I rev my D2 out several times per week. My neck hurts just thinking about the lightning quick acceleration. It's actually not too bad given all the extra weight from steel bumpers, sliders, winch, etc. and the 285/75/16 tires. Plus it just plain sounds great with the Borla exhaust and Mantec snorkel sucking air right above the driver's window.
Semi-solid engine mounts will really change how it comes off the line, and improve your control off-pavement
dramatically. The factory stuff ought to be considered a "down-grade". Mine are the QT mounts, and they absolutely transform the vehicle.
The D2 isn't as slow as people think, but that's only because people don't really push them.
It's not
fast by any measure that's relevant today, but I ran mine against a '92 Roadmaster with a factory-spec LT1 and worked transmission to find us nearly neck and neck at the end of the strip. That said, he'd run out of reserve, but I was still accelerating.
Don't quite remember the times precisely, but I believe that day I was hitting 60 in just over 8 seconds and trapping around 17.
With the rack, around 420 pounds of wheels and tires, the bumper, winch, and even with the armor attached (but no cargo) it'll hit 100mph without any trouble at all.
Strangely, while it pulls to that number with relative ease, it just fucking
stops right there. You ain't gonna get even a single mile per hour after that. Not 105, not 101... You get 100mph and that's all. It gives you all that sound and fury up to 100, and then it just tells you to fuck yourself all of a sudden. :rofl:
The top speed of the vehicle in stock form is
precisely 120mph. It's limited to that speed, but I can tell you it wouldn't go any faster even without the limiter. 110 is about the highest speed you're likely to reach before running out of road.
Now, in stock form acceleration is a bit less than "surprising", but the way it builds speed is intoxicating. It's spread all over the tach like butter. It just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling, and to me feels kind of like an aircraft taking off. Someone else has said that in the car, as well.
Firm up those engine mounts, though, and it will indeed whip your head back a bit off the line. I knew the factory mounts were quite pliable and large, but I didn't know they were
that bad. They really suck the life right out of a Rover; new or not.
Soon as I dropped those QT units in, I determined the factory mounts were the
worst decision Land Rover made on the vehicle; and it only took
six inches of movement to reach that conclusion.
Really makes me wonder what I could do with a transmission job (I don't remember the part numbers, but valve body kits were available, and may still be) and/or one of those Compu-Shift gadgets... Been wanting one for a while, but I wasn't driving the vehicle. It's back on the old wish list now.
Cheers,
Kennith