Thread: About to take the plunge and buy a P38

Originally Posted by Declan

He has had all this work done to it below but he has took out the air bag suspension and fitted springs

All sounds great apart from removing the best asset of the car. Returning to Air springs could be easy dependant on what has been removed. If you are towing The air spring are a great feature as the car always sit square, no sagging rear. Just my opinion, many cars have had the air removed with happy owners.

Hi,all sounds good but check into the legalities of changing the suspension as the insurance companies may have a problem with it if you have a claim.

Regards Steve

Declan, I agree with Wayne, the air suspension is one of the components that sets the p38 from the other 4x4's around. I love it! As for towing, they don't get much better than this. Up until fairly recently I had a 2 tonne boat I used to tow around, it did it with ease. For me I'm not a big fan of gas. Apart from smelling like a taxi the tanks take up to much of your cargo area, or it you find a spot under the car you are subject to puncturing the tank when off road and becoming part of the next Big Bang theory experiment.
Gary

Originally Posted by radste

Hi,all sounds good but check into the legalities of changing the suspension as the insurance companies may have a problem with it if you have a claim.

Regards Steve

Legally there are no issues regarding either insurance or roadworthy inspection when converting to coil spring suspension. If the vehicle passes roadworthy inspection then the insurance companies have no issue with insuring the vehicle. It becomes an issue when you start lifting the suspension over a certain amount of lift and that applies to both coil spring lifts as well as air bag lifts. Even then there are insurance companies that will insure your modified vehicle. Strictly speaking, legally, even when lifting the airbag suspension either by fitting the longer Arnott Gen III airbags, fitting 2" spacers under the airbags or recalibrating the suspension potentiometers on an air sprung vehicle or fitting tyres over a certain size to the vehicle an owner should by rights get an engineers modification plate fitted to the vehicle as he is modifying the suspension of the vehicle and therefore the driving characteristics of it. Do people go through those steps in order to keep their vehicle 100% legal. I don't think so....

That's all well & good,but I know of a bloke who fitted coils to his air suspended classic & when he was unlucky enough to make a claim on his insurance policy they refused it because it was not 1-engineered,2-not factory standard,so all I am trying to say is maybe do a little homework in this area first.
Good luck with your purchase & Merry Christmas to all.

Regards Steve

Sounds like a great car. If you dont buy it someone else will, so quick. Me I'd be refitting the air suspension as its one of the best features of the P38. Great tow car as well
Go for it.

Gary

Nice car by the sounds of it, did you mention the price?

I must say, he can't be over enthusiastic on P38's if he converts the airbag springs to coil, only a passionate enthusiast will retain the airbag springs, they're really not as troublesome as you may think, so putting them back is a wise move in my opinion, as you get to experience the true nature of a P38, especially off-road. Can let him off the hook on the injected LPG eventhough not being a fan LPG either, but that's more of a personal choice especially when you don't have to pay for the conversion up front. But before you change back to airbag, just drive on coils for a while and see how you go, particularily off road, then change back to airbag and compare the difference, $50 bucks says you'll stick with the airbag.

There's a saying in the Range Rover world ' if your driving Rangies on coils, you may as well own a disco'.

To add to what's already been said, go straight for Arnotts Gen III airbags, don't muck around with factory ones as you'll only end up changing them anyway.

You'll love the P38 mate, they are such capable steeds - both on and off road!

Cheers
Keithy