Bullet Proved Discovery 1 or 2?

[Steve223]

Hello Together,

Made up my mind to purchase an additional Disco. Will be a 1 or 2 used solely as a play car. I will stop spending on the D3 and use it for touring and moderate off roading.

I’m new to the whole D1 and D2 subject and heavily modified vehicles but after seeing a standard D1 tackling monkey gum with no lift and on road tires but with rear locker I’m thoroughly impressed.

I’d like to have the car as bulletproof as possible for serious 4x4 driving so like to go as big and strong as possible with all necessary parts but trying to get it engineered and keep it legal.

So ideally 35’s but if I can’t get it engineered 33’ would do.

I intend to keep the car for a while and like everything heavy duty like axels, diff’s cv’s, hardened drive shafts, sliders

Also like front and rear locker what would you recommend ARB, Ashcroft?? Davies Performance recommend Truetrac Diff's but heard mixed reviews about it.

What money would I be looking at to get all this stuff done (I realise it will be more then a couple of k)

Would also greatly appreciate some input in regards to choice of vehicle.

I definitely want a diesel and automatic and after looking at quite a few cars it seems like I can either spend around 15 K on a good 2003/2004 D2 with around 150,000 to 250,000 k’s or I could purchase a D1 TDI with around 300,000 k’s for around six grand.

Can I get enough power out of the TDI to facilitate the 33 or 35’s steel rear bar, slider, protection etc or would there be no grunt left?

How would your ideal built look like for a still leagel but heavy duty truck?

Thanks a lot all input will be appreciated


Steve

[460cixy]

Drive line wise if you really wanted to run 35s patrol axel in the front they come in 3.9 or 4.11 salsbury in the rear with a ratio change to match the front maybe defender transfer gears to gain back some of the lost gearing

4hp24 internals in to the 4hp22 case with torque converter out of the 4.6 v8

300tdi would be my my choice but td5 if you want some actual performance

[TerryO]

Hi Steve,

I to are once again considering either rebuilding my D1 or buying a later model low mileage D1 and building it up properly as a serious off roader and like you leaving the D3 more for touring etc.

For serious off roading my personal opinion is a late model D1 is the go rather than a D2 for a number of reasons. The only real problem with a D1 is they are internally very small so have very little carrying capacity, but they are far cheaper to make the most of for off roading rather than a D2. A D2 would be far better for touring but you already have a D3 so why build another capable tourer?

For me it would be a V8 not a diesel but that is personal choice as I have plenty of good gear for a V8 D1. Lets talk about this soon.


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https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/08/1410.jpg

[Yorkie]

either will do the trick, d1's are getting a bit old now so i would go the d2.
lockers KISS with detroit rear and truetrac front, hd axles at the back, suspesion lift and set for anything.
i suggest get a solid rear bar! :angel:

[Discomark]

There was free shipping on Ashcroft ATB's recently http://www.aulro.com/afvb/verandah/174292-locker-sale-8.html
Also if you go with a D1 Auto you will want to upgrade the transmission cooler as the stock one struggles when low speed off road, sand etc.
Cheers
Mark

[libertyts]

Hey Mate,

I personally would go with a D1 if you are setting up for serious offroad. The 300TDI is a little slow, but you're not buying it for a daily driver, so I wouldn't see that being an issue for you.

The D1 is a little simpler to build up for serious offroading, as they generally don't have the issues of airbags and ABS (though some do). The only issue, some things are becoming harder to come by, such as winch bullbars and decent rear bars.

One main advantage (in my opinion) the D1 has over many of the D2's is they come standard with a Center Diff Lock. Most of the D2's did without this and relied on just their traction control. Nothing wrong with the D2 traction control, I just prefer to be able to lock my center diff.

As for lockers, I would personally go Ashcroft I think, they seem to be pretty much the ducks nuts when you're talking air activated lockers. Otherwise, I would probably suggest Maxi-Drive would be the go, they are vacuum operated and usually come as a complete set of lockers, HD axles, etc. They aren't cheap, but they are meant to be DAMN good.

You will definitely want to change your diff ratio's if you are going to 33's or 35's. 33's I would be going to about 4.11 I guess, as for 35's well I'm not entirely sure, someone else may have a suggestion there. You will probably want to go with a set of crawler gears in the transfer case or at least move to deefer gears if you are going the 35's

35's are notoriously difficult to get "engineered" on a D1 and, as far as I understand it, almost impossible to get "engineered" on a D2. I could be wrong there, but that's my experience. No matter size you choose though, plenty of guard cutting, flares and a positive offset rim will be required.

I personally prefer my manual 300TDI over an auto offroad. I get HEAPS of engine braking (hate using too much brakes if I can help it) and I like the "control" I have with the manual, or at least the illusion of control! :p Many others will disagree, in the end it's mostly personal preference. If you go the auto route, a bigger\additional trans oil cooler is a must!

Keep in mind, that the law doesn't allow for a great deal of modifications to be done to our 4wd's these days. Engineering\mod plates are seriously expensive, especially when you are talking multiple "major" modifications. You will find probably a good majority of the reasonably modified 4wd's these day's are actually "engineered" and are just running the gauntlet so to speak.

As for the cost of your planned build, well assuming you will use reasonable quality parts, the car is fairly stock and excluding the cost of the car itself.... I would think you are probably looking at well over the $10,000 mark and that also is assuming you are doing most of the labour yourself.

Good luck!

Chris

[Steve223]

Hey Chris,

Thanks a lot for the extensive answer, I will see whether the modified D2 is any good and if yes will purchase as he retry much has most moods already done so will have to spent some more to get it registered and hopefully engineered here in NSW.

Cheers

Steve