Pimp my ride.... sort of

[WillD]

Hi all,

let me just take a second as a new member to say hello. My name is Will.

I've been having a lot of trouble with my P38a over the years. Mainly with the airsprung suspension giving up on itself. But she has served me very well and i've put close to 200,000 km on her.

As a result I've gone and found myself a daily commuter/ soft roader in the turbo-diesel Freelander 2.

So now I have a rangie to play around with.

I was thinking of ripping the suspension out entirely and throwing in some sort of hugely risen spring set up on some great big tyres.. Its new purpose will be entirely for off-road fun.
Problem is, I have no idea where to start. Budget will still be a big consideration.

So any opinions, ideas, dream set-ups that you can imagine, warnings, links, stories. anything would be a great help.

Thanks again,

Will D

[Grover-98]

Welcome mate!!

I think your on the right track 3" spring lift 2.5" body lift 33" muddies on some offset sunnys. Detroit locker in the rear True trac in the front. Maybe some crawler gears and bar work and the little things like UHF Spotties ooo and some nice recaro bucket seats.

Then you could strenghten CVs Axles bash plates and diff guards. Snorkel.


I just typed randomly as things i want came to mind :)

[PaulP38a]

Welcome Will - this is a good forum to swap ideas and get inspiration, and even to keep yourself in check at times.

The EAS on the Rangie can be a somewhat contentious topic. Most non-LR mechanics don't understand it, and don't want to. Many RR owners are plagued by niggling EAS faults that leave a bad taste and the desire to move to coils. Others of us believe the EAS is a beautiful thing and worth preserving. Some of us even go so far as replacing the OE springs and shocks with upgraded units to make it even more flexible to give extra travel and lift.

I'm no expert on EAS but thanks to people on this forum and RangeRovers.net I am now comfortable hot-wiring the EAS from a hard fault to inflate the bags so I can get home comfortably. For a small amount of money (< $100)you can install an emergency EAS bypass kit that lets you inflate the bags with an air compressor if you don't want to hot-wire it. There is free software available that lets you reset the EAS and even play around with the height settings. It is also pretty simple to renew the compressor by simply replacing the piston and seal.

My Rangie has some mild mods but I still use it as a daily driver 'coz I love the driving position and the power. Here's the current state of affairs:


2" lift kit from HRA with extended bump stops
re-valved Bilstien shocks all round
Arnott Gen III air springs (extra 3" of travel)
33" muddies on 16" rims for off-road play
31" Coopers on 18" rims for daily driving
Great Basin Rovers 4.1 diff gears
ARB rear air locker
HRA custom front low-profile bullbar
4x4 Intelligence custom rear bar and tyre carrier
reversing camera
dual 2 1/4" exhaust system

To do list:


new transmission and transfer case
snorkel
front and rear bash plates
rock sliders
trim wheel arches for bigger tyres
winch
speedo correction unit
FaultMate diagnostics unit
Car-puter
forward facing camera at diff level
replace damaged passenger doors
wash it (maybe)
respray after it's been scratched a few more times

Once you start modifying your Rangie it's a long slippery/fun/expensive slope. Don't be surprised if the mods cost you more than what you paid for the car itself.

Andrew_E has some pretty cool ideas on what can be done to these beasts too.

Cheers, Paul.

[cucinadio]

:rulez::rulez:

cheers

[PaulP38a]

:rulez::rulez:

cheers

ok, my bad... links to YouTube vids in this post
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/77890-dual-exhaust-couple-other-bits-2.html#post969478

Pics located here (http://www.syscamservices.com/PaulP38A/thumbnails.php?album=5) and here (http://cid-0fc765f4de8cc280.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/4WD%20Outings)

[andrew e]

Welcome mate!!

I think your on the right track 3" spring lift 2.5" body lift 33" muddies on some offset sunnys. Detroit locker in the rear True trac in the front. Maybe some crawler gears and bar work and the little things like UHF Spotties ooo and some nice recaro bucket seats.

Then you could strenghten CVs Axles bash plates and diff guards. Snorkel.


I just typed randomly as things i want came to mind :)

Body lift P38?, dont bother, its too hard and wont help anything, trust me.

They dont do carwler gears for a p38, just 4.1 diff ratios.

they dont make stronger axles /cvs for a p38, but ashcroft/maxi D2 cvs might fit

Recaro seats? Ha! you have never sat in a p38 have you.




Anyway, Welcome Will,

Firstly, where are you? aus/us/euro/NZ?

Coils vs bags, big debate here. How hardcore offroad do you want to go?

Extreme hardcore, i would use coil overs 36-37 inch tyres

Fairly Hardcore, i would use springs and custom shock mounts, tubs/wheel arch radius. 34-35 inch tyres

weekender, and still good on-road manners, airbags, see pauls post above, 33 inch tyres.

Please say you are in europe and you want a hard core rangie, as unimog 404 diffs would really work well. They are cheap in europe too.


Andy

[p38arover]

Paul, with all those mods, you need a diff guard.

I just happen to have my brand new QT rear guard for sale - never fitted.

[PaulP38a]

Paul, with all those mods, you need a diff guard.

I just happen to have my brand new QT rear guard for sale - never fitted.

Sure Ron, happy to buy it from you if you are ok to help me fit it :D

Seem to remember a thread about these guards here (http://rangerovers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31475&sid=0661cf4bad906ccbcdadf8b6ec2ea673) - oh yeah, it was you :p

How hard do you reckon it would be to install?

Cheers, Paul.

[andrew e]

Sure Ron, happy to buy it from you if you are ok to help me fit it :D

Seem to remember a thread about these guards here (http://rangerovers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31475&sid=0661cf4bad906ccbcdadf8b6ec2ea673) - oh yeah, it was you :p

How hard do you reckon it would be to install?

Cheers, Paul.

When you install it, you would need to swap some studs in the diff housing to dicovery 1 studs, which are longer. To do this you need to take your center out. Not a big job really, especially for someone who's rear diff leak is the only one in the car, ron (Yes i saw that one).

Andy

[p38arover]

especially for someone who's rear diff leak is the only one in the car, ron (Yes i saw that one).

Bugger!

The rear diff came out some years ago for a rebuild after I broke a few teeth of the crownwheel.

[PaulP38a]

pm sent to Ron. Just saw some pics of the diff guard and I want it.

[WillD]

Once you start modifying your Rangie it's a long slippery/fun/expensive slope. Don't be surprised if the mods cost you more than what you paid for the car itself.

Cheers, Paul.

Yeh, this is the problem. I do want to make this pretty special, but I wasn't planning on spending too much.
I'm liking all of the ideas people are throwing up, so cheers for that.

I'm in Oz, so no unimog diff :-(.... or unimog haha.

I'm liking the idea of 35inch wheels with coil-over springs and such.

does anybody know some reliable suspension fitters in Sydney? or arond that area? I'm gonna gather up some quotes on such.

Again thanks for all the ideas,
keep em coming

Will

[LavisLane]

I've always wanted to duplicate some of the additions the bloke on the site below has made. Especially the air lines and water heater for a hot shower!



Range Rover P38 (http://www.rehayden.com/p38.htm)

[2door grover]

i mean no offence but take the car out and drive it 1st, they are a bloody good 4x4 and will scare the pants off you in stock form if you wheel it right.

going 35's and coil overs will pay more for the set up then the car and it wont be drivable as a daily. 35's will take a lot of work just to fit under the guards

get a set of lokers 1st (if they do them) then some 33's and then some gen 3 bags. that is as far as i would go with a daily driver.

[PaulP38a]

get a set of lokers 1st (if they do them) then some 33's and then some gen 3 bags. that is as far as i would go with a daily driver.

Jeez, sounds like you've driven mine... oh yeah, you have :)

Don't forgot to replace the OE shocks with some Bilstiens too.

[PaulP38a]

Got directed to this thread and just noticed what I wrote 18+ months ago :eek:

Find it hard to believe that I was recommending people to put Bilsteins on their P38's. Guess I was younger then and didn't mind the overly-firm ride so much...

Now that I am much older, the fragile bones are more susceptible to the bumps in the road and dirt that Bilsteins tend to enhance, and it just wouldn't do to spill a drop of Bollinger on the tweed jacket while towing the thoroughbreds over speed humps on the way to have a friendly bout of polo with Chuckka and the lads from the club :wasntme:

[Fish78]

There is a guy on another site who has a nice tough 38, he has the Gen3 bags with spacers/lifts and runs 33' Mickey MTZs with air lockers, custom front bar for clearance etc, that truck goes very well and still looks pretty stock.

Or like above, check out the Hard Range P38, one of the toughest in the world.

Personally id stick with airbags.