Without searching I have happened upon a 1996 LR Discovery for sale and in need of some TLC and perhaps a little more than casual repair. It is a cloth seat Disco I with manual transmission. Not worth much on the Edmunds/KBB sites. Engine runs well and only has 104k miles on it.

I have restored old Volvo's so nothing I have seen appears difficult or requires special tools beyond my cabinet and the auto parts stores 'rental' tools.

Known remaining issues are the front shocks which are described as failed and brake pads and rotors. The right front brake rotor shows that the brake pad has worn to the point of encountering metal-to-metal contact indicating that the caliper has seized. Rear muffler is rusted out.

There is no documentation on coolant service but the documentation would indicate that nothing had been done in 10 years, 10k miles. At this point on a 20 year old truck I would replace all the coolant hoses, the water pump and thermostat with a good flush of the entire system.

The owner appears to have attempted to keep this vehicle in driveable condition through the support of a professional independent repair shop. The truck has 3 year old, 5k miles, top of the line Michelin tires , 3 month old battery, replaced with OEM parts the brake master cylinder and clutch master cylinder, steering damper and spark plugs. Power steering hoses and oil pan gaskets have been replaced to resolve leaks. Manual transmission that has had the transmission, transfer case and rear differential oil changed.

Well, I picked it up but between a coolant leak, non functional shocks and a brake pad that doesn't exist anymore it was not up for driving home.

Few cosmetic issues like rubber gaskets around windows but found no rust and everything seems to work electrically. It is a one owner Atlanta car that has never been off pavement.







What I could use most from the forum members is input on what type of parts to buy or not buy. The water pump sells for $50 to $200. Do I really need an OEM water pump? Shocks range from $35 to $200 also. Rotors are $25 to $150. AutoZone seems to have everything in a couple day's shipping time, RockAuto has the best prices until they add the shipping cost. Neither carry much of the high cost stuff. This is going to be a transportation vehicle for a Grandson who is a senior in HS through college. With all the work before me I would dare him to take it off road to try to break it.

Input requested.

 

I buy most everything on amazon, free prime shipping

Water pump , any brand
That master cylinder better be land rover genuine or you will have serious issues like the brakes lock up

Look for a u pull junk yard , great deals can be had

I would not buy akebono pads they only lasted me 10 k , buy good semi metallic

If just driving on road any quality shock should do

Once you get into special parts that can't be bought at say amazon call a place like lucky they specialize in rover parts

I would also be checking and rebuild the drive shafts if needed, fuel filter, clean throttle body, tune up if needed etc.

Brake fluid iirc is dot4 like motorcycles

If there's sunroofs check the drains

Body is mostly skinned with aluminum, rust will be floors and underneath

 

Thanks for the comments Tom R. Just what I was looking for. I usually haunt eBay since they have bullied their vendors into providing free shipping and I don't have to pay the 'Prime' annual fee.

Got all the known required parts on order. Yeah, I know where all the old Volvo's are located in yards within 60 miles. Guess I have to go inventory all the LR's now.

How about appearance items like side and rear glass seals? Lots of folks associated with the Volvo and Jaguar marks that I play with sell OEM stuff at half the direct dealer prices. Got a list of them for LR's?

 

I found it easiest to buy a complete hose set from someone like Atlantic British, the under hood heat dries and cracks them.
ebay is also a good place for parts you will find hubs, complete brake set, cheaper than most places.
look to kingsborne for wires no need to spend $100 on magncore wires.

very nice looking d1 by the way

 

Nice D1, looks just like mine......also found semi conscious....


Replaced my rotors with drilled & slotted rotors off ebay, very happy with them and cost effective, most come with shoes. Pick up a hardware kit for each corner. Put my own exhaust together, but if you hunt there's some semi deals on ebay as well. Any used part I buy I source from the south west.


Good luck!

 

Amazon is good, love having Prime.

I usually buy brake pads in bulk from RockAuto. You can find semi-metallic sets for about $8 each. I will buy 4-5 sets at a time and even with shipping the cost is ridiculous. The key to Rock Auto is making sure all your parts come from the same warehouse, that keeps shipping down.

Advance Auto is another favorite of mine. There's almost always a 30% off code on Retailmenot.com Use the coupon code, order online, and pick up in store for no shipping cost. Usually doing this will beat any other place for larger parts.

RovahFarm has pretty good deals on the more specific Rover parts.

 

I just got a D1, too. I'm looking into buying another one for parts. Experience with mine so far is everything I fix yields 3 more things that NEED fixing. Some wrecked rovers or blown HG models can be had for $500 or less. That sum can easily be spent on just a couple of the more "fun" repair items.

 

A couple things on these Land Rovers that pay off big if you do it right and 'thoroughly' the first time:

1) Cooling System:
These aluminum engines just are not tolerant to overheating. Once they overheat, they can turn to junk quick (expecially later 2003-2004 engines), and it can be difficult to find another one in good shape. It's worth making sure the cooling system will be good for some time. Some of the main reasons they overheat are from stupid things like not replacing the lower radiator hose, and a water pump leak. But it's understandable in a way because buying a 'good' lower radiator hose is expensive. If you look how L/R did it, it's the wierdiest lower radiator hose (at least on my 98) you'll see, with plenty of joints to split and leak. So, definitely buy a very good quality replacement like from Atlantic British. The water pumps tend to fail, and check the fan clutch too, they have a tendency to lock up when you get to 100k-120k miles and the fan spins all the time (notice a loud howling??), which usually knocks out the water pump, or breaks the water pump shaft and a blade through the radiator... It's almost worth replacing hose, pump, clutch all at the same time. Mine need all of them at the same time. I haven't had to touch the cooling system since (nice!).

2) Brakes:
Whenever I get a new vehicle, I go through the brake system entirely, partly because it's pretty easy to do and helps ensure safety. If you have to replace rotors, check the front outer axle swivel-***** for any lube leakage (at the axle near the tires). A little wetness is ok, drips are not. The axle housing has gear lube in it, but the outer assembly from the swivel ***** out, have a thick lube in them - something like a barely pourable sticky grease - 00 weight. When the seals by he swivel ***** leak (and they eventually DO leak), then it dillutes this sticky 'grease' I spoke about and thinner gear lube migrates to the wheel bearing area. It doesn't necessarily spell impending doom, but the effect is to reduce the overall amount of lubrication at the wheel bearing and outer axle area, which can lead to problems. If you pull the plug at the center of the pumpkin and a bunch of greenish fluid rushes out (a high level), that's a good indication that the greenish 00 (weight) lube at the axles has been diluted. The reason I bring this up is if you are replacing any front rotors, THIS is the time to go a little further and re-do the inner axle seals inside the swivel *****. Also, there are tapered bearings at the top and bottom of the swivel ***** and they are set to a specific pre-load ...and require periodic re-shimming to maintain a certain pre-load. When they are not re-shimmed as a part of routine maintenance (which is usually the case), and the tolerance becomes too great, owners get what's known as the "Death Wobble" at highway speeds. It's a terrible, uncontrollable shake that could get out of hand quick, that's how bad it can be. I'm not saying your rig has this, or that you 'need' to re-shim now, just that if you have to replace rotors, you are into the job far enough that, to many, it makes sense to go a little further, pull the axles, replace the axle seals (and maybe the swivel ball dust seals), and CHECK the swivel ball bearing pre-load tension (and re-shim if necessary), then install new grease in the swivel *****. If you do all of the stuff mentioned above for each front axle side one time, at your miles, along with the brake work, it's probably something you'll never have to touch again. But if all you need are just pads right now, and it drives out ok, then you can probably push it off a while. But it's a good bet that you will need to do this job soon. It's not too difficult, just something to do before the death wobble starts, because then you'll be looking at probably new swivel bearings and its even more work.

3) Accessory Drive Belt Mis-Routing
This is one of the most common mistakes people who work on Land Rovers (even so-called experienced mechanics) make, so hopefully this will help you avoid some pain: The Land Rover V8 is the only vehicle I've ever owned where it's possible to mis-route the drive belt and still 'sort of' work. But it doesn't work well and leads to a bunch of funny acting problems which people waste a lot of time and energy tracking down and never find until someone points it out...or they sell the truck because it's a Lemon. Actually, if you had the belt in hand, the most intuitive way to route it is the WRONG way. And even worse, Land Rover didn't put routing stickers on a lot of Discos. Incorrectly installing the belt will spin the alternator enough at idle and low speed, but will cause slippage at higher speed leading to electrical flickering of the dash gauges, low or dead battery, worn out alternator pulley and so on. So, be sure you look up the right belt routing and lock that little tidbit into the ole steel trap.

4) Really pay close attention to water intrusion.
The under floor mats are made of this sponge material that is backed on each side with a rubber/plastic material. Great for sound deadening and even better for soaking up and holding water. Any (ANY) water that leaks from the windshield gasket (and they are KNOWN to chronic leakage) will soak the matts. Even if you lift them up and put a small fan under there it'll take a few days in warm dry weather to dry them out. They will cause your floor to rust out quicker than you can imagine. So keep it indoors, or do a thorough inspection so you can keep your rig in pristine condition, because it looks like such a nice rig. Same goes for the rear mat by the back door. I just looked at mine the other day and little did I know, mine started to leak and I've got big rust bubbles back there on one side that weren't present before. So I've got some work to do on mine now too. Sunroof drains leak too. And, while you're under the vehicle, find the AC condensate drain hose that goes through the floor and pull the tapered plastic (or rubber) tip off and blow it out and replace. Insects like to make a little nest in there and a little debris will cause the AC drain to plug up and it'll also soak yer mats. It's about a 2 minute job.

There are a few other Land Rover-isms which you can find out about reading through the posts on this forum. If you are taller, there is a fairly simple seat track mod which will give you some more legroom. Spark plug wires, head gaskets ...a guy could go on and on. However, once you get the handfull of common deferred maintenance items worked out, these vehicles are screwed together well and can be very tough and dependable. You'll have a nice running rig that you will enjoy for a long time.

Good luck!

 

Nice find! Only wish when I had found my 96 Disco I the body was that good. But for 1300 can't complain too much :P. As far as water pump couldn't tell ya as haven't had that battle yet. But I would say like others Atlantic British is a good place to go as well as Miami Rovers on ebay. They have a great selection and free shipping(usually quicker than estimated). Least has been on the parts I have ordered. As far as the shocks unless he plans on making it a serious trail rig, or doing a lot of heavy offroad I wouldn't probably go above $50 a pop on shocks. Though when it comes to the time I would recommend STI wires. As since I have changed mine have had a good improvement on MPG, and on power(not huge but better than it was). Also anything I might be able to help with feel free to shoot me a message. Just got done with a pretty much whole top end of the motor rebuild (from heads up). Anyway have a good one and am round if ya need any help and I can

Bobby(So. Oregon)

 

Slowly got all the parts in for rotor/brake replacement.

Now the questions:

What is the torque on the inside the rotor to hub bolts? Blue LocTite?

What is the torque on the axle nut? Tightening it like I have always done is not pulling up the snap ring groove like I found it. Headed to Tractor Supply for what appears to be a 52mm socket.

What is the torque on the axle spline cover to hub? I have grease all over them. Do they need to be cleaned and blue LT applied?

I am sure there will be more questions.