"Nanuuq" my Land Rover Discovery 2 diesel swap, ...forever a project!

[CaptainBuilt]

What paint are you using on the frame?

 

[Tinker]

What paint are you using on the frame?

That is "Steel-It" polyurethane, using the spray where I can & the brush-on for the tricky bits. It's interesting stuff: Full of stainless steel flake, thick but flexible, weld thru, UV/fuel/oil/acid resistant, & conveniently hits in the second cool (form on top of function) department for me

Got all my coolers back in place & while I was at it I ditched the old drain petcock for this 90-degree job I found with the hose tip. Unless by some ham-fisted action I knock the whole valve out... this will make for a much less annoying coolant draining:

Also I put the pump combo back in. I swapped the studs for a new set of bolts, this way I can pluck out the steering pump alone if I like, because with the studs it was impossible to clear the nearby engine mount even if I cut them down a bit:

Now with the ABS & its bracket out of the way I can get on with pulling the pedal box out. I'll pop a hole on the left side of the booster for the clutch pedal & fiddle with the throttle cable. Just before I throw it back on the firewall it'll get little bit of rust repair where it looks like the cowl drain was plugged up & letting water pool up.

 

[Tinker]

I made some changes to my ABS delete setup. Those changes being the addition of a brake proportioning valve (thanks to some sound advice & not wanting to cut corners even if I'll be upgrading the brake calipers + rotors later in the build) & also ditched the aluminum swivel-unions for steel versions. I personally much prefer all the brake fittings be steel or stainless. The tee-fitting off the valve is roughly the same height as the master's reservoir, but AN fittings are typically fairly easy to bleed at the connection, so there shouldn't be too much to worry about causing a "bubble trap". If I had a lathe I would've taken some extra time to make adapters to save the need for those swivel-couplers that add length to the assembly, even though they are handy for installation/positioning:

 

[Joso1122]

I made some changes to my ABS delete setup. Those changes being the addition of a brake proportioning valve (thanks to some sound advice & not wanting to cut corners even if I'll be upgrading the brake calipers + rotors later in the build) & also ditched the aluminum swivel-unions for steel versions. I personally much prefer all the brake fittings be steel or stainless. The tee-fitting off the valve is roughly the same height as the master's reservoir, but AN fittings are typically fairly easy to bleed at the connection, so there shouldn't be too much to worry about causing a "bubble trap". If I had a lathe I would've taken some extra time to make adapters to save the need for those swivel-couplers that add length to the assembly, even though they are handy for installation/positioning:

So you deleted the ABS Modulator all together? Fantastic! That thing is a pain in the butt. Brakes newb here: how do the brakes react without the ABS mod?

 

[Tinker]

So you deleted the ABS Modulator all together? Fantastic! That thing is a pain in the butt. Brakes newb here: how do the brakes react without the ABS mod?

Yeah! Little block of problems be gone! In my experience they're usually a little more responsive & much easier to diagnose or bleed. And, at least with these older systems with terrible controllers, you don't have to deal with the sketchy failure modes. I borrowed a friends Silverado that was the same year & ABS generation as my Disco a few winters back (snow was getting a little too deep to daily the motorcycle) and when the ABS failed in a dry parking lot on that thing I nearly drove thru a building! It's far from uncommon for those older generation systems to fail like that.

Finished the video on the ABS delete process for the Disco. After the fact I spotted a few places that could do with some spiral wrap protection, as well as a few more zipties. Also I had planned to build a little support bracket for the valve, but with these steel fittings I was impressed how rigid the whole assembly is! Oh & since I have a habit of spacing out on things when I get excited to drive a project again... I stuck a big piece of tape to the window saying "Bleed the Brakes!"

[VIDEO]

 

[Joso1122]

Yeah! Little block of problems be gone! In my experience they're usually a little more responsive & much easier to diagnose or bleed. And, at least with these older systems with terrible controllers, you don't have to deal with the sketchy failure modes. I borrowed a friends Silverado that was the same year & ABS generation as my Disco a few winters back (snow was getting a little too deep to daily the motorcycle) and when the ABS failed in a dry parking lot on that thing I nearly drove thru a building! It's far from uncommon for those older generation systems to fail like that.

Finished the video on the ABS delete process for the Disco. After the fact I spotted a few places that could do with some spiral wrap protection, as well as a few more zipties. Also I had planned to build a little support bracket for the valve, but with these steel fittings I was impressed how rigid the whole assembly is! Oh & since I have a habit of spacing out on things when I get excited to drive a project again... I stuck a big piece of tape to the window saying "Bleed the Brakes!"

[VIDEO]

Fantastic! Well, fortunately, my shuttle is still remarkably functional (we'll see if that actually pans out with 600 extra lbs added to the drivetrain).
Well, it's rad to see your work, and to see what mine will resemble when done. Keep er goin!

 

[Tinker]

Now with all the ABS scraps out of the way I could move on to the work that needs doing to the pedalbox. I picked up another from a salvage yard, partly because it's less rusty than mine & also because I needed another brake pedal that'll become my clutch pedal. None of the US market Disco 2's had manual transmissions, but thankfully it's the same pedalbox design as the euro versions that did. If you look close you can see the brake pedal pivots on a shared shaft that stretches across to where the clutch pedal would be & another hole is there for the clutch interlock switch. So I'm mounting that second brake pedal right across from my original one & even using the same hardware. May have to bend the new pedal slightly for ergonomics, but for sure I'll need to poke a hole thru the pedalbox firewall plate for the Dodge master/slave kit & modify the pedal's pivot-pin to match.

While that was all out of the way I had to take care of a bad spot of rust right between 2 of the upper mounting bolts. At the same time I scrubbed down the remainder of the driver's side fenderwell for paint to match. It's the last area of the engine bay that needed a look over for corrosion & recoating to keep it that way:

So much better! I'll reseal the seams I cleaned out, but I prefer to give the paint plenty of cure time beforehand. While it sets up I can move on to modifying the pedal box for the clutch & throttle. And then I can decide on a new home for the steering reservoir so I can get that system reconnected again.

 

[CaptainBuilt]

When do you think you will be driving again?

Love your work btw.

 

[Tinker]

When do you think you will be driving again?

Love your work btw.

I'm hoping here within a few weeks, can hardly wait!

I'll have my clutch connections sorted & driveshafts back this week, then I'm on to reconnecting the steering & building a custom bellcrank throttle linkage. But I do admittedly get distracted easily by my other projects too... although some of the diversions are worth it, for example getting my CRX rally car running again after nearly 5 years of collecting dust. Only 1 non-running vehicle left in my "fleet"

I test fit the second brake pedal into the assembly using the same assortment of parts as the other pedal. It leaves the pedals a little too close for my liking, but at the same time it's left me with more room between it & the left side of the footwell than I was expecting for this idea:

I figured the easiest thing to do was to split the the pedal lever as low as I could, then weld the hub back in place flipped 180 degrees. I have no doubt that's how the clutch pedal on Disco's outside the US would look (it's a damn shame we didn't get the manual gearboxes OR the diesels here!). The welds need to be stout enough to take plenty of kicks without fail, so I gave it a healthy taper with the grinder & sunk as much heat in it as the 110V welder can manage, taking extra care to keep the 2 halves as square & straight as possible:

Here's the pedalbox back together, & man was modifying that spring not fun at all. Several bruised fingers, a bit of blood letting, & no shortage of aggressive words invested into bending the spring into a mirrored shape to contour to the new pedal. Not only does the cut & welded lever set the pedal spacing up nicely, but it also aligns the lever back under the sensor hole (the funny cross shaped holes just behind the orange clips). The brake already had the brake light switch there in the hole, so now I'll have the option of running a clutch interlock switch as well:

There we go! I like it when a harebrained idea comes together the way I'd hoped. The spacing is perfect, & plenty of clearance all around. Now I need to poke a hole in the plate for the master cylinder & modify it's pushrod to meet the new pedal:

 

[CaptainBuilt]

Nice!!

 

[Tinker]

Now that the pedal's in I started laying out the southbend master/slave kit & working out what to do with the master cylinder's pushrod. I carefully slid off the preload strap on the slave's pushrod so that I could measure the throw within the master cylinder:

Before I started poking thru the pedalbox I put everything back in place & made some marks for interference checks (the big arc drawn on is the brake booster's diameter). The new master has a rounded-corner square shape so that you can just push into the hole & twist to lock it in. I hogged out the middle & chipped away at it with a variety of chisels to get the fit nice & tight:

Mounted! Next up is building myself a custom adjustable pushrod to fit this new setup. I'll saw the supplied pushrod in half & come up with a way to attach something from this handful of rod-ends I picked up:

 

[Tinker]

I put together a few different sizes of pushrods to mock up & took what I swear was hours of measurements before deciding on my new pushrod's length/design. The heavy duty Dodge trucks clearly had a much larger throw in their clutch pedal setup, which means I have much less space to work with in my Rover pedalbox using this master cylinder. Thankfully I can still manage to eek out roughly an inch worth of adjustment in my new pushrod before anything would run into the master cylinder:

Starting with a pile of parts helped a bunch in getting the new pushrod design right. In this case I have the last inch of original Dodge pushrod welded to a strong 1/4-28 bolt, with a jam nut locking it in place to the 1/4" teflon-lined rod-end:

The hole I made in the pedalbox was off by about an 1/8" from the pedal's lever, so just to be safe I cut a chamfer in it to prevent possible fouling. I'd prefer it be near perfect straight, & if I got creative I could grind out a little from the pedal to straighten it further. But it doesn't rub & moves smoothly throughout the entire travel. I do have to say my work on that spring down there sure is ugly... does the trick though! Anyway, I ground down the original brake pedal pivot-pin flush on both sides & drilled a hole through for the bolt. In general I try to avoid single-shear things, so if I see any signs of accelerated wear I may weld an angle on the lever to double-shear that bolt in the rod end:

This side of the engine bay is looking ten times better now! Glad I caught that rust while it was just surface deep. All new bolts & nuts are in, steering column is back on, throttle cable back in place. (Brake booster & master is in too, just waiting on final clutch hose routing before I call that finalized.)

Once I decide on a proper place for the clutch fluid reservoir I can button this all back up, & I should be getting my driveshafts back tomorrow as well!

 

[Tinker]

A few drops of thread locker on bolts that don't protrude into the bell housing & the new slave cylinder is in! I made sure to refit the little retainer on the pushrod inside, which is meant to set the initial preload (between the slave's pushrod & clutch release fork) & make installation considerably less annoying:

The hose had several points where it could rub on things so it received a couple of p-clips to keep it right where I want it. And now that there are 4 different size hoses running down thru that opening (right above the driver's side frame rail) I think it might be time to come up with some sort of plastic/aluminum block to clamp them all together vs 4 separate clamps like I have now:

All the firewall components (brake booster/master/lines, catch can, fuel lines, starter cable) are latched on again & the clutch master cylinder is in it's final resting place. I poked 2 holes in the tray & popped in stainless rivet-nuts to hold the clutch's fluid reservoir directly above the master. If it ends up a little too close to the hood where the seal runs along that edge I can always move it over to the inner fender, since the hose has length meant for a great big Dodge truck:

A stateside Discovery with a proper 3-pedal setup! Made me so happy to hop up in the seat & put boots on this new setup... my other projects might collect dust a while after this is on the road.

 

[Tinker]

The process of working on the clutch & pedal:

 

[IMDOC]

Haven't done a build thread on a forum in a loooong time, but here goes. I'll try to catch up the project to the current state. Back in late 2014, after more than a year long search I spotted an unmodified low-mile 2002 Land Rover Discovery 2 a few states away. I'd often pondered about a grandiose plan to build myself a do-anything offroader + home on wheels. And it seemed I finally found a platform to set the idea in motion!

~ Build breakdown & plans below ~

Here's a shot of it halfway built-up (lifted, camper, cargo, etc) bombing around the limestone plains of Drummond Island, over towards Canada, off the eastern shores of Michigan's Upper Peninsula:

And here in stock form, a clean slate to tear into just after dragging it home thru a monster snow storm out in Chicago:

Now in a full fledged build-mode to receive a big powertrain swap to the tune of an upgraded turbo diesel Cummins engine, 5-speed transmission, & divorced transfer case:

UPGRADES:
Powerplant:
- Engine = Cummins 3.9L "mechanical" diesel 4-cylinder
- Mods = KDP fix, HD valve springs, 6BT oil filter plate & grid heater
- Boost = Super HX30W turbo on a cut 6BT manifold, stock injectors
- Injection = P-Pump with extra timing, ground fuel plate, 4k governor
- Fueling = Custom system, in-tank pump deleted, all stainless AN
Drivetrain:
- Transmission = Custom GM+Mopar NV4500 5-speed w/overdrive & big clutch set
- Transfer Case = Divorced all-wheel-drive Rover LT230 w/HD cross-pin & locking center diff
- Driveshafts = Custom length Tom Woods double-cardan long travel shafts
- Axles = Stock 1/2-ton Rover semi-floating 3rd-member solid axles
Suspension:
- Lift = Lucky8 4" suspension lift kit w/Terrafirma parts
- Wheels = Custom Trail Worthy Fab HMMWV double bead-locks
- Tires = Interco TrXus M/T in 35" tall x 12.5" wide
- Brakes = ABS delete w/ stainless steel AN hose
Exterior:
- Voyager full size roof-rack & rear hatch ladder
- Tactical Rovers front winch bumper
- 75mm Lucky8 Flexi fender flares
- Custom heavy duty hiem-joint & DOM tube steering links
- Land Cruiser FJ80 Steering Gear w/cooler & saginaw pump
- Custom "manual" Makrolon polycarbonate side windows
- Custom aluminum rear side-window access hatch
- Restored tubular steel tail-light guards
- Custom bush cables / limb risers
Electrics:
- Dual group34 Northstar batteries w/ manual override charging relay
- Full OEM electrical system delete & rewire (in process)
- Array of four 9" 225-watt LED high-mount offroad spot+flood lights
- Auxbeam LED headlight bulb upgrades
- CB radio with fiberglass antenna
Interior:
- Custom camper setup w/plentiful cabinet space & fold-out bed
- Wool insulation stuffed everywhere
- Custom window blackouts/insulation
- Saggy headliner stripped & coated with bedliner


PLANS:
~ Winch, or two of 'em!
~ Sliders: Custom build w/frame mounted legs + tree bars
~ Bumper: Tactical Rovers rear w/my own custom swing-out tire carrier
~ Axles: Ashcroft HD shafts, joints, & diffs ($$$$>) for the stock Rover axles, OR...
~ Axles: Build high-pinion full-floating Ford 9 axles ($$<) & dream about portals?
~ Lockers: Stuff whatever axles with both a True-Trac locker in front & Detroit out back
~ Tires: 37-39" so I can start utilizing more inexpensive military surplus bias-ply rubber
~ Steering: Custom mount a hydraulic assist-ram plumbed right into the steering gear
~ Suspension: My own planned custom 3-link front + 4-link rear, all DOM tube & heims
~ Springs: Up-rated to match loadout weight + bypass shocks w/king fox racerunner etc
~ Brakes: Custom mounted Range Rover Sport 6-pot & 4-pot non-float calipers w/stainless AN hoses
~ Tanks: For water & fuel, custom build to tuck between sliders & frame rails, both sides
~ Armor: Custom build skid 1/4" aluminum plates for trans+transfer case & fuel tank
~ Solar: Custom setup w/house battery mounted in the cabinets or undercarriage
~ Comms: Long range HAM + GMRS to extend the current CB radio setup
~ Seats: Mastercraft Sportsman pair up front only
~ Lighting: Exterior area/work

[ 11/30/17 edits: Updated most images to my imgur source ]
[ 6/30/18 edit: Added recent photo of the powertrain swap ]
[ 7/30/18 edit: Added build list & plans ]
[ 6/17/19 edit: Updated lists ]

cont...

⇝ Land Rover Disco 2 ~ Lifted, Camper, Cummins Diesel & 5speed ⇜
⇝ 4BT thread: (LINK) ~ Video of builds, travel, racing, etc: (LINK) ⇜

This is an awesome build, friend. Love the mods. What all did you have to add to mount the cummings or was it fairly straight forward. I have a 1996 I'm looking to convert in many of the same ways you did. Bravo all the way around!

 

[Nick Lev]

SKOOKUM AS FRIG!

 

[Tinker]

This is an awesome build, friend. Love the mods. What all did you have to add to mount the cummings or was it fairly straight forward. I have a 1996 I'm looking to convert in many of the same ways you did. Bravo all the way around!

Thanks! I have soooo many more mods in mind for this thing once it's back on the road. How I mounted the Cummins in there is a really long answer honestly... but all the details you could possibly want are here earlier in this thread & in the videos I have on the project.

FINALLY got the driveshafts back. Both now the same lengths and same flanges, so now the front & rear are identical copies:

Front shaft is in, although I had to ditch that front crossmember for now (mounts to that pad on the frame with the 4 bolts stuck in) until I can modify it with a loop or something. Seems the consensus view on that particular crossmember is that it's not needed, but I mean it must've been in there for something... I would think?

Rear shaft in as well, no problems. I'm using all new hardware throughout, & even if grade-8 isn't needed I do prefer that yellow-zinc coating they typically come with that's much better at resisting corrosion versus the usual zinc coatings:

It's a pretty tight fit getting the modified Crx brake rotor (for my e-brake) in there between the transfer case's rear output flange & my custom divorced case subframe... but it's in & ready for the mechanical caliper mount I have in mind to fabricate:

 

[denverdisco2]

my understanding of that front "cross member" is that it was there just to keep the stock driveshaft (that liked to fail) from dropping in the front and then pogo sticking back into the transmission. It's held in with what 4 M4 bolts and its so thin walled I pulled mine a while back to keep driveshaft from hitting it and I've seen zero frame twist and I routinely wheel my Disco pretty hard.

 

[EXPO_D1]

this scares me. there does not appear to be much spline left. am i seeing this right?

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

this scares me. there does not appear to be much spline left. am i seeing this right?

It's in its extended position. Looks okay to me. A stock shaft is not built like this. I don't believe. This is an aftermarket shaft for higher than 3" lift LRD2's..