I've got a 16 year old daughter. I taught her how to drive a stick shift in an ancient Jeep (pre-Wrangler days I think). She loves taking it off-roading, but hated its flimsy doors, plastic zipper windows, and she never puts down its top.

Plus, it only tops out at 55 mph, so it isn't really a road-trip sort of vehicle!

Well, I take my kids to dealer car auctions because I believe that most kids have no idea what vehicles do what or which would be right for them because... most kids haven't driven many different vehicles.

One of the dealer auctions that we go to has a test track, so they get to drive *lots* of cars.

Well, while I'm thinking that I'm a great parent for doing this, my daughter falls in love with the interior of an inoperative Land Rover that was about to be junked.

So I told her to bid on it. Apparently my mind is failing.

She won it for $500. I called the Seller after the purchase to ask what was wrong with it. He replied "Blown motor" and hung up.

Oy vey.

So I had it towed off and began working on it. First, I just dropped the oil pan and replaced the rod bearings... because this was a really easy way to test to see if the motor was any good or not.

We got to drive it for a while, but finally the oil pump gave out so I had to pull the motor (Grrr...) and rebuild the motor (this part was actually fun and comparatively easy).

I spent just under $2k for the parts to rebuild it, but now she has a fantastic motor with clean fuel injectors, all new bearings (everything!), new piston rings, ARP studs (vastly superior to the factory "stretch" head bolts), and all metal head gaskets by Cometic.

You don't blow all-metal head gaskets held on by ARP studs.

I lapped the intake and exhaust valves. I replaced the valve seals with new ones.

New oil pump/chain/front cover, etc. Oh, and I installed a great cam by Crower that not only boosted the 4.6's power but also improved the gas mileage.

We've done an 1,100 mile road trip to Louisiana and a 1,070 mile road trip to South Carolina since then.

This was a $500 junkyard truck!

Clean exterior. Decent paint. Clean interior.

I've got everything working on it. Cruise control. Windshield washer squirters. All lights/blinkers. Installed a reverse camera CD player navigation unit radio ($140).

It doesn't tick. It doesn't overheat. The power steering works (but leaks fluid).

The motor that I rebuilt had already been rebuilt before because it had the larger factory "B" pistons in it.

A junkyard $500 truck with a blown rebuilt motor isn't supposed to run again, but these old trucks are amazing.

They actually have a high tolerance for pain/wear (as do most owners, I gather!).

So now she zips around town getting about 9 mpg running the ice cold A/C, does road trips getting up to 17 mpg, and goes off-roading without fear.

Do you need to spend $10k on a new motor for these trucks?

No.

For less than $2k in parts (and probably another $4k in labor if you want to take your Land Rover to your local race track mechanics) you can have a quality vehicle with one of the top 4wd systems around. Great traction control. Good anti-lock brakes. Air bags. Cold A/C. Good speakers. Cruise control. Power (and heated!) seats. Power windows, dual sunroofs, power locks, alarm, etc.


Make sure that your frame isn't rusted out. Bonus points if you can buy a running example that doesn't overheat.

These are old vehicles running old technology, but everything that is a typical problem has a ready fix for it... most all of which is cheap and easy to do.

 

 

Then what was wrong with buying the one I saw for $1500? Due to its cosmetic flaws (bumper, lights, etc)?

 

And also, you guys put such a huge emphasis on its engine; but what about the transmission?

 

The transmissions in these things are bullet proof, the 4HP22 is just fine for the 4.0, and the 4HP24 is just fine for the 4.6. They go many many miles with normal service, a few litres of Dexron and a filter kit from AB for $50 total keeps it shifting smooth and good clean fluid in it. The trucks in my signature all shift smoothly, and are original.

I believe that the truck is a lemon, it's sketchy that the pump goes out at 10-15 minutes. I too think flood truck, they can be electrical nightmares with only a little rainwater. You wouldn't know if it had a slipped liner, overheats, starts slipping in drive, or a whole bunch of other things. These should always ALWAYS be test driven a good 30 minutes. I've test driven one that the AC cut out after 20 minutes, compressor was bad. Truck was $300, so so what.

I've bought running/driving good Discos for $500-1000 that need minimal work, but I'm here in Illinois where they are plentiful and cheap broken.

 

I wouldn’t buy anything from the Houston/SETX area unless you know the person. Trust me out of the 1.5-2.0 million reported flood cars there is probably at least 500k that have gone un-reported.

D2 fuel pumps are damn reliable, the ad does the famous bit of looking like a personal seller, then it’s at a repo/salvage lot/expo motors lot, then the grammar in the ad is seriously lacking.

It would be a great gamble at 500.00, but with taped down horn buttons, and cheap fixes left & right from the pic’s I’ve seen = it’s at best a parts truck unless it’s rust bucket (soon could be if it was in Harvey’s path).

 

 

So basically, as I understand these are my options:

1) Find a decent looking D2 in a good cosmetic shape with no rust from an OWNER.

2) Have the car shipped to my city.

3) If the engine still works, rebuilt the entire thing in a fashion a user "No Doubt" described before (in my case I could theoretically drop off D2 to my friend's mechanic shop and they can replace everything within a month or so).

4) If the engine is blown, buy an aftermarket engine.

5) And also, aftermarket front driveshaft.

Thoughts?

 

Is there like a complete list of all things that must be replaced in a stock engine and overall in D2?

That'd definitely be helpful.

And about budget; 10k for entire thing? (purchase price+shipping+new parts+labor)

 

I don't think there is a "list" per se simply because everyone has different experiences when doing some serious work on these engines. Parts wear out at different rates, people take care of engines better than others blah blah blah.

I think the bottom line is that you need to be mental prepared for the fact that you could be spending a ton of money on these trucks to get them in tip top shape, especially if you are having someone else do the work.

It took me months to find mine and it certainly came with its share of problems but at the time i thought it was worth the risk. After rebuilding the engine and other items, I'm kicking myself for not buy one that was $500 rather than the $2.4k i paid for mine. Live and learn i suppose.

Just keep looking around you and be patient -- you'll find one.