All right, I braved the idiots in Dumbver and made it home! The guy I got it from couldn’t have been a nicer guy and I noticed a couple more reasons why I’m definitely going to save this one.

1) It’s a “Trail” version. I don’t know much about that other than a couple options, but it is definitely loaded- except for the stereo, actually more options than the HSE.
2) The boss immediately said she likes this color better than the Alveston.

It will be a very long road to get this one to my standards- especially because I’ll initially be pilfering from it- but I’m excited nonetheless. Enough babbling, a couple a shots of the pick up.



The paint is better than it looks. Aside from the typical hood and top stuff, the rest is great. And the only other exterior issues are the fender and bumper.



The rear bumper is perfect too!



Oh yeah, there is a winch in there too. No remote and I don’t even know the brand, but interesting nonetheless.

The L320 makes a killer tow pig.





Where it will live until the barn is finished.



I’ll get interior pics when the weather clears this week.

The specifics are:
- ’04 SE7 (Trail?)
- 162k I think on the clock
- Giverny Green (my dream color, so even more reason to keep it)
- Rear AC
- Heated windshield (doesn’t have one in there now, but it will again at some point)
- Parking sensors (I think they kinda work)
- The completely acceptable running boards (first I’ve ever thought worth a darn)
- Rear air bags (but they were deleted some time back)

There are a lot of little interior things that will be addressed over time and the interior is a little tired, but definitely not horrible. I think the rack has a slight bend in it too, but I’ve whanged a Voyager back in shape before, so not a big deal. When I ran codes, it needs O2 sensors and I think one or both rear WSSs are done. As I mentioned at least 1 cat was stolen, so it’s basically on open headers right now, but even with the noise, it runs wonderfully and started right up.

I’ve not done a super detailed run through yet, but the frame is perfect too and there will be a million things to sort out as always but even as I talked about it to the boss for a bit, she really likes the color and she thinks this one came from good vibes too. So now to do some research on this Trail edition deal…

New Disco day is always a good day.

 

Nice pickup! Same color as my truck as well. I'd love to have found a truck with 16s on it out of the gate. Can't wait to see what you do with this one!

 

Got some more pictures today.





Obviously the Giverny has a lift on it, which is nice.

The tires were all flat, so the Jeep to the rescue.



I thought the rack was bent, but it actually isn’t- it was just installed too far back.



The headliner is done, and there are some parts missing from the jump seats and one of the seatbelts for one side of the jump seats is missing, but meh.

I have no clue what these bars are. Maybe for dogs at one point?





The frame is good, and even a little redneck engineering to hold up the step.





I think this was an antenna for a CB at one point.





Have you ever seen such perfect lug nuts? ALL of them were this nice. And torqued to spec no less!



I swapped the tires to the Alveston. They look great and are the size I was going to go with after I did a lift: 265 75 R16.



The tire carrier flip was done already as well.



Next up will be to take the rotors and pads from the Giverny and put them on the Alveston. I’ll also grab all 4 shocks and front springs. I the rear, I’ll just get spacers as everyone knows my affinity for airbags.

After that will be to swap the SAI pumps as I’m getting P1413 and I’m hoping that and the SAI relay will sort it. That will be all in the immediate to get the Alveston sorted. Last item to to that won’t involve the Giverny will be a heated windshield and A Pilar trim.

 

Baby steps when I have time. It’s funny as you start to recall the comfortability of doing things you know how to do, yet I’m also remembering the stress and why I sold the last one. Young kids are a huge strain on your life and it makes things hard to have for yourself. I truly enjoy tinkering with the Disco(s), but kids are such a mental and time suck, they make it very difficult to focus and/or enjoy the catharsis that is working on a car.

I got the driver’s door lock actuator done tonight. I forgot some of the nuances, but by and large pretty smooth and didn’t take too long either. Next up will be the brakes as I drove it to work today and some idiot ran a light and just about got me, but I avoided disaster and was able to swerve. The POS didn’t even slow or move or seem to care in ay way. That is, until the state trooper a couple cars back saw it all and lit him up. There is a little justice in the world at times…

 

Put the Disco to use in moving some stuff around today. Like how we matched the horse trailer to the Disco? Yep, of course we did that on purpose…





My reward? The air compressor got too hot and wouldn’t keep the back end up when I went to park it. I guess I need to prioritize replacing the bags…

 

Like they say..."the battle is real". Surprised you haven't done the seat extensions yet.

 

Believe it or not, I’ve not done them on any of the Discos. It’s funny you mention it, though, as I was just thinking about it today. I dunno, I’ll decide if I want to once I get a little further along.

As I spent the entire last weekend putting up a fence for the pasture, the boss has given me this weekend to work on the Disco, so hopefully I’ll get close in transferring all the parts to the Alveston I wanted to. The boss took it to work this week and other than forgetting how the HVAC controls worked (the design certainly flies in the face of most vehicles) it was just fine for her.

So where we are currently is to get the Alveston to a place where it is a good daily- if desired- and then all the parts pilfered from the Giverny one will be done as new with the intent of that one being truly the “forever” Disco. This will mean proper bumpers, paint where needed, and the overall restoration done in a manner to create a long term vehicle. With winter looming, the boss is scared about the L320 starting to act up again and she is kinda fed up with it- regardless of what a nice machine it is. The point is, we may end up selling it and she keeps a Disco as a true SUV, and the we get her a really nice car for daily use- much like what I have in the S4 being my main commuter and sporty car, and then the Disco as a toy and winter driver. Who knows. Once the Alveston is dong and I dive into the Giverny, we’ll see how long and how much $$$ it will take to make it that nice.

 

Sounds like a plan...but you know what they say..."make a plan and God just laughs". Same goes for Land Rovers.

Horses...two words...board them. Writing a check once a month, trumps putting up fences, maintaining a barn, putting up hay, carrying bags of oats/sweet feed, always having too find someone to care/watch while away, looking at the worthless beast (my views, not my wife's...lol) and a few other thousand reasons l can't think of at the moment.

Oh...and l can't take credit for that last bit of advice. If you ever get the chance, like l did, to climb the mountain which contains the old man that holds a million years of knowledge and can answer that age old question...about the meaning of life...this is what he will tell you.

See how lucky you are...saved you a lot of climbing and time.

 

We’re both incessant planners, so we at least like to have a straw man most of the time. Disco life forces that as something always go wrong that is outside your plan, but whatever, it’s a toy.

On horses, they are a lot of the reason we bought the property and are having a barn built. We’ve been boarding for a few years now and it’s fine, but the boss has this as a passion, and who am I to argue as I’m the idiot with an old Land Rover (or 2 now). And yes, I just did a hay run this morning, and I still have to get the hot wire up for the fence. The boss makes the kids help as there is a few hundred yard walk to run water, set grain, dump hay, etc. currently due to the barn not being finished. We’re hoping (and praying) the materials are delivered next month so we can get the structure up before winter really hits. It’s an all steel building, so no maintenance, but things like a 2 post lift and a bunch of finishing work will have to be done before it’s all there.

When you have a view like this, it’s all worth it.



The slab for the shop side of the barn just got poured this morning, and millings for the new driveway and turnarounds are getting delivered I think later today, so at least the dust will finally get under control.

 

I got the stereo installed today. Some interesting and cool “period correct” gear was in there.

Proof positive the wiring is there for the heated windshield. They actually plugged the harness into the blank. I put the switch in, so I just need to get the windshield itself and program in the Nanocom and I’ll be all set.





I suspected there was an FM modulator as there was a “Monster cable” harness in the center console with an old school iPod connector.



It was a little bit of spaghetti, but clean overall. They only did a small tap into a hot wire that I removed and covered up, so no worries.



The vent foam was pretty wasted so I installed some new stuff.



I wasn’t sure what this wire was for, but I think it’s for the GPS antenna from the OEM head unit.



I need to look up the PN for this and see what it is, but again, I think it is the GPS module.



It was directly under the bracket for the head unit that is needed to be removed to install the aftermarket HU.



All buttoned up.



The second hazard light switch is what I’ll be using for reverse lights. On my last Disco, the cluster surround had enough open ports to put all my external lights in there, but now with the ‘04 and parking sensors, I only have one port open up there, so I’ll be putting the reverse lights on the center stack ad leave that open port for some auxiliary lights. One of the other funny things was the spacer part from Metra that came with the kit from Crutchfield was already there due to the Nav OEM HU, so I just reused that one.

The harness from Crutchfield was perfect and truly made the final install a total joke and genuinely plug and play. I spent way more time cleaning up and prepping than actually doing the stereo install. This is all that was removed.



It makes things WAY easier to remove the entire center stack. It helps to be able to remove the bracket needing to be pulled as well as getting the cage for the aftermarket HU in there and good and secure. Now I at least I can make calls and listen to something other than the disc changer that was iffy most of the time.