Prepping a P38 for off road

[Original Poster]

Hi guys,

Bought a 2000 P38 4L V8 last night and plan on using it as an off raider once we've picked up our RRS.

Any advice for a complete beginner? What should we buy? Any good companies I can have a look at online for parts etc?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[paintman]

What sort of offroading do you intend to do?
Best advice would be to find an offroading club near to you & go along before starting to spend money.
You're shown as Berkshire & a quick Google produces these:
http://www.hbro.co.uk/

[Original Poster]

Thanks!

Pretty mild off-roading I guess, the car will still be road legal.

I'm based in Basingstoke these days, I'll have a google.

[paintman]

There are any number of sites selling shiny things to bolt onto Land Rovers.
Most of which you won't need as they are very capable off-road as is & the ability of the car usually exceeds the ability of the driver.
If I was going to suggest anything as a first purchase it would be a set of tyres that are capable of on & off-road as they are the single most limiting factor BUT that is a whole massive can of worms in itself!

[PaulV]

Joining HBRO is worth it, there are a lot of people with good experience about off-roading.
They do green laning days, RTV and Tyro trials as well as general drive around days.

[eliot]

I wouldn't spend anything on it until you have established you have bought a good one.
Which essentially means using for about a week and ensuring it doesn't use coolant, doesn't overheat, suspension works and doesn't drain it's battery.
Battery drain, suspension and almost everything elee is diy fixable - overheating and significant coolant loss is almost certainly a knackered block.

[Original Poster]

Thanks for the help all.

As has been said I will drive it round for a week and see how I get on first.

Appreciate it!

[paintman]

If you haven't seen this already it's well worth a look:
http://www.rangerovers.net/ has very good 'How to' sections.
This is worth a read too - you'll find P38 in the 4x4 heading:
http://www.mez.co.uk/

[Original Poster]

Lovely, very handy indeed!

I don't think I've ever fell in love with a car so much in my life, my love of cars had somewhat died off since getting married and having kids but fully got the bug back!

[eliot]

paintman said:

This is worth a read too - you'll find P38 in the 4x4 heading:
http://www.mez.co.uk/

Still on number 3!

[camel_landy]

Original Poster said:

Any advice for a complete beginner? What should we buy?

Frankly, your best investment will be to learn how to drive off-road first.

Then, get yourself a couple of solid recovery points front & rear, a good set of ropes and a shovel.

Experience will then help you decide what else you need to buy.

M

[Original Poster]

Good advise, thanks!