yesterday i had a very sweaty day fitting bags and konis from a wreck into the heir apparent 99 HSE.

over the last two years and 20,000km, i have had a fantastic time driving a 96 on coils and konis, which was purchased quite by accident and sowed a now inextricable seed... but i always hankered after an update car, which came to me by way of a very tidy 99 with the heads off.

having made the late car run again, i was astonished by how jarring the ride was, and wasn't sure whether this related to the bilstien HD shocks, the coils used, or the fact of there being less rubber on the bigger wheels. when a complete running wreck came to me with konis and working EAS, it seemed a good opportunity to explore.

so i transferred the bags and shocks over, making sure the konis were set to the softest setting. today i spent the day trying to get it out of EAS manual. i found that someone had cut the wires at the ecu plug so close to the ecu as to make them unusable, but had another plug to hand to cannibalise for the four wires required. whats with these people asking $250 for a loom to accomplish what a few bridged wires can???

i fitted the compressor from the old daily driver, which as it happens, developed no pressure.

i fitted the compressor from the wreck to find the 99s valve block was blowing out the exhaust, clearly a weak diaphragm.

i fitted the valve block from the wreck and the car pumped up, with the relay bypassed.

the compressor won't run unless the relay is bridged. it occurs to me now i have forgotten to check the timer relay, though i know it is physically there.

anyway, pumped it up manually using the ecu plug pin outs, then connected the ecu back up, and it seems to level itself, though the compressor needs to be engaged manually at this stage.

the rear tyres are particularly old and hard but nonetheless i must say the result isn't what i was expecting in terms of ride, and i find myself pining for my old friend Rupie, the accidental one...

herein lies the problem with old british cars - the best ones to live with, which become friends, are often the worst ones so far as a normal understanding of used cars go. and the sharpest seem to become more a frustration, than a comfy pair of slippers ... sigh.

Bags stiffen a bit with age and Koni's are much harder in compression (even on softest setting) than OEM Boge. If you want the baggy air suspended ride, you can't beat Boges.
16" tyres have more sidewall and more flexibility than 18" tyres as well.
Have you checked the thermal switch in the compressor?

+1 on Boge. I've got a spare pair of Boge fronts if you can make use of them. They are used but still good. My car is on 16" wheels and the SE and Ascot are both on 18"s. There's a noticeable difference in ride. For the EAS, do you have a Nano or similar or a cable for the free EASUnlock software? Invaluable for faulting it.

thanks for the offer of the shocks Gilbert, if I were in the UK i'd make you an offer (i'm in australia).

I figured the konis would be ok as the other car on coils has them and it rides nicely. i presumed with eas the heir would be at least as good with its big wheels. if the wheels do make that much of a difference, i'm going to have go to early ones from the wreck. the tyres are probably cheaper, too.

no nano or anything like that, though i will make myself a cable and download the software. i was expecting to have to do that to get the car to lift at all. has anyone used an icarsoft code reader? i have one for mercedes and it is great, but not sure whether the LR one can do eas and hvac.

To be honest, I found swapping 20" tyres and wheels to 16" was the biggest game changer in terms of handling and comfort. Returning to EAS was just the icing on the cake. I kept the same Bilsteins that were previously with the coils and they've been fine.

Similarly on 16"/Boges so I also agree with those 'stock' wheels/shocks comments above.

But forget iSoft mpwphc: Might be fine for standard / more recent vehicles but the Golden Rule here is 'the older the P38 the quirkier the protocols used' ... claimed "ISO9141 compatibility" is simply not enough (except for more basic engine stuff)

Nano is the dogs - mine has paid for itself and I've barely used it compared with the experts.
18s are fine for road use, 255/55 isn't exactly low profile. Off road I'd be tempted by 16s.
I will say that the P38 seems quite sensitive to tyre pressure and the book settings are a bit high at the rear.

when i finally get it driving reliably, i might swap over the wheels from the wreck and see what a difference it makes. i do like the look of the late wheels, but more interested in how it drives.

so yesterday it was one step forwards and two steps back. i pulled the cover off the compressor which didn't compress to find a broken rod and seized bearing. thats that, i presume. the thermal switch was ok, so i swapped the whole brush assembly over to the compressor which lifted the car the day before.

as luck would have it, that compressor no longer compresses either, so its time to get a kit for it and the valve block. at least it'll be over and done with.

I’ve got 20s on mine, the ride is harder, but not to the state that it’s horrible, 16-18 will give a softer ride, depends what your looking for, I like the looks of the 20s compared to what looks like a wheel off a mini on a transit.

See I like the way that the 16" wheels look especially with slightly oversize tyres. It just gives the whole vehicle even more of an "I'm just going to drive right the fuck over that" stance than it has already.

Depends on your roads I guess. Here, they are a mess, everywhere, with odd camber changes, HGV ruts, potholes that can swallow a small Toyota (I do not say this as a bad thing!) the lot. Out of the city, they're even worse or completely unmade My 20s just dragged the car all over the show whilst it crashed and banged over every bump and hole. It was just not an enjoyable experience, to the extent I thought I'd made a big mistake buying the damn thing.

I fell back in love the second I had the 16s fitted and, as I say, going back to EAS just finished it off.

Of course, I agree with Gordon as well...

It’s an individual thing,, ride wise I admit the 16s are the business, I don’t use mine much at the mo, ( lpg died ) and when I do, it’s just popping round town, or over to my mums, 35 miles tops, I know where every pot hole is round here, if I didn’t I’d certainly be running smaller rims.
If I can find a set of 18s that I like I might swap over, as I found them reasonable ride wise on a previous p38, just can’t find the ones I’m after, must of been the dearer option. LoL

I’m running the 19s from a RR Sport 2013 they are noticably harder and you do feel the bumps but the car now likes going round corners, doesn’t decide halfway round it doesn’t. Yes 18’s seem hard to find which is why I ended up with 19s. Most of my driving is motorway and typically each drive is over 150 miles so mpg is about 21mpg and no noticeable difference in road noise or vibration with the bigger wheels.

There's nothing wrong with the looks either way :) If I was getting some full off-road or winter tyres I'd get 16s but I know I wouldn't get enough use out of them.

Looks are indeed an individual thing (thank God), as is the use to which said wheels/tyres will mainly be put. 150 miles on highway in the UK/US is completely different to most 150 mile trips here, in terms of different types of road. As there's only two "highways" on the island it can be a real adventure if your not going where they do!

Given the state of the paved and unpaved roads, coupled with the amount of mudslides and flooding we get in rainy season, closing roads to 4x4 only, then larger wheels and road tyres just don't cut it.

Lucky I like the 16s - and always wanted an excuse to buy the ZU rims anyway - as it was easiest to find suitable A/T tyres here, although I may have had a different attitude had I done the EAS restoration first and maybe gone for 18s. We'll never know!

Funny that just after I went to 16", Madam then changed those on her shitty Fortuner from 18" (I think) to 20", along with low profile tyres and then proceeded to make exactly the same complaints that caused me to change mine in the first place!

No, she doesn't listen. :-)