Thread: manual ACE bypass / poor mans fix?

A 2nd hand ACE pump?

Originally Posted by Slunnie

A 2nd hand ACE pump?

Yeah, I think that ship has sailed. When it failed I was miles from anywhere - had a bypass pully and belt flown in and just cable tied the disconnected hoses to random stuff in the engine bay. That was about 6 months ago. I'm guessing a heap of stuff has made it's way into every internal tight tolerance orifice of the ace system by now. + the split hose somewhere.

It would be good to get it going again - I do miss it...

But in all honesty - she's not too bad without it either. A bit like a D1.
Swerving for wildlife / children is the only scary thing. If it wasn't for this I wouldn't give a rats.

The ACE pump is a very high pressure pump, unlikely a non ACE pump will able to generate the pressures required.

Unless the pipes are disconnected off the ACE block then replacing the pipes with new pipes (non OEM is fine as I got my pipes made by pirtek) should minimise the influx of contaminatants and compromises to the system. The ACE Block is where contaminants are problematic, the rams and ACE pump are not the issue in my opinion, they are simple hyrdaulic components.

Use of Transmax is a hell of a lot cheaper than ACE fluid and flushing what you can should give you a great chance of keeping the system.

Remember the Rams are actuated when required to contact the bar, they will not be drawing fluid in and out whilst not actuated.

Originally Posted by FNQLR

But in all honesty - she's not too bad without it either. A bit like a D1.
Swerving for wildlife / children is the only scary thing. If it wasn't for this I wouldn't give a rats.

My non ACE D2 is fine, nothing like my D1. Admittedly the springs are not stock in either.

ACE pumps are not cheap.

Originally Posted by RRT

The ACE pump is a very high pressure pump, unlikely a non ACE pump will able to generate the pressures required.

Unless the pipes are disconnected off the ACE block then replacing the pipes with new pipes (non OEM is fine as I got my pipes made by pirtek) should minimise the influx of contaminatants and compromises to the system. The ACE Block is where contaminants are problematic, the rams and ACE pump are not the issue in my opinion, they are simple hyrdaulic components.

Use of Transmax is a hell of a lot cheaper than ACE fluid and flushing what you can should give you a great chance of keeping the system.

Remember the Rams are actuated when required to contact the bar, they will not be drawing fluid in and out whilst not actuated.

The way I am thinking it works is that when the rams are extended the sway bar is in operation, with no pressure in the rams = no sway bar?

If this is so then the amount of pressure is not an issue when going to a manual system (selectable sway bars on or off)
as long as there's a small accumulator and a check valve / dump valve that can handle the pressure generated from body roll against the sway bar. it should be a simple thing to implement. Pressure required would be minimal. I can borrow all the parts from work


I might be assuming too much in how the ACE system works though.

To give maximum articulation and good behaviour onroad we did it a little different at a friends D2:

we connected the two outlets at the Ram´s with one hose but with an manual check valve in between.
Off Road: check valve open, free flow around the Ram, no resistance, like no ARB´s or open ACE
On Road: check valve closed, blocked Ram´s, like rigid ARB´s.

Closing the valves best on leveled ground but it works really good!
Not as reactive as a working ACE but pretty good. I have a D2 without ACE and it feels absolute identical.

Next time i would try to get electric operated check valves, to lock and unlock from the seat. :-)

But sadly this guy moved to Italy, so i can´t take pictures from this mod.

I can only add, whatever you choose to do, do it right. Our late friend Mario had an ACE hose blow, downhill left hand tightish corner. The recovery skid marks were nothing short of spectacular.

Originally Posted by Tins

I can only add, whatever you choose to do, do it right. Our late friend Mario had an ACE hose blow, downhill left hand tightish corner. The recovery skid marks were nothing short of spectacular.

I have a friend who had an ACE hose blow, sprayed a fine mist of oil over the turbo and burnt the car to the ground.

It must be said, that car was cursed, Land Rover's entire reputation could have come from that car alone.

Tony