300Tdi Auto Discovery - Full Dakar demonstrator build.
Completed 20^th March 2006.

This 2 door Land Rover discovery commercial is about to get the 'Dakar' treatment. It is a late model series one Discovery with 300Tdi engine, 4 speed automatic gearbox, Air conditioning and a host of other lovely Discovery features we hope to take full advantage of. The previous owner, after fitting windows to the rear, managed to mangle the vehicle to what the insurers considered to be beyond economical repair, although luckily the damage was limited to passenger side body panels only.

First job is pretty much the same as with Range Rover donors. Firstly all the glazing and the interior is removed, followed by the doors, wings, bonnet, front end and the roof.

The rear body and floor are then cut away in preperation for a thorough chassis and engine de-grease and clean. Several areas of this 300 Tdi Discovery donor differ from that of a Range Rover; the dash is significantly higher; the floor plan behind the front seats is lower, without the big strengthening section; the engine bay houses an intercooler for the turbo and the diesel fuel tank and pump are different. Nothing however would stop you fitting a standard Dakar kit to this vehicle if you were prepared to compromise on air conditioning and internal space, however we plan on making small changes to the kit as we build this Dakar, to help make the fitting more 'Discovery' friendly.

This picture shows the first challenge we hope to address, that is a dashboard that sits much higher than the ones in both the original Range Rover and the earlier 200Tdi Discovery. This additional height of the dash is matched by seats that sit higher from the floor plan as well.

Our solution is to add an additional 40mm to the height of the roll cage side frames, this has the effect of lifting the body shell and cage higher to suit the seating/dash board layout. With the body shell sitting higher we will need to modify the rear floor plan, inner wheel arches and side panels, but believe this body lift will make for a much more comfortable conversion where just being able to see out of the windscreen is much easier. At the time of purchase we hope this 'lift' can be specified for Range Rover based kits as well, should additional clearance be required for those 35" or even 37" tyres! Another advantage of this modification is greater access to the back of the engine as their is more space between it and the body.

Not only will this Discovery based Dakar be taller than previous Range Rover ones, it will need to be a little longer as well. Specifically the Intercooler & air conditioning systems in the 300Tdi engine bay require more room than the standard body provides, as can be seen by the cut we have had to make in this body shell we are using to do this development work on.

By using one of our new style radiator grilles and some spacers we have extended the middle section of the Dakar's nose forward several inches and even then have had to cut holes to accommodate some of the air condensers pipe work. This extended section of the Dakar will be hidden behind a modified nudge bar that we will build to wrap back around it.

Don't panic at this image, the rather odd looking collection of wood off cuts and cut up panels is purely to create a template that we will then produce a fibre glass mould from.

The finished article fresh out the mould, and not a lump or wood in sight! Where required this new panel can be fitted to the front of a standard Dakar body shell, once the original section has been cut out, to provide additional room in the engine bay. It is not just for Discovery based kits either, it can be used on Range Rover ones as well, basically wherever additional room is required.

During the Christmas break we took time off from working on Customers vehicles and instead of eating turkey and consuming large amounts of fermented vegetable products we wheeled our demonstrator vehicle back into the workshop to get things moving on it's build again. As you may of already read on some of the other builds, the front grille we designed for this has already been fitted to other vehicles and looks fab, but before we can think about fitting it to our demonstrator we need to get the temporary body and un painted cage removed and the chassis refurbished.

After cleaning and priming the next job is to weld on the rear floor support bar before painting and rust proofing the chassis. As you can see the Discovery 300Tdi chassis is very similar to the early Range Rover ones, and almost identical to a late model one - ensuring our cage side frames will line up without problems on the out riggers.

The roll cage and side frames have been powder coated and are now re-fitted back onto the out riggers of the rolling chassis.

Our fibre glass rear floor section is now produced in two pieces in order to ease the fitting, here we have fitted the front half that rests on side side frames at each side.

The cage itself is lifted into place and bolts onto the side frames. Ordinarily we would also bolt the rear of it to plates that formed part of the Range Rovers chassis, however the Discovery, like late model Range Rovers, does not have these plates. In fact due to the body lift we have incorporated into this cage it would not line up had they existed. Instead we ensure it is sitting square and then weld it directly into place. Other fixing options are available, should you wish to bolt it rather weld it then angle brackets could be welded to the chassis to line up with the cage and then bolted together.

The side panels are now bonded to the side frames and as you can clearly see, this years demonstrator will be Blue, our favourite colour for a Dakar. It's now the new year, (doesn't time fly when you are having fun!) so time to again put this Dakar build in storage whilst we concentrate on our customers builds, as soon as we get some more spare time you can be assured we'll be getting back to work with this one as our deadline is the Stoneleigh Kit-Car Show on the May Bank Holiday. 

We've been busy with our 300Tdi Discovery demonstrator as you will see over the next few entries. The body shell is fitted and all the engine cooling, pipework & tanks fitted nearly into the engine bay. Another updated item for the 300Tdi is the strut brace that the bonnet pins fit to, this has been re-designed in tubular steel with a bonnet support.

A big change that is premiered on this Dakar is the new Bonnet - it has been redesigned to be more angular, like the Dakar itself. We know you love your bonnet scoops, so we made sure we could still fit one as well! 

We are going a bit beyond a standard Dakar build with this demonstrator - our plans are to equip it with all the usual off road equipment and modifications. First off is the famous high lift jack that has custom mounting brackets as part of the rear nudge bar. As always, these are available to be specified as an optional upgrade with all new bars, simply indicate you require them on the order form.

Viewed from the rear, you can see the high lift remains out of the way, but easily accessible. Swivelling recovery eyes have also been accommodated on the rear chassis legs with the space between reserved for a rear winch.

   Normally this type of picture would indicate the end of the build, but have plans to continue with more developments, our new wheel arch extensions, front winch, snorkel and diff lockers are to come.

New wheel arches, a Snorkel with integral air filter and front and rear recovery points complete this Dakar. We have fitted colour coded doors and a black vinyl soft top. The Dakar has been on the road for nearly a month now and is returning a fantastic mpg in the high 30's.