Once again it’s managed to be a while since I last blogged, but in that time quite a bit has happened with the car!
To briefly sum up:
- I ordered 5 new 33inch Hankook RT03 tires on anthracite painted steel rims (with locking nuts!) from Chris @ Silverline Tyres (very helpful guy) and fitted these – they made a massive difference to the way the car looks. I remember Nick saying when I drove the demonstrator that the biggest mistake anyone can make is to not change the wheels – and I now see exactly what he means! Not to mention the car now rides about 3 or 4 inches higher than it did, so getting underneath to work on stuff is incredibly easy as you can now just slide under with plenty of room to spare.
-I got the Sahara trailered down to the DVLA inspection place where the inspector probably took al of 4 minutes to carry out the ID checks he had to do – i.e. check the VIN is valid and the Chassis matches it etc. – in fact, the whole exercise took about an hour and half, 1:20 of which was getting onto the trailer and down to the DVLA in Beverley, then back and off the trailer again!
Incidentally I used www.shiply.com to find someone who could do the trailering for me and it turns out it’s a really good site for finding delivery drivers etc. that works well.
It took the DVLA 3 weeks to get me the V5 during which time I finished off all the bits necessary to get it to pass the MOT – fitting seatbelts and mirrors, headlights, tidying up the engine bay etc. etc. etc.
Originally I fitted the original rear seat belts from the disco to the rear seats, but they are far too short so I bought a front pair for a late model Disco1 from ebay – I chose the late model because these have the “on seat” mounting plates which are vertical instead of the earlier ones that mount to the floor and therefore have right angle mounts so won’t work on the roll cage. You only need the belts though as the original center strap (the one with 2 belt latch receivers in) fits just fine.
Incidentally if you are building a 4 seater version, Nick came up with a hefty piece of angle iron for me that bridges across the 2 chassis seatbelt mounts and then you mount the single strap to the center of it. When you ask him for it though, ask for it to be supplied without the holes pre drilled as I found that although the holes lined up on the original chassis belt mounts, when I replaced them (as they were incredibly rusty!) they didn’t line up so I had to drill holes slightly further in.
Getting the headlights etc. all wired up as easy, I also fitted a washer bottle with pump and wiring from www.cbsonline.com but this is really quite small and I think probably too small when it comes to trying to wash mud spray off the screen from mucky off roading. Longer term I’ll probably replace it with a bigger one.
There was a lot of other small jobs to be sorted but by the time the V5 arrived these were all sorted.
I then booked the MOT and on the wednesday morning set off loaded down with a lot of tools and spare parts (in case of massive failure!)
Unfortunately I only got as far as the verge round the corner before the car lost all power and wouldn’t start again. At first I thought it might be low on petrol (as I had only shoved in maybe 20 litres) but after Ellie drove me to the petrol station to get more it still wouldn’t start.
Checking the ignition system I found I was getting almost no spark so when I rang Andy @ Maltings to say I wasn’t going to get there in time for the MOT he said “I’ll bet its the coil amplifier, it usually is” – and he was right! I followed the diagnostics in the workshop manual and it showed the amp was pretty much dead.
Very luckily for me www.lrseries.com (which is based in the next town from me) happened to have one in stock and I shot round there to pick it up – this was even luckier because they were actually closing up early that afternoon as they were moving to a new building and would be closed for nearly a week, so definitely someone up there was watching out for me!
With the ignition all fixed, i made to a more local garage on the friday and the car passed first time – even on headlight alignment despite me only having aligned them by pointing the lights from my G4 on the garage door and then lining the Sahara’s lights up to match. In fact at first the tester refused to believe I’d done it that way as they were so spot on – so very chuffed about that one.
Since passing the MOT i’ve driven the kids out and about in it, also to work and back a few times – and a fair few people at work have been out for the obligatory joy ride!
I’ve still got quite a list of bits that I want to improve or add – such as underbody protection etc. – but overall I’m absolutely loving driving it.
I’ll add more info as I add more to the car but I’ll leave this post with a few suggestions for anyone planning a build:
1) Stick with a diesel manual donor – much easier!
2) Buy LOTS more convoluted split wiring hose than you think you need. No matter how much you buy (say from CBS) I guarantee it won’t be enough.
3) If you are doing a four seater, make sure you buy a set of front seatbelts to fit to the back.
4) You will use a LOT of cable ties, and Cable tie bases are a great way to hold them still. Rivet the base down.
5) Again, if doing a 4 seater, slice the treadplate floor in half before you fit it (along the line of one of the cross spars in the body) so that you can remove the rear section once the seats are bolted down. I had to do this afterwards when I suspected the fuel sender to be flaky. If you don’t do it you will have to remove the rear seats and these are bolted down using bolts way up above and behind the exhaust box and are almost impossible to reach!
I’m sure theres more works of advice, but i’ll leave it there for now.
Night all – and happy motoring 
hello there! really enjoyed the blog on your build, we are looking at doing a sahara ourselves, and also we want a 4 seater, glad someone else had the idea, is there any chance of some pics of yours to see what the 4 seaters look like? its the load bay and rear seat belt anchor points, as well as the general shape of it we are interested in.
thanks, and well done, i cant wait to get started, ive read the build manual a few times and am stripping the donor this week, so hopefully wont be long!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Scott,
Thanks – it was good fun to build, but I’ll admit it was hard doing it on a driveway instead of in a garage!
I’ll try and take some pics later this week once the rain stops so you can see.
I was able to re-use the existing seatbelt anchor points as they lined up nicely with the new seats I put in – though the old ones were incredibly rusty so i replaced them – only cost a few quid for the new brackets and bolts so was daft not to given the safety implications for those in the back!