Thread: Lucky 8's Project P38

For VOT we needed a winch but the Terrafirma bumper was not ready yet. As the old saying goes necessity is the mother of all invention. A look around the shop for options landed us a Terrafirma discrete winch mount for a Disco 2. After a quick mockup of the side plates we knew we had our answer.



The side brackets almost fit, but one of the frame mounting holes needed to be slightly extended.



The next issue we ran into was the bumper was in the way of the winch. In order to make room we simply cut out the section giving us a problem.







All together we had this.



And with the winch installed



An unseen advantage to this installation was the winch tray acts as a lower radiator guard.



And the poser pic.

Project update : Resurrection

We all have that special edition P38 we like. For me it is the Rhino. I just love the ostrich seats and the mystic green wood trim. As luck would have it there was one on craigslist that needed some TLC and more importantly it was in my price range. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.



The downside to this choice was we needed to move every one of those accessories and modifications over to the Rhino. In retrospect putting in another motor would've been far easier and faster.

Without further ado here is the new L8 P38




OK that pic sucks..

Hows this one ?


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I'm sure a few of you with a keen eye have already noticed some differences beyond the color of the truck. The rest of you must still be looking at our new shop girl Amy

The first thing we wanted to do was lift the truck a bit more. Changing the springs was an option but we were very happy with the current ride quality. To keep everything the same but get more lift we added 1 inch spacers. On any other classic generation Land Rover adding springs spacers is a no-brainer, but the P 38 is not just any Land Rover. The issue is the air to coil conversion plates. The studs on the conversion plates are only long enough to accommodate the spring seat.



The first thought was to get longer studs but we decided that drilling two holes in the axle mounting bracket would be the best solution. The easiest way to accomplish this was to use the air to coil conversion plate with the studs knocked out of it as a template.





Another way to do it his use a 1 1/2 spacer and remove the air to coil conversion plate but in the interest of science we went with this.



The front was a completely different challenge. You cannot drill all the way through because the axle housing is in the way.



We needed to get a little bit creative with this one. The solution that came to mind was drilling and tapping the air to coil conversion plate



In the front we were not getting any dislocation and I was not afraid of the stress put on the air to coil conversion retaining pin.



Here is a side view with the new lift.



With the extra lift the axles were way off making new panhard bars a must. A quick phone call to Rovertym and we had 2 new ones on our tailgate.



Did I mention they were fully adjustable ?



With the suspension squared away it was time to try out the new prototype bumper from Terrafirma. The initial test fitting went well, the only possible downside for some is you need to remove the trailer hitch . Personally I didn't want the trailer hitch on the truck so this is a non-issue. Do you guys care if you need to remove your trailer hitch in order to fit the bumper?



With VOT" Vermont expedition trophy " right around the corner there was no time to send the bumper out for powder coating. So we rattle canned it black and threw it on the truck.




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Really liking the new Rhino and accessories.
Only downside I see to removing the trailer hitch, other than no longer having an option to tow stuff in the conventional manner, is that it is a great recovery point with the correct block and pin.
Your bar solves that problem with a couple of shackles and an equalising strap though.
Keep the updates coming, with more Amy to complete the poser shots

If that bar was in oz 12 months ago I would have looked at it, it looks really nice. But, we do tow a fair bit.

Id say most owners wouldn't want to give up their towbar even if they don't tow; it's there if they need it. As that's one of the great things about the rangies is their ability to tow almost anything.

Looking pretty awesome. How's the castor angle with that much lift? Does it wander on the highway much?

Regarding the trailer hitch I wouldn't want to give mine up but that is a nice looking rear bar.

Originally Posted by PaulP38a

Amy to complete the poser shots

Next post will have one for you sir

Originally Posted by benji

If that bar was in oz 12 months ago I would have looked at it, it looks really nice. But, we do tow a fair bit.

Id say most owners wouldn't want to give up their towbar even if they don't tow; it's there if they need it. As that's one of the great things about the rangies is their ability to tow almost anything.

Terrafirma has been made aware of everybody's opinion about removing the trailer hitch

Originally Posted by stickso

Looking pretty awesome. How's the castor angle with that much lift? Does it wander on the highway much?

This truck does not see to much highway use. That said with the panhard bars install the truck tracks fairly straight.