So the chassis had 235k miles on it when the odo was disconnected. I'm guessing it was disconnected when the whole drive train was swapped out with one that I was told had 73k miles on it. Or it might have been disconnected when the last owner replaced the heater core. The drive train was swapped after a botched head gasket job.

On the engine side, I've been monitoring things with the Ultraguage. When it's fully up to temp it bounces between 195 and 200 very consistently. On warm days I have to flip the switch for the radiator fan or it creeps over 200. I think the only thing they checked on the engine was was the idle issue that they fixed. But you bring up a good point, I need to grill them on what they did check on the engine. Aside from the valve cover gaskets everything I've checked out on it has been in good shape.

I also completely agree about the 305's being horribly wrong. I'm going to replace them with 265 75's. On the highway at least there's plenty of clearance, and the camel cut was made on the back before I bought it.

When I bought this car I knew I'd be doing a lot of work on it myself, and made my wife aware too. I've got a long list of things to fix already. This trip was really just to make sure she was safe and reliable.

 

Jeff will take good care of you, he has earned his reputation.

Brakes and bearings are easy, can be done fairly quickly and can be done outside of your garage.

It's the big things that I see folks bringing trucks to me to fix, engine/transmissions/transfer case swaps. I recently walked a client through doing a head job as his truck had overheated at his winter home and he didn't want to ship it to me.

You'll be fine!

 

What's up with that front fender?

Often times the 4 bolts that secure the valve covers work loose resulting in oil leaks.
You need a 12 point 8 mm deep socket to tighten them.

Best wishes with your Discovery.

 

The front fender? You mean the damage at the front corner? Came that way. I've replaced the lamp enclosure but have no intention to do anything about the fender. The way I see it, it's rough and rugged and is only going to collect more battle scars.

I'm heading off to Sears now to buy some large wrenches and the socket I need for the valve covers, then the parts store for some oil. I'm hoping to tackle the valve covers, an oil change, and pulling the center console to lube up the CDL shifter all before dark. Fingers crossed.