Header Image: Photo taken on Teewah Beach at the former resting place of the Cherry Venture shipwreck.
About my Car
On this page I will endeavour to walk you through all the changes mentioned on the "Modifications Page". Many modifications we made after chatting with some of the wonderful members of the "GWOF" (Great Wall Owners Forum). I should point out here that the GWOF was started by a couple of guys that own great wall vehicles and that it is not endorsed or supported, or run by the Great Wall company or it's Australian importers in any way. It is funded and run by the two guys that started the forum.
It was through this forum that I not only made some great new friends but also learned what could be done with these vehicles. What parts from other vehicles fit here or there etc.. where to get them, and costs involved in buying and/or importing them. I'll try not to make this too boring but you may want to go and make yourself a cuppa before you settle down to read this as I plan to touch on every modification and/or accessory. I'll skip the dealer fitted options and start with the first thing added to the vehicle.
The ECB ARC Bar. This bull bar was supplied & fitted by the manufacturer, East Coast Bullbars. At the time of purchase I wasn't planning anything more than beach work with this car and just wanted something to mount spotlights and an antenna on and I wanted something more substantial than a nudge bar. The ECB bar fit the bill nicely and by the time all the excess plastic bumper was removed to fit this alloy bar, the total weight added to the car was only 17 kgs. This is the bar seen in the image above.
The next things to be fitted were the Brown Davis bash plate, the Uniden 80 channel UHF radio + aerial, the Lightforce spotlights, and the Command Cruise Control system. All of these were fitted by Dan ("DansX" on the forum) who was working at Caboolture Autobarn at the time. I've had him do a couple of other things via his current employer since then but I'll get to those later. Dan is a great bloke to talk to about fitting out your X240, or any other car really, because he owns one himself. He currently works at Solar Express at Caboolture if you want anything done. Dan is another one of those great people I met through the forum.
From memory, I think the 2" lift kit was the next thing to be installed. I also got the components for that through Dan but I had them fitted locally. As I added more weight to the car it became evident that the rear end needed some help so I had air bags installed in the rear springs. The front was fine as I had opted for the Heavy Duty torsion bars when I ordered the lift kit. It's difficult to say how much weight I've added to the car but I could work it out if I really had to I suppose. My wife's X240 is definitely quicker of the mark but mine has more horsepower and torque because of the larger exhaust and the snorkel. The extra weight I have added slows me up a bit.
I can't really remember in what order the rest of the modifications were done so I'll just meander through the list. The Snorkel I just mentioned had to be custom made because nobody makes one to fit the Series 2, unlike the series 1 but even that snorkel wasn't made specifically for the series one. It just happened to be a good fit. That's my understanding of it anyway. My snorkel was done by Opposite Lock here in Caloundra. To start with, it used the standard airbox but that required an excessively long hose to get to the intake port of the box so, I have replaced it. The replacement airbox I have used gave me a bigger air cleaner and resulted in a shorter and more direct airflow to the manifold.
Other things I added to the vehicle were just simple add ons like the awning, the shovel mounts, maxtrax mounts, and the high lift jack mounts. I also had a luggage rack but I removed it recently to mount something of my own design that better suited the mounting of the maxtrax mounts and LED lighting. Speaking of LED lighting, it's great! Low amperage, low current draw, but great light output. Most of these I purchased from "Jamie's Touring Solutions" in Caloundra but if you're not local, he has a website and sells online here.
There are 5 LED light bars on the vehicle and they all serve a different purpose. The largest one I have, at 24", is mounted on the roof bar and helps with illuminating bush tracks, as do the two 6" light bars on the bull bar which are deliberately angled outwards to illuminate the sides of the track and they are also good to illuminate around the bend a little when turning a corner. The other 6" light bar is wired to the reversing lights but has a switch on the dashboard so that I can just turn it on when needed. I have wired this so that it can only be switched on when the car is in reverse. I believe that is a legal requirement.
This light also has a manual override switch in the back of the car near the drawers so that it can be used when camping, as with the large lightbar on the front, it has a manual override switch under the bonnet so that you don't need all your headlights on. Great for setting camp at night but you still need a headlamp or torch because sooner or later, you end up behind the tent and in shadow. Last but not least is the small LED work light mounted on the left rear roof rack. This was the first LED light I mounted on the car and was solely for camping purposes.
The X240 comes with 17" wheels but there were not many choices in off road tyres for 17" rims so I dropped to 16" rims. With my tyre choice, the Cooper ST Maxx, my overall diameter ended up 40mm larger than standard. This was what lead to my changing the diff ratios. Since I have mentioned the diffs I may as well keep on them. Another change I made to the vehicle, and quite a major one, was to change the crown wheel & pinion gear in both diffs and also the diffs themselves. The rear diff now has a Detroit Auto Locker which I ordered from the USA, and the front diff and crown & pinions came from Russia. The front diff is kind of like a limited slip, or torque sensing diff. You'll get a different explanation from different people.
The car's off road performance was drastically improved by doing this but it wasn't cheap. I can't take the credit for this diff combo as it was first researched and done by one of the guys on the forum, followed by another bloke and then by me. As far as I know I am the only one to effect a ratio change at this point. I won't mention the names of these two blokes in case they don't wish to be mentioned but, on a side note, they both just completed a trip from Victoria to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula and the Great Walls didn't miss a beat. They were both Series One X240s. Maybe I'll get to be the 1st Series 2 to reach the tip. I can but dream.
Rock Sliders were another thing that had to be custom made. These were done by Jake at Allset Springs in Caloundra. I don't think his website is up & running yet but he is on facebook. Click "here". For those that don't know what rock sliders are, they are kind of like a side step but they are designed to support the vehicle if you happen to land on a rock. They save your sils from being smashed up and dented and in my case, Jake has made them strong enough to use as a jacking point. I would have no hesitation in using them as a winch point either under the right circumstances. I have never weighed these so I don't know how heavy they are but, I'm sure they help with my centre of gravity.
I mentioned the larger exhaust earlier but only in passing. I don't remember the exact size but it did make a difference to the performance. Having the louder, sportier sounding exhaust was not my intention, it was just a by product. I have added quite a few things in the electrical department aside from the affore mentioned lighting. The dual battery system I originally went with was a simple solenoid system but with the amount of driving I was doing, so many short local runs etc.. I didn't feel as though the 100 amp Gel Battery was getting a decent charge. I vaguely remember (goldfish memory here) someone on the forum suggesting that a DC to DC charger would be better and why so.
In any case, with some advice from Shane at JTS I removed the brains (so to speak) of the solenoid and the system now just functions as an internal jump start facility if I find myself with a flat starter battery. The solenoid is activated by a press switch on the dash which parallels the batteries as if jump starting from another car, but without the dangers. There is now a 20amp Redarc charger, purchased from JTS, installed in the vehicle and a nice neat fuse box. I have the luxury of being only 5 minutes from their store so, they are my "go to" spot for most of my off road needs.
Another fairly major change to the car was the set of drawers and fridge slide I built in the back, complete with an anderson plug connection for the fridge, 2 accessory sockets, and 2 switches for exterior lighting. Although there are commercial drawers available, I thought them heavy and expensive so I opted to make my own. By the time I purchased the ply, the glue, the carpet, decent quality latching drawer slides, and other bits & bobs like screws & handles etc.. the whole drawer project still ended up costing about $1200. Still cheaper than the commercial stuff though. See photos on this page.
As my needs changed I changed the car. One of the changes, and an expensive one, was to remove the ECB Arc Bullbar and replace it with a steel winch bar from OAQ. After getting the vehicle home I removed the bar to fit a winch that I had purchased in advance. On advice from Jamie of Jamie's Touring Solutions i made a handy little modification which left only the remote socket visible and not the big ugly solenoid box which is nicely tucked away behind the Bullbar and out of sight. The overall cost of changing bars, adding a winch and buying the required winch related recovery gear that I didn't have was, in round figures, about $3000.
Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I should have gone for a steel bar & winch in the first place but at the time, I didn't see a need for one. As I said, my needs changed so... the car changed. Due to the flimsy nature of the steel plate that is welded to the front of each chassis rail, I made (with help from Jake at Allset Springs) some brackets to reinforce the way the Bullbar was mounted. I truly believe that the winch would have separated the Bullbar from the car if used under load without the addition of these reinforcing brackets. After they were made and test fitted, I had them Powder Coated.
Vehicle Pros & Cons:
When I talk about the pros & cons of this vehicle I will say this. Most of the cons are related to off road use and the related accessories.
The Pros:
The Cons:
There are other cons I could list but only if you want to compare these with a land cruiser, patrol, or land rover but they are not even in the same price range so it wouldn't be a fair comparison. The two biggest downsides, even with all my modifications, are a lack of ground clearance (even after the lift kit) and a lack of wheel travel. Both of these issues go directly back to the torsion bar design of the vehicle. Even though my car is a very capable vehicle, it simply can not compete with something like say, a land cruiser with a 4" lift for example but, I don't expect it to.
For what it is, and for what it costs, it's a damn fine motor vehicle and if you are realistic about your expectations, you will not be disappointed. I originally only planned on the occasional beach run when I purchased this car but I soon started doing a bit more aggressive driving and my needs changed. By "more aggressive" I mean more challenging and technical tracks and even a bit of moderate rock climbing. Hence the gradual modifications. I will never get my money back on this vehicle, that's for sure. Having said that, you don't have to spend as much as I have. As I mentioned earlier though, I strongly recommend some underbody armour and rated recovery points at the very least if you want to venture off road.
It was through this forum that I not only made some great new friends but also learned what could be done with these vehicles. What parts from other vehicles fit here or there etc.. where to get them, and costs involved in buying and/or importing them. I'll try not to make this too boring but you may want to go and make yourself a cuppa before you settle down to read this as I plan to touch on every modification and/or accessory. I'll skip the dealer fitted options and start with the first thing added to the vehicle.
The ECB ARC Bar. This bull bar was supplied & fitted by the manufacturer, East Coast Bullbars. At the time of purchase I wasn't planning anything more than beach work with this car and just wanted something to mount spotlights and an antenna on and I wanted something more substantial than a nudge bar. The ECB bar fit the bill nicely and by the time all the excess plastic bumper was removed to fit this alloy bar, the total weight added to the car was only 17 kgs. This is the bar seen in the image above.
The next things to be fitted were the Brown Davis bash plate, the Uniden 80 channel UHF radio + aerial, the Lightforce spotlights, and the Command Cruise Control system. All of these were fitted by Dan ("DansX" on the forum) who was working at Caboolture Autobarn at the time. I've had him do a couple of other things via his current employer since then but I'll get to those later. Dan is a great bloke to talk to about fitting out your X240, or any other car really, because he owns one himself. He currently works at Solar Express at Caboolture if you want anything done. Dan is another one of those great people I met through the forum.
From memory, I think the 2" lift kit was the next thing to be installed. I also got the components for that through Dan but I had them fitted locally. As I added more weight to the car it became evident that the rear end needed some help so I had air bags installed in the rear springs. The front was fine as I had opted for the Heavy Duty torsion bars when I ordered the lift kit. It's difficult to say how much weight I've added to the car but I could work it out if I really had to I suppose. My wife's X240 is definitely quicker of the mark but mine has more horsepower and torque because of the larger exhaust and the snorkel. The extra weight I have added slows me up a bit.
I can't really remember in what order the rest of the modifications were done so I'll just meander through the list. The Snorkel I just mentioned had to be custom made because nobody makes one to fit the Series 2, unlike the series 1 but even that snorkel wasn't made specifically for the series one. It just happened to be a good fit. That's my understanding of it anyway. My snorkel was done by Opposite Lock here in Caloundra. To start with, it used the standard airbox but that required an excessively long hose to get to the intake port of the box so, I have replaced it. The replacement airbox I have used gave me a bigger air cleaner and resulted in a shorter and more direct airflow to the manifold.
Other things I added to the vehicle were just simple add ons like the awning, the shovel mounts, maxtrax mounts, and the high lift jack mounts. I also had a luggage rack but I removed it recently to mount something of my own design that better suited the mounting of the maxtrax mounts and LED lighting. Speaking of LED lighting, it's great! Low amperage, low current draw, but great light output. Most of these I purchased from "Jamie's Touring Solutions" in Caloundra but if you're not local, he has a website and sells online here.
There are 5 LED light bars on the vehicle and they all serve a different purpose. The largest one I have, at 24", is mounted on the roof bar and helps with illuminating bush tracks, as do the two 6" light bars on the bull bar which are deliberately angled outwards to illuminate the sides of the track and they are also good to illuminate around the bend a little when turning a corner. The other 6" light bar is wired to the reversing lights but has a switch on the dashboard so that I can just turn it on when needed. I have wired this so that it can only be switched on when the car is in reverse. I believe that is a legal requirement.
This light also has a manual override switch in the back of the car near the drawers so that it can be used when camping, as with the large lightbar on the front, it has a manual override switch under the bonnet so that you don't need all your headlights on. Great for setting camp at night but you still need a headlamp or torch because sooner or later, you end up behind the tent and in shadow. Last but not least is the small LED work light mounted on the left rear roof rack. This was the first LED light I mounted on the car and was solely for camping purposes.
The X240 comes with 17" wheels but there were not many choices in off road tyres for 17" rims so I dropped to 16" rims. With my tyre choice, the Cooper ST Maxx, my overall diameter ended up 40mm larger than standard. This was what lead to my changing the diff ratios. Since I have mentioned the diffs I may as well keep on them. Another change I made to the vehicle, and quite a major one, was to change the crown wheel & pinion gear in both diffs and also the diffs themselves. The rear diff now has a Detroit Auto Locker which I ordered from the USA, and the front diff and crown & pinions came from Russia. The front diff is kind of like a limited slip, or torque sensing diff. You'll get a different explanation from different people.
The car's off road performance was drastically improved by doing this but it wasn't cheap. I can't take the credit for this diff combo as it was first researched and done by one of the guys on the forum, followed by another bloke and then by me. As far as I know I am the only one to effect a ratio change at this point. I won't mention the names of these two blokes in case they don't wish to be mentioned but, on a side note, they both just completed a trip from Victoria to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula and the Great Walls didn't miss a beat. They were both Series One X240s. Maybe I'll get to be the 1st Series 2 to reach the tip. I can but dream.
Rock Sliders were another thing that had to be custom made. These were done by Jake at Allset Springs in Caloundra. I don't think his website is up & running yet but he is on facebook. Click "here". For those that don't know what rock sliders are, they are kind of like a side step but they are designed to support the vehicle if you happen to land on a rock. They save your sils from being smashed up and dented and in my case, Jake has made them strong enough to use as a jacking point. I would have no hesitation in using them as a winch point either under the right circumstances. I have never weighed these so I don't know how heavy they are but, I'm sure they help with my centre of gravity.
I mentioned the larger exhaust earlier but only in passing. I don't remember the exact size but it did make a difference to the performance. Having the louder, sportier sounding exhaust was not my intention, it was just a by product. I have added quite a few things in the electrical department aside from the affore mentioned lighting. The dual battery system I originally went with was a simple solenoid system but with the amount of driving I was doing, so many short local runs etc.. I didn't feel as though the 100 amp Gel Battery was getting a decent charge. I vaguely remember (goldfish memory here) someone on the forum suggesting that a DC to DC charger would be better and why so.
In any case, with some advice from Shane at JTS I removed the brains (so to speak) of the solenoid and the system now just functions as an internal jump start facility if I find myself with a flat starter battery. The solenoid is activated by a press switch on the dash which parallels the batteries as if jump starting from another car, but without the dangers. There is now a 20amp Redarc charger, purchased from JTS, installed in the vehicle and a nice neat fuse box. I have the luxury of being only 5 minutes from their store so, they are my "go to" spot for most of my off road needs.
Another fairly major change to the car was the set of drawers and fridge slide I built in the back, complete with an anderson plug connection for the fridge, 2 accessory sockets, and 2 switches for exterior lighting. Although there are commercial drawers available, I thought them heavy and expensive so I opted to make my own. By the time I purchased the ply, the glue, the carpet, decent quality latching drawer slides, and other bits & bobs like screws & handles etc.. the whole drawer project still ended up costing about $1200. Still cheaper than the commercial stuff though. See photos on this page.
As my needs changed I changed the car. One of the changes, and an expensive one, was to remove the ECB Arc Bullbar and replace it with a steel winch bar from OAQ. After getting the vehicle home I removed the bar to fit a winch that I had purchased in advance. On advice from Jamie of Jamie's Touring Solutions i made a handy little modification which left only the remote socket visible and not the big ugly solenoid box which is nicely tucked away behind the Bullbar and out of sight. The overall cost of changing bars, adding a winch and buying the required winch related recovery gear that I didn't have was, in round figures, about $3000.
Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I should have gone for a steel bar & winch in the first place but at the time, I didn't see a need for one. As I said, my needs changed so... the car changed. Due to the flimsy nature of the steel plate that is welded to the front of each chassis rail, I made (with help from Jake at Allset Springs) some brackets to reinforce the way the Bullbar was mounted. I truly believe that the winch would have separated the Bullbar from the car if used under load without the addition of these reinforcing brackets. After they were made and test fitted, I had them Powder Coated.
Vehicle Pros & Cons:
When I talk about the pros & cons of this vehicle I will say this. Most of the cons are related to off road use and the related accessories.
The Pros:
- Great price.
- Great warranty.
- Very well appointed.
- Dealer fitted accessories available.
The Cons:
- Very few "off the shelf" accessories available. ie; Things designed specifically for this model for off road use.
- Limited wheel travel, even after suspension lift. (This is mainly because it has a torsion bar front end rather than coil of leaf springs.
- Diesel not available in the X240 model. (Note: Diesel is now available in the X200 model but it does not have a low range option at the moment.)
- Very sluggish until you have a few thousand kilometres on the clock. They start getting better at around 4,500 to 5000 kms and improve over time.
- With the added weight of all my accessories, even with the extra HP & torque gained from the snorkel and larger exhaust, it's a bit of a slug but... it's only a 2.4l petrol engine.
There are other cons I could list but only if you want to compare these with a land cruiser, patrol, or land rover but they are not even in the same price range so it wouldn't be a fair comparison. The two biggest downsides, even with all my modifications, are a lack of ground clearance (even after the lift kit) and a lack of wheel travel. Both of these issues go directly back to the torsion bar design of the vehicle. Even though my car is a very capable vehicle, it simply can not compete with something like say, a land cruiser with a 4" lift for example but, I don't expect it to.
For what it is, and for what it costs, it's a damn fine motor vehicle and if you are realistic about your expectations, you will not be disappointed. I originally only planned on the occasional beach run when I purchased this car but I soon started doing a bit more aggressive driving and my needs changed. By "more aggressive" I mean more challenging and technical tracks and even a bit of moderate rock climbing. Hence the gradual modifications. I will never get my money back on this vehicle, that's for sure. Having said that, you don't have to spend as much as I have. As I mentioned earlier though, I strongly recommend some underbody armour and rated recovery points at the very least if you want to venture off road.
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HOME | ABOUT/CONTACT | MY CAR | MODIFICATIONS | TRIPS | GALLERY | BLOG | LINKS
Updates | Mistakes & Regrets | Electrical | Rocksliders | Roof Accessories | The Drawers
All content ©Copyright Stuart Whitehouse 2014 - Unless otherwise stated.
Images on this site may be purchase by using the form on another site here. Simply take note of the image I.D number.
HOME | ABOUT/CONTACT | MY CAR | MODIFICATIONS | TRIPS | GALLERY | BLOG | LINKS
Updates | Mistakes & Regrets | Electrical | Rocksliders | Roof Accessories | The Drawers
All content ©Copyright Stuart Whitehouse 2014 - Unless otherwise stated.
Images on this site may be purchase by using the form on another site here. Simply take note of the image I.D number.