ACE System removal effect

I am close to buying a well maintained Discovery 2. The current owner has conducted regular maintenance and the car appears in good condition. I have asked many questions and am happy thus far that everything is in order. Before I travel from Sweden to Holland to test drive the car I have one question that is niggling me.

The ACE system has been removed from the car, apparently as a preventative measure. The suspension has been modified as follows;

ACE preventively removed and replaced with new stabilizers.
Suspension raised 2 inches. With Old Man Emu (OME) springs and dampers.
Rear custom air suspension with 2 inch elevation.
Steering damper weighted version of Old Man Emu
Reinforced steering rod Differential protectors front and rear Steering rod

I am concerned with the impact the removal of the ACE has had on the car. I have experienced the roll of the D1 and the stability of my last D2 with ACE especially on winding country roads. I have never driven a D2 without ACE.

Is there anyone who has experience of D2 ACE removal and who recognises the suspension improvements above. I am very interested to know what impact the above modifications have especially the rocking (boat roll) effect when cornering.

I plan to use the car for country and motorway driving and only a low percentage of offroad.

Many thanks

Regards

I can’t comment on the 2” lift, but I have deleted ace on my Disco. It was done quite a few years ago with the pump removed and adapted pulley fitted. The ace actuators are locked up and ace roll bars remain. I have noticed no difference in the vehicle, but I’m not one for throwing it into corners anyway. It’s not a sports car !!
I think I will eventually need to convert to standard roll bars though, as the actuators are looking past their best, but apart from the cost, I’m not too concerned about that.

Meego,

Thanks for your feedback it is very helpful

Regards

Irish4x4 said:

Meego,

Thanks for your feedback it is very helpful

Regards

Click to expand...

No problem. You will probably get a couple of responses about ACE being the best thing ever. I don’t disagree that it’s a great system. But at some point it becomes too expensive to keep. Actuators are a minimum of 20 years old now and are expensive to replace, and starting to become hard to get. It makes more sense to not have it now in my opinion.

meego said:

No problem. You will probably get a couple of responses about ACE being the best thing ever. I don’t disagree that it’s a great system. But at some point it becomes too expensive to keep. Actuators are a minimum of 20 years old now and are expensive to replace, and starting to become hard to get. It makes more sense to not have it now in my opinion.

Click to expand...

I am wondering how the suspension upgrade has impacted the handling of the car as I do not have experience of this? I wonder if it has offset the removal of the ACE to some extent?

Regards

Irish4x4 said:

I am wondering how the suspension upgrade has impacted the handling of the car as I do not have experience of this? I wonder if it has offset the removal of the ACE to some extent?

Regards

Click to expand...

Surely it’s basic physics to say that the higher the centre of gravity is, the worse the handling will be. With or without ACE !!

I removed my ACE when i was provided with the Bill to have the thing replaced

Have done most things Discovery Td5 says it does on the tin!! On road, Off road (Bovington Tank tracks) Green lining!

To be honest I did not feel any different when driving Diso with ACE!!!


Kev

Badger688 said:

I removed my ACE when i was provided with the Bill to have the thing replaced

Have done most things Discovery Td5 says it does on the tin!! On road, Off road (Bovington Tank tracks) Green lining!

To be honest I did not feel any different when driving Diso with ACE!!!


Kev

Click to expand...

Did you fit standard ARB’s ??

I have 99 Disco Td5 (10p engine) shocks and springs only

Kev

Agree entirely with the above.
From the extra kit the previous owner has fitted it looks as if he did a bit of off roading, you don't fit differential protectors etc unless this is the case.
So his "preventative" removal of ACE may be to prevent it getting damaged under these circumstances.
His high lift stuff may well have been to do with this too.
I have driven my D2 both with ACE and without it when the system went down and in that case it just locked the ACE so it drove like a normal car with a normal anti roll bar. I live up a mountain with about 44 bends some of which are hairpins, I honestly couldn't feel the difference.
So in fact I would sayt he guy has done you a favour.
If you are worried about roll then you could do worse than simply fit good gas shock absorbers, this is what I did with my D1 and it transformed the ride. You could also get rid of the 2" lift as the lower the centre of gravity the less the roll.
If I were you, and if everything else is in order, I'd go ahead, buy it and not worry about it.
I too plan to do what he has done if my ACE starts getting expensive. The cheaper models of D2 never had ACE anyway.

Meego, with ACE anti-roll bars & actuators still in place, your car's "Anti-Roll" characteristic while cornering will be the same as ACE - until high cornering forces when ACE would begin to soften. It's absolutely nothing like a car with ACE fully removed or replaced by Non ACE ARBs.

meego said:

Surely it’s basic physics to say that the higher the centre of gravity is, the worse the handling will be. With or without ACE !!

Click to expand...

True

Badger688 said:

I removed my ACE when i was provided with the Bill to have the thing replaced

Have done most things Discovery Td5 says it does on the tin!! On road, Off road (Bovington Tank tracks) Green lining!

To be honest I did not feel any different when driving Diso with ACE!!!


Kev

Click to expand...

Kev,

Your feedback is really helpful to get insight into any change in the cornering behavior characteristics of the car without ACE.

Thanks

Regards

Stanleysteamer said:

Agree entirely with the above.
From the extra kit the previous owner has fitted it looks as if he did a bit of off roading, you don't fit differential protectors etc unless this is the case.
So his "preventative" removal of ACE may be to prevent it getting damaged under these circumstances.
His high lift stuff may well have been to do with this too.
I have driven my D2 both with ACE and without it when the system went down and in that case it just locked the ACE so it drove like a normal car with a normal anti roll bar. I live up a mountain with about 44 bends some of which are hairpins, I honestly couldn't feel the difference.
So in fact I would sayt he guy has done you a favour.
If you are worried about roll then you could do worse than simply fit good gas shock absorbers, this is what I did with my D1 and it transformed the ride. You could also get rid of the 2" lift as the lower the centre of gravity the less the roll.
If I were you, and if everything else is in order, I'd go ahead, buy it and not worry about it.
I too plan to do what he has done if my ACE starts getting expensive. The cheaper models of D2 never had ACE anyway.

Click to expand...

StanleyS

Many thanks for your reply.

A previous owner did the full offroad setup so as you say the preventative action may have been just that. With your experience I believe I will proceed and can lay the ACE concerns to rest.

Kind regards

This thread just prompted me to go on eBay and find a set of standard ARB’s. Just bought a set complete with clamps etc. I will probably need to fit non ace drop links etc, but I can get rid of all the ACE pipes and actuators now and that will make chassis care a lot easier now.

meego said:

This thread just prompted me to go on eBay and find a set of standard ARB’s. Just bought a set complete with clamps etc. I will probably need to fit non ace drop links etc, but I can get rid of all the ACE pipes and actuators now and that will make chassis care a lot easier now.

Click to expand...

Glad the thread was inspirational

I also helped lay my fears to rest............

Irish4x4 said:

Glad the thread was inspirational

I also helped lay my fears to rest............

Click to expand...

Meego,

I meant to ask what is the adapted pulley you refer to?

Regards

Irish4x4 said:

Meego,

I meant to ask what is the adapted pulley you refer to?

Regards

Click to expand...

To delete the ACE system you need to remove the ACE pump, which is belt driven. The pulley wheel on the pump is effectively gone and the belt has nothing to go on to where the pump was. So an idler pulley is fitted where the pump was, and the belt fits to that.

meego said:

Do delete the ACE system you need to remove the ACE pump, which is belt driven. The pulley wheel on the pump is effectively gone and the belt has nothing to go on to where the pump was. So an idler pulley is fitted where the pump was, and the belt fits to that.

Click to expand...

I should also add, that a diagnostic tool is required to tell the system that ACE is no longer fitted, or it thinks their is no fluid in the ACE system and the warning alarm will continue to run. Either that or you cut the cable to the alarm sounder, but you lose your door open alarm

Now getting the Amber ACE warning light a lot.
Will have to investigate.
Boooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggg!
Hope it's just a relay.
Liquid not missing nor nuffin.

meego said:

This thread just prompted me to go on eBay and find a set of standard ARB’s. Just bought a set complete with clamps etc. I will probably need to fit non ace drop links etc, but I can get rid of all the ACE pipes and actuators now and that will make chassis care a lot easier now.

Click to expand...

Did you get new bushes with your arb's? If not there are 2 different sizes for the back arb. I made the mistake of getting the wrong ones when I put non ace arb's on mine. Might be wrong but I think the 7 seaters had the bigger arb