WARNING, IF YOUR EASILY OFFENDED, HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR OR OVER ALL TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY........YOU'LL WANT TO READ A DIFFERENT BUILD THREAD. THANKS!
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Okay........


I doubt there's much I can post here that hasn't been done or posted over the years........So I think this will be more about the trial & tribulations of adopting a 1997 Disco 1 SD7 from a car lot where it sat for over 2 years....


I'm new to the Land Rover brand, but not new to 4 wheeling. Maybe in some way this will help the next new guy/gal down the road.....I was warned, but I did it anyway.


Back ground.....I had a 92 E250 that I doing a ridge-runner style (70's) camper conversion to.....Long story short, the wife wouldn't drive it (too big) so it got to be....What's the point?.....Couldn't sell it on CL for what I had into it......Driving by a little used car dealership I noticed the Disco 1 and thought to myself, damn...that things been there for years...what's up?
2 weeks later the wife went away for a weekend, I cleaned up the van and set out to make a deal......2 hours later, I swapped the van for the Disco..





The Disco barely ran.....locked up alternator, the rubber plug on the head was dry rotted and spewing antifreeze......This was all before I drove it off the lot.....BUT HEY, IT WAS ONE OWNER....lol...couple little issues, so what....I've brought worse things home....who cares if the bearing in the compressor is roaring like 1/2 dead road kill.....Made the deal, drove it straight to the house.....





and it was a good thing I did.......the next morning the transmission cooler blew out of it. (two thumbs up right here)


Then the wife came home..........she wasn't too happy.....

 

So at this point.....I have an upset wife and a Land Rover leaking transmission fluid like the Exxon Valdez.........What's a guy to do?
I'll tell you what you do, you grab a beer and go shopping on the internet!
So....that's what I did......



Then came the sticker shock....1 beer became 2, 2 beers became 3.....you know the deal.......Then came the bright idea, used truck = used parts. I sourced the entire system out of a bone yard in SoCal for 1/3 the cost, parts looked virtually new when they arrived, installed correctly....botta bing botta boom....Done. I think I had $122.00 into replacing the system & lines......Now, how to make it run better??...

 

lmao...

 

By this time, I had managed to quiet the wife down.........





But I'll admit, this was a little more than I thought it would be.......As it sat I basically brought home an easy bake oven on wheels.......





I pulled the plugs.....Ugh, weak spark soot.......started searching out a hotter or performance coil to up the anti...........you fool, there's no such thing.....(please advise me if there is!!).....





So.....it seemed I'd need to settle for upgraded plugs & 8mm wires....grabbed a couple emission items as well.......





Well.......That stepped it up a bit, the wife would finally sit in it and the flashing CHECK SQUIRREL CAGE light disappeared....Things are looking up!

 

Subscribed.

 

At this point I figured it was time to put some miles on this finicky mistress and start burning that old fuel out, my boy came with me a few times and gave me his approval of the now rolling driveway ornament......





After a few trips, I took it down to the Sheriffs office for Kentucky's major inspection program........This consists of giving the Sheriff your title, bill of sale and 5 bucks......He signed me off and sent me on my way with out even checking the VIN.......I guess I passed.......4.5 minutes later I was out of DMV with hard plates.....These will come in handy when I decide to repair the rotted front wheel wells.


On that note, as a welder/fabricator....I admittedly over looked the amount of rust this thing actually has......It literally leaves like a bread crumb (rust crumb) trail on the street as I travel, on a positive note I'll never get lost!......No biggy, we'll get 'er done!

 

I want to get you, Dusty and case or three of beer together, then enjoy the show

 

Well......I'm from a different neighborhood.....might of figured that out.
I'm sure someone will find offense somewhere within this thread, and as a new owner I'm just starting and trying to recall my experience thus far.....


When I grow up, I'm going to write children's books fathers will actually want to read to their sons.




Anywho.....Now with a couple miles under my belt, figured it needed some tinkering up front......I was no way ready to commit to a full bumper build, but maybe something to keep a small deer out of my engine bay...
Having some misbent tube kicking around from a different job, I recycled it into a little brush guard based off the stock bumper......





Nothing major, just enough......the LED's I had kicking around, I wanted 6" round yeller's but settled for the 4" version..........Seems the old skool VW folks push the 6'es as 'vintage' raising the cost to DOUBLE....
Once I fully commit to this truck, I'll do a full winch bumper with twin chain saw mounts and steering wheel mounted thumb throttles! Sounds good doesn't it? Let's see them protestors block my highway!





NEXT: After 2 sleepless nights of pumping my stereo code into the factory radio........it awoke.

 

Don't misunderstand I'm not offended and Dusty sure won't be. I think the two of you together that would be the makings of a great sitcom. I Messaged him that I found his long-lost brother.

By all means carry-on LOL

 

lol.......We're good, I didn't mean 'you'.........I meant someone with'in this forum.....I ride the edge of what's appropriate on forums......I get along with most everyone from everywhere, could always use another brother......Meanwhile in Russia.....