WOW Paul, glad to see you here. Just took a quick look at some of your pages! What a relief, coming from a D2 it seemed like there was a lot more support for them, but now that you're here... LOL. I'll try not to pester you too much but I have many questions.

Thanks,

 

No worries Jared - that's what these forums are for . I may be a newbie here, but I have been loitering around RangeRovers.net and AULRO.com for quite some time

I don't want to hijack this thread any more than I have, so I'll try to keep this brief... and at this point I should also "declare interest"

The custom Bilstein shocks and lift are part of a kit from Hard Range Australia (http://hardrange.com).

I bought the Hard Range "demo" vehicle from the founder of Hard Range about 15 months ago, already fitted with the lift kit and 33" tyres. The car is permanently lifted 50mm (2") above standard. Even on the bump stops, the 33"s do not scrub as long as you don't turn the steering

A few weeks ago, Hard Range became available for purchase, so a mate and I bought it... you could say that I liked the car so much I bought the business hmmm, sounds like a old shaver ad...

The kit is currently not for sale while Andy and I review the components and may make some mods before releasing it again.

BTW: I'm not trying to sell you the kit... I'm here as a P38A owner who likes to play with "stuff" on his Rangie. You can get Gen III's from any number of suppliers, and Bilsteins can be modified by any reputable suspension workshop. I don't see making a lot of money out of Hard Range (and I'm not giving up my day job) but I see it as a way of helping out some other P38A enthusiasts (mainly Australian) and getting cheap parts for my own Rangie when I break stuff

Cheers, Paul.

 

I will need some of these goodies very soon, and more later. I should have my P38 within the week. I'm all but stealing her from my friends mom, the original owner, for what the dealership offered her in trade. Let me know If I can be of any assistance with your US ventures. I wonder how shipping will be from way over there.

I got to visit Darwin once while I was in the Marines, very nice there.

I am wanting to run 275/65R18s on the stock wheels for daily use with a nice AT and get some 16's for mud tires- they don't make much for the 18s for obvious reasons. That is like a 32x10.8 think that'll be a good fit?

Have a great day,

 

Darwin is a great place... I love going there... they are relaxed and friendly folks up there... the place always seems to be in party mode, except in the "wet season".

I can recommend Cooper ATR's (as on my wife's Freelander) as very good all rounders.

I run Cooper H/T Plus 265/60R18 (31") road tyres on the Rangie, but am not much of a fan. Might be the 18" rims, but I find they wander a fair bit.

I also run Maxxis BigHorns 255/85R16 (33") for off-road and really like them both on and off-road.

The problem you will get with oversized tyres is that they will throw out the speedo and make you go faster downhill in low range. My diff gears are changed over to 4.1 ratios to counter the effect of the oversized tyres.

My advice is, change over one thing at a time. If you don't like the effect, back it out.

The stock setup on the Rangie will get you almost anywhere. It's only fiddlers/(fools?) like me that change over lots of stuff 'coz I can

Cheers, Paul.

 

I am defiantly a fiddler/fool but it makes me happy so who cares right. I can't ever leave well enough alone. I just got her so I am going to go through the full fluid swap (to Amsoil) other 100k service needs and replace anything in need. It just had new bags put on it as warranty and the whole air system gone through- doesn't mean I wont change to gen 3 bags soon :-). Let me know as soon as you are up and running, I would like to start with those spacers.

I used to have a D1 with a 3inch and many other mods I went to the 4.1 and it made a huge difference. I am sure I will do it here as well. I never did right the speedo though... is there a way to do that on the P38? Also do you know of a plug in ready product to take manual control of the ride height?

A lot of questions I know. So a 275/65 18 would fit with the spacers?

Thanks again Paul your experience is greatly appreciated. Also, love that front bumper we don't really have any here in the states for P38s- shipping it will cost though.

(edit) damn one more thing. I have done the filter and fluid on Rovers before and was wondering if there was a trick to getting all of the fluid out? I have only ever gotten about 4 quarts out and back in and would like to drain the whole system this time.

 

Hey Jared - you sound like a kindred spirit/fiddler/fool I like your attitude. Most of the fun of LR ownership is the journey itself.

We should really start a new thread or take this offline... you can get me and Andy at info@hardrange.com

Re the fluids... I've found that you can never get all of it out at once (e.g. coolant, oil and transmission). Do as much as you can, run for a couple of days and flush some more... has worked for me so far. I find coolant refills are easier when the Rangie is facing up a hill or jacked up at the front to assist in "burping" the system.

There are a few options in the US for bars for the P38A, but not like the Hard Range front bar (SRS and winch compatible) as far as I know. I'm hoping that Rover Renovations might be able to help out with these in the future. Dennis is a good bloke and I've had quite a few dealings with him as a customer before I bought Hard Range. I know I may be deflecting business from HRA, but this is a small community and I'd rather give good/honest suggestions than short-term money-making advice that will backfire in the future.

Anyway, it is 04:15 here in Canberra and I've got a day job to go to Better get me a few hours shut-eye...

cheers, Paul.