After giving the 04 Disco a hiding last year, my wife decided I could not afford it anymore. The only thing to do was to buy an old Rangie for use off-road. Something cheap & nasty which could be thrown down Walkers Tk without having to negotiate with the insurance company afterwards.
Enter......The Green Machine (
or kermit as some people rudely call it) At $2500 it was almost a bargain. It was almost stock, except that the motor, dash, wheels & carby had been changed and the guards cut with a 2" spring lift.
First up was the roadworthy, which took just the usual windscreen & brakes + a bit of rust in the front floor pan.
Next the fun bits could start.
1. New rear axle with maxidrive locker & axles. I had bought this 2nd hand about 3 months before I even bought the Rangie.
2. 2" body lift. Did this myself using a length of aluminium rod. Now I can fit bigger tyres.
3. Set of 35x11.5" ET2's on competition rims with 2nd air beadlocks. In the right place at the right time for these. Thanks to Ian Matthew who secured them from Mike Smith.
Now it was ready to test out.
It went better than expected with only the stock 3.5l motor & 4 speed box. But it had been fitted with a Stromberg WW carby which did not want to idle on a steep uphill.
After extensive testing.....with a forklift. :twisted:
I thought I had it fixed but on the next trip out the same problem. I have now reversed the carby but this was only last week so am yet to test it out. I found that it is simply the float sticking when on an angle but it does not seem to stick as bad when reversed.
Next job (and definately the worst) was to rewire the car. When i bought it I had been told it had been fully rewired. What they didn't tell me was that the job had been done by 2 mentally disabled blind men....well it looked like it anyway. After a week of late nights I finally got it done with almost every single wire in the car replaced. :shock:
BEFORE
AFTER
Next
- Winch from the Disco along with some winch rope.
- Front ARB locker from the Disco in to the front of the Rangie along with maxidrive axles.
- Twin thermo fans from an Au falcon to replace the mechanical fan
- 8" touchscreen linked to the laptop running Oziexplorer.
- Sanden Compressor custom mounted next to the alternator and linked to a 21litre tank in the rear to run air tools, ARB locker and pump up the tyres.
I think thats it for now.
FUTURE PLANSThe next obvious thing to modify is the motor. I would like a 4.0l or 4.6l EFI with ZF auto & defender transfer case. I would also like to do it all in 1 go but I think I am just dreamin! The 3.5l motor is on it's last legs almost drinking more oil than fuel so I will have to do it sometime.
Also some better seats and install marine carpet in the front.
