Vehicle & Technical > Discovery

The Birth of Pheonix (Technical Thread)

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mikiep1986:
 looking good dude bin busy i can see . . . .

 i like a exterior cage but it has to be flush with the bodywork looks so much better . . i wana do a cage on mine soon as i had a lil mishap on our week in wales wer i was hanging over a lil drop . . .

 boss wat suspension setup are you using on yours . . . thats the sort of articulation i want on mine

J.D.:
Ok, before I managed to mash my fingers up (now much better thankfully), I spent 3 days solid working on Pheonix in the hope of getting it ready for the Thames Valley 4x4 event at CORE in July, but I don't think it is going to be done by then. Certainly it will be up and running, but I don't think I will have all the auxillaru gubbins done. (strobes, beacons, on board air, 240v power, DVD and TV, CB, work lights, light bar, spotlights, winch controls, power points and the rear storage) all done by then and I don't really want to take it out half done.

Finally the undersealing has been done (inside chassis, outside chassis, all under the body and in the sills, inner wings, rear floor, rear arches, rear wings). I also managed to underseal all the inside, and put it back together again in a day. The carpets will be coming out again though, as courtesy of a local flooring company, I have been donated a large quantity of koya matting to go inside, making it more durable, quieter and easy to clean out.

You can see from the photos below how much I had to cout out of the front wheel arches to get back to clean metal. Fortunately the A - pillars will still solid, otjherwise it would have taken me even longer.

The fuel tank is now fully connected up, and the interior heater for the veg oil is wired in and just needs connecting to the switch. I have decided not to have two tanks (diesel and V/O) as I was going to lose storage in the back for all the recovery gear and tools.

Rear axle is fully built up with a new A frame balljoint and HD trailing arms, just awaiting the X - springs before I fit it.Extended brake lines are fitted and every single brake line on the thing has been replaced and in some cases re-routed to minimise possible damage, and both wheel bearings have also been replaced. The front axle is in good condition (I know the diff is sound because I replaced it for the previous owner), so that just needs removing, rubbing down, undersealing, fit the diff guards and radius arms, and refitting which will only take a morning. The springs are Old Man Emu +2" and the shocks are Old Man Emu +5". I may have to drop to +4" shocks or fit bigger extended bump stops but only time will tell.

Southdown tank guard has been modified and painted, ready for fitting, and the orignal mounting holes welded up and ground down to try and get a flush fit with the chassis this time.

The original winch bumper on ASBO wasn't reused, and I sourced a winch tray from 4x4RUs in Warick, which I then set about adjusting the chassis mounts, stregthening it, welding new wings and supports on it, and enlarging the winch tray to make room for the 16,0000lb winch which will go on the front. I also reused the Defender A bar I had kicking around and welded that to the top of it. I didn't want a full bull bar (as is fitted to Poppy below), because the bumper is too big for what I want to do and I didn't see the point in ruining a perfectly good ARB winch bumper.

All that is left to do is throw the gearbox in, weld the new engine mounts in (old ones have already been removed with the help of a gas axe), and ty and make some sense of the engine wiring, fit the bumpers, tree sliders, steering guard and tank guard, and constuct the storage in the back either out of plywood or steel (haven't decided yet).

Photos will be up shortly, and there is more to come.

boss:
mate, photo above is using x-springs with +5" dampers. your disco will flex like mad!

J.D.:

--- Quote from: boss on June 26, 2009, 19:16:02 ---mate, photo above is using x-springs with +5" dampers. your disco will flex like mad!



--- End quote ---

Thats what I had been hoping for. In the end, I couldn't get +5", so went for +3" with a -2" shock dropper bracket.

boss:
i still got the -1" front damper mounts from my old kit. £55 if you want them. bargain for the tubular sexyness! :D

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