[gunemalli]

Hi folks,

You could say that I'm one of those who're in the conversion trend. I thought of sharing some pictures of the process. I gave mine to a body shop as i don't have the necessary tools and the skill to get the job done.

Hope you guys like it. These were taken today. I will update the pics tomorrow as well, once i get the body shop.

 

[Rewmer]

Here we go again............ :crybaby2: :crybaby2: :crybaby2:

Let us know the final cost when it done..

 

[2000_RR]

I'm actually in the process of doing the same conversion. Except I'm gonna hold off on the front bumper for now. Its actually not that expensive, you just have to be patient to find the parts cheap. I the headlights for $355.00 pair, corners for $130.00 pair and the frill for $75.00 (USD).<<ebay. :lol:

 

[Guest]

nice work so far .
kinda like the way their working in a garage with flip-flops on ...no fear style :thumb:
youll prob get a lot of negative comments as i did but each to their own i say and if you wanna cut a l322 front on you go for it i say!! :dance: :thumb: :wink:
im doing the full rear conversion soon also so i will post all pics step by step as i go along.
keep up the good work

 

[diff]

Thanks for mentioning the flippers.I sometimes wear them at home doing work but rarely on site. Pretty cool really and shows you what goes on. Where is the car located. :shock:

 

[gunemalli]

Thanks for all your comments.

Well, almost all garage/workshop people here in Sri Lanka wear flip-flops or as we say it "slippers". Only dealer/agent people wear shoes .

Anyways, i managed to get the crash bar, front bumper with fog lights, xenon headlights (with HID ballast & bulbs) intact, tail lights, side mirrors, frills for ~USD700. Shipping+duty costs were around the same. And machine shop charges would be around $600. So overall, i'll be spending a little less than $2000.

For this price you could say that i can easily buy another P38. But in this case you'd be wrong. Cos buying a car in Sri Lanka is a hefty investment, and when it comes to Land Rovers it doubles and triples. I bought the P38 roughly about 4-6 months ago. It costed me ~USD35,000 to buy this beast. A second had L322 costs ~USD180,000 here and a brand new 2008/2009 model would set me back ~USD350,000. All b'cos of f***ing taxes the government puts on us.

Anyways you get the picture right? so 2000$ not much compared to the new vehicle price

Will keep you all updated.

Cheers

 

[996TURBO]

I' d like to see how a 2006 conversion grill would look on this.


See : http://www.rr-evolution.com/shop/articl ... 2005%29%26

 

[gunemalli]

Ok folks,

Finally got the chance to write up a follow up for the initial post. Here are the full list of images that anyone is interested in doing this job.

There are 144 images total and let me know the filename/image number you're more interested in so i can post some hi res pictures.

Here's the image gallery link: http://www.asankagayan.info/p38/l322-conversion/

 

[nipper]

That is a very fine job,it looks like they used very little body filler! How much did it cost? In the UK it would have cost more than you would have to pay to buy a L322. You must be pleased with the final result. You will probably get a lot of negative comments but just ignore them.It's your car and you did what you wanted with it.

 

[lrscott]

I think the end result actually looks good. It is a complete and finished product, many of the conversions are abandoned in the middle of it . Good job! Checkout page 7 of Gunemalli link. Thanks for posting!

 

[rhino_ed]

Meh, Good work, still not interested in doing this to mine though. Anyone that does this should probably just sell their p38 and buy a MKIII.
Regards
Eric

 

[gunemalli]

Well,

Thanks very much for your kind comments and thoughts. I know that many of you love your P38's and wouldn't do anything to them. But after the conversion and the painting many others are liking it more and even on the road i get a higher regard.

As many would say sell the P38 and buy a MKIII is rather said than done. Vehicle prices are sky high here in Sri Lanka. Most of you LR lovers would drop dead if they came to buy one here in SL.

A '96 RR P38, which has done about 150k km costs here US$ 55,000. A 2005 RR Vogue costs around US$155,000-195,000 and a brand new 2010 RR supercharged costs around US$350,000.
So at this price points it's really impossible for us to buy a MKIII (only the filthy filthy rich people can buy it).

I got my hands on my RR for about US$32,000. and now have spend around $6000 for various upgrades, renovations and this modification.

This mod costed me:
parts: US$ 1500
paint: US$ 1400
workshop: US$800

so roughly around 4000US$ for the total job.

 

[lrscott]

OMG, why so expensive!?

 

[gunemalli]

Taxes my friend taxes. And a lot of it.

For each vehicle import a tax of 150% is initially charged.

Then we have NBT, CESS, PAL etc etc. and these idiot govt. also taxes for things like, airbags, abs, parking sensors, # of seats & what not they tax every possible thing they can tax. That's why the vehicle's are so expensive.

A decent Toyota Corolla brand new costs around 30,000-50,000 US$ here in SL.

I'm really sad about it. This island is a hell for vehicle lovers i must say.

 

[nipper]

Well,


This mod costed me:
parts: US$ 1500
paint: US$ 1400
workshop: US$800

so roughly around 4000US$ for the total job.

It's hard to believe that it was only US$ 800 labour to do that amount of work. What you lose in taxes you gain in labour costs.

 

[gunemalli]

It's hard to believe that it was only US$ 800 labour to do that amount of work. What you lose in taxes you gain in labour costs.

Mmm.. could be right in a way but still the taxes outweigh the gains from labour. Anyways it was good deal. This workshop usually doesn't do mods. They only does the repairs and restores to stock.

They went out of business a few weeks before i gave my p38 to them b'cos of some govt. issue. So the workers were idling and yet getting paid. So was able to get the full attention of all the workers and equipment until they were operational again. So that's one of the reason i got a lower amount of workshop charges.


Also this mod was a little special than the other mods i've seen. If you've went through the pictures you might realise that this is not a fix and forget type of mod. Bracings and mounting holes were made so that in case i had to replace a lamp then it would as normal/easy as removing few nuts and replacing the new lamp.

 

[Guest]

nice work :thumb: you should do the rear also :wink:
i think alot of people do the conversion in the uk nowadays because its cheaper road tax on a p38(up to 1999) than l322.
2000 i think is where they start getting pricey for road tax.!

 

[996TURBO]

Hi gunemali,

May you tell me what has to be repainted after the conversion process?

Regards

Flo

 

[gunemalli]

Well,

You need to repaint the following IIRC:

• Both Fenders[/*:m:3c5frdr0]
• headlamp brackets[/*:m:3c5frdr0]
• top part of the headlamp mounting bar (the new brackets)[/*:m:3c5frdr0]

That's all if it's just the headlamps. If you're doing the bumper as well, then you'll definitely have to repaint the bumper. The sides of the bumper has been adjusted or pulled inside and flattened to conform to P38 style.

 

[interjen]

Looking good, am in the process of gathering the parts to do mine. Will be interested to see the back when you start it, are you changing the lower tailgate or altering yours? I'm head scratching with mine at the moment with the side vents... Why do we do it!


Simon.