Thread: P38 suspension upgrade

Originally Posted by LavisLane

2) Does anyone know a good contact to fit them in Sydney metro area?

Air suspension bellows are easy to fit yourself.

Sam from Rangeland is a mobile sydney based mechanic and he is very resonable with prices. His wife also drives a p38 which he rebuilt, so he is one of us. Phone #0410664194

what parts exactly are you after, I can get you a price too.

Andy

Originally Posted by LavisLane

Hey all,

I need to get new bags for my P38 soon, so thinking i might as well go all out and get the Arnotts Gen III's with the Bilsteins and spacers for maximum lift.

Hoping that those of your hardcore suspension monsters out there can answer a couple of questions;

1) Does this have any negative affect on normal urban driving. Guessing the opposite but i'm unsure on wether it changes the "normal" setting height...

Gen III's and standard Bilsteins only - better ride around town no doubt. better ride off-road.
Gen III's, 2" lift and extended Bilsteins (per HRA kit) - harder to fit in to underground car parks or garage at home... tendency to wander a bit more depending on tyres... more travel on the airsprings means more body roll when doing sideway drifts around sweeping bends with the Skylines
Probably a good idea to upgrade your steering damper at the same time. Off-road - absolutely-flamin-cruiserandpatroleating-brilliant.

Originally Posted by LavisLane

2) Does anyone know a good contact to fit them in Sydney metro area?

I heard a rumour that Ron likes red wine

Originally Posted by LavisLane

3) With the aussie dollar looking so good, it might be worth getting them from Arnott direct rather than someone like Hard Range. I'd rather support the Aussies though - anyone had any experience with this?

I bought some Gen III's direct from Arnott last year when the dollar was strong. Fortunately I had no problems in the short time I had them up until the Rangie was written off with them on it
My replacement Rangie already had the Gen III's fitted (as part of the HRA kit), but if I decide to replace them I will buy them from HRA. I think it's worth the bit extra to support the local guy, and to get support from within Oz.
Cheers, Paul.

Thanks all,

I'm definitely leaning towards the Gen III's with Bilsteins but might hold off on the 2" lift as unfortunately i do alot more city driving than off road. I don't want to give up my P38 drifting badge yet either

I think i'll go Aussie too - happier to support the locals over the septics

Andrew E - Do you have access to Sydney pricing on this kind of setup?

Cheers,

David

A constant 2" lift is a lot considering the standard dynamics of the vehicle. I'm also wondering what liability you might take on if something untoward were to happen and the 2" lift was regarded as an unauthorised modification.... contributing to instability of the vehicle...

I often see Hilux's (especially) with significantly obvious lift + oversized tyres, tearing up /down the highway between Bris and the Sunshine Coast ... they appear to be inordinately unstable. The habits of those driving them tend to confirm the suspension mods...if you take my drift

The 30mm or so automatic EAS height reduction from standard height in the P38 for speeds >80 kph was done for a purpose ...

Other than for some obscure notion that a 2" lift "looks tough" (sorry) why would you put yourself/passengers and others at greater risk of a serious bingle by screwing with the "approved" EAS design.

Please accept that my intention is not to "have a go" ...I am genuinely curious as to why an extra 2" "constant height" adjustment is so important in relatively rare / extreme cases of off road challlenges and whether it's worth the significantly increased risk of an accident in day to day driving...

You make some valid points Hoges, and as a driver of one of these lifted vehicles, I don't take offence at all.

Having had a stock height P38A and then a lifted one, I definately noticed the difference between the two in terms of handling. Both had Gen III air-springs and Bilstein shocks so the main difference was the 2" lift kit... oh, and tyres.

Around town, I tend to lock the height at standard mode as I like the improved visibility and most of my driving is less than 100Kph.

Fortunately the current P38A with the 2" lift handles pretty well around town on standard height, and is ok on high height.
Even on the motorway, with the height on highway mode it handles reasonably well. Mind you I haven't attempted any high speed swerves.
I have been known to raise the height to standard mode on the highway when some pratt won't move out of the RH lane... in order to get my headlights lined up in his/her mirrors better
I don't do a lot of highway driving in the lifted P38A so I can put up with the reduced handling compared to my previous one. My toy is mainly for about-town driving and playing off-road so I'm pretty happy with the set-up.

The extra 2" has been quite helpful off-road. Obviously the diffs are still the lowest point, but break-over angle is improved to a point where the Rangie can climb over most mounds that my Suzuki does with ease

Thinking about it (and I acknowledge that my memory may not be that good) I don't think the handling of my current P38A (with Bilsteins and Arnott Gen III's) is actually any worse than my old one when it still had stock air-springs and shocks.

Occassionally I see a Hilux or Cruiser that sits higher than mine and I also wonder about the stability of such vehicles, especially if they are overtaking me at 110Kph+

I recently had the latest OEM air bags fitted with Bilstein shockers and steering damper, made a huge difference to the handling of the vehicle.
I guess unless you're going to do some pretty challenging off roading in your P38, a 2" lift would not make much sense.

In fact, since I have 18" mags fitted with Coopers tyres, I lowered the 'standard' riding height of the air suspension by 15mm, all other settings are untouched.

Some valuable information here, thanks all.

The 2" lift was an after thought for me. My bags and suspension are on the way out so after looking at replacement options, it seems that the arnotts gen III's and Bilstiens are a winner. The 2" lift option with these seems like a nice addition but i've never been too sure about the exact position changes after the installation. I'd hoped that the lift just added another 2" in the high setting but all other heights stayed as is, meaning no one would know there was a lift unless i raised it to full height to get over obstacles.

I'm not interested in changing the look of my P38 to a lifted beast as it doesn't really suit the way I use it. I wish it was a "toy" like Pauls! The disco's look great lifted but i like my P38 as is.

So, maybe i just need to update the bags and shocks without the lift as i really only need a replacement setup...

Thanks all,

David