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Car Forum / Land Rover Cars / October 2004Lengthening a disco body
Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me) has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I had a drive in a friends disco recently and really liked the comfort / driving position, actually having trim etc, but I can't bring myself to sell Angus (my beloved 110) so here's the question. Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made to fit on a 110 chassis? My 110 has a galvy chassis, rebuilt axles, 4.0V8 and autobox (both low mileage) and LPG so I don't really want to get rid of it! If possible I'd like to avoid having to carry out any welding to the chassis due to it being galvanised. It's either go down the disco body route or convert it to a stn wagon and live with the poor ergonomics and lack of trim. -- Badger. B.H.Engineering, Rover V8 engine specialists. now live but still under construction, www.bhengineering.co.uk www.roverv8engines.com www.roverv8engines.co.uk >Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me) >has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >Can a disco 4 door shell be lengthened without "too" much hassle and made to >fit on a 110 chassis? It'd be considerably easier to shorten the chassis than lengthen the body. Alex >>Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me) >>has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >It'd be considerably easier to shorten the chassis than lengthen the >body. you might find that you can use some of the LSE classic parts. Especially rear side doors, which are longer. Besides, shortening the chassis just gives you a disco, which ain't what he wanted. I was always disappointed that they never made a disco LSE on the LSE chassis - after all, the doors are available, so it's really only the sills and roof panel and floor that need lengthening. I don't think it'd be that hard. Mind, the LSE is 108", so you'd have to fiddle a bit to get the wheelarch right - probably, cut away the rear panel and accept the fact that there's a slightly larger gap at the front of the rear wheel. > >>Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me) > >>has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > and accept the fact that there's a slightly larger gap at the front of the > rear wheel. I was considering more the possible method of cutting the disco body somewhere behind the rear doors and inserting the extra length there Austin, keeping the doors std disco in the interests of spares availability for the future. The whole idea behind this is to improve my comfort levels and at the same time improve upon the disco's loadspace to compete on even terms with a 110 stn wagon. I know there'll be issues with outriggers etc, I'm hoping that I can fabricate mount adaptors to bolt onto my nice galvy chassis rather than start chopping and welding it, I'd imagine this may end up giving the body a couple of inches of lift over standard as well? Badger. > I was considering more the possible method of cutting the disco body > somewhere behind the rear doors and inserting the extra length there [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > up giving the body a couple of inches of lift over standard as well? > Badger. There was a bob tailed Disco on ebay a short while back, it had been capped behind the rear seats. Now if you capped behing the rear seats then installed a HCPU back end then you may pull it off.. Lee D Badger Hi, When the Discovery was fresh there was a 6 door variant produced for one of the Big Sisters (the big oil companies) and I think it was BP. James Taylor has written a couple of articles on those vehicles and if I remember well they were 110 inches long. The way SVO has done it was to insert a couple of short doors between the original front and rear side doors. I believe that it will be much easier for your conversion if you approached the same route to it. Mind you fitting a non opening panel between the two side doors may prove much easier than opting for an extra middle opening door. This will not increase the loading spare unless of course you choose to move the rear seat a coupe of inches forward and therefore split the additional length between the axles to the rear occupants and the loadspace. You may also find that this way you can also give the front seats a bit of additional rearward travel. As for properly covering the extension this will be VERY easy if you use the outside panel from a pair (left and right) of rear side doors. Inside the passengers cabin it will be much easier since the B pillar is covered by only a pair of plastic covers (upper and lower) which can be cut in the middle (lengthwise) and have some sort of sturdy material added to fill the gap and then cover it with leatherete in the proper colour of the vehicle's interior. Remember that Discos up to 1993 had leatherete on the B pillar so it will be an almost factory look alike conversion on the inside. hope this helps Pantelis > Right all, it's that time of year again after the rallying season (for me) > has finished and I start considering mods to the 110 for next year. Maybe [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > www.roverv8engines.com > www.roverv8engines.co.uk Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated. Still concerned about mounting to chassis though. Will take tape measure with me! -- Badger. B.H.Engineering, Rover V8 engine specialists. now live but still under construction, www.bhengineering.co.uk www.roverv8engines.com www.roverv8engines.co.uk >Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible >disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated. >Still concerned about mounting to chassis though. Will take tape measure >with me! I still reckon LSE doors would be nice, seeing as you're gonna have to move the wheel arches anyway. And presumably, they still make spare LSE rear doors and parts - they made quite few LSEs not that long ago. Austin, Badger and other people Hi, One thing that you will have to consider if you opt for the RaRo Classic LSE doors is that they will only provide you with an extra 8 inches of bodylength instead of the 110 required for the chassis you will be using. You see the LSE was 108 inches and not 110 inches long between its axles. Take care Pantelis > >Pantelis, many thanks for that info. Off to look at a couple of possible > >disco shell donor vehicles on Saturday so your input is much appreciated. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > the wheel arches anyway. And presumably, they still make spare LSE rear > doors and parts - they made quite few LSEs not that long ago. |
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