Budget Disco fixxer uppera

[ScottW]

I bought a cheap manual 300TDI Disco with a blown headgasket because it was cheap. Now I need to get it running and back on the road as I need something bigger than the turbo taxi (BA falcon turbo) to haul kids, kayaks, mountain bikes etc.

It's nothing exciting, just a white car with a 2" lift and 31x10.5 tyres on the old turbo mags (no idea why I call them that, it;s just what my father used to call them).

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It huffed and puffed and brew the dipstick out, but the head seems flat and fine. I did break one glowplug off when removing them, but I live in QLD, so don't need them to start the car anyway.

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I made a list of what parts I needed. My father has a gates timing belt sitting on the shelf I could have, but I figured I better check what drive pulley it has first to see if I need to buy the fancy kit. So I got to use one of those tools that I bought 10 years ago because "I'll probably need it again at some point". This type of puller works very well, and is easy to use. Got the timing cover off, updated drive pulley, so I ordered all the parts last night.

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Today I had grand plans of throwing the jetski on the water and taking the kids out onto the ocean to look for dolphins, but my son pulled up sick so I got a day at home working on the car. First job, pull out all the seats. I'll give them all a good clean and scrub to remove almost 30 years of sweat and grime.

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Then the real fun stuff, removing the headlining. The disintegrating foam gets everywhere, so I immediately found it in my eyes every time I moved anything. Even with safety goggles on I still copped. As you'd expect the foam dust also tasted terrible...

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After an hour of so I got it out and the roof looks quite nice inside. Not sure what I was expecting. I'll probably slap a few sheets of dynomat on the flat open panels just to reduce the general drummy-ness since I have some sitting around.

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After giving the interior a good vacuum to remove all the foam dust I took to the hoodlining with the scrub brush and vacuum to remove all the dead foam stuff from the head lining. It took a while, but I got there so now I can do something with it. I don't really feel like wrapping it with new fabric, so I think I'll go with the elcheapo option and just spray it grey with some vinyl spray.

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While I was mucking around today, I noticed a clunk in the front end when I turn the steering wheel a bit so I'll have to get one of the kids to rock the wheel while I crawl under the car and see what's happening. I'm guessing I'll be replacing al the tie-rod ends, which is no big deal. I need to get some new tyres too, as the current ones are retreads and the tread looks like it's starting to peel.

Does anyone have a design for rock sliders for these? I found this thread which seems like a pretty good, basic design. I'll have to whip up a set when I've got some spare time, if I can't find any for sale second hand.
D1 rock/tree sliders!! (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-and-tutorials/111685-d1-rock-tree-sliders.html)

[Tins]

Looks good. I recommend getting a proper kit for the belt as it should come with the upgraded stud for the tensioner as it may not have been done. It’s a bugger if it breaks.

[ScottW]

Looks good. I recommend getting a proper kit for the belt as it should come with the upgraded stud for the tensioner as it may not have been done. It’s a bugger if it breaks.

I pulled the timing belt today. The stud looks like new. It is pressed in or wound in? No easy visible way to remove it that I could see, but either way, I think it'll be fine.

[ScottW]

Today my son was still sick, so plenty of shed time while he slept. Started with giving the seats a good scrub. They cam up looking pretty good. Now just need to wait until the dry up.

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Then I set about attending to a bunch of small rust spots showing. I just realised I didn't take and pics of the bubble under the seal of the alpine windows. The plenum was pretty good, with a few minor bubbles under the seam sealer. These got the wire brush treatment, before the rust converter, primer and some white. I'll slap some new seam sealer over the top once the rest are done.

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Then when I was looking at a few bubbles on the drivers and passengers footwell, I realised the foam underlay was soaking and holding moisture, so I make the footwell sections 'removable'.

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I wasn't expecting what I found, as the underside looks pretty good, but no use saving it for the future when it'll just be worse and harder to fix.

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The passenger side was the worst by far, but after a quick attack with the wire brush and scraper it wasn't too bad. There is a hole through, but nothing a small patch won't fix. I haven't attacked the drivers side yet. I found a hole there too (it spread from one of the plug holes already there), but the extent seems far less based on first appearances. It's a pain, but realistically it's just a few more days work to fix it and then I know I'll get a few years out of it, rather than just bogging it and have a big hole fall out in six months time...

[Tins]

I pulled the timing belt today. The stud looks like new. It is pressed in or wound in? No easy visible way to remove it that I could see, but either way, I think it'll be fine.

Screwed in. If it's 8mm ( I think, someone else will remember ) then it's been changed.

[ScottW]

Screwed in. If it's 8mm ( I think, someone else will remember ) then it's been changed.

I wasn't paying that much attention, but M8 seems about right.

[Tins]

This is why you should pay attention[bigsmile1]

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[ScottW]

That looks like a bad day.

I haven't got the parts yet, I'm just pulling things apart in preparation. I'll check it tonight when I get stuck back into it all.

[ScottW]

Monday I had a little spare time, so I pulled out the plastic inner guard liner as it partially covered part of the rust hole. Then I figured it'd be easy to pull the guard too for access.

Yesterday after work I busted out the angle grinder fitted with the wire brush and cleaned the underbody off for a better look, and went over the inside. Once the extent of the holes was found I made some cuts. We're not here to fornicate with arachnids. Hopefully this afternoon I'll have time to pull the drivers side guard.

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[ScottW]

I got a bit done over the weekend.
I continued cutting out the rust and cleaned everythign up with wire brushes, the flappy disc and a good dosing of rust converter.

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Then made some patches out of the bootlid of Australia's best ever car, a BA Falcon.

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I'd forgotten how much I enjoy making and shaping repair patches. I was dreading the 'welding in' part though due to only having access to a cheap 90's mig that only works in gasless mode due to years of neglect.

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This time was much easier than the last time attempted welding in a patch though, as I was welding to decent material, not almost rusted through 1965 Mustang floor, and I wasn't lying on my back cramped under the car welding over my head for the most of it. My welding is still on par for a desk jockey, but the penetration was good and the original was only spot welded in anyway. I added more tack welds than this, ground them back to look less terrible and coated the whole thing with epoxy ust kill on both sides to seal it all up. I'll throw on some seam sealer tonight. Then I'll strip back the surface rust on the rest of the the floor and coat that too.

As they say, it's good enough for the girls I go out with.

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I also now have all the parts sitting here to fix the engine. Just need time to get in there and do it.

[sdelta]

Hey Scott, I also picked up a '97 Disco 1 a few weeks back. Also dealing with a similar story regarding the footwells. Like yourself, my passenger and driver footwells are absolutely knackered but the underside and pillars looks decent enough thankfully.

Underside has rusted through on the corner bends though, hopefully this isn't too difficult to repair. I don't have any equipment so likely will be taking it to a body shop. Rest of the car appears immaculate though!

I'll be soaking as much as can with some Evapo-Rust and taking a wire brush to it to see how much I can salvage before I send it off. Most of it is already scaling though and is really chewing up the section between the body and seats.

Hopefully I can get her fixed up enough to get plenty more years out of it! If anyone has any advice or rough estimate on cost to repair something like this, please let me know! Hoping it's not too crazy!

[ScottW]

Hey Scott, I also picked up a '97 Disco 1 a few weeks back. Also dealing with a similar story regarding the footwells. Like yourself, my passenger and driver footwells are absolutely knackered but the underside and pillars looks decent enough thankfully.

Underside has rusted through on the corner bends though, hopefully this isn't too difficult to repair. I don't have any equipment so likely will be taking it to a body shop. Rest of the car appears immaculate though!

I'll be soaking as much as can with some Evapo-Rust and taking a wire brush to it to see how much I can salvage before I send it off. Most of it is already scaling though and is really chewing up the section between the body and seats.

Hopefully I can get her fixed up enough to get plenty more years out of it! If anyone has any advice or rough estimate on cost to repair something like this, please let me know! Hoping it's not too crazy!

Clean it up well with a wire brush, inside and outside and it'll give you an idea what you're up against. Generally there will be 3-4 times what you can initially see unfortunately.

I've squeezed some silicone into the windscreen seal at a few places and it seems to be keeping the water out now which is good, so now's a good time to to look at that as well.

I've gotten the car pretty close to being ready, but it now has a coolant leak from the back of the head, so I'll have to pull it again and replace the welch plug I should have done while the head was out...

There's also something funky going on with the rear wheel. I think a bearing may have collapsed as it clunks around a lot. Little things, but they need to be fixed.

[Tins]

Have you had a look at this YT channel? He's doing what you are doing.


https://youtu.be/wEUcVLTUO-c'si=Zt77MNW-lOy9QGCN

[ScottW]

Luckily mine wasn't that bad, but it still looked rust free as the underside coating was holding everything together nicely.