Richard K

Carl's honoring his commitments. I'm guessing it might take some time to sort everyone out. Our car has to go at the end of this week (finished or not) so that should speed things up.

Thanks for the replies. In a bout of realism I'm going to opt for the 'smooth' remote reservoir shocks (2.5" 12" travel) as they will fit to standard Tomcat mounts and should be less work to tune. Any savings will go towards some good bumps and some properly tuned springs. Not sure whether it will need axle limiters/straps.

You are telling a familiar story. The kick from the first hit is controllable, the second more violent and the third brings things to a standstill ! I don't want the complications or instability of a lift, but I am now wondering whether a longer, softer spring compressed to standard ride height under what is usually a well-loaded car might work better with the Kings than the shorter, harder HD LR springs. Hmmm...

I've spoken to Carl recently and he's working full speed to get things straight for people. Business is tough for everyone right now.

Thanks for the reply. Enjoyed the youtube on your sig. Do you mean the springs are likely to be too stiff for the shocks? Two of them need replacing so this is something I can look at). One thing I had considered was a more supple setup, but with air bags at the rear to help under load. This I am aware of - we'll not be racing, just maintaining a healthy pace.

Just been offered a deal on a set of King 2.5 bypass shocks with 12" travel. Too good to turn down! The car is currently on a standard set of HD LR130 springs and sits a little higher than normal. It does road work and a lot of fast desert driving - often with heavy loads. I would like it to go faster without breaking apart so these shocks are tempting. I'm trying to -roughly- figure out the implications of fitting them - will the car need a spring lift to get the right ratio of up/down travel for speed? Or just raised turrets/mounts? Or a combination? Or... If I could avoid a lift and get the right effect that would be ideal as i don't like the idea of a high CofG, more complications & £££ - but I've heard that if up travel is much less than down travel then the car could actually be worse at speed...? Not bothered about articulation - just speed and handling on rough ground. I'm guessing it's complicated - so just scrabbling around for some rough ideas!

Please contact me ASAP on 0781 083 3583. Richard

Hi John, yes the vehicle is over there. We're prepping for an expedition in Nov and have a lot to do so it's a worry.

Trying to get in touch with Carl at Golddigger 4x4. He's doing some fabrication work on our vehicle, but we haven't been able to raise him by phone or email for nearly two weeks and his workshop has moved so we can't go and bang on the door. Any clues? (Sorry for the OT but we are stuck for ideas. )

I was thinking if you could replace the old iron inner wings, then there might be a decent weight saving - but clearly I am guessing! Someone just suggested the idea and the convenience aspect really appealed. That might work, but sadly there's no time for extra projects this close to the desert season! It would have to be a proven off-the-shelf job.

Anyone heard of one-piece fibreglass front to fit a Defender? (replacing the original wings/bonnet). Or even better know where to source one?

I'm taking mine out to save weight and make some room in the engine bay. What's the best way to 'blank off' so that the car can run without? Any issues to worry about with this mod?

Thanks for the lead, I'll give him a call. Anyone else in the North West? The build (still vapour) is a ragtop 110 trayback/flatbed pickup with cage and comp safari type suspension. We'll be doing a lot of the work at home, so finding someone nearish would be good.

Thanks, they're the kind of folk, but Stockton-on-tees is a fair old trek from Manchester!

Can anyone recommend someone in the North West (ideally Manchester) to help with a cage/trayback conversion? thanks.