Possibly the daftest transport choice I have ever made but. What would be the he most sensible upgrades to make to it?I don’t intend to be doing camel trophy off-roading in it so sensible real world stuff. It’s a td5 90.

Check your fillings
Get a spare car
Get some tools

Don’t bother locking it thats just leads to a stolen car with a broken door.

Overdrive for the transmission?

Congratulations on your new addition.

if you live anywhere remotely dodgy, get a big ol’ pedal lock
Change engine oil every year without fail, do diffs and gearbox every two.
If the seats are getting soft and flabby, think about a new set of foams and covers from exmoor trim.
If you’re short of space in the driver’s seat, consider moving the rails back on the seat box and I found taking off the door handle and replacing with a webbing strap gave my knee more space.
If your heater is lousy, think about giving the heater matrix a clean out.
And next time you crack the windscreen replace with a heated one and fit the necessary loom to control it.
Under the seat box, stash a towing strap, some d-links, a few tools, and a large bottle jack. You’ll still need to find something to stick the bottle jack on to reach an axle though.

have fun.

New seats done.
Oil and filters done
Fluid in the diffs and gearbox done
Was thinking about pedal box and removable stealing wheel.
Dynamat?

Open the heater box and give the matrix a good clean and even a rebuild if it’s leaking and steaming up your windows. A radiator rebuilder will do that for you.

Carry a towing strap because you will be asked to help muppets stuck in snow and in ditches but make sure they attach the strap to their own car, not you.

Buy my 10 feet tall stack of landy mags before the attic drops into thee bedroom. Hi lift jacks are wonderful things. Lots of alloy plating looks poncy unless dented to hell. Remove steps or you will rip them off anyway.
Investigate Waxol or oil spraying. Probably been sorted years ago but check loom to see if there is oil in it

I am told the stack is more like 15 feet.

Carry a towing strap because you will be asked to help muppets stuck in snow and in ditches but make sure they attach the strap to their own car, not you.

Unless you know what your doing that’s a bad plan

Check the heater intake for water – unscrew the cover from the top of the wing, and reach inside – if there is water in there you’ll need to unblock the drain tube – the best thing I found for that is a bit of nylon cable puller. You’ll see water pour onto the floor when the drain tube is cleared.

A sound deadening kit is a good investment.

Put it outside your house as an ornament and buy something more sensible, comfortable, reliable and less daft.
Or get used to traveling in a stress position and arriving everywhere in the crouched position.

Photos of your beast would be appreciated 8)

Despite the naysayers, and it’s obvious shortcomings – it’s still one of the coolest vehicles ever made. Bravo on your braveness!

Pics!

1) If you think about going in deep water, extend the breathers.
2) If you get a Hi lift jack, please research its safe use before you try to use it!
3) You may already be aware, TD5s have 2 oil filters.
4) Cutting out or being hard to start + lots of noise from the in tank pump means injector reseal time. Easy job, gen parts cost a couple of quid, makes a huge difference.
5) Using a dodgy battery that takes ages to turn the engine over slowly will soon knacker the starter.

Main thing has already been mentioned. If you want to hang on to it, take security seriously.
Fit good quality headlamp guards using domed hex bolts (protects the headlamps and makes it hard to remove them)

As said above you must fit a pedal box lock. You are mad but think of it as a hobby rather than transport.Good luck!

wool – Member
… and removable stealing wheel.

😯 Does that count as a Freudian typo?

Following the last “where’s my ‘kin Land Rover gone?” thread…

I’ve settled on (at least) a Disklok for the Discovery. On the basis that when I park for a country walk / ride, or even just shopping, I don’t want to be carrying a removable steering wheel.

Unlike the ones that go through the wheel, it can’t be used for leverage to snap the column lock.

Pics to follow picking it up next Sat after my list of jobs has been done, cheers for all the advice.

the discloks above are good, i have one. I got one of the manufacturers website on the cheap because it was polished chrome! if nothing else it’ll dazzle the bad guys away. It cost me £50 with storage bag and delivery.

Halfrauds etc sell them too. Good bit of kit and quite solid.

They’re worth an email to see if they’ve any that have been used for Demo’s / photoshoots etc.

Home

My brother just got one of the run out minty green station wagons, not sure what he’s doing for security – ‘not much’ probably.

Does this mean you will give members free rides to Wales.

I can donate pasties (Greggs of course) 😉

Diskloks are only available direct from Disklok nowadays. I got one back in the summer and collected it from their warehouse in Wigan.

Their other business is Festive Lights so it was random being surrounded by Father Xmas and Reindeers whilst buying a steering lock in the middle of summer….

Xeng pedal box.

Benifit being no missile to kill you in a crash

Its always fitted and easy to lock so you wont think . Oh its only 5 minutes.

A stock diskloc is no longer a massive deterrent its weakness has been exploited. You can mod them easily to make em much more seccure.

Removable wheel makes things easy for a thief compared to a disklock. Used to move mine about the yard with a set of molegrips on the shaft.

My raised intake came into use today. Passed 2 hilux which injested water – had water in the cab but still kept going. All while on the main road ! It was close shortly after.

As it’s a Td5, check right away for oil ingress to the injector harness / ECU cables.

There’s a plug connection near the front of the engine bay, under the sound insulation cover and held in place by one of the bolts from the rocker cover. Undo the plug and see if it’s full of oil. If it is, check the ECU (under the passenger seat) to make sure the oil hasn’t already made it that far!

If there’s oil present, clean out the ECU end (replacing this is a b*tch…) multiple times with contact cleaner or similar until it seems to be oil-free, then replace the injector loom (parts about £40).

Symptoms are hesitant starting, sounding rough and a hopeless lack of power, especially at low revs.

Right If it’s aTD5 and if its nice….

Get some security……

You have just bought the most stolen, easy to steal and easy to break and sell parts car in the UK 😀

If it’s got a factory alarm and immobiliser then don’t think “Yay!” get another…

5mm SS Balls into the hinge bolts on the doors

Diskloks are good but can’r be relied upon

X-end Pedal Lock, Gear lever Lock and Ignition barrel shroud are all good.

Get a Tracker, hide it well

(oh and while I’m being messenger of doom, they are easily cloned, so check chassis number on front leg of chassis, VIN plate, Bulkhead screen vin and engine number all tie up)

Good call on the injector harness done plenty of those, the other td5 issue is injector seals but it’s not a nasty job to do.

Injector harness is that a home dIY job and the injector seals? Still smarting over the the death of the Freelander a month ago. Disklock ordered going to get the pedal lock x-end

Injector harness is easy – did mine in under an hour and it’s about the first thing I’ve ever done under the bonnet of a car…

Ear plugs and a very warm coat would be my recommendation

Injector seals aren’t bad, good write up here

http://www.discovery2.co.uk/Injector%20Seals.html

To improve the heater efficiency I fitted a wing top scoop to the passenger side wing, it made a difference when travelling at speed. You can also get uprated a heater matrix. Also there are small ducts available to help demist the side windows, either that or wear something with a fleece type material to wipe the window easily.

Pretty much been covered already, but security and regular maintenance are the most important things.

RE security, I’ve got one of these going spare – email in profile if you’re interested:
X-eng pedal lock

EDIT: consider a heated screen too – brilliant bit of kit for defrosting and demisting:
Heated screen

Kenneththecurtain, I’d be interested in the pedal lock if it’s going, email sent.

Spare wheel carrier, when the back door goes it takes the glass and gets even colder and you spend all your time looking for a parking space against a wall.

Disc locks easy to get off if your a dedicated land rover thief. Pedal box is the only secure method of keeping your Landy. Don’t waste your money.

“Pedal box is the only secure method of keeping your Landy”

Itll slow them down but dont believe it will help you keep it if they come tooled up to take it.

Ok then it’s the best of what’s available if you are new to Landrover ownership. I would also fit a tracker. For what it’s worth it’s also worth painting a non standard colour so it stands out. Thieves don’t like things that stand out!

slightly off topic – but….

I’ve been having a look at used land rovers from various ‘specialist’ dealers, not sure if I will actually buy one, but my notional budget is £12-£18k ish, for a 90 station wagon.

From having a look around, it seems there are two types of vehicle in this budget from these ‘specialists’:-

– An older (late 90’s) vehicle , but apparently fully renovated model, usually built on a galvanised chassis. They look ,at least to the untrained eye, pretty smart, with a nice paint job, updated interior etc etc, high mileage usually >100k miles

-A newer (post 2005 ish) vehicle, looks to be in reasonable cosmetic condition,maybe not as nice as the renovated vehicle, but lower mileage 60k+.

Anyone got any views on these, what would the land rover cogniscenti do with my kind of budget? The purpose of it would be ‘just because I like them’,I have no need for any actual off road capability, and it wouldnt be an everyday car. I’m tending towards the newer vehicle, but interested in the views of the enthusiast.

I also have a caterham 7 ,which I like for the same reasons as the land rover, albeit them having totally different purposes,but am generally used to spannering etc.

when i looked – the newer stuff seemed to be rotting far quicker than the old stuff…..

I had 10k to spend – and already had a 1987 90….

after looking at quite a number of newer lower milage ones which were all looking rattier than my 25 year old one! … i settled on spending 4k renovating my old one…..

things to watch out for with buying a CSW – make sure it IS a genuine CSW and not just a converted van. genuine CSWs are denoted as such on the V5./ If its not a CSW or estate car on the v5 then its not a CSW…….dont let anyone selling tell you otherwise – and you cannot have the v5 changed either.

^ + 1

the later ones seem to rot so much faster. Something to do with swapping steel source and the latter chassis steel being rubbish. I’ve seen 3-4yr old chassis go orange at the rear cross-member.

Mileage is much less of an issue with a defender. changing a worn out engine or a gear box is not the end of the world. Trying to keep on top of rotting bulkheads/chassis/doors is a greater pain IMO.

Id go for older, higher mileage, with sound chassis & bulkhead, and simpler electrics.