Land Rover finally dropped production of the Defender this week, but the brand’s name in off-road still holds strong with its fans. One of them is a Pirate 4×4 member and has been steadily showing the progress of his build as he transforms a first-gen Discovery into a truggy.

The Discovery as it stood before the build.

Going by his P4x4 handle, mightymg1, the builder started the build thread back in June of 2015. “Well, it was time to builder another Rover,” he said in the opening post. “After some close calls on Pritchett Canyon [in Moab, Utah], I quickly realized how much I missed my cage on my Defender. With that being said, here we go again.”

The builder bought his Discovery from a friend, who had already performed a “Roveryota” front end conversion (wherein a Toyota hypoid differential is installed into a Land Rover housing). The plan was to install new Dynatrac axles, Fox rear coilover shocks, and King front coilover shocks, along with some beadlocked wheels and 39.5-inch BFG KRT tires. Oh, and a full roll cage too.

That last part came first as mightymg1 set about removing the roof. Holes were drilled, tubing bent and welded, and a very robust cage took shape. By mid-July, the wheels and tires were on and the linking of the rear axle had to happen, as did the rear bumper. Mightymg1 took a break up until just this month, when he resumed posting updates, including building the front bumper.

So far, the Rover is looking like a beast. We can’t wait to see how the build pans out in the end. Follow more by visiting the P4x4 website and checking out the forum section.