Maybe it’s because I’m that much of an auto nerd, but I love Land Rover Discoverys, if for only one reason: Camel Trophy. In the 1990s, photographs and footage of Discos submerged under water, slogging through mud, driving over log bridges and in general taking on some of the most hellish off-roading that any human dared to try out left me wondering if these were the final word in brutality. Surely, if a Discovery (or, for that matter, any Land Rover product that survived the kinds of torture test that they were put through in the spirit of competition) could take such abuse, it’s worthy of owning and keeping up, right?

Well…let’s not get too hasty. For starters, when the Discovery made it to the States in 1994, the 3.9L V8 that it came with was running an engine management computer from the Prince of Darkness himself, Lucas. Chages started to be made for 1996 to be legal in the U.S. market (the OBD-II requirement playing a big part) and eventually the 4.0L V8 made it’s way under the hood. Do they have problems? Yep. And the engine that was under the hood of Brian Scotto’s Discovery had more than it’s fair share. One of Scotto’s many project vehicles, the Discovery was the next vehicle in line to be fixed up after his Audi coupe was completed.

Since the Discovery is the camping rig and off-roader, and does some work every now and then, the decision was made to plug in a Cummins R2.8L four-cylinder diesel and a NSG370 six-speed manual trans like what you’d find in a late-model Jeep Wrangler. The R2.8 comes in with 161 horsepower and 310 ft/lbs of torque, and will certainly be a great fit to the Disco…IF he can get the thing wedged into the engine bay and ready for the SEMA show, where it’s supposed to be!