Post by valhalla on Sept 17, 2018 1:00:05 GMT 1
I had a call several days ago from one of my customers, although I hadn't seen him for a wee while (helps that I'm on sabbattical for a while.... 
) and his Disco2 TD5 Auto. It turned-out that this car has just had a good mauling on its latest MoT, and then "all the lights came on" on the homeward journey, and he thought to himself, "Why am I worrying about this car? I'll just scrap the damn thing and get another". The chassis, like all Disco2 chassis, had "let-go" in a very big way from the rear axle and backwards, and had already been "wagged-in" by someone of low scruples prior to its present owner taking custodianship. Hence it all happened over the last 12months, or since it had last seen a set of ramps.... 
) and his Disco2 TD5 Auto. It turned-out that this car has just had a good mauling on its latest MoT, and then "all the lights came on" on the homeward journey, and he thought to himself, "Why am I worrying about this car? I'll just scrap the damn thing and get another". The chassis, like all Disco2 chassis, had "let-go" in a very big way from the rear axle and backwards, and had already been "wagged-in" by someone of low scruples prior to its present owner taking custodianship. Hence it all happened over the last 12months, or since it had last seen a set of ramps.... 
So I went over to his place last week with Mrs. Valhalla on chauffeur duties, and brought the LR back for the princely cost of £10 (it was worth that much to him to see the back of it).
I had a fair idea of the condition of the car (abused) and its general wear-and-tear (unserviced), but even after a close analysis of the body structure and running gear this afternoon, I cannot fathom why anyone would think this car was scrap. It needs a new chassis, and that is something I have in-stock. With a new chassis comes a few "given" items that you would change anyway; brake hoses, brake lines, suspension bushes, etc. etc. If the standard chassis-swap items were substituted on this car, it would fail with only item; one tail-lamp bulb is blown! In other words, this car is ripe for a chassis-swap project. There are plenty of niggles and advisory points (the front screen is cracked, for a start), but plenty of potential all the same. The electrical faults are few and far between ( a pattern MAF is £23, a spare ABS sensor for the F/O/S wheel is £0.00 out of a hub-kit that didn't need it, etc. etc.)
I have prepared a few things, parked the car somewhere down the croft, removed the battery and put it on to maintenance-charge, and started to put a schedule together. I don't have time to do this before my main building projects over the next 6-months, but I reckon that the car should be able to wait that time to get a full overhaul, then a clean ticket.
The value of my work and the chassis&components parts to go into this vehicle will not quite be justified by the end-value, but the margin will be fine, and if the prices start to go back up on these, could swing slightly the other way. I'm looking into this car as a potential work-horse for myself, as I have now sold my spare Defender. There is some value in having a test-dummy-vehicle to try things out anyway, but at the end of the day it will be a TD5 Auto with a tow-hitch on the back, which could spare my main Defender from its duties whilst I do the full overhaul on that at a later date. That is going to need much more work to bring it back up to scratch
