Australia has always had a passion for adventure and exploring the vast differences in our environment. We have the ability to own vehicles that assist us to explore and carry our home on our back or explore places we believe no one has ever been. One of the most important things you need to do is set your vehicle up to achieve the outcome not only safely but provide you with the confidence to achieve your goal. Lovells QLD State 3800kg GVM Upgrade 200 Series Landcruiser is the right set up for those looking to upgrade and keep comfort.
Client bio
Graeme is a Brisbane local and came to find Power Curve Performance as many do. Word of mouth leads to research and looking at our online format and the following prompted an enquiry email. Why drive from Brisbane to the sunshine coast when there are numerous gvm suppliers in Brisbane?
After a lot of research and watching social groups, Graeme’s email was a wash of information, questions and confusion. There is so much information out there that people become confused and over-informed with options when they end up putting fingers to keys and typing out their email to us. It all spills out in an email that you feel heartfelt empathy for. Hey lets face it, we know what our car needs ourself and we need the time to add it all on. Its not an overnight process for us and we are the research and development.
On top of that once you do your research you will learn how many services Power Curve Performance provide. This creates the issue where do you start and stop. Service, GVM suspension, bull bars, fuel tanks, tuning, auto electrical, its a one stop shop. Fundamentally the client is similar to Patrick and Emma. The couple own a 200 series and require a gvm upgrade to confidently load their vehicle and not be over GVM and GCM when towing their small caravan. They were aware of gvm options and achieving a comfortable ride was a must. For towing Graemes requirements also included power and reliability for towing. Already this is an expensive list. Instead of rubbing our hands together with $ blinking in our eyelashes, of ow big this build could be, we can see confusion and customers need to tick of priorities. A new 200 series Landcruiser can easily be mated with price with the number of upgrades we can provide for them. so the $ are not as important to us as the client outcome and relationship. We provide quality work, based on clients needs built on long term relationships. That is how we create a long term business for our family, team and valued clients.
Through our conversations and common values, the Graeme and Emma found the most important upgrades to Graeme and what he most wanted right now. Graeme and his gold 200 series found that Power Curve Performance was the location for the 200 series state gvm upgrade and we proceeded from there with a clear build in mind.
Lovells QLD State 3800kg GVM Upgrade 200 Series Landcruiser
Lovells offers three different GVM upgrades for the 200 series Landcruiser. Often clients ask about the ride quality of the GVM upgrades and how they have heard they can be rough. This was a concern for Graeme. Wanting to upgrade the GVM but not risk the comfort of the 200 series. Each upgrade is valid depending on your needs. For the Brisbane client the upgrade that best suits is the 3800kg state upgrade. The caravan they tow with and additional load to the 200 will not exceed the 3800kg, the 3800kg including the weight of the van and ball weight also will not exceed the vehicles GCM. This means that if QLD changes in the future Graemes current situation requires no more than the 3800kg upgrade so a GCM upgrade will be irrelevant. To add a higher GVM upgrade above required would result in an uncomfortable ride. As would a GVM upgrade to a car that will not be carrying the load. If you don’t need it don’t do a GVM upgrade, use a Dobinson 2″ IMS kit or a Bilstein or a general Lovells kit based on your vehicles needs. If you don’t know what your vehicles actual weight is for $60 and 1/2hr of your day you can book in with our team and have it weighed on our GVM approved scales.
As well as the upgrade the 200 series requirement is for comfort and towing. To the build list we added black hawk upper control arms and air bags. The upper control arms provide a better ride, ease on the steering and suspension components. The airbag man suspension coil helpers create both comfort as well as the ability to raise and lower the rear of the vehicle and create a safe ride to the vehicle under tow and load.
This is the right upgrade for this clients needs.
If the Graemes position changes in the future Lovells GVM upgrades can be increased or you can upgrade your GVM however you can not decrease it to less than the GVM rated suspension.
200 Series Towing Performance
While the vehicle can now handle the load that has been added to what was standard suspension it is time to open up the capabilities of the twin-turbo diesel engine. Power Curve write and develop our own custom tune files for the 200 series Landcruiser and have become so popular we are adding an additional dyno machine to our business in 2021. By adding a respectable number of adjustments to bring the turbo in earlier and assist the engine to tow the van and additional load with less turbo lag and throttle response lower down in the engine rpm. The vehicle regains Graemes confidence and increases the driving experience.
This 200 series is a pre DPF so the addition of a turbo-back exhaust system improves not only gives it a hearty v8 rumble, not drone, but expels those hot exhaust gasses from the engine faster and allows the turbo to flow and the vehicle to breath more freely.
The addition of the safari Armax snorkel with the ram head does just that. Creates nice cool air entering or ramming into the engine and hot air out. If you can imagine that in a physical sense, if you are working hard at a task with a system that pushes cool air over you and expels the heat of your body. This will assist with your performance and there for that of the vehicle.
Something we have found with the 200 and other vehicle is, although many clients understand the importance of how the snorkel works, they often forget the air filter. We do not recommend oiled filters on these vehicles as the oil compound causes more issues with sensors and electronics than they do to increase performance. It is however important to keep your air filters clean and new to minimise debris entering the engine.