Man thats rough. Good on you for ensuring that she was ok. Your truck seems to be a magnet for older drivers. Hope everything gets worked out in a timely manner. And Doesnt derail the build to awful much.
LBZ Land Rover Discovery
- Thread starter Bread
- Start date
Man, sorry to hear that. That was a good looking truck, makes it worse that you just out all that's work into it. Glad to hear everyone is ok though; there have been far too many serious accidents close to home here the past couple days.
If you do end up looking for a new truck, I have a friend in Mill Creek selling a nice CCLB Dmax for pretty cheap.
If you do end up looking for a new truck, I have a friend in Mill Creek selling a nice CCLB Dmax for pretty cheap.
That's probably what I'd want as my next truck as well, but for now I need the short wheel base in order to back my flatbed into the backyard of my city home. It's tough being a redneck living in the city
So they totaled my Ford at first, then it's not totaled. So right now it's at a shop near my home. They're working on it, so that's good. I told the shop owner to do whatever he could to not get it totaled as I really do want it back. It was only restored just last fall. But anyways.
Progress has slowed as more decisions have to be made. I suck at making decisions. So far I’m still sticking with projects that are less flexible in how they need to fit and function, although I’d love to play with a new intercooler and boost tubes. I decided to tackle the brake system. So here you see the LR brake booster, MC, and ABS module before I pulled it all out. I also removed the ABS bracket which was spot welded to the inner fender:
I discovered yet another thing I like about the Discovery, which is that the entire throttle pedal and brake assembly are bolted to a removable plate. I thought I’d be spending hours laying on the floorboards fitting and welding resulting in major back pain, but the whole situation was avoided!
The hydro-boost bracket from the van was badly bent. I actually straightened it out after taking this pic only to realize that it was still angled the wrong way, and the center hole was not in the ideal spot for this application:
So I finally got a chance to try out my new plasma cutter on a giant 7x7 sheet of ¼” plate I had laying around which wasn’t very useful. I bought this right after tediously cutting my motor mounts out of said plate with cutoff discs in my angle grinder and thinking there has to be a better way:
After a few practice runs trying different voltage settings and travel speeds I was able to make some nice cuts:
Ok, truthfully I cleaned them up in the mill afterwards. They needed to be perfectly square in order to clamp them safely in the vise anyways. I was going to weld one of the steel plates to the firewall bracket, but ended up just using one to replace the hydro boost bracket and bolting the assembly directly to the bracket. The aluminum spacer was milled at an angle to tilt the brake booster assembly downwards enough to clear the hood. The hole for the hydro boost cylinder is 1-5/8” so I had to bring it into work and use the big drill press for that. Here I just finished drilling the 2-1/8” hole in the aluminum wedge spacer (not milled to a wedge yet):
I cut the factory eye off the booster rod and made my own on to fit the LR brake pedal. Here I’m machining a bevel at the top of the slot with a ¼” end mill to clearance the angle of the brake pedal when fully extended:
Made a ½” keeper pin. Washer is welded to the back side, hitch pin on the front side:
I also cut the throttle pedal bracket off and welded a small steel plate to the bracket with four ¼-20 holes tapped in it. Here is the aluminum throttle pedal adapter bolted to that plate. This has to be bolted on from inside the vehicle because it won’t fit through the hole in the firewall. I also welded nuts to the inside so I can install the brake booster bolts from the engine bay without a second set of hands.
Here’s the complete assembly painted and ready to take apart again to be installed:
Installed. I was able to reform the pressure line from the PS pump to the booster. I bent the hard lines with blocks of wood and the hole in the end of a crescent wrench. I was actually able to twist the hard line inside the rubber hose crimp for a better angle. Hopefully those don’t leak now. The other booster to steering gear lines need different fittings to work with the Toyota box I chose, so I’ll have to have those made later. I want to get the physical steering gear and steering shaft installed first so I’ll know where to route the new hoses.
No specific plans yet until I get the steering gear installed (which is turning into a huge pain in the ass. The gear is so far forward it protrudes into the space where the radiator needs to live).
The LR only has 35" between the headlight buckets, so there's not enough room to run the Duramax radiator or intercooler I have which is 46" wide overall. I think initially I'll search for the biggest factory radiator that I can squeeze in there, install a Taurus electric fan behind it, and seal it as best I can on all sides to maximize air flow. I'll see how it runs before blowing tons of cash on a custom unit. And then for the intercooler I'll just squeeze whatever I can between the headlights and make a simple grill to protect it. I'm not going to be towing 20k lbs. with this truck over mountain passes, but I'm also not going to be surprised if I still end up having cooling problems.
We are in the same plan, I just bought the biggest radiator(double pass) and biggest intercooler that i'd fit in my CJ Jeep. With a taurus Fan too
Sorry guys, no more updates planned. The rig is built and ready to drive in terms of hard parts. I’m working on the tedious job of wiring and instrumentation now.
I decided not to share on a board where the moderators protect those who preach outrageous conjecture as fact, and reprimand those who question it.
I decided not to share on a board where the moderators protect those who preach outrageous conjecture as fact, and reprimand those who question it.
I can understand the sentiment, given most diesel boards are rife with that kind of crap. However, DuramaxDiesels, in particular, doesn't really see much of that.
Maybe there is some history on this thread I don't see, or I missed the latest :catfight: on the board, but on the whole, this site is pretty good about sharing actual data.
Either way, it is a shame you won't be updating it. Looks like a cool build, and what you posted so far was a good read.
Aww man...
That really sucks. This is one of my favorite transplants so far. I agree with Dave that this board is nowhere near as bad as most and i have never seen anyone put someone down that was doing a transplant as they are what guys like us dream we could do. If you decide to share again (hope you do) please keep us updated- or if you are sharing on another page or webpage i would love a link! (PM is open!) :thumb:
That really sucks. This is one of my favorite transplants so far. I agree with Dave that this board is nowhere near as bad as most and i have never seen anyone put someone down that was doing a transplant as they are what guys like us dream we could do. If you decide to share again (hope you do) please keep us updated- or if you are sharing on another page or webpage i would love a link! (PM is open!) :thumb:
