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Once the body was done we decided a new motor made more sense than rebuilding what was in it. In hindsight I'd have done the mechanical work first then the body work. But I was under the impression when I drove it home that the engine was in better shape than it was. What started as a pan gasket and timing chain replacement turned into a completely different engine and a bunch of other maintenance as I went.
I pulled the oil pan to replace a badly leaking gasket and decided to pull a couple con-rod caps to check the bearings... straight copper. Pulled 2 main caps and found the same. Popped a valve cover off and it was clear this motor had not been maintained since it left our care 6 years ago. I did a ton of research on rebuilding what was in it and found out it'd be a lot quicker to just replace it and keep the original on a stand to rebuild at a later date. So out she came!
Once the new motor was in and running I started working on the bumpers. I had built a custom front bumper the first time we owned the truck but had some changes we wanted to do to it. We put a D2 bumper on the rear years ago but didn't like the way the body lines behind the rear tires lines up to it so that was also addressed.
New motor installed.
Working on front bumper, 90% complete and getting coated.
These updates may not all be in the exact order we did the work but it's close.
After finishing the bumpers I moved onto the stereo. The last owner had hacked up the factory wiring and put in a cheap aftermarket radio with only the front 2 speakers crudely wired in with speaker wires run straight to the head unit.
They still had the factory head unit and I still had the code for it so I got to work fixing the mess.
Mess in the dash. Cut harness by passenger footwell.
While repairing the radio wiring and putting the factory head unit back in I discovered the PO absolutely DESTROYED the radio bezel. Not happy to see that, it was in very good shape with only 1 broken tab last time I'd worked on it. I found a instal kit on eBay that was close to the same size as the opening on the Rover and glued it in with a 2 part epoxy. I glassed the cracks and used bondo as a filler. It's not great but it is back in one piece and holds the radio.
Exhaust was dealt with next. The was admittedly a half hearted repair. The project was just kinda dragging on at this point and I needed the shop for something else so a little duct tape and bubble gum and out she went.
The pipe was broken in two spots, looked like previously repaired sections, and 2 gaskets were leaking. I scabbed on some pipe and put a couple new hangers on and actually haven't even replaced the gaskets yet. The other problem is the flow master 40 muffler they had on it. It's drones terrible and is mostly blown out so not only does it sound bad, it's loud.
This will have to be visited again at some point but here's where it's at.
After a short brake to deal with other projects we did a little more work on the Discovery. My wife found some seat covers that fit fairly well so I glued them to the seats with eM spray adhesive. The factory leather is pretty rough at this point.
Next was tires. It had Treadwrights BFG AT copies on it. 3 held air, 1 had a gash in it (mounted on the spare), and the 4th rim had an actual BFG of some kind on it. They were all dry rotted. Naturally we went with Rover Claws! 😆
They are actually pretty nice for china tires. We'll see how they hold up. The good thing is this truck is a toy not a daily so hopefully they will last a few years.
I've always liked compass hood decals so I surprised my wife with this. I wish it was just a little bigger but that's the biggest one they had. Since we live in the pines in Carolina and have black bears in the yard every now and then I thought this one was fitting.
