarse, but no 5-6 Diamond trails in XD 2.0.

 

sure is nice having options haha. My white disco with the tent can still hang but it's not near as enjoyable, and my classic is a point and shoot weapon compared to most rovers. No idea what 5-6 diamond trails means as don't have any of those trail ratings in CO or utah that I've come across..

 

The off road parks around here rate their trails kinda odd & since they allow side by sides in the park as well a level 2 could end up being much much worse depending on how badly the trail is chewed up by the side by sides. I'll take this XD down some stuff, but being tall means nothing with low trees. I've sadly seen some RTT's that were never even slept in once get destroyed by a tree!

I went out to XD 1.0 and had to move it. Old gal fired right up, gonna be hard not to take it this year to SCARR lol. That XD has NEVER let me down.

 

The hardshell is super nice and can confirm will take a bit of a beating. Haven't laid it straight into a tree yet however and hope to continue to avoid that haha

 

Went with a different setup on XD 2.0 as I really really like the ride of the Bilstein shocks. I went with lowering front shock towers, and I got the rear lowering shock mounts for the back. Now with a 3inch lift my OEM length shocks are good to go. I also got my LED Light bar wired up, replaced a transmission line that someone slapped a trail fix on it causing it to be short putting stress on the rubber section. Did a few other small things inside, and then I leveled the ARB as it's always sat crooked. I found every single mounting bolt from the bumper to crush can, and crush can to frame completely loose....... I leveled it, and now it sits nicely and I secured every single bolt!

I had a lot of victories this weekend lol, but in typical LR fashion the seepy HG on the passenger side decided to be a drip..... So next weekend it's a HG job with time ticking before SCARR....