Discussion
My son just bought himself a D1. This is actually his fourth car (he's 13!) Last one was an x5 he bought for £250 and sold for £1200 with a new mot after we replaced a suspension arm and did brake pads. He's traded up each time: 306 / impreza gx / x5 / Disco.
1995 N reg, 300tdi 5dr manual. Not too rusty at all (in fact, underneath looks amazing) but it's had a proper life by the looks of it, got lots of dings and scrapes etc. Some rough repairs to rear wheel arches. But everything works, the sunroofs don't leak and it actually drives pretty well.
I've had two series 3's, quite a few Defenders, a pre-Defender 110, a new d2, a nearly-new D3 but this is our first d1.
We've serviced it, just with a cheap britpart kit (£33 for oil and filters!) This weekend i'm going to show him how to do gearbox, transfer box and diff oils. He's having a great time.
Suspension is really pretty saggy - i think it's still on original springs and maybe even struts. At first he was keen to put a big lift on it and get huge tyres and arch extensions but I've talked him into something a bit more sensible to not ruin the gearing/geometry.. I was looking at various spring/damper combinations, I'm thinking maybe standard height or a 25mm lift. I know there a million threads on the internet about this on the entire internet but there are also a million different opinions! Use will be on farm tracks with deep tractor ruts, some mild offroading: wet fields, forest tracks and we do actually get a lot of snow up here so a bit more space under the diffs wouldn't hurt.
It needs new tyres too, what size will fit with a 1" lift?
I've always shied away from britpart components but i see they are now doing collaboration stuff with gaz/old man emu. Is it any better than it used to be? Or am i better sticking with say Bearmach springs and procomp dampers?
He's paying for all the stuff himself so budget is constrained!
Cheers
Lefty
1995 N reg, 300tdi 5dr manual. Not too rusty at all (in fact, underneath looks amazing) but it's had a proper life by the looks of it, got lots of dings and scrapes etc. Some rough repairs to rear wheel arches. But everything works, the sunroofs don't leak and it actually drives pretty well.
I've had two series 3's, quite a few Defenders, a pre-Defender 110, a new d2, a nearly-new D3 but this is our first d1.
We've serviced it, just with a cheap britpart kit (£33 for oil and filters!) This weekend i'm going to show him how to do gearbox, transfer box and diff oils. He's having a great time.
Suspension is really pretty saggy - i think it's still on original springs and maybe even struts. At first he was keen to put a big lift on it and get huge tyres and arch extensions but I've talked him into something a bit more sensible to not ruin the gearing/geometry.. I was looking at various spring/damper combinations, I'm thinking maybe standard height or a 25mm lift. I know there a million threads on the internet about this on the entire internet but there are also a million different opinions! Use will be on farm tracks with deep tractor ruts, some mild offroading: wet fields, forest tracks and we do actually get a lot of snow up here so a bit more space under the diffs wouldn't hurt.
It needs new tyres too, what size will fit with a 1" lift?
I've always shied away from britpart components but i see they are now doing collaboration stuff with gaz/old man emu. Is it any better than it used to be? Or am i better sticking with say Bearmach springs and procomp dampers?
He's paying for all the stuff himself so budget is constrained!
Cheers
Lefty
I would not touch Gaz with a barge pole !
Back in the 80s, I worked for Monroe, their Gas Magnum shock sold really well. Good shocks. I’ve used them on numerous vehicles in the past.
In recent years, they changed the colour of the shocks from yellow to black and they now call them “Monroe Adventure “
Recently fitted 4, to my TD-5 and they work really well and are not £ expensive. I re painted them Yellow, before I fitted them, to brighten it up under there.
On my 300TDi, we fitted 4 x new heavy duty / Police spec springs, with a standard ride hight, as it was my tow car for years.
H / duty springs are / were ? also available with a plus 1 inch lift, for the 300 TDi. No full sets of heavy duty OE ride hight springs, are available for the TD-5, you have to go plus 1 inch, if you want a h / duty spring on these.
Back in the 80s, I worked for Monroe, their Gas Magnum shock sold really well. Good shocks. I’ve used them on numerous vehicles in the past.
In recent years, they changed the colour of the shocks from yellow to black and they now call them “Monroe Adventure “
Recently fitted 4, to my TD-5 and they work really well and are not £ expensive. I re painted them Yellow, before I fitted them, to brighten it up under there.
On my 300TDi, we fitted 4 x new heavy duty / Police spec springs, with a standard ride hight, as it was my tow car for years.
H / duty springs are / were ? also available with a plus 1 inch lift, for the 300 TDi. No full sets of heavy duty OE ride hight springs, are available for the TD-5, you have to go plus 1 inch, if you want a h / duty spring on these.
TBH the Disco already has pretty good suspension. It is exactly the same as a Defenders...
However the Disco runs smaller tyres and has a longer over hangs. It is these aspects that reduce it's potential off road.
Lifting to fit bigger tyres is a bit of a negative return. If it's a good suspension kit, it will still allow suspension compression. Therefore when compressed it totally eliminates the fact you have lifted it. So if the tyres will rub without a lift, they will rub with a lift when the suspension compresses.
Are you prepared to trim the wheel arches? This is the easiest and cheapest way to get bigger tyres on. With a 5 door, the real limiting point is the rear side doors and wheel well.
This is my old 3 door Disco 1. 100% stock suspension running 33.11.50R15's which actually measured almost 34" tall.
I did have to remove the front bumper corners as well as heavily trim the arches.
This size tyre is about the limit of what the gearing is ok with unless you plan to change the transfer box and/or diff gears. With a Tdi you'll also need to tune for more power. Which is free/cheap, but a bigger intercooler for road work would be advised.
Tyre sizes I'd recommend:
7.00 x 16 -- these will fit straight on a stock Disco and are the sized used on the Camel Trophy vehicles.
7.50 x 16 -- lots of choice in this size still, narrow and slightly taller than the 7.00's
235/85R16 - about the same height as the 7.50 but fatter. About the biggest you can fit without major surgery.
265/75R16 - same heigh again but even wider. These will cause more problems with clearance and won't tuck up into the rear wheel well. You may also loose steering lock with them rubbing on the front radius arms unless you go for wheel spacers or wide offset rims. But they will then stick out of the body work, which is illegal in the UK.
As for suspension. Most people opt for a HD lift kit. Which is the worst thing you can do. It makes them ride terrible on road (bouncy). And reduces their off road ability. As it will reduce how the flex, so you'll end up lifting wheels and getting cross axled a lot more often. Also with a standard length shock, if you lift the vehicle. You are effectively reducing the amount of available down travel remaining, again causing it to lift wheels off the ground more.
That said, there really are a lot of ways to go about it. The cheapest option will be some lift packers (extended spring seats). Which allow you to keep all the standard shocks/spring. But you'll run into the above problems.
Personally I'd say go for a longer softer spring and a slightly longer shock. A +2" shock will give you more total wheel travel and droop. A long soft spring will keep the ride and flex good and very mildly lift the vehicle.
If you lift too high you will impact the castor on the front. I'd say not to go for castor correction setups, as they make the nose angle on the diff poor. Too much lift can cause rear prop issues and vibrations too.
+2" shocks such as ProComp or Bearmach are pretty cheap and will do the job well.
For the springs, I'd look at these:
https://www.flatdoguk.com/disco-1-%2B2%2Fhd1~454
Standard spring rate, but +2" in length. This means it'll only mildly lift the vehicle and give the same sort of ride quality. But with the longer shocks they won't fall out under flex.
However the Disco runs smaller tyres and has a longer over hangs. It is these aspects that reduce it's potential off road.
Lifting to fit bigger tyres is a bit of a negative return. If it's a good suspension kit, it will still allow suspension compression. Therefore when compressed it totally eliminates the fact you have lifted it. So if the tyres will rub without a lift, they will rub with a lift when the suspension compresses.
Are you prepared to trim the wheel arches? This is the easiest and cheapest way to get bigger tyres on. With a 5 door, the real limiting point is the rear side doors and wheel well.
This is my old 3 door Disco 1. 100% stock suspension running 33.11.50R15's which actually measured almost 34" tall.
I did have to remove the front bumper corners as well as heavily trim the arches.
This size tyre is about the limit of what the gearing is ok with unless you plan to change the transfer box and/or diff gears. With a Tdi you'll also need to tune for more power. Which is free/cheap, but a bigger intercooler for road work would be advised.
Tyre sizes I'd recommend:
7.00 x 16 -- these will fit straight on a stock Disco and are the sized used on the Camel Trophy vehicles.
- You'll want to look up the 'Camel cut'. Basically trimming of the rear of the rear wheel arch. Any tyre bigger than stock will crumple it off road.
7.50 x 16 -- lots of choice in this size still, narrow and slightly taller than the 7.00's
235/85R16 - about the same height as the 7.50 but fatter. About the biggest you can fit without major surgery.
265/75R16 - same heigh again but even wider. These will cause more problems with clearance and won't tuck up into the rear wheel well. You may also loose steering lock with them rubbing on the front radius arms unless you go for wheel spacers or wide offset rims. But they will then stick out of the body work, which is illegal in the UK.
As for suspension. Most people opt for a HD lift kit. Which is the worst thing you can do. It makes them ride terrible on road (bouncy). And reduces their off road ability. As it will reduce how the flex, so you'll end up lifting wheels and getting cross axled a lot more often. Also with a standard length shock, if you lift the vehicle. You are effectively reducing the amount of available down travel remaining, again causing it to lift wheels off the ground more.
That said, there really are a lot of ways to go about it. The cheapest option will be some lift packers (extended spring seats). Which allow you to keep all the standard shocks/spring. But you'll run into the above problems.
Personally I'd say go for a longer softer spring and a slightly longer shock. A +2" shock will give you more total wheel travel and droop. A long soft spring will keep the ride and flex good and very mildly lift the vehicle.
If you lift too high you will impact the castor on the front. I'd say not to go for castor correction setups, as they make the nose angle on the diff poor. Too much lift can cause rear prop issues and vibrations too.
+2" shocks such as ProComp or Bearmach are pretty cheap and will do the job well.
For the springs, I'd look at these:
https://www.flatdoguk.com/disco-1-%2B2%2Fhd1~454
Standard spring rate, but +2" in length. This means it'll only mildly lift the vehicle and give the same sort of ride quality. But with the longer shocks they won't fall out under flex.
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Friday 28th August 14:01
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