A Treatise on Bad Decisions: My XD

overlanxd

Member
Aug 9, 2020
21
20
Long Island
So, I suppose we begin at the beginning, yes? I was fortunate enough to grow up on the east end of Long Island in the 90's. Son to a pair of hard-working parents, I was painfully aware throughout my youth that all of the flashy luxury cars I saw driving around town were quite outside the range of my parents' budget. That didn't stop me from drooling, though, and through the years I had accumulated quite the list of dream vehicles. One of these vehicles was (and this is where the tie in starts) a Discovery TReK I had seen when I was about 10, and instantly added to "the list." As years passed and I fully realized the rarity of said vehicles, it slowly dawned on me that perhaps that wasn't going to be in the cards for me any time soon. Move over Testarossa, you've got a stablemate in the as-if garage of my dreams.

Blah blah blah, flash forward 20 something years, annnnnnd stop. Hello. Welcome to 2020. Sucks don't it? Yeah.

Well, thankfully, all was not doom and gloom. Kicking around the back roads one day I pass by a faded dot of yellow framed by the green backdrop of mother nature's playground. A Discovery XD
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Needless to say I was stopped in my tracks. The seller happened to be outside when I passed by, and I had talked to him briefly about it over his fence, but, ughhh, the dreaded line... doesn't run... overheated... head gasket... I thanked him, got back in my truck, and went about my merry way. But the itch just couldn't be scratched, I kept thinking about the rest of the day and long into the night, needless to say I was doomed. Do I want to get into something this deep? Am I capable of getting it back on it's feet? Can I even do this majestic beast justice!?

The answer to all of those questions? Probably not. But I never claimed to be a smart man. So the next day I made my way back with a wad of cash, a trailer, and a winch, destined to give my life up to the servitude of the Lucas Gods.
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To be continued...
 
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overlanxd

Member
Aug 9, 2020
21
20
Long Island
Good luck! You should move this to the Projects section to make it easier to follow.
Thanks! I wasn't sure where to post it, since it's not going to be a build thread per se, just a catch up to where it is now. Can't say I'll ever be done working on it, so I guess it will always be a build, but I don't know how regular I'll be about updates.

That rack is TWEAKED. Cool buy, I love yellow.
Very tweaked. A tree had fallen on it a while ago, which was great for the owner, since it also fell into his wood pile, but obviously bad for the Disco. Didn't suffer any damage beyond the rack though, and since this is never going to be a showstopper I simply bent the bars back into place and let sleeping dogs lie.

Nice Castor alloys. The best wheels on any modern Land Rover.
I'm definitely a fan, but I'm so infatuated with the color matched wolf steelies that I think these will find a more permanent spot in the garage.

Welcome to the club!

If you want to connect with other XD owners/fans, I've got a page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/trekxdowners

XDs are a fantastic bit of LR history. Enjoy the obsession!
Thanks for the heads up! I don't really venture over to facebook these days, but I had been wondering if there was a registry for the XD somewhere so it's nice to know someone is keeping the institutional knowledge alive.
 

Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
562
Seattle
As you dive deeper into your project you might appreciate reading about another rare yellow Disco restoration of that era. For the Summer 2017 issue of Alloy + Grit I wrote an article about the winning vehicle used in the 1996 TReK competition that went on to be used in the Team USA Camel Trophy selections. It was a fun project. Starts on page 62, follow the hyperlink above.
 
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overlanxd

Member
Aug 9, 2020
21
20
Long Island
And so we continue!

One detail that fell through the first post, but I think worth mentioning. One "selling point" the PO brought up in our conversations, that wasn't-really-but-actually-was-a-selling-point, is that this truck has seen some shit. The grand endeavor crowning it's long story involved a topless hula hooper on the roof while being driven down the ocean beach en route to a firelit drum circle. So, yeah, it's been around the block. Can't say I'd want to lay down in the back seat or anything after hearing those stories, but on the whole it's pretty clean for having lived a full life.

So where were we? Ahhh yes, the trailer. I had brought it to my work and dumped it on the front lawn for a couple weeks while I started to dig into what the hell I had just done by adopting this old girl. Reading lead me to begin to understand the torment I had just unleashed upon my finances, and oh how fun to start off our relationship with head gaskets!

Into the barn we go! Let me preface, before we get into the good stuff, that I am absolutely not a mechanic. I love cars, I've owned many many of them in my young life, I work on them when the need arises, but I am NOT a mechanic. You're going to see a lot of stuff here that I may have (definitely have) done out of spec, but I'm relying on only a service manual and my own smarts here, which, as we have already discussed, are lacking. Back to the barn:
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It's in, it's ready, I'm ready. I'm ready? I'm ready.

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Things went as smoothly as could be imagined. Every bolt that could cause a problem did, every angle that I needed to get to I couldn't, but me and my blodied knuckles had a decent enough time in the end. I loved how simple this engine was, some of my fears were starting to abate, I kept telling myself that the gaskets would do the trick, even though I knew the potential for a cracked block was very real. Start with the cheap and move to the big expensive stuff if the need arises, yeah? Anyway, this was a learning experience for me, and it was going good.

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So I'm in here anyways, may as well put on new heads, hoses, belts, pullies, pumps, bolts, washers, bells, whistles, and a cherry on top. This is the only time I'm going in here any time soon so I may as well do it right. Well this post is only half done so obviously it can't be that easy. I buttoned it all up, pat myself on the back for a job done, turned the key, heard the roar of the engine, exhaled, sat back, and smiled. Coughed. Coughed? Wait what? No, no, it's not the 'rona, but my-oh-my what's that billowing out the tailpipe? More money down the sinkhole? You betcha partner! One new block coooooooming up!

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Did I say new engine? Okay maybe not new, but let's face it, I bought this Rover for almost nothing, and that's about what I have left over to put into it. If heads were a learning experience this swap is going to be a moon landing, and I'm not too prepared to buy a new short block only to strip the threads putting the heads on. So I picked up a used engine for a fantastic price, from a wreck with just north of 100k miles, and they even threw in all the dressings, and an intact coil pack to boot. This thing definitely wasn't free, but just selling the spare parts from it could put me in the black. Can't beat that, so let's get started!

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As I was getting down to the bare bones it was dawning on me that this might not have been an original block. Besides some grit it was shaping up to be in incredibly good condition, even retaining some clean cross hatching on the cylinder walls. Well, their loss is my gain, and I could use a small victory at this point. All told, though, I wasn't looking forward to doing this swap, much less so in the dark corner of a storage barn, so we needed an upgrade in scenery. A move to the shop was called for then, but this was really going to put me on the clock, since this ain't my company, and I ain't that important.

But now my daughter is waking up from her nap, so we'll have to wait for the juicy part. Stay tuned!
 

overlanxd

Member
Aug 9, 2020
21
20
Long Island
did you let it run for a while after starting it ? sometimes they blow smoke after a blown gasket but clear up in a few minutes.

I did. Ran it for a while with fingers crossed, took it for a few laps around the block, let it run longer, no dice. Still smoking and not clearing up at all. Admittedly, I had gone in to it all with the expectation of a swap being needed, but was holding out hopes that the gasket was the culprit, just wasn't that lucky.
 

overlanxd

Member
Aug 9, 2020
21
20
Long Island
Okay let's finish this and get us up to the present...

Lucky for all of you, this is going to be less writing intensive since the turnaround was only a few days once I pulled it into the shop, and there's only so much one can mess up in such a limited time.

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It's amazing how much quicker it goes the second time around, especially when you pull the rad and can just plop yourself right down in there with the engine and wrench away the hours. It was dirty, it was tiring, but definitely gratifying. Since the farthest I'd gone into a car prior to all this mess was probably changing the cams on a 4 cyl VW, this was all uncharted territory for me, and coming out the other end with no extra parts left over was a load off of my shoulders.

A keen eye might notice that all the air conditioning is missing. That was intentional. I know I'll be kicking myself once the summer rolls back around, but I just hate how much extra crud is involved in the system, and now it's one less thing that can break or get in the way. That, and this just seems like the type of vehicle you want to drive with the windows down.

I didn't go so far as repainting, detailing, and making it picture perfect while I had it apart since this Disco is too far gone to ever be considered mint again. But it is a driver, and that is absolutely what I intend to do with it, on and off road. She's lived a long life already, and the most fitting justice I can give her is a good home to live out her many twilight years. It is a northeast car through and through, however, and though it may look peachy from 15 feet, there is it's share of rust, and until I have the ability to properly tear this thing down to the rafters and start fresh the best I can do is take care of her as she is. That doesn't mean I'm not giving it it's fair share of treats though! I ordered an Allisport overflow tank for god knows what reason other than I thought it was cool, threw on a (cheap) Terrafirma 2" lift to refresh the suspension, and Hellas up top just to round it out.

Before:
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After:
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So this is where it sits now. I've put about 500 miles between me and the swap, it hasn't skipped a beat, hasn't underperformed in anything that's been thrown at it, and I couldn't be happier with it. So where now? Well, like I said, I wouldn't call it a project, but I don't think I'll ever truly be done with it. To say I've caught the bug is an understatement. I'm in it now, no turning back. This is my XD.

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Now, I can only hope that this long winded, boring, and sometimes incoherent dissertation has made it's way to someone thinking of joining this club. The decision to buy a Land Rover was expensive, painful, and downright foolish... and I would hope... pray... that anyone thinking about buying one... do so immediately, because it'll be the best decision you ever make.
 

pdXDisco97

Well-known member
Dec 6, 2011
277
36
Oregon
Love it. Great write up and amazing to see the transformation. By the way, no vehicle is ever "too far gone". Read @Tugela 's write up of Chuck's TReK XD. Chuck bought it from Mass. where it was, by all accounts, beyond repair. And yet, he did. Restored it, using a '98 LSE frame and a TON of elbow grease.

Start thinking about the GARR in Moab, Sept 2021. I'm working on a reunion of TReK, XD, and ECO-Challenge rigs. Would love to see your XD there!
 
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discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
Love it. Great write up and amazing to see the transformation. By the way, no vehicle is ever "too far gone". Read @Tugela 's write up of Chuck's TReK XD. Chuck bought it from Mass. where it was, by all accounts, beyond repair. And yet, he did. Restored it, using a '98 LSE frame and a TON of elbow grease.

Start thinking about the GARR in Moab, Sept 2021. I'm working on a reunion of TReK, XD, and ECO-Challenge rigs. Would love to see your XD there!

Are you thinking about a swap meet at that reunion? That's something we need to start doing. I bet for every part I'm looking for right now at least 3 of you guys have one.