Well, I decided to jump in head first:

Click here for the 'before' gallery (if I linked it right):



I recently (on Thursday) picked up a 2004 Discovery 2. My requirements were pretty low, I wanted something with a decent interior and a 3rd row. This has neither, but it is Vienna Green!!! As you can see in the gallery, it is far from perfect, but it does have several great things going for it:

It is a pretty base/low optioned 'S' - no frills, plenty of thrills. I come from the Land Cruiser world (1993 FZJ80,) so I am happy that I don't have to worry about a sunroof. I have big plans for this truck, and will post tomorrow with a surprise.

Cheers!

 

Well this ain’t no Toyota this is a maintenance fuel hungry machine that requires some time or you will be walking in no time
my advise to do minimum

coolant flush and fill with green stuff
180 thermostat or inline thermostat
ultraguage to monitor your temps constantly
front drive shaft replace with greaseable one

 

Indeed! I am not walking into this with my eyes shut, I will likely link up some of my other projects shortly. While a Land Cruiser is a Toyota, the one I had was also a 25+ year old example! I did a very reasonable baseline upon acquisition, and am in the process of doing the same with this Land Rover. Like I said, tomorrow I will have a surprise! But, I am happy to take all advice, and you offer some great advice, the UltraGauge is sitting in my folder of stuff to acquire, and I have an email out to NANOCOM as we speak. It will likely be a while before I need the UltraGauge, 180* thermostat or coolant flush (same regarding a TW driveshaft, which is also on the list)

Now, let me see if I can figure out how to link external pictures:

 

I have yet to ever need the more $$$ TW drive shafts. OEM has worked fine on all my 3inch lifted D2's.

 

I'm a pretty big fan of Tom Woods - I've used their driveshafts on several Jeeps and recently purchased a np241c SYE from them. That SYE is manufactured by AdvancedcAdapters and is top notch! The other driveshafts I like are Jesse's 1410 stuff at High Angle Driveline, but the TW driveshafts really are perfect for this application IMHO.

 

oem ? No grease nipples ?

 

When I meant OEM I meant OEM length in the rear, and OEM length in the front.

Back when I had my 2 05 Jeep Wranglers TW was the bomb, but I had several buddies buy his stuff and it failed out on the first trail they hit. TW did send them both replacement drive shafts ASAP, and he later changed the brand U-Joints he was using so his customer service and standing behind his stuff = excellent.

I've just wheeled LR's for many many years and have yet had an OEM length drive shaft front or rear be an issue. Now I've only gone up to a 3inch lift on my D2's as I still drive them on/off road vs say a dedicated trail truck. For certain a 4inch, or above would require longer shafts or spacers because at full flex the shafts would be running at their max.

 

Surprise!!!



Gallery at:
https://nooner.smugmug.com/frame/sli...=2&clickable=1

 

Welcome to the forum! Did you get a second one?

 

Yes - the 2004 (Vienna Green) is going to be my 'keeper' - the 2000 (Kinversand) is going to be contributing parts over to the green one. My two major requirements (which the 2004 didn't meet) were: 3rd Row and decent interior, between the two I think I'll be able to accomplish that goal! (in the green one)

The 2000 runs, but it is making a LOT of noise and has popped a ton of codes. I might tinker around with it a bit, or keep it around as a parts rig, but I am also just as inclined to sell it off to someone else (with the appropriate disclosures) to remediate after providing parts for the 2004.

The 2004 does NOT run, but the problem is electrical, namely a P1668, so I plan to get a Nanocom and will start working my way through the electrical system.

After I get it on the road, my plans are to keep it pretty much as is, I has 265/75/r16 tires, and I think it has a 2" lift too. I have been looking for the right 2004 for a while, and this low-option, non-sunroof car fits the bill perfectly. Other low-buck mods I anticipate I'll be doing in fairly short order (but first I gotta get it running) are:

• Plastidip, Topcoat Marine Paint, White Monstaliner on the roof. Texas has killed the clear coat up there, and I wouldn't mind getting some protection on the roof before mounting a rack up there
• Roof Rack: I anticipate using an inexpensive ladder rack. One of the primary uses for this truck will be to haul Stand-Up Paddleboards down to Town Lake (not much more than a mile from my house)
• Bumpers: They just look cool, and I like armored bumper. I might try to get the bumper from the green one back into shape, I have a 225amp TIG welder, but I might just purchase one vs. fabbing one up, I have other fab projects that I could probably better use my time on. There is also some frame damage from a minor accident that will need to be addressed too (you can see it in the picture and the damage to the washer fluid bottle/headlight.)
• Engine: I am not inclined to fight the Rover V8. My opinion might change between now and whenever I need to make a decision about it, but in the short term, I would probably cut my losses vs. rebuilding it, in the long term, if it dies after I get it on the road and have made some of my modifications, I am inclined to LS/LT swap it vs. rebuilding it. I have LS swapped several vehicles, and am in the process of LT swapping (L83/8L90/np241c) a CJ7 that I have already stuffed a Kingpin HPD60 and disc-brake 10.5" 14bolt under.

I picked the Land Rover Discovery 2 platform because I've always liked the way they look and the stadium seating arrangement. The third row is also remarkably comfortable, and it is a perfect tow rig for a small 5x8-ish sized trailer as well. Like longtallsally (who has an awesome thread, too bad he sold his), I also use an Ultimate MX Hauler to move my motorcycles around, and I think that is no problem for this rig. Finally, I like the running gear and locking TC, I think the Discovery 2 is an underappreciated and undervalued platform, due for people to recognize the potential of it soon, so I wanted to get in on the ground floor! (and believe me, these two vehicles are very ground floor-ish!) As far as the mechanicals, I'll probably introduce some of my other projects at some point in time, but I've had open-topped Jeeps ranging from a '69 Early CJ5 to a 2006 LJ Rubicon and pretty much everything in between (I never hopped on the JK/JL bandwagon,) I've had a Bobbed Duece, a Cherokee Chief, several pickups, and have LS swapped several vehicles. I currently have an LS swapped '69 C10 in addition to the soon to be LT swapped CJ7 and my daily driver is a 2015 VW Golf TDI. I sold the FZJ80 Land Cruiser to fund this, because I was sick of buying better than OEM parts from Japan as exorbitant prices because the junk yard parts get snatched up by enthusiasts who have stockpiles of NOS/spare/OEM/discounted parts in their garages - Land Cruisers have a reputation of reliability, but I have come to the conclusion the reliability of a 20+ y/o vehicle comes from the owner's willingness to baseline/wrench vs. a fundamental reliability of the platform. I don't think I'll have a problem finding parts for this Disco 2 in the short term!

In addition to the above, I will also be posting up a thread on garage journal for my garage remodel that will likely be starting before the end of the year. It is 1100 sqft, and I don't expect it to get any smaller! I'll be raising the roof to 13' and installing a lift, so stay tuned.

Finally, I made mention of the MX Hauler earlier. The motorcyles are really where my heart is. I particularly like old 2-strokes that I can ride on the street. I have a DT400 that I'll be restomodding in hopes of participating in the Handbuilt show (and maybe some other shows), a white '75 rd250 that is the coolest standard with factory cafe lines ever, a 'little' '70's Kawi ke175 that is just a riot for bombing down alleys and tooling around town, a 50cc Genuine Roughhouse that is perfect for trips downtown, a rz350 that is just a ton of fun, and a few other street bikes ('08 Buell xb12s, '78 Yammie xs1100, '08 Ducati Multistrada) I'm on the hunt for a 2T Vespa right now, and I do miss a GTV300ie (in Portofino Green) that I never should have let go too - so I'm always on the lookout for cool bikes.

In the short term, the Disco will primarily take me to local-ish stuff (I can't imagine travelling much farther than 200 miles away, which will be in range of my AAA plan) - which is mostly going to be down to the lake and back or to local motorcycle events. I would love to get it reliable enough to possibly take on a longer trip or two - but I have to get it running first!