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Thread: My 2007 Discovery 3 build journey

  1. #1
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    My 2007 Discovery 3 build journey

    Hi, everyone.

    I wanted to share my build journey with you all, as I turn my 2007 Discovery 3 into the touring machine I want it to be. I also wanted to document the work I do on the car for my own purposes, so I'm also using this as an opportunity to do just that.

    The starting point:

    I picked up this 2007 Discovery 3 in Stornoway Grey from Newcastle in December 2017. Very low kays – a mere 67,000 on the clock – and in pristine condition. I was bloody thrilled with the pickup. It already had a couple of items checked off – an ARB winch bar, Toyo Open Country ATs at 285/60R18s, Narva LED spotlights and GME UHF radio was already on the Disco when I bought it.

    fullsizeoutput_fa7.jpg

    The car had a half-reasonable service history, but not perfect: because it was only doing very few kays every year, the previous owner seems to have waited 'till it clocked up the kays to get it serviced. My plan is to service it myself every 5,000km and really pamper it – barring a lottery win, I'll hold onto this car for around ten years. All that said, I took the view that only limited damage could have been done in so few kays, and it didn't otherwise appear to be a poorly cared for truck.

    The vision:

    I'm a bit of a gadget nut... so part of the appeal of this project is all the tinkering and accessorising one can do! I've got a bit of an idea in my head of what this will look like eventually, give or take a few changes along the way:

    • Rhino-Rack Pioneer Platform on Backbone
    • Safari snorkel
    • Winch
    • Auxiliary battery system based around the Redarc BCDC 1225D
    • Solar power as required
    • Rear drawer system
    • External lighting all around
    • Awning
    • On-board ARB air compressor for tires etc
    • Potentially a long-range fuel tank (and, by default then, a rear wheel carrier)
    • Decent stereo and mobile phone setup
    • Nicely integrated switching and wiring etc for accessories
    • Some custom-made CAN bus toys, probably made with Arduino

    Getting it home

    I had a lovely drive back from Newcastle to Adelaide, flying over first thing in the morning and driving back to Narrandera for an overnight stop, then home the next day. The Disco performed flawlessly, and I loved the opportunity to get to know it over a decent drive.

    The first hurdle was getting it registered. I duly went down to Regency Park for the obligatory identity inspection... only to be told they couldn't find the engine number and that I'd have to get a mechanic to pull parts of the car and take photos for them. I smelt bull****, laziness or combination of both, but really had no alternative – you're not left with much of a right of appeal when they say that. They also didn't like the tint that was on the car – that all had to come off.

    I took it to a local independent Land Rover specialist, got them to do a service and take the photos. $1000 later, it was back to Regency for another shot at the inspection. I didn't even get past the paperwork stage, though, because the photos taken by the service mob were of the wrong thing. Not the engine number, but the casting number or some other thing. I was a little peeved, to say the least.

    So, back to the service mob: they informed me the starter motor would need to come off to get the photos. My wallet was left $400 lighter for that exercise but I got the photos. Back to the good folk at Regency, who this time, were good enough to pass the car so I could get it registered. All told, that saga took about two weeks of stuffing around, delayed because it was around Christmas. So between servicing, costs associated with the ID check and rego, it'd cost be about $3K to get a SA number plate on the car. Ouch!

    Anyway, that's the starting point. I'll slowly catch up with further posts in the thread documenting the build progress to date. Hope some of the lessons learned and so forth are of use to others on the forum.

    Best,

    - Andrew

  2. #2
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    Auxiliary battery setupI

    One of the first tasks for me was to get the auxiliary battery setup sorted, as well as clean up some of the existing wiring work that had been done. I'm no fan of the Scotchloks ARB provides with their bars, and the spotties that came with the car had been installed pretty... quickly. There was loose, unprotected wiring all over the place, stuff cable tied to the radiator – it just looked pretty agricultural.

    For the bullbar, I replaced all of the Scotchloks with soldered and heat-shrunk joins. All the cabling got a bit of protection with split-tube corrugated conduit and cable tied securely in place.

    I already owned a Redarc BCDC1225D and was very happy to continue with that approach for the auxiliary power system. The goal was somewhere in the vicinity of 100Ah of storage on board. I had a Century 105Ah AGM battery from the previous vehicle, but I couldn't find anywhere in the engine bay to hold that unit. As many others here have done, I elected to go with Optima Yellow Top D34s. I decided on two of those mounted under the bonnet.

    I did a whole bunch of research on battery trays and mounting options and settled on a custom-made stainless steel tray from Tim at Autospark at Osborne Park in WA. It's a beautifully made product and Tim was incredibly helpful on the weekend I installed it. It has provision for the BCDC1225D to mount on the tray nicely too.

    Installation was a wee bit fiddly, but mostly because of the mess of other accessory wiring that was already in place. Installing the tray requires you remove the two bolts that hold the coolant reservoir in place and slide the foot of the battery tray under it. The power steering fluid reservoir attaches to a bracket welded onto the tray.

    IMG_6049.jpg

    It's all a pretty tight fit in there! I wound up taking a stanley knife to one of the plastic ribs on the case of the battery so the coolant reservoir didn't rub. This is my problem rather than a design flaw in the tray – I've got a protruding stereo fuse that causes the battery to be further over to the left of the picture than is ideal:

    IMG_6050.jpg

    After a bit of shimmying and jiggling, the tray was installed. The next task for me was to create a bit of a wiring loom from the back of the BCDC. I like to wrap my conduit in cloth tape – it makes the finished product look nice and factory. It does it for me, anyway!

    The BCDC1225 is then mounted and the wiring loom fed through. I secured the two batteries in their respective locations and hooked it up. Huzzah! We have battery charging. I love this setup – the Redarc charger does a great job of keeping the batteries topped off, and it comes ready to go for solar. I reckon there's enough juice there to run my 40l Engel for about 3 full days before I need to turn the engine on. That's plenty for my purposes, and particularly with the ability to drop in some extra charge via a rooftop panel, I've basically got unlimited 12v power.

    IMG_6067.jpg

    At this stage of the game, I haven't got a roof rack up there, much less a solar panel and associated wiring, so I've left the solar input lead in the drivers-side battery box, ready to connect up when the time is right.

    While I was waiting for the factory battery bracket to arrive from an online purchase, I made up my own hold down bracket from some 6mm threaded rod and galv angle – two pieces of galv on each of the top edges of the battery, and one across the top that is held down to the factory nutserts. That worked incredibly well and provided a rock-solid mount for the battery on the driver's side. When the factory bracket and bolts arrived, I chucked my home-made job out, but regretted it soon after. The factory bracket doesn't quite fit the Optima battery quite right, and it's secure... but just not quite as secure as before. I'll probably shoot down to Bunnings and re-make my home-made bracket one of these days.

    The next step was to run auxiliary power into the cabin. I bought a fuse block online and mounted it in the third row storage area where (I believe) the optional rear AC gear would otherwise go:

    IMG_6074.jpg

    6B&S twin core cable was run from the auxiliary batteries to the fuse block in the rear and 4mm twin core feeds were run to various accessory locations. I pulled apart the dash and re-wired the passenger-side cigarette lighter socket to the auxiliary power. All joins get soldered and heatshrinked. An Engel socket was installed in the third row too.

    IMG_6071.jpg

    That's a wrap... for now. There's further 12v work to do yet. I'll replace the standard ARB indicator/parker assembly with an LED equivalent, as well as put some Deutsch connectors on the cables that hook into the system. The passenger-side indicator on the bullbar is dicky and it's due to a crap connection from the low-quality, non-weatherproof connectors ARB use. Lighting still needs to be addressed, and I'll run my campsite lights from the auxiliary batteries. Solar will need to be sorted to. I've got my eye on a Switch-Pros switch panel, but bloody hell, they're expensive. I'll slowly work out all of that too.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #3
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    Well done, sounds like a nice vehicle, pity about the SA registration process. Good luck with all the updates and keep the forum posted

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by ndrew View Post
    Hi, everyone.

    I wanted to share my build journey with you all, as I turn my 2007 Discovery 3 into the touring machine I want it to be. I also wanted to document the work I do on the car for my own purposes, so I'm also using this as an opportunity to do just that.

    The starting point:

    I picked up this 2007 Discovery 3 in Stornoway Grey from Newcastle in December 2017. Very low kays – a mere 67,000 on the clock – and in pristine condition. I was bloody thrilled with the pickup. It already had a couple of items checked off – an ARB winch bar, Toyo Open Country ATs at 285/60R18s, Narva LED spotlights and GME UHF radio was already on the Disco when I bought it.

    fullsizeoutput_fa7.jpg

    The car had a half-reasonable service history, but not perfect: because it was only doing very few kays every year, the previous owner seems to have waited 'till it clocked up the kays to get it serviced. My plan is to service it myself every 5,000km and really pamper it – barring a lottery win, I'll hold onto this car for around ten years. All that said, I took the view that only limited damage could have been done in so few kays, and it didn't otherwise appear to be a poorly cared for truck.

    The vision:

    I'm a bit of a gadget nut... so part of the appeal of this project is all the tinkering and accessorising one can do! I've got a bit of an idea in my head of what this will look like eventually, give or take a few changes along the way:

    • Rhino-Rack Pioneer Platform on Backbone
    • Safari snorkel
    • Winch
    • Auxiliary battery system based around the Redarc BCDC 1225D
    • Solar power as required
    • Rear drawer system
    • External lighting all around
    • Awning
    • On-board ARB air compressor for tires etc
    • Potentially a long-range fuel tank (and, by default then, a rear wheel carrier)
    • Decent stereo and mobile phone setup
    • Nicely integrated switching and wiring etc for accessories
    • Some custom-made CAN bus toys, probably made with Arduino

    Getting it home
    .....
    All sounds good except the Redarc system. Why shell out for a completely unnecessary DCDC component that won't assist in battery maintenance?

    Look into the Traxide systems, solar compatible, designed especially for D3/4 vehicles, all components needed for a DIY fit, and excellent backup support. (And he supports AULRO, as well!) Check out one of Tim's D3 offerings here:

    D3-AS | TRAXIDE - RV | Traxide - RV

    I'm running one of Tim's earlier systems in our "expedition" D1 - Dual batteries, plus one in the camper trailer if we're towing it, and portable solar panels that can be hooked into either, or both. No problems whatsoever, and when I emailed him for advice about the solar setup, the answer was forthcoming in less than 10 minutes.
    Highly recommended!
    -----
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
    -----

    1999 Disco TD5 ("Bluey")
    1996 Disco 300 TDi ("Slo-Mo")
    1995 P38A 4.6 HSE ("The Limo")
    1966 No 5 Trailer (ARN 173 075) soon to be camper
    -----

  5. #5
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    I have your twin minus the bar which is waiting on arb to make the brackets, I recently fitted a traxide system and single agm under the bonnet.
    MY08 TDV6 SE D3- permagrin ooh yeah
    2004 Jayco Freedom tin tent
    1998 Triumph Daytona T595
    1974 VW Kombi bus
    1958 Holden FC special sedan

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by donh54 View Post
    All sounds good except the Redarc system. Why shell out for a completely unnecessary DCDC component that won't assist in battery maintenance?

    Look into the Traxide systems, solar compatible, designed especially for D3/4 vehicles, all components needed for a DIY fit, and excellent backup support. (And he supports AULRO, as well!) Check out one of Tim's D3 offerings here:
    I’ve just written up my auxiliary battery story thus far; for some reason it’s not showing up yet. I suppose it must need to be approved first or something…

    However, three reasons for my choice of the Redarc — first, I already owned a BCDC1225D from my previous vehicle; second, my personal preference is to completely isolate the main and auxiliary batteries — I didn’t like the idea of the battery sharing the Traxide does, and; third, I disagree that the multistage DC-DC chargers offer no benefit.

    I did a bunch of my own research and considered buying a Traxide kit, but in the end decided on what I knew and already owned (and what I was personally most comfortable with). I’ve certainly got no regrets. I’m sure there are plenty of happy Traxide users out there (you’re clearly one of them!) but I decided it wasn’t for me.

    — Andrew

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ndrew View Post
    I’ve just written up my auxiliary battery story thus far; for some reason it’s not showing up yet. I suppose it must need to be approved first or something…

    However, three reasons for my choice of the Redarc — first, I already owned a BCDC1225D from my previous vehicle; second, my personal preference is to completely isolate the main and auxiliary batteries — I didn’t like the idea of the battery sharing the Traxide does, and; third, I disagree that the multistage DC-DC chargers offer no benefit.

    I did a bunch of my own research and considered buying a Traxide kit, but in the end decided on what I knew and already owned (and what I was personally most comfortable with). I’ve certainly got no regrets. I’m sure there are plenty of happy Traxide users out there (you’re clearly one of them!) but I decided it wasn’t for me.

    — Andrew
    I didn't see your second part until after I had posted.

    Traxide system only shares the batteries until the starter battery drops to a set level, then isolates them. Most other VSR type systems do similar things, to some degree or other. (Some better than others!)

    I'll leave it for others with a much greater level of expertise than mine to explain the issues with DC-DC chargers. (There will be some along pretty soon, I think!) The fact that you already owned it is a pretty powerful argument for getting your moneys' worth out of it.

    Good luck with the build, and I'm looking forward to further updates.
    -----
    You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
    -----

    1999 Disco TD5 ("Bluey")
    1996 Disco 300 TDi ("Slo-Mo")
    1995 P38A 4.6 HSE ("The Limo")
    1966 No 5 Trailer (ARN 173 075) soon to be camper
    -----

  8. #8
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    I feel your pain on the rego and engine number check.
    I drove my D3 back from Sydney and had the same hassle with the engine number, and mines a petrol.
    The guys at Soverign got pics of the number but the Lonsdale guys reckoned the number was wrong by one! so the number in my manual is different by 1 to that on the rego document.
    Sigh.
    Whatever floats their boat. I also loved the drive back from Sydney - its a great way to learn about the vehicle. My previous Landy was a Perentie, so the D3 was a "little" different!!!!!!!
    Good luck with yours.
    2012 L320 Range Rover Sport Fuji White
    REMLR 012
    No 5 Trailer ARN 177-295
    2006 Disco 3, 4L V6 Petrol SE Deceased Feb 26 2023
    SOLD Engineers Trailer - no id
    SOLD RAAF 231194 Perentie 110 GS - SIR ANGUS
    SOLD 4MP COY Series 3 FFR 30-209

  9. #9
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    I like some gadgetry too. I got my D3 a month ago, today and tomorrow i'm putting in a reverse cam, running electric brake controller wires, and an anderson lead to the back to plug into the ark pak.
    Current - Silver 2007 SE D3
    2005 Defender 110 Wagon TD5 - Gone :(

  10. #10
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    Hi Andrew,

    Keep an eye on the weight.
    You have about 730kgs under GVM to play with.
    70kgs for the driver and a full fuel tank are included in the tare.

    On my 2008 D3 I have a bull bar, winch, snorkle, dual battery, long range tank, rear wheel carrier, rear drawers, 66 litre fridge freezer, roof racks and awning. Pretty much what you are looking at. Also on more remote trips I have a second spare.

    This doesn’t leave much weight under GVM for other passengers, equipment, food etc.

    I have removed the rear seats. On longer trips the second row of seats come out and as much weight as possible goes into the camper trailer.

    With out the camper trailer I don’t think I would be able to keep the vehicle under GMV.

    It might be an idea to visit a weigh bridge a couple of times as you add equipment to get an idea where you are with regards to weight.

    Enjoy your Disco.

    Cheers
    Sean

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