Coated my whole frame and surrounding components with rust coat and protect inside all the small holes front to back top of frame brake lines shock mounts top of gas tank and rear rockers mudflats brackets ball joints watts links all I could find. Stuff is sticky and actually holds up well

 

I've discovered three exhaust leaks underneath my D2 thanks to the help of some people on the forum. The Disco's been sitting in the garage as I wait for tools to arrive, which will hopefully allow me to diagnose other issues that are currently unsolved. I'm pretty happy to find the exhaust leaks tho tbh, it gives me hope that the engine's not on its way out (loud clicking noise.)

 

First day working on the Rover in a while!

Changed the fluids in the diffs, transfer case, engine oil and filter. This was the first diff drain since installing Ashcroft diffs with HD gears and lockers. Fluid was a bit gray/metallic but all good IMO for brand new gears after 1200 miles.

Next up I'd like to check my alignment/tires for out-of-round and balancing. Since putting in beadlocks and new KM3's I'm getting some freeway thumps. Picked up this neat little toy, Steelman Chassis Ear: Hopeful it will be a Christmas miracle for my OCD "that noise, did you hear that?!" mind, haha.

 

Picked up/essentially stole a 99 green fully optioned and completely stock (except doesn't have sunroofs ) over the weekend for a song. Runs well, a small misfire to track down and low voltage (negative terminal on battery is super gross so cleaning that should do it). Paint on hood, roof and driver door are totally toast, roof is completely void of any clear coat at this point and hood isn't far behind.

My white D2 on the way to pick up the new one must have felt jealous because the passenger side downpipe split almost all the way around...never seen anything quite like it, it's maybe 3" below the flange/union with the manifold. My guess is I drove for too long on trashed motor mounts and ended with some weird forces on the exhaust and it finally gave up on the highway.

 

Took my Disco in the shop to have the rear pinion seal changed. I was going to do this myself since I successfully removed the centralizing peg and seal from my spare differential (for practice) but when I started working on the Disco, I started stripping the threads on the peg. The shop was able to pull it out, but said it was a PITA to remove. Had the oil and rear diff oils changed too. Below is the old seal and old centralizing peg with stripped threads. The seal was leaking and due for its first change at 109,xxx miles. Not to go off topic, but when I picked up the new rear pinion seal at the Land Rover dealership nearby, I got to see the new Defender for the first time (pic below). I think it looks pretty sharp. Its bigger than I thought and closer to the dimensions of the Disco than other new LRs out there, which I like.

 

There's a trick to that peg. Take an 8mm bottoming tap and run the threads all the way thru, then get a long 8mm bolt thats threaded all the way up. Just run the bolt in and it will pull that peg out.

Some taps have a shank that's thicker than the threads that you have to grind down so it will fit through, but that's how I've done them in the past.

 

I made a hardwood cargo liner out of maple ply. My carpets were starting to wear from sliding stuff in an out all the time, and I couldn't find a rubber mat for sale anywhere that covered the whole back end (including under the seats).

Cut a rough template out of cardboard, and then trimmed the wood to match. Finished it with marine grade polyurethane. I think it looks pretty good, and way better than any plastic solution!

 

Swapped the coil packs and wires for the new-ish ones from my parts truck, trying to deal with a couple of persistent and random misfires. Decided to go the standard route and take off the intake manifold. Got the "bad" coils out and discovered that the grounding strap from the block to the body was totally loose, so I'm guessing that was the actual cause. No matter.
Swapped everything over anyway and the misfires are gone, which was the ultimate objective.

Now to get the A/C system charged, and figure out why the rear windows suddenly don't work.

 

You know there is a button to disable the rear windows from working, right? It is on the panel next to the E-Brake with the rest of the window controls. Either depressed or shorted most likely.

 

No, that's not the cause.