Thread: Stirlsilver's Disco Ute Project

Gotta get the car down to the workshop now

Hey mate

Have you seen these threads? They are both built from a Disco II but still roughly the same concept

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members-ri...ry-2a-ute.html

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...disco-ute.html

They use the back panel of a Courier or Mazda I think, and dont look too bad, and almost look factory. Just an idea as it seems you want to do it well

Also there is a mob in the UK that does the roofs as a kit. They advertised in one of the UK Landrover magazines a couple of months ago. I can take a picture of the ad for you if you like?

Be keen to watch the build

Hi Stirl

Those projects are great too, I reckon.

Thing is, if you want to create something for comp-ing then what you are putting together is probably about right, but if you want something for general use I really think those rear wheels are too far forward. It looks like a Hot Wheels at the moment unless you can do something with that roof line.

Cheers
Alan

Originally Posted by Jock The Rock

Hey mate

Have you seen these threads? They are both built from a Disco II but still roughly the same concept

Discovery 2a ute

Disco ute

They use the back panel of a Courier or Mazda I think, and dont look too bad, and almost look factory. Just an idea as it seems you want to do it well

Also there is a mob in the UK that does the roofs as a kit. They advertised in one of the UK Landrover magazines a couple of months ago. I can take a picture of the ad for you if you like?

Be keen to watch the build

Thanks for the links, I had seen discoute's thread but I hadn't seen the one by rover smith.

I think one of the major advantages they had were that the skins of the discovery 2 were made from steel so they could weld their rear wall to the sides... where as the disco I have is still from aluminium... so that's going to make things interesting when it comes to joining the door skins to the rear wall... I might look into using the rear wall of a mazda... but if not I'll make it from flat panels and add some stiffening creases to make it look a little more factory. I think I'll have to decide when I get to that point.

I would appreciate the copy of the ad, I doubt the roof will finish in the spot I want but it would be good to see for some ideas.

Originally Posted by disco2hse

Hi Stirl

Those projects are great too, I reckon.

Thing is, if you want to create something for comp-ing then what you are putting together is probably about right, but if you want something for general use I really think those rear wheels are too far forward. It looks like a Hot Wheels at the moment unless you can do something with that roof line.

Cheers
Alan

Hey alan,
Yeah I know it is looking a little comp-ish... but the aim is to build a road legal play car. Definitely not something I intend to use to buy the groceries. I know what you mean with the rear wheels being too far in... but I want to avoid lengthening the chassis.

By the way, I know you can't have a road legal disco on 35" tyres, so I'll have to settle with 33" on the modification plate but when I go out to play I'll run 35's.

Originally Posted by stirlsilver

Thanks for the links, I had seen discoute's thread but I hadn't seen the one by rover smith.

I think one of the major advantages they had were that the skins of the discovery 2 were made from steel so they could weld their rear wall to the sides... where as the disco I have is still from aluminium... so that's going to make things interesting when it comes to joining the door skins to the rear wall... I might look into using the rear wall of a mazda... but if not I'll make it from flat panels and add some stiffening creases to make it look a little more factory. I think I'll have to decide when I get to that point.

I would appreciate the copy of the ad, I doubt the roof will finish in the spot I want but it would be good to see for some ideas.

Bugger I didnt know about the alloy skins

There was an article on those truck cabs in the December 08 issue of Landrover Monthly but instead of posting up photos. This is the website instead Custom Cab



If you can get hold of the Febuary 09 issue of Landrover Monthly. That has a big article on a fella who has done almost exactly what you are doing. If you go to that website he had an email address, so I reckon you could ask him a few questions through there. Cobra Offroad Motorsport

Heres some photos:

Well, there hasn't been an update for a while. Mainly because the last 3 weeks or so wayne and I have been doing a clean up operation of his workshop. It's taken a very long time but we are getting there. Some shots below.









Still have some more tidying up to do but it's 90% done.

If all goes well tonigh, i'll be collecting the discovery from chris on saturday and then it will be off to book the engineer to discuss the plans.

Nice work shop.... A good uncluttered work environment does help I can tell you. I think you should look at an extra 10" or a little more in the chassis if you want it to be a real ute. I have a 120" 110 and its still bloody good off road, in some cases will climb up things that a 100 wont.

Still watching this one with interest

Cheers Tony

Originally Posted by Rangier Rover

Nice work shop.... A good uncluttered work environment does help I can tell you. I think you should look at an extra 10" or a little more in the chassis if you want it to be a real ute. I have a 120" 110 and its still bloody good off road, in some cases will climb up things that a 100 wont.

Still watching this one with interest

Cheers Tony

Cheers for the info tony, I don't know if I want to go down the chassis extension route. I'm not looking to make it into a ute that I can carry things around in. The tray just needs to be big enough to cary enough gear for when we go out of a run or out on a short camping trip. Will see. I'll have to revisit my 3d model of the car and make sure I am happy with where it is all at before starting to cut.

Anyway...

It was a big day yesterday. Finally picked up the disco and took it in to the workshop:





My intention was to build up some trolleys to fit under each of the 4 wheels so that the car could be pushed around in the workshop much more easily. The design I had come up with was something like below:




The concept looked good so I went out and bought all the materials including the 16 5" castors on ebay.



It was around midnight by the time we had finished doing some final touch ups to the worshop (it is much much neater that is shown in the photos above) so we moved on to knocking up the trolleys and bolting on the castors, the idea was to use them straight away to position the car inside the workshop. By the time the 4 trolleys were finished it was somewhere around 2am... we put them under the car and discovered that we couldn't move the car!

The mistake? I had purchased rubber wheel castors and they were gripping so hard onto the concrete floor that it was simply impossible shift the car. Bit disappointing really. Ended up having to use the trolley jack to get the car into position. I didn't take any photos of the finished trolleys as it was around 3:30am by the time we got the car into its final resting place and all I wanted to do by this point is go home.

So does anyone know where I can find some cheapish hard plastic (or metal) castors? The frames work a treat... it's just the castors that were the major failure here!

Also, another question, what do people think the best method is of going about the project in relation to the engineer. Should I get him to come in before I start to do anything, to discuss what I intend to do and what they would be looking or should I build it, then show it to the engineer say half way through and then at the end?