Well I'm back into the LR scene. Yet again. This time though, I come back with another D2. I intend to keep this one for a very long time .

For those of you that don't know my Rover history here you go:

2004 D2 from 09/14--> 01/17
1999 D1 from 05/17--> 10/17

Now I have a 2001 Discovery 2 SE7. Has 100k on the clock. Just had lift installed with some 265/75/R16 General Grabber AT2s (this setup has about 1k miles on it). Rides and handles a lot better than my other Discoveries with 100k+ miles suspension. It's pretty firm, but I guess that's good? Has some cool goodies like a brush guard, tail lamp guards, 3rd row seats, access ladder, 2 (non-op) sunroofs, rear AC, locking CDL (need to add the linkage), and best of all (imho), it has a grey interior. I had the beige one in my D1 and I wasn't a fan, I prefer the black and the grey ones, even though they'll get really hot in the summer.

What is an authentic Land Rover without its problems? Well it has new heads and head gaskets; that's good. New plugs, wires, and coils as well. Diffs don't leak, but the transfer case is wet. And I think the transmission has a leak as well, not sure where its leaking but the pan is wet. I need to investigate it when I have more time. Also, it has the 3 amigos. Not sure if its for the shuttle valve or wheel bearings. I'm going to do the Option B fix because it's easy and see what happens. I don't have my code reader anymore, so I need to order another one. As mentioned, the sunroofs don't work; the headliner is also bad, so those will be tackled together at some point. It needs a front drive shaft because it still has the original. Windshield cowl is cracked. And last, one of the front blinkers is filling up with water, so that needs to be replaced. Other than that, it's pretty good. Just a few scratches on the body, nothing too bad.

So this build is going to take a while to complete, even though it's already got a lift and tires. I just don't have a whole lot of spare time. But anything that gets done on it will be posted here for sure. I want to put on some metal bumpers and winch at some point so let me know what you guys are running.

Attached some pictures I took of the truck as soon as I got it home. Which was a few hours ago lol...

Going to go take off the stickers on the back window now.
Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned...

 

I dig the interior as well, never been a huge fan of the tan.

Good looking Disco welcome back to the fun

 

Thanks Bill.

It's good to be back.

 

Prefect combination, in my opinion. Been looking at a similar rig in chicago, with possible blown head gaskets. But, keep talking myself out of it.

Anyhow, welcome back and looking forward to following along in your build.

Brian.

 

Thanks Brian. Hope you all enjoy it.

 

Finally got around to working on the D2. Mostly just basic maintenance. Nothing too exciting. But now I'm comfortable driving it so that's a big step.

Stuff that got done:

Did an oil change. Previous owner just changed it but used a FRAM filter... So that had to go. I used what I always have, M1-301 filter with Castrol GTX 10W-40 High Mileage. No, I didn't use Rotella. That will go in when it gets warmer. Castrol GTX 10W-40 has been doing well in my Rover engines past few years so I decided to stick with it.

Changed out the front signal indicators as they were full of water. Also put in some new Philips headlight bulb as the PO put in some eBay HIDs. Very bright, but I don't want to get pulled over. And they're very blue.


Then I put in the Lucky8 front drive shaft. Centering ball on the old drive shaft looked terrible, I'll post a picture of it on the next update (I forgot to take a picture of it this time around).

Also changed out the diff fluids and put in those brass fill plugs. Transfer case will hopefully get done next weekend.

I changed out the transmission fluid and filter today in the morning. Pretty easy job until you have to fill it back up. Wish it had a dipstick like the D1, but changing the filter on a D1 is super frustrating.

Rear brake rotors came in on Friday, so the rear brakes got done. Cleaned up the surface rust on the chassis while I was in there. Still waiting on front rotors. Went with EBC pads all around ($60 from Lucky8- not bad) and EBC dimpled and slotted rotors for the front ($90 on Amazon for the pair, also not bad). Got blank rotors for the rear, ACDelcos.

Last but not least was the inline thermostat mod. It worked really well on my 04 D2, so I had to do it again. Haven't seen temps over 188F.


Next weekend, I want to do the front brakes, add a water temp gauge, transfer case fluid, and change out the drag link end.

PS: What did you think of that Super Bowl??

 

You changed the turn signal fluid? lol


Sounds like a fair share of work. keep up the good work!


Brian.

 

Well I drained it, I just hope it doesn't get refilled lol.

Thanks Brian. More stuff on the way for sure.

 

Looking good. I like the Early D2s. Especially in white.

Just an FYI...next time you change the filter in the trans, you can swap the pan with one from a D1. Then you get the dipstick. That's what I've done to a few of my D2s. Screw that stupid fill plug.

 

Thanks for the tip. Definitely going to buy a D1 pan and dipstick for the next trans service.