Classic vs P38

[aussiebushman]

I have finally got my 1991 Hiline (mostly) operational again. This means I can reinstate it as my "daily driver" although "daily" in my case means a 160km return trip to town once each two weeks over some dreadful roads.

Driving the 91 is a joy. The suspension is good, the steering accurate, the brakes far superior to the silly ABS applauded by those who never learned to drive and only the dodgy electrics typical of the age is less than satisfactory. The vehicle is also set up for bush driving with uprated coil springs and shocks, bullbar, driving lights, external spare wheel carrier, leather electric seats (yes they were sourced from a P38)

Whan I bought it, the P38 4.0 litre had the standard EAS converted to a manual fill via an external 12V compressor so to be fair, that may be a major factor in causing wallowing rather than steeering that is vague and potholes/washouts of which there are many, cause the suspension to thump pretty well to the bump stops. Of course, throwing money into the vehicle might fix this with upgraded shocks and (gasp) a conversion from air to coils. However, as a backup vehicle, I'm not inclined to spend the sort of money this would take even if I had the funds available.

I an tempted to sell the P38 and buy another Pajero as a backup but having owned 2 X Series Land Rovers and (wait for it) 8 classic and 2 P38 Range Rovers I guess one could say I'm addicted to the marque.

Some people just never learn!

[peter51]

I would stick with the 91 - it will go forever and it has that certain character which cannot be quantified.
You can also upgrade the Airflow sensor to a late Bosch unit and do work to the ECU to gain a bit more efficiency if you want.
There are still plenty of spares laying around if you need them - you can PM me if you want a source - he has a container full of them.

[prelude]

Keep the P38 on trickle charge so that the BECM won't run the battery down to a dead doorstop and just keep it sitting around as backup. Unless you can get good money for it of course ;)

Keeping the classic is certainly a no brainer!

Cheers,
-P

[shack]

You can also upgrade the Airflow sensor to a late Bosch unit and do work to the ECU to gain a bit more efficiency if you want.


Can you tell us more about upgrading the air flow meter?

[aussiebushman]

Keep the P38 on trickle charge so that the BECM won't run the battery down to a dead doorstop and just keep it sitting around as backup. Unless you can get good money for it of course ;)

Keeping the classic is certainly a no brainer!

Cheers,
-P

Yes, I have tried that, using a fairly small solar panel and controller. Strangely, the battery voltage actually DROPPED in the course of a few hours so maybe the controller was set to dischage instead of charge. Only because I couldn't be botherd to play with it, I simply use a smart charger a day or so before I need to use the vehicle. However, I'll investigate further because, as you say, the solar/trickle charge should be more efficient

[peter51]

Can you tell us more about upgrading the air flow meter?
It is done by a young bloke here on sunshine coast who is doing ZF TCM reprograming - they convert L322 from GM auto to the ZF from an X5.
For the classics, he has built a controller to scale the ouput of the Bosch AFM to match the 5AM AFM. His device to drive air through the air flow meters and hence capture and compare the curves via oscilloscope was very clever. No need to retune the 14CUX on the classic - however he also tunes and rechips the ECU on the classics. The results are remarkable on the three L322 he has done and his 2 classics he owns drive really well with the mod on the airflow meter - smooth power response.