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Can anyone reccomend a landrover specialist. I might be persuaded to take a discovery into the dunes but it needs a bit of work first.

Your talking to the man, what do you need done
TIP : Avoid AAA and Al Tayer at all costs

PS : Series I, II, LR3

And to get your butt out to the Desert ASAP here are some pics as inspiration of yours truly in his disco know as Big Red




er..yes the Pajero is stuck

Hey Desertman, Doesnt dune bashing mess up your engine ? I've seen people do this, do you need customized engines or something to do this ?

No, why would it mess up your engine ? Now there are some smarty pants who put in high flow street racing filters and that can cause damage, some shabab who do away with the filter altoghter !

Thanks DDS.
I'm looking at a series 2 which is kitted out with a 3" lift kit, ARB bumpers etc and looks the goods.
However it is blowing a lot of black smoke which has got me worried and I need some more advice on how much it will cost to fix this.
I was going to go to AAA who say they have a fancy diagnostics computer, until you said not to.
Al Tayer of course are too expensive even if they did know what they were doing.
It also has a K&N filter which you say can cause damage since it has obviously spent a lot of time in the desert.

And I would definately be keen to go out some time. I have a wrangler, but want to trade it in for something slighly bigger.

Is this the golden one parked in Jebel Free Zone with massive STT tyres on it with no plates on it, belonging to an East European kid ?

AAA are cheap b@stards they will not do a diagnostic check up, just look at it and charge you 300 dhs

Thats the one!

What can you tell me about it???
He was hiding behind the language barrier a bit.
I asked him if the heads had been off and he said yes, but I'm still not sure and was going to do a history search at Al Tayer on it.
The water and oil looked OK but this doesn't guarantee anything I know.

I know others who have been misled by AAA. Its dam hard to find a decent garage in this place.

Yeah he thinks hes a smart fish ! There are also leaks and something buggered with the rear diffs which he would not disclose openly. The heads comming off is a new one.

The Discovery does not have the zippy accleration that a Jeep has, but has oodles of tourqe and once you learn how to handle it, you can take it anywhere. With those oversized tyres and heavy steel bumpers that is just going to slow it down further.

Registering it will also be a nightmare as they won't let it through with the steel bumpers and those tyres.

Best thing is to find a Series I for under or around 10k and spend a little fuloos on it and its good to go. Series II are also nice. But most of them don't have a lockable center diff which makes it a bugger off road, and you will have to plonk in a LT322 transfer case off a Series I or atleast the linkage. Also lot more Electrickery. ther series II is basicaly a P38A Range Rover with Disco clothing. Get the dumber older brother the series I.

Try A2B garage they use to be decent when they opened up but like most things in dubai once they got a customer base they have slowy started to go pear shape. They are still alright now but slowly spiraling downwards

But if you can get it down to 15k or under ( Its been on sale for a loooong time now ) then its worth it. I can hook you with my bud of over 10 years ( Private Garage, no outside customers works for a influential local family just tending to their cars ) Knows his ways around rovers and charges peanuts. But takes his time to do the work.

Land Rover bits and bobs are extremely cheap ( much cheaper than Jeeps ) I use to have a jeep aswell so I know. And even for the pricey bits, sharjah has a decent supply of Landy scrap yards so its all good. Even if you need a new motor and diffs it will be around 5k in total.

But my personal advice get a cheaper D1 install an ARB lift kit ( 1600 dhs ) or Brit part ( 600 dhs but that was I used superduper wasta ) Some Michelin LTX 275/70 R16 tyres ( see pic ) and your good to go.

P.S : If you do get a Landy switch to diesel oil and if you drive a TJ, YJ, XJ, WJ, ZJ inline 6 cylinder motors switch to S rated diesel oil aswell.

google ZDDP and flat tappet motors for why.

I forgot about the steel bumper issue. Yeah, rego would need some wusta.
I thought that the lockable center diff bits can be installed for about 500 GDP.
But from the prices you've given me, a series 1 transfer case sourced locally would be less than that anyway. Definately cheaper that jeep parts.
So basically the whole drive train on this rig has issues (I noticed that the transmission was pretty lazy also).
Now I know why he didn't want me to take it on the open road.

Rego, Vegemite, Your an Ozzie arnt ya mate

BTW you can get the CDL linkage done for less that 500 GBP locally. But that is if you have a TC with a CDL in the first place. Early 2001 they stopped it. But A D1 TC can be sourced localy for under 1k so its all good.

You guessed it. But I didn't pick you for one.

Oh no mate, I'm not a ozzie at all. Might be know as a wog down under though.

Throw me a line if you ever want any more Landy info or even if you want me to have once look over at any potentials.

no worries.
please let me know if you come accross anything as well.

Will do. Scour Dubizzle, I think I saw a few yesterday

There is a silver 2004 model for 26k.
They have the CDL re-instated don't they?
How much would it be for a lift kit? Thats about all I'd need hey?
I'm fast becoming a landrover convert. They seem like excelent value for money.

26k is a decent price for an 04, techically they have the CDL installed can't say for sure about the GCC cars though. 2 to 3k max with instalation for an ARB kit probaly even cheaper if you can get it from Oz.

You can still convert to a CDL for not so much in a worse case scenario. But becarefull with the rear bumper if you break that, real hard to comeby. A steel ARN or TJM should solve the problem though.

You gotta link ?

Hi Desert Dude, I am looking for a garage that can replace my air conditioning unit in an LR2. I have had a pretty expensive quote from one garage and wondered if you recommended anyone, I see you mention AtoB. Are they the guys to use? Thanks very much

my discovery 2003 model engine is heating and local garage informed engine shall be replaced (head damaged). please advice the cost and best place

desertdudeshj , hi I have an old disco '97 model that i want to sell quickly, do you know anyone who may be interested.