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Yeah I noticed the Discos too - if the US versions are similar to the UK ones the wiring ain't too terrible, but yeah I'm yet to see anything on a Defender or Disco 1 that Ford didn't do times better ages earlier 🤣 What engines in those tho?
In any case, OP if the SRW axle had a swaybar try using that on the D70HD rear you got now. Alternatively a sway are off an early-2000s Superduty with the D80 rear will play quite nice with the OBS frame, might have to get creative with its axle-side mounts tho (can't offer advice as I simply don't recall what the E450 mounts look like, it's been few years since I worked on that axle swap).
Thank you… I really doubt the anti-roll bar is really doing much against the suspension compliment on a 1-ton truck. But like I said, girlfriend knows the factory one doesn’t fit and the one that came with the axle is broken…
whether or not whatever sway bar I stick in there ACTUALLY does anything is less important than it’s existence at this point.
To the Dicso Gen II’s… those are dads folly and I stay as far away as humanly possible.
They may not have official: “Prince of Darkness” wiring, but it ain’t great. Plenty of weird, CAN-bus oddities to occupy even the best tech and even the best tech winds up just: “throwing an ECU” or throwing: “an engine wiring harness” at these trucks when all else fails.
Personally I’ll take pre-CAN-bus, pre Body Control Module cars any day. I can work on them.
Engines are all 4.6L OHV Rover engines… based off mid-60’s Buick motors. All aluminum, as Buick conceived of them, but the extra displacement, nearly a full-liter at this point hasn’t done the engines any favors.
Heat kills these motors and the rest of the configuration is a recipe for heat. All alloy, paper-thin liners, Euro, A/C runs all the time, and full-time, dual-driven axles, etc… they run hot and if they get TOO HOT, they’re trash. Too-thin liners turn to ovals quickly, too thin liners have a tendency to let the pistons carry they up and down, instead of the pistons traveling inside of the liner. Dad’s machine shop has figured out a replacement, “top-hat” liner that stays in the block better, verdict is still out as to whether those liners stay round long-term or not.
In any case, his trucks seems to be as good as factory for a couple years AND people still want to buy them, so he keeps on trucking.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays and all the seasons greetings to all out there.
Oh dear, I was hoping you won't say the Buick engine. Actually I don't think I've ever seen a gas job Disco here (UK), I'm sure they do exist but everything I've run into has been 300s or td5 - both of which are pretty solid engines, the 300 being similar to Ford's IDI engines and the td5 being equivalent roughly to the early PSDs (in tech level, not power or anything like that). I've dealt with exactly two Buick V8s but in different LRs, was not impressed by either of those. Has your dad looked into importing from the UK btw? You can get both Disco 1 (300 engine) and early Disco 2 (td5) into the US as they're over 25 years old now, and none of that CanBus mess 😁
Swaybar on a dually does actually make a difference, but you gotta be top-heavy to feel it, like with a big slide-in camper. With a low flatbed, I doubt it'll have much functionality, but then again that would depend on what load you gotta move some day. I am curious tho, why shape the deck the way you did, with cutouts for the fenders? Aiming for as low deck height as possible for gooseneck towing purposes?
Aiming for as low deck height as possible for gooseneck towing purposes?
Merry Christmas to you as well 🎅
The white truck’s primary directive is as “horsey-hauler”. I’m 6’4” and I can hardly reach over the bedside to set the hitch. Girlfriend isn’t quite as tall and getting the trailer hooked up usually requires at least one time crawling into the bed for her.
The thought was make the bed as abbreviated as possible, enough to hide the frame-rails and look like something. Enough to hold a couple sheets of plywood as well.
Long way of saying, as low of deck height as possible, for gooseneck towing purposes.
Problematically, lots of those with the Rovers… all of dads trucks are for sale. No one is really sure what brought him to Land Rover Discovery’s, him least of all, but that’s his current business until (ideally sooner than later) retirement.
That being the case, he’s not doing any engine-swap stuff. He did have a client that was working hard to convince dad to do an LS-swapped disco. Thankfully dad was able to slough that idea off. I’m not certain, but I believe the Buick-derived 4.(?)-4.6L V8’s were the only engines imported in these trucks and the only motor likely to easily pass 50-state emissions in them.
Honestly, I’m not much of a diesel guy… I respect them and how far they’ve come… but they’re still really just stinky and loud first and foremost as far as I’m concerned. And as my buddy (this friend has had several Powerstroke’s, 7.3 and 6.7…)?said after bringing my brown truck back from a test-drive: you know, there’s one thing you still can’t get in a diesel… throttle response.
Sure the diesels are more efficient… they tow better… but head to head, the white OBS is nothing but valve clatter while the brown truck is shifting into third.
You mean happy "Christmas disaster zone cleanup day" right? 😂
With Disco 1s & 2s it's a case of diesels are loud and stinky but reliable whereas the gas jobbies are too run from. Going into the 3s and 4s it gets the opposite - the V6 PSA diesel is one hella piece of junk, actually those whole trucks fall in that category IMHO.
With your Ford trucks you have good reliable engines regardless of fuel used, so you get whatever suits your wants and needs better but you really can't go wrong either way.
Btw I got an IDI Ford back in the States and one of the latest mechanical fuel pumped 4M40 Mitsu trucks in the UK (which is actually an import I dragged in from Europe, so it has the steering wheel on the proper side of the dash and confuses the hell out of the locals). I'm partial to older diesels cause they fit my needs better. Still no love for Land Rovers tho 🤣
looks great, very unique, compact and functional. Looks fairly light as well, are the two hanging things the rocker guard/step bars?
Mudflap hangers I bet, since by law the tires need to be covered in a way they don't throw **** at vehicles behind the truck and there ain't no regular fenders on this. I quite like how he went about it actually, very unique indeed👍
Those are composite deck planks. Straight off the Home Depot shelves. I’m hoping they’ll be durable enough, but also easy enough to source if they do need replacing.
Also correct, the bent loops are intended to carry an amber marker light and the mud-flaps. Incredibly enough, it is law, apparently federally, that any vehicle with more than two driven rear wheels MUST have mud-flaps.
Unfortunately my plan for the ubiquitous chrome nekkid ladies has been nixed.
Because I’m stupid… and apparently enjoy making work for myself, I got the deck planks mounted today. Of course I couldn’t do something simple, like a self-tapper… or drill a hole all the way through the plank and bed X-member, I drilled for and installed a bunch of riv-nuts this afternoon. I need to get a couple handfuls more of stainless socket-head screws… and rip down a plank for the last bit.
For full effect:
I’ll have to pull the two center boards to cut the hole for the hitch when I remount the flatbed, but slowly and surely it’s inching towards done.
I don’t keep up with “the trends” too often, but the missus assures me that having your trailer connector *RIGHT* at the hitch is the hot-rod setup:
Otherwise, every single paint flaw possible exists… sometimes even on the same panel.
It’s the first time I’ve ever attempted an automotive finish on this scale. It’s a good thing I’m not submitting anyone an invoice. It’s done.
We’re putting the interior back in. Donor cab was XLT trim. All in better shape than the XL stuff from the original. Rear seats (vinyl) were better from the original XL, so they went back in with what I think will prove is the best mod of this build:
The rear seat of this truck is almost always folded down. That’s where the dogs go. We glued some neoprene to the back side of both seat sections so the dogs have a little cushion for the pushin. NOTHING is gonna slide around back there anymore.
Windshield is ordered, the guy is coming Thursday to install. Dash should go in first. It’s ready to go, I’ve been procrastinating. I’ve done the best I know how, but I’ve had to find and fix enough electrical stuff and I know once the dash goes in ALL of it becomes nigh on impossible to access.
As seems only too typical with projects like this, the truck keeps looking more and more complete, yet the list somehow keeps growing:
The missus met me at the shop after work today and we got the bed back in place. Literally the ONLY time I would even dream of trading her for a 200 pound guy. Best guess is 250 pounds for the bed, too much for her to carry half of… I could manage to pick a side up off the sawhorses, but no way she could carry the rest of the weight.
Despite still having plenty of work requiring the bed planks off, we couldn’t help but throw the toolbox back on the really get an idea of what the finished truck should look like:
Moving to the cab, the missus found a Bronco center console that fits perfectly with the new seats:
Despite a thorough cleaning, the seats still look dingy, but mechanically they’re in GREAT shape. The captains chair option is my absolute favorite part about my brown 3/4-ton and we lucked into these chairs. I was at a local junkyard, the owner seems to have an affinity for the OBS trucks. One of his friends was there and he and I got to talking… long story short, he GAVE me these seats, minus sliders in exchange for some welding/fab-work TBD. The missus has a line on Navajo covers for the front and a matching blanket for the rear. Pics whenever those items show up.
Also in the interior, we got the new Double-DIN head unit installed and are racing towards the interior being totally done. This kit definitely took some tweaking, but the missus left the shop tonight quite satisfied with the end result:
I expect the punch list to keep growing, but the light at the end of the tunnel gets appreciably closer every day!
The missus and my dad are taking the white PSD out for its first drive. I haven’t gotten a call yet, so things are either really good or REALLY bad…
Theres still some things to do… and I assume there’ll be some changes requested after the truck gets some miles on it. In any case, the look of my shop changed drastically:
Thanks for the support and checking the project out.
The flatbed PSD has gathered quite a fan club at the local horsing events. It's been doing the work it was built for, with regularity, since it went back on the road. So much so that we *finally* broke the bone-stock e4od transmission. The truck will be back on the lift to swap an upgraded "Stage One" unit from Shift-Rite transmissions in the coming weeks. Aside from that hiccup, everything works as advertised:
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