Ducati Desert X Rally new decals

 I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Kind of a pain in the b*t to apply but it's good enough for me.

P38 Transfer case noise

 After only 1000km the transfer case started to make a lot of noise. 

At first I thought I had an engine problem because the noise seemed to come from the front off the car.

After some investigation I concluded the TC is the culprit. Before that I was thinking the gearbox was the problem so I changed the gearbox oil and filter twice.

Eventually upon changing the oil from the TC it was evident that this was my problem. The oil that came out was not looking good and I found metal particles in it and the little mesh filter was clogged up.

Fortunately I found a second hand unit, I had to drive 4 hours to pick it up and bring it home. 

Of course in the back of my head I was thinking what if I put this one in and it's no good?

So I found a company that is able to check its condition. Yesterday I got the news that it looked brand spanking new on the inside and no work is needed. 

I'm so glad this worked out nicely, now it is just a matter of taking the old one out and putting "the new one" in.

P38 Borg Wagner
transfer case

Rear bumper and spare wheel carrier

Finally finished the installation of the rear bumper and carrier. 💪

We’re back on the road with the p38!

Finally the p38 is back on the road since it passed technical inspection last week!

I’m so happy after all this time to finally be able to drive it. 

Past weekend I installed on off the many upgrades still to come on this vehicle, the roofrack by mp4x4.

P38 head unit replacement update!

Since I own the car I didn't look at the radio because it didn't work anymore. I did not have the code for the old radio and the display wasn't working anymore either.

So I decided to install a new more modern unit instead. However it is not plug and play. The car is equipped with 10 loudspeakers and each door has its own amplifier.

In order to make it work you either buy a loom to go from the stock iso connectors to an interface and then connect to the newly provided loom from the radio brand manufacturer. Or alternatively you rewire the speakers to allow you to use the radio's amplifier and 2 or 3 way speakers.

I managed to source a loom with an interface on ebay from the company Icarsoft. This makes it plug and play.

I choose a 1 din unit with bluetooth and dab, digital radio from kenwood.

I still need to finish the installation but I wanted to go ahead and try it at least. I also have speakers on the way to replace the old door units.
More to come soon.

In the meanwhile the speakers have arrived and are installed! Very happy how they sound on the original amps.

P38 new tyres

Et voila a new set of tyres are mounted on the 20” wheels. They will primarily be used for daily driving.

I will have another set coming soon with more off-road focused tires on 16” wheels.

That is if the car passes MOT.

These are Continental crosscontact Atr 265 45 R20

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P38 suspension upgrade

The Range Rover p38 is quitte a heavy car and it suffers from body roll, at least mine does. 

Because the goal is to travel with the car, weight will be added in the back under the guise of a small kitchen and dual battery system.

After some reading online I found that many people appreciate the better Bilstein gas struts for their p38. So I went ahead and bought a complete kit front and back.

Installation is fairly easy, I took of the wheels for better access.

You immediately notice that they are firmer because there is less body movement.

I took it for a short spin and let me tell you it’s a night and day difference already. Maybe the smaller wheels make a difference as well but that remains to be seen.

Anyway it’s well worth the price and surely one of the best upgrades I did.

The wheels had to come off anyways because I also bought new tires. Nothing aggressive they are 20” after all. But they'll serve as a my summer set.