I'd run the inline stat from forum user Extinct. Run it in both my d2s and very pleased. Personally too many poor quality parts from L8 for me to order from them again.. I have a severe duty clutch and dorman fan that I ran once that I'd sell for cheap. I can shuttle parts from Roadside down to at least Interquest where I work if you don't want to take the trip up for random bits and pieces

 

Ah my love for Discos…. Poor Disco definitively spent its whole life in Kalifornistan and had no clue how to handle this cold stuff.







It fired immediately and drove around just fine.

 

So a minor update. The temps on the engine started getting a little more than I’m comfortable with, so I’ve not really driven it much and ordered a new radiator and 180 soft spring T stat just to be sure. In anticipation and that today has been sunny and nice (but still in the 20s and 30s) I decided to do some prep work.

The good news is it looks like the radiator has been replaced before as well as the fan and clutch as I don’t think it is the 1 piece design from the ‘03-‘04. I think the radiator must have been done in 2012 or thereabouts based on what I think is a date on the top of the radiator.



The fan is a bit sad too with a broken blade and a couple more with cracks, but I think it will last for just a bit and can easily be done with the radiator installed.



Hopefully it doesn’t look like this for too long…



It was great that the oil cooler line came off with only a little fiddling and nothing broken or cracked.

This also was a shining example of why it was worth it to fly to Kalifornistan and get a vehicle that has been there for the duration. All fasteners were there and came off with ease and nothing broke- eve some of the typical tabs and such. Even my wife was impressed there was no lalochezia.

Next step after the radiator and T stat will be to do the diffs and tranny. I’ve got a noise up front I don’t like that I initially thought was a CV, but it might be in the diff itself, I don’t know. I also need to do a more detailed inspection of the front driveshaft as well. Additionally I need to pull the wheels and check the brake pads just to make sure.

I found a guy locally who has all the little bits and bobs I need to clean up the interior and prep for heated seats and windshield, so just trying to link up with him to get that stuff.

Mid term will be to do the suspension and tires as the tires don’t match and are utterly useless. The shocks are totally wasted so it will be nice to get a more positive ride with it. I may actually loosen up the steering box a touch in addition to the flush of fluid.

I’m having a blast as we’ve got the space to do the work- even if it is in the driveway- and now just need it to warm up (it’s been below zero every night and in the single digits and teens during the day for the last 2 weeks).

Again, this is like a comfortable pair of shoes and not having any pressure to make it a perfect runner immediately is really nice. I don’t suspect it will be pressed into service for another month or so until I do all the basic service and determine the state of all the critical components.

 

I have a set of 5 clean 16" wheels if you're looking to drop down to 16s. Just let me know, actually might have a dorman fan that hasn't been installed either, need to dig through the parts pile..

 

Thanks! I know you had the clutch, but I’m pretty positive now the one in there is in good shape. The upper and lower shrouds are in great shape as well. But I’ll hit you up and we can meet and I’ll get that fan from you.

In terms of wheels, I’m torn on what to do. The existing 18s need to be refinished and I’m trying to decide if I want to do it myself or have them painted professionally. I just picked up a set of perfect center caps, so I’m good there too, but if I decide to get the 18s refinished professionally, it would be nice to have a second set of wheels to throw on. I was planning on running the existing wheels long term as they are HSE specific, but I dunno- this thing is a long term project and toy anyway.

The shop isn’t going to be finished until fall, and I’m not nuts about leaving it on stands while I wait for the powder coating to be done (I don’t know how long it will take). I have to get the tires removed as well so being able to drive it around wouldn’t hurt.

If you wanna fire sale the wheels I might consider it, but since I’ll soon have $$$ wrapped up in springs up front and spacers in the rear with shocks all around in addition to springs, that’s a couple grand right there, so I’m trying to be sparing in what I spend. By the time summer comes around, I’ll need to get the AC fixed too, and that may go from mild to wild, so I’m prepping the slush fund to take a healthy hit.

I forgot to mention, I got an oil change done finally and of course it had a lamo ACDelco or whatever filter and the oil was seriously black. It runs a bunch smoother now, but gets hot pretty quick when idling, so I still have some analysis to do in terms of that noise up front.

 

You want to get that fan replaced much soon than later, it will be putting a lot stress on the water pump bearings as it will be wobbling when spinning even if you can not see it

 

Yeah I agree the more I think about it.

I got the green light to spend Saturday monkeying with the Disco, so I’ll be doing the radiator, tranny flush, and diffs. I’m going to pull the wheels and check the brakes and bearings as well. The front driveshaft and rear guibo too. I’d like to pull the diffs out and an inspection of them too, but I just don’t have time right now.

 

Right. So. If you are lucky enough to have found a very minty Disco like my latest, forego the psycho attention to OEM detail as I usually am well known for and rip this &^*$%(&^%#^(OP^&H POS out and destroy it to confirm its erasure from history/memory.



A little background. I did the radiator, soft spring 180 T stat, fan, and clutch. I can’t get it bled correctly/completely. I’ve tried every known to man process, trick, procedure, whatever and I still couldn’t get the damn air out as it started getting too hot for my liking.

So I’ve given up and got an Air Lift and going to drain the system and start over in hopes of success. Coming full circle, this is the reason for getting that godforsaken parts catcher POS out of there- so I stop making such a galactic mess when I drain. In order to remove this parts catcher, I had to remove the steering stabilizer and still be violent. The only way I think it can come out easily is to remove the steering gear and ack the axle away from the frame. What kind of brain dead idiot would design something so incredibly stupid? Oh wait, it’s a Disco…

I’ll snap some pics when I get it drained and start the vacuum pull. 3 weeks now working on something I’ve done multiple times in the past. Thus, Disco life being like a box of chocolates…. (Except my mom would have advised against something of this nature. It also has quickly reminded me of why my wife wanted the last one gone…)

 

You already have it out but if you have to do it again, you can lift the truck by the frame instead of by the axles to make enough space to get the shield out.

 

Yeah I figured that out, but what kind of dithering idiot would make you lift the entire vehicle in such a fashion to remove and generally useless piece of plastic? Oh yeah, a Rover engineer…

And on that note, the “new” Disco is going on time out. Yesterday was mostly bad Rover day. I feel pretty confident I got all the air out of the system with the Air Lift, but the damn temps keep rising. The temp cycle when the thermostat opens but the cycle eventually gets to where I don’t like it and I gave up. I made some posts on Failbook and such and there is the head gasket crew that is the knee jerk response for some folks who think that will solve door lock actuator issues…

It’s not loosing coolant. There is no coolant in the oil. When I drain the system- again- yesterday, the coolant that came out was perfect. It’s not been driven so there isn’t some magical mystery tiny leak. It passed the block test with fluid. To be frank, I’m a bit grumpy with the Disco right now in contradiction of the thread title…

The Air lift couldn’t keep vacuum, which has me raise an eyebrow, but zero rushing fluid sounds inside or out.

So I’m thinking water pump.

Anyway, some pics because those are at least fun:

The block is not toast.



This is as high as I could get the Air Lift to. The air compressor was at 100-150 psi.



After a minute it dropped to this.



https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/Land..._7704-1280.mp4

I also plugged the over flow hose on the expansion tank. Again, over time (about an hour) I think I finally got the bubbles out of the system, and it cycled perfectly. Then I shut it off, let it sit for a few minutes, and ran it again holding revs a bit over 2k. It cycled the cycles started getting higher and higher under load and I gave up at 215.

I still like the Disco, but I need some time apart for a sec…