2000 Disco II Major Rebuild/Overhaul by RSPTex

4 minute(s) of a 50 minute read

Here's a "fun" development. I don't know why I didn't see it before, but it was staring me in the face. There was a giant gaping hole in the back of my transfer case. Here I am trying to make sure I get all the right seals when the rear input shaft bearings are chunks and dust. Combined with the grease and fluid in the t-case, it formed a great way to get metal slivers under my skin.


I've already ordered a used t-case from a wrecking yard in the Twin Cities area for $185 shipped. I'm going to reseal that thing and make it look as good as the rest of the truck will.

I picked up my new crank rod/piston combo yesterday. I had to have 4 of the rods straightened and re-honed, but they're all in perfect condition now. The block has been honed, with new freeze plugs, new cam bearings, freshly decked surfaces, and a completely solid sleeve-pinning job (2 pins per cylinder). All I'm waiting on for assembly are the oversized crank mains and rods bearings. I only had to go oversized to +.010.  

But, on the upside, I was able to find time to finish putting in the rear suspension upgrade. I had to do it at night, though. And I don't have a garage. Luckily, I work for a company that makes portable lithium batteries with AC/DC output, so this is what my night ended with:


And Dusty1 hooked me up with a front driveshaft he wasn't using, so I'll rebuild that, and maybe machine a spacer for it to give the shaft a bit more grab onto the splines. I am now looking for a rear drive shaft from a D1 so I can be rid of the rotoflex. I have the rear diff conversion on the way from England. I just need the rear D1 shaft to match it. I'll also probably do a spacer back there, too.  

I have access to so many fun electronics and manufacturing facilities right now, that it would make no sense to not incorporate this tech into the finished vehicle somehow. I was even trying to figure out how to make this truck a fully electric vehicle for a while, but that battery would be massive! I'll do it later to an old Mini Cooper. It'll be a fast little car, too. I know that I'll have one of the lithium packs in the back for emergencies, but I'll also have the main car battery as a lithium pack with a battery bay I make myself with some aluminum. To start it, I'll use some Ultra-capacitors in series:


Our trucks draw about 500 Cold Cranking Amps, and the stock batteries we use can provide about 750 CCA. A set of five of these ultra-caps delivers 1000A, not including the lithium pack I'm using in parallel with it. It should be able to provide right around 2000 CCA with the lithium pack and caps combined. That means I can jump start a Semi-truck! And this is what I normally use them on at work:


That's a test stand to test the true functionality of a battery and what it can handle in discharge. Right now it can handle a constant discharge of 60 kW @ 4000 Amps. Fun stuff. If anyone is interested in doing a ultra-cap setup, let me know and I'll put up a step-by-step on how I do mine.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice so far. I'll keep everyone updated with more photos over this weekend as I tackle the transmission tear-down and rebuild. Maybe I'll be able to get the headlight conversion taken care of, too!