96 D1

DiscoPhoto

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2012
2,581
76
Vermont
Posting on behalf of a friend who isn't so in touch with the forums. Trustworthy guy(or I wouldn't do this!)

1996 Discovery SD
55k original miles.
5 speed truck.
Willow green.
Exterior has no dings or dents. Straight as can be. Paint is faded on hood and roof. Per usual.
Entire interior is immaculate. No signs of wear or destruction other than the tops of the door cards being a little sunburnt. I removed backseats to check for rust on floor pans. No rust on interior/under carpet.
Truck has all original paperwork from factory along with service records from original owner. Stock 4.0 engine is locked. I was told from previous owner the truck was idling at a service station and it shut off. Started back up then locked up. I’m assuming oil pickup went out. That being said, I have a donor motor to go with the truck. It is not locked, but will also need rebuilt. It’s a 4.0L from a 1998 truck.
I’ve installed OME HD springs with 2” aluminum spring spacers.
OME front shocks. Rear shocks are stock.
Third member flange conversion with upgraded rear driveshaft.
A-arm ball joint replaced.
5x 16” NAS defender style wheels with newer tires.
Truck will need new brake lines routed. I have extended lines to go with the truck. 3 out of 4 body mounts are showing heavy rust. I removed 4x body mounts from a rust free truck for donors. Driver side passenger door arch has rust. Passenger side is good. Frame is solid. Front and rear ends are solid. Transmission is solid. Transfer case is solid. Kentucky truck with low miles. Has just sat around too long.

$3800 OBO.
If interested, contact Alex @ 859-749-9847


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terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
I am trying to talk myself into buying this but the rust scares me. Is it likely the rust is limited to the body mounts and what can be seen in the photos?

He sent some more photos to me and there is a large hole in the panel under the battery mount forward of the front tire.

The only D1 I have ever owned is my current one sourced from Arizona, rust free. All the other ones I have seen here in the Midwest have had real rust issues. I purchased another D1 for parts from an area close to this one and the rust is jaw dropping, worse than anything I have seen in the St. Louis Area.

This one only has 55,000 miles and that gives me hope, but...

Is it likely there is hidden rust waiting to emerge In other places?
 

surfchimp

Member
Dec 28, 2019
14
1
RI
The undercarriage rust doesn't look awful, but there also appears to be a fair bit of waxoyl sprayed on there which is likely covering some up. It's the body/wheel well rust that scares me.
 
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terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
I ended up buying this. It does, regretfully, have some other major rust areas. The poke around with a screwdriver method revealed some other issues.

The worst (lol, didn’t need a screwdriver to find this) is the right hand inner fender / wheel arch. It is so bad half the battery tray is gone. Fortunately, that isn’t a horrible job to replace. I’ve got some metal work ahead of me. You can still even get new complete factory assemblies, but yikes, over $500 with shipping.

it’s days of salty road driving are over, if I want to keep it roadworthy for the long term.

it is interesting how these rust. Floor pans and cargo area floor is super solid. However, on one rear body mount it is almost gone and where it attaches to the body I can put my fist through.

Interior is amazing, almost like new. I’m not upset with the seller, we negotiated a fair price and he delivered it over 300 miles.

It was short one wheel. Anyone have one?
 

logan_gibson

Well-known member
Dec 20, 2016
258
47
Alabama
I ended up buying this. It does, regretfully, have some other major rust areas. The poke around with a screwdriver method revealed some other issues.

The worst (lol, didn’t need a screwdriver to find this) is the right hand inner fender / wheel arch. It is so bad half the battery tray is gone. Fortunately, that isn’t a horrible job to replace. I’ve got some metal work ahead of me. You can still even get new complete factory assemblies, but yikes, over $500 with shipping.

it’s days of salty road driving are over, if I want to keep it roadworthy for the long term.

it is interesting how these rust. Floor pans and cargo area floor is super solid. However, on one rear body mount it is almost gone and where it attaches to the body I can put my fist through.

Interior is amazing, almost like new. I’m not upset with the seller, we negotiated a fair price and he delivered it over 300 miles.

It was short one wheel. Anyone have one?
No wheel, but have an entire front clip, inner fenders and all if you need them. Pretty much rust free off an Alabama truck.
Do have a steel wheel if that is needed.
 

Gordo

Well-known member
I just put new sills, floors and various other repairs in my sons 96 5spd we built. We got it cheap and the work was well worth it. If u do sills just use some box and welds sliders to it. Ours turned nice. I’d recommend resealing the sunroof and the drain clips on the sunroof frame too. Lucky kid to have this as his first rig but he put some serious hrs in and learned a lot.
 

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terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
I just put new sills, floors and various other repairs in my sons 96 5spd we built. We got it cheap and the work was well worth it. If u do sills just use some box and welds sliders to it. Ours turned nice. I’d recommend resealing the sunroof and the drain clips on the sunroof frame too. Lucky kid to have this as his first rig but he put some serious hrs in and learned a lot.

Great looking D1! I have a set of the same steel wheels. I was wondering how they would look in black on my truck. Now I know. I may take off the alloys and go that route myself. Thanks for sharing!

If you have some “before” photos it would be great to see them. I haven‘t fully investigated the rust yet, but I think the sills are good enough to not need replacing. I’ll see if the wire wheel treatment and rust converter are enough. No rust is visible on the interior. I think I may have been spared some rust due to not having sunroofs. Aside from the rear body mounts the major rust seems to be mostly at the passenger front inner fender. I dont know why it is so much more rusty. I went ahead and purchased the genuine Land Rover inner fender. It doesnt look like too terrible of a job. Although, it would probably be easier to swap in a whole inner front clip from a rust free donor.

I’m kicking around the idea of buying a spot welder but I may just do plug welds where I drlll out the old spot welds. My goal is to make the holes on the discarded panel wherever possible and or keep any plug welds were I can hide them.

I am debating replacing the rear crossmember as the rust around the body mounts is substantial. I will take the bumper end caps off and see how the crossmember looks in those areas. If it is heavily rusted I’ll probably replace the rear crossmember as the body mounts are part of it. If not, I’ll probably patch it and attach the body mounts to the patches.

I have been pleasantly surprised how much is available new for body panels and patch panels. Froggets is really impressive for aftermarket stuff. Their inner fender solution is really cool. (However, they havent replied to my emails) YRM is really good as well. I was very surprised to find the OEM Land Rover inner fender. For a 24 year old vehicle, that was very unexpected.

All the above being said, the body repairs will wait until the engine replacement is done and new brakes are installed all the way around. I bought new pre-bent hard lines for the rear axle. I ordered them with a bunch of other parts which made the shipping more reasonable. I also have to run new lines from the prop valve to the rear but think I can make those from straight stock available at the local parts store.
 
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Gordo

Well-known member
Sounds like a great project! I actually made my own repair panels. Cardboard templates then my son and I cut them out and welded them. We used box in the sills and fenders. 3/16 box for the slider/steps. My welder is a Miller 185 so it’s too big for body work so I have to spot weld vs continuous. Obviously I’m a farm welder but it’s stuck well.
 

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terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
So, as I discussed previously, I ended up buying this at a good sum under initial asking price. Turns out the rust was worse than expected but maybe I’m just spoiled. Every time l bump something underneath a flake of rust falls.

It took me a while to get the engine replaced. As a part of package deal with another D1 I purchased from a forum member I also acquired a 26,000 mile engine from a flood salvage vehicle that truly looked like a flood salvage engine on the outside. I opened it up and it looked like a 26,000 mile engine on the inside. Yay! All new gaskets and seals installed and using all the engine exterior stuff from this one and it is on the road again, well, after I go through the brakes. Ugh... rust!

This one sat unused and immobile for over 10 years. The engine in it now is believed to be a recovery from hurricane Katrina (I think...) which makes it even more long term immobile.

So, I’m not posting back for any other reason than as an update. It lives again. Yes, it’s time to detail the engine compartment. Over a decade of dust. I hope I don’t uncover more rust.

 
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