The spoiler is very low hanging, as is the bumper endcaps up front. The endcaps digs into the mud, and hits rocks when meeting bottom of a steep descent - especially at an angle. So to improve approach angle, I decided I would remove the apron and cut the endcaps, following the line from the the bumper all the way around the corner. 

A line was drawn using a pencil, aided by a measuring stick to give a near-perfect line. The plastics of the bumper was easily cut by a Dremel. Removing the spoiler was slightly worse, as some 6 pieces of obstructed nuts holds it onto the bumper. I just couldn't find any socket slim enough to release them, so I just used a knife and a lever and some other makedo-tools to remove it from vehicle to never be put back on again...

Vehicle looked more purposeful without that apron, and really looked nice - though the bullbar now seems really low hanging...

An accident realigns bumper

Next day, a Volvo threatened to run sideways into Otto on a gravel road, so I had to aim for the side of the road. Immediately before coming to a stop, I hit a  concealed rock with RH corner... Bumper bent and bullbar bent. One of the bullbar tubings will need replacement. 

Fixing

To remove bumper, you'll have to first remove the center, feeding hose for cleaning headlights. Then remove the nut on the bracket rearmost each endcap. Then for the four bolts securing bumper brackets onto chassis rails.

It was heavily corroded under the endcaps, and on the reverse side of the corners. The plastic painting on the bumper also not too good anymore, so the whole bumper will be reworked thoroughly, and adding new protective painting. 

The RH bumper endcap didn't look to good after hitting the rock, so it was decided to dispose of both of the newly cut endcaps, and use a piece of the aluminium treadplating to cover the bumper ends. Definetly looks cool!

The Disco rear door is heavy, and with the huge spare wheel on it, it means a lot of weight on the two puny hinges - which are also both mounted pretty low. This gives the hinges the role of keeping too much weight... To improve things, there are a metal "slot" on the frame, with a metal "hingy" to slot into that...uuuhhh well: this invention of the Wizards prevents the door from lifting and sagging while the door is closed. As soon as the door is opened, the weight is back on the puny hinges. So the invention is helpful, but not when door is open.

Therefore it's important to have the door carefully aligned and checking the hinges and locking mechanism regularly - or you'll end up with the infamous sagging rear door.

I have bought a used rear door, but it needs cleaning and painting and then being mounted. Nothing done yet - else than frustration...!

Autumn 2001

Rear door sprayed Davos White. Stored rear end of garage...

Renew rear door/tailgate

Autumn 2002

Old door scrapped - new tailgate/rear door installed. 

It's a heavy piece of metal, so at least one helper is needed to remove it from vehicle. 

First remove door handle from inside door. Then the plastic trim. Reach inside door to unplug electrics from servo-unit, number plate light, and wiper. Offer cable out of the door. Use a marker pen to outline the hinges onto the bodywork to help align new door. 

Remove the doorhandle and linkages as necessary (if to be reused on new door. Take care to see how things are attached. As I found out, memory is not all that useful. Doing it one more time, I would have traced a couple of marker pens of different colours, and used these to help finding where the different items attach.

If exterior handle/light-housing is to be reused: First prise out Land Rover logo, then release the 10mm bolt attaching housing to door. Then for the difficult part: There's two nuts - on each end of the housing - that has to be removed. The rear end of this bolt is bonded to the plastic, so isn't too helpful: one was already loose, the other one had to be cut off.

Offer up new door, using a screwdriver to position/align the plate inside body in which the three bolts for attaching hinges to body; trying to position the door according to the outline marked by your marker pen. I firstly describe a bit on aligning door, but installment of lock and linkages should be done first.

For fine-aligning, I used the floor jack to lift the door, and loosen and retightening the hinges. Adjustments can be made:

1) The position of the hinges on the body (about 2-4 mm movement either direction on each hinge)

2) Using shims under any of the hinges

3) Moving the hinges where these attach to the door

4) The bolt on the body catching the doorlock can be moved about 2 mm either direction (up/down, inboards/outboards)

Installing lock and linkages is pretty straightforward - providing you did the colour-marking, your fingers are very long and thin, and they do bend in any direction...which of course the don't... But you'll manage with a bit of sweat and swearing. 

Renew front doors

Rear seat bench & seatbelts

Otto started life as a 2-seater, and lived like that for 10 years - due to norwegian tax-policies. Installing rear seat bench is pretty straightforward - the nuts are welded in place, you'll only have to care about the bolts:

There are 4 M8 bolts for each of the two seats. Mount them!

The locking assembly for the back of the seat is worse. You'll have to remove the lower rear cargo compartment plastics on each side. You'll find two black "boxes", where the locking assy is to be mounted. I found it easiest to remove those "boxes" for improved access. Mount the locking assy using the three screws. Mount the "box" in place. Interior-plastics back on. Try lock seat...  If it doesn't lock properly, try moving the "thing" on the side of the seat-backs (they are unbraco). Voila: Seats finished.

Mount the roller-belts lower and upper. Mount the floor-mounted belt-fixings. You'll need a (wo)man under the vehicle, as there are a bracket mounted to the frame that needs to be positioned to let the bolt enter. This one will prove a bit difficult due to mud and oil build-up during many yearsof ab-use. But you'll get at it.Voila: Belts finished.

Note on adjusting locking mechanism of seats:

There's a bolt locking into a latching-mechanism, held by two srews. If you loosen the two screws, and try pushing the pin/plate upwards or downwards, it should move a bit. You have to push against the "hold" in the seat-fabric. It is only a slight movement, but plenty enough for adjustment. The movement might feel like it's moving on the screws only, or that your only bending the thing, but it really is a vertical movement. Remember we're talking millimeter-adjustment.

Tilting seatbase

Early three door Discoveries did not have a tilting base for drivers seat. To enter rear seat, everybody has to use front passenger door. This is a confusing situation if rear seats are used often - or if kids have to be strapped in their seats by the adults...  had a used tilting seatbase for sale so I bought it. These are usually very expensive and quite rare, but it was nevertheless offered at a reasonable price. 

Lever all moving parts to check it all works fine, and oil all moving parts thoroughly - it will prove difficult doing this once installed.

To remove and replace the existing seatbase, do it this way: As the floormounting Torx-screws usually is very difficult to remove, it pays off to remove seat first for improved access and better control. Also the inner/rear floormounting screw is difficult to access with seat in situ. 

1: Clean the screws under the vehicle. coming through the floor and into welded-on nuts. Coat them liberally with WD40 or similar. Also use plenty of penetraing oil around the Torx-screws inside vehicle. 

2: Slide seat rearwards. The seat is secured onto the sliding mechanism with Torx T40 screws entering from below, going upwards. Feel with your finger about 5cm from front of seat on each sliding rail. You'll feel the Torx-screws. These will not be hard to remove as they loosen easily, but is is cramped. Then slide forwards, find the two Torx screws approximately 5cm from rear end of sliding rail. 

3: Lift out seat. Clean dust, wash - whatever...

4: Now for the hard to remove floormounting Torx-screws...there's one each corner of the seatbase. A good quality Torx-socket will be necessary, as poor ones tend to break... For me, first three were unproblematic. The rear/inner one had to be cut away with angle grinder, as the head of the screw disintegrated (i.e. Torx socket too good quality?).

5:  The floor was a bit rusty, so it was brushed clean inside vehicle. Under vehicle, this particular screw protrudes the floor and smiles at you from directly above the chassis, slightly closer to the exhaust. Meaning: access is PItA. Removed the nut/rest of screw. Brushed and cleaned. Primed og  painted. Made up a 5x5cm steel plate also primed and painted to spread the forces. Put it on using Sikaflex bodymastic beween plate and floor, and along the edge of the plate. Used an ordinary 6point bolt for fastening this one - and the old Torx'es for the rest of the seatbase. 

6: Remove old sliding rails with lever from old seatbase, move it onto the new seatbase. Again, it's four T40s used - and you have to ease the sliding mechanism rearwards then forwards to gain access. 

7: With seatbase thoroughly bolted with the T40 coated in copper grease, the seat was next fitted..

Swapping seat only would have taken 15 minutes. Replacing seatbase as well, should have taken an additional 30 minutes. Due to the problems experienced, whole process (incl. painting etc.) took some 3hrs... Don't you just love it when it happens?

Tilting seizes... 

If not used, the tilting mechanism will eventually seize. There's a short shaft (5-10cm) on each side of the tilting rod, spotwelded to its tubing. When rust accumulates, the welding of the tubing starts to give in - and as it's welded only on one side, it will sure give some movement - and then give up the steam...and you have a MOT failure.

The old seized shaft/tubing were cut off with an angle grinder. A new tubing - even with grease nipples - were welded on, welding all the way around the tubing. Then painted. A new shaft (actually the handle for a VW 1964 jack) were used. It now tilts easily, and is much stronger than as original from factory.

Rear bumper

To remove rear bumper: Only two bolts needs to be removed, you'll find them below bumper, facing forward and down. The brackets attached can be removed with the bumper on the floor. There's 2 bolts on each bracket - facing sideways and out. Due to difficult access it might be easier to remove the 4 bolts holding the brackets, rather than the two bolts supposed to be removed.

The rear bumper is coated in a black plastic-kind-of-paint, which is quite resistant to corrosion - when it is not scratched. When corrosion breaks through, the near-water-proof paint does a good job speeding up the corrosion... 

So time was in for removing all paint, take it all the way down to clean steel. It was cleaned both inside and outside, and sprayed with several layers of zinc-primer, and topped with 3-4 layers of black paint with lots of penetrating oil in it - with a top coat of matte finishing enamel. Brackets and the tow bar was degreased, rust removed, and repainted same way as bumper. The rivets holding the plastic covering plate between bumper and rear door, is supposed to be renewed after being removed.

While having the bumper on the floor, it is advisable to clean, remove rust and repaint the rear crossmember. While I was at it the plate the towhitch attaches to were cut to improve departure angle slightly.

Half a year, and a wet winter later, spots of rust breaks through...

Sill finisher

Sill finisher is attached with a bolt (bolthead to the floor) up front, and to a bracket at rear, with 7 (sic!) plastic rivets under the front door. Once removed, new rivets are needed.

It was removed to get access to the rust - this is one of the spots on the Discovery which easily rust - from behind the sill finisher or from below (i.e. inside outer sill - check draining holes are open). Rust removed, repainted. Also because there was a huge buildup of sand inside the plastic sill finisher, leaving a wet spot under it (to join the ponds of oil under the drivetrain?). Enlarged the draining holes, and flushed thoroughly - lots of sand had accumulated. Sand/water in the sill finisher is not dangerous, as it is all plastic, but with water trapped inside, it will drip on your garages floor - which of course is not as annoying as dripping oil, but...

Paintjobs

Below I'll describe products and processes applicable for paintjobs on metal (like bumpers, bullbars, roofracks, wheels - items where a shiny finishing touch is not a main issue - i.e. not applying to wings etc. using proper carpainting).

1: Firstly, metal and rust has to be cleaned thorughly. Shotblasting is a good thing. Alternatively use wirebrush, anglegrinder with a paintstripper or similar.

2: Greasy items should be cleaned and thoroughly degreased. 

3a: MIND: If there's rust, a stabilizing primer should be used, like Brunox. These are chemical agents transforming and stabilizing rust into metal - and can be used as a primer. Then next item on the list don't apply.

or 3b: The cleaned metal should be coated in two coats of penetrating painting oil - like Owatrol penetrating oil. Owatrol goes deep into the metal, and does a good job of penetrating moisture and rust - and stabilizing rust.

4: Then use two coats of Owatropal primer. This is an industrial heavy duty product, sealing off the underlying metal. 

5: As the top protective paint, use Bengalack (which can be mixed in any colour you like) with an added up to 20% Owatrol penetrating painting oil. The added Owatrol makes the Bengalack softer (which adds to protection against chips), paint flows better (gives better covering in difficult-to-access-corners), and it penetrates the primer better (thus giving a better bonding to the primer).

6: Allow items to dry for several days before it's subjected to weather and abuse if possible.

Removing dashboard

The cockpit has over time become a more and more dusty environment, and leafs in the heater make a whizzing sound - and furthermore heating was very bad. So a full cleanup of the heating system was decided, including draining coolant and flushing forwards and backwards of both the radiator and the heater core. The linkages to the heater are reported to often get "out of tune", resulting in only lukewarm air to flow through the vents. So a complete removal and thorough adjustment was due - and the heater core to be removed from the heater to get a thorough cleaning both inside and outside.

 To get access to the heater and clean it inside, the full dashboard has to be removed. This is a rather involved process, and the full process is described in the manual. This article will only briefly describe the process, but highlight some important issues connected to the job.

Remove steering wheel, instruments binnacle and steering column shrouds. 

Remove centre console between front seats: Remove radio. Remove the gaiters and knobs of gearlevers only, it is not necessary to remove the levers itself. Remove split-pin/clevis pin from handbrake lever. Remove plastic mats, cubby box and the coinbox adjacent handbrake. Then you have access to all screws.

Remove centre facia: There's one screws each corner pointing upwards, plus some screws easily detectable. 

Remove all the vents with the hosing.

Then to dashboard itself. There's one tiny screw facing rearwards and two screws into door pillar (facing sideways) - remove these. Loosen the two bolts securing the L-shaped bracket underneath the dash, and slide the bracket inwards.

Now, there's three important jobs awaiting you: 1) Cleaning the lot 2) Renewal of bulbs, and 3) Check the wiring/harness. 

Re 2) Change of bulbs

Now you know how much work needed to renew bulbs (especially the centre facia), so all illumination bulbs should be renewed. You'll find there are:

You are advised to renew all illumination bulbs, as these are the one's to go first. The warning lights will probably last a very long time, and the binnacle is not too big a job to dismantle. You're advised to renew all bulbs in the centre console whatever the case - this is a big job.

Re 3: Checking of wiring/harness

Courtesy: Tore Kjernmoen

Both you and the previous owner will have added some electrical connections, rewired the radio, added a heated windscreen or whatever. When the dash is off, this is a good time to work through the add-ons to clean it all up and make sure future connections will look neat. Reroute the wiring to make it look good, marking the wires as you progress..

If you already have some in-line fuses, make sure they all connects up nice and neat, and it is also advisable to make up a new fusebox for later addons - running fairly thick cable from the connection in the passenger footwell. This is the last time you can have easy access here, so heavy gauge cable prepares for whatever you'll do later - for the long wiring to the accessories you can use a thinner gauge. I also strapped on some loose cable, running neatly behind heater, loose in both end, so that it can be put to use later but still running neatly.

Courtesy: Tore Kjernmoen

Remove heaterbox from vehicle, instructions given in the repairs manual on details.

To split the heaterbox to get access to the heater matrix, there's 2 screws, 10 clips and 2 E-clips. Splitting is now possible, but very difficult. The descriptions in the manuals are not to instructive, but somehow it just slips out. The difficulty is associated with the fresh air vent, where the flap locks the two parts together. 

Inside the box, there were enough strips of paper to fill a small plastic bag - no wonder there were not too much hot air from that one. Cleaned up everything (lots of dust). Flushed matrix both ways. Washed the foam for the vents behind bonnet - these are the ones that's supposed to clean the air before it enters the heater. 

Inner & Outer sill

The inner & outer sill is a rusty spot on many Discoveries (as on Range Rovers). The sills are inside the black plastic sill finisher (below the doors, between the wheels), connecting the body to the chassis via two chassis outriggers w/mounting rubbers. The corrosion use to kill the brackets securing the mounting rubbers first, leaving the chassis resting on the other mounts around the vehicle. 

If it's rusty, you'd better renew both inner and outer sill, as the job is about the same anyway (and it might be difficult not renewing both), and the steel isn't too expensive (about £100 for the parts needed, incl. plastic trim fasteneres). But work is...

I am no welder, and as this is a sensitive job where aligning everything is paramount, I had someone to do it for me.

Basically, what you do is this:

JOB A:

I did this job, as it's no need to pay someone to do it (took be three hours, incl. loosening and retightening the bolts needed to do job B):

• Remove seats front and rear w/belts and fixings
• Remove interior plastic trim from ahead of front door all the way to the rear door, inclusive alpine-light plastic
• Remove plastic sill finisher
• Remove rear light cluster
• Remove bumper endcap (manual states bumper to be removed, but it should be possible to go without it

This took me about three hours to complete.

JOB B:

From here on, my welder did the rest, as I was not sure when he would be able to put the vehicle indoors...These points can be done by yourself as well. These are the points of work supposed to be done:

1. Remove rear quarter panel
2. Remove windows
3. Drill out poprivets on tank filler if working on right hand side
4. Remove bodyside
5. Remove front wing

My welder found he could leave the bodysidte in situ, so this job (#1, 2, 3, 4, 5) was not applicable. Rather, he removed the two bodyside bolts low front, below where the rear doors would have been, loosened a row of bolts on the inside (10 bolts?), enabling him to carefully bend the bodyside out - and accessing the sill from behind the bodyside, enabling him to weld without removing anything!

JOB C:

From here on, it's all cut n'weld of which I really don't know too much as it was done by someone else:

• Remove old mounting rubbers
• Cut out old sills
• Weld in new ones
• Paint and rustproof

Cutting out inner and outer sills, means approximately half the floor is being removed, so it looks rather dramatic - and it is of the uttermost importance the new one are properly aligned. 

JOB D:

Then assemble everything in reverse order...

...bearing in mind the following: The newly installed sills will not have the two outer captive nuts used for securing the seatbase to the floor. You will have to mount the seatbase on its two inner screws (Torx T40), then mark and drill holes for the two outer screws. If new new sills are in the exact same position as the one cut out, at least for one of the mounting holes you will be able to see the correct spot from below. It is hardly advisable to drill from below anyway, as even slightly different position of the new inner sill, will misalign your the hole. So it's probably better to drill from above, or take very accurate measure first. Then you put on a loadspreading plate (using some kind of bodymastic) under the vehicle, and use a bolt and nut.

With half the interior and all seats but the drivers seat out of the vehicle, I also did some soundproofing/insulation. Looking carefully on the LH sill, it's obvious that there's more welding to come in a few years - that one is also rusted, though not as heavily as the RH. 

Storage compartment

The flimsy plastic box between rear wheels and D-post were long gone on Otto, both due to the flimsyness and the use as a toolschest.  It is very convenient to have such a safe storage area for tools, socket set, boilersuit, warning triangle, wheel-brace, nuts&bolts, fuses&bulbs, wading plugs, rags&paper, spare parts, ropes, shackles, gloves and so on and so forth... Having the plastic trim off after replacing sill, the inner bodyshell were exposed - and quite a few captive nuts (meant for dickie seats) were found.  So I bent some flat iron into a usable shape and length to allow a strong fastening for a plywood plate for safe keeping of the rubbish I'm keeping in the vehicle at any time.

One iron protruding through the holes in which the sad old plastic trim were fastened above rear wheel. One protruding through the D-post plastic where you go to renew rear bulbs, and one right below, being seated directly above the floor. This gave three secure fastening points - and a flat iron attaching the two upper ones. A lid with a locker on it were attached. 

Voila! No more loose items in the luggage area. Errrr....not exactly, but far better than before!

Renew front door hinges

Drivers door had been sagging for some time, and the plastic doortrim tended to hang onto the floor when opening. Grabbing the open door outermost, and lifting/dropping revealed the lower hinge were shot. The centre peg can not be renewed so a whole new hinge assy have to be fitted - which I bought at a reasonable price from . You have to remove door from vehicle to do this. 

First, remove the plastic trim from footwell. Remove the rubber grommet running from door to A-pillar on its A-pillar end. Disconnect the loudspeaker and pull the wire out.

Remove the peg from the door check-stay - hammering upwards.

Find a torx (T40), your garage jack w/a rubber loadspreader, and a chair or something of a height approximately the height of doors underside. Put a piece of carpet on the floor adjacent a wall or something. Put the chair under the open door, and using the jack to give the door a slight "lift".

Now you can lift the door, and suddenly it comes off - when it is handy to have the chair to rest the heavy lump...

Move the door to the carpet, and start releasing the relevant hinge from the door. There's three bolts - and inside the doors frame, there's a threaded loadspreader which will drop if you just remove all the three bolts at a time. So find something to keep the loadspreader from dropping down - a thin screwdriver or something.  Offer up the new hinge, and fasten the bolts again - not all the way in until you have moved the shims from the old hinge.. 

The hinges on A-pillar can't be removed with an ordinary socket set - I took the T40 and a 10mm openended spanner, and were able to remove the bolts slowly but steadily. New hinge on - and then to the heavy work of offering the door back on... While removing door is difficult doing alone, refitting is worse when doing it alone... But you'll manage!!!

Check-stay peg back in. Loudspeaker wire back through A-pillar, and rubber grommet into its tiny hole - greasing it using petroleum jelly (hvit vaselin) makes this easier, and "renews" the rubber!.

Then alignment comes next - which means moving shims between upper/lower hinge and/or recentralising the hinges themselves. This is where I am now...haven't come around for the perfect alignment yet...

Replacement mudflaps: the Astro Turf way Also mudflaps wear - that is they break after some years of swaying, and will eventually get caught behind a rock and you're left without them until money starts growing in your garden...the rear ones cost a mighty £25 a pair (but that includes VAT...).  So Otto's been without the LH rear mudflap for several years, until I found what I needed: a used door mat. Using the remnants of the one mudflap still left on the vehicle as a template, I used a Stanley knife and cut the mat into two mirrored pieces. Removed the turfing from the top where the bracket attach the flap to the mudshield. Removing the nuts securing the old bracket was done with an angle grinder - there seem to be no other way to do it. But that's no problem, as ordinary bolts and nuts fit easily.  Voila: Mudflaps by Astro Turf. No stones will be chipping following or meeting vehicles windscreen!!!

Paintcode

Davos solid white (NCM, or Chamonix) has this NCS-code if you want to mix it in a single component paint: OK008½ RE00½ SV009½

Sonar Blue: NCS-code: S6010-B10G

More help

Is Your Discovery a Wet one?

Water seeping in? This site contain downloadable Land Rover Water Ingress Manual - how to stop water leaking into your Discovery. Text in german.

Water seeping in? LR Water Ingress Manual from Mark Hopkins. English text.

Doing some paintwork?

David Walker LR Paint Site This is also an excellent site on painting LR/aluminium.

Stephen Hull Paint Site Advice on painting LRs, colour-coding etc

Jonathan Hensel has found a way to improve legroom for the driver, to enable the front seats to slide furhter back. From Discoweb.