Standard Issue
First featured in 4x4 magazine, may 2018
As always, the plan was to keep it standard – and as always, it was doomed from the start. So when a fatal fault on Ben Langley’s Shogun presented an opportunity, the lure of the spanners was all too strong.
Some sleepers are subtler than others.The often-German estates with huge engines and masses of power aren’t really a shock anymore.Then there are some more dormant cases, though – like a Mitsubishi Shogun you’d expect to be amicable off-road and great
as a family taxi, but which drops your jaw when it throws down half a tonne of horsepower and leaves you standing on its way to amble along Strata Florida.
Ben Langley has modified vehicles before, but none catch glances like this one. Well, it would if people knew what he’d done to it. But it wasn’t always this specced up.
‘I had a Defender before I got the Shogun,’ says Ben.‘But it wasn’t the most reliable of things and I got fed up of the general Land Rover-ness of it to be honest. It was great off-road but wasn’t comfortable enough.’
Having decided it was time for something new, Ben looked around for a vehicle that would cope with family life and the occasional off-road dalliance on the side.He opted for a 3.2-litre diesel Shogun.
‘It had previously been owned by two older ladies, and they’d really looked after it. It came with a full service history – if something had needed replacing then they just paid for it. I intended to keep it as a family car.
‘I was going to take it off-road occasionally,’ he admits. ‘But I was just going to put a half decent set of tyres on it and use it as standard.’
But the tyres he chose were Maxxis Bighorns, and paired with the 18” Mitsubishi rims they did cause rubbing issues that required a suspension lift. No stranger to spanner work, Ben happily saw to this himself.
‘I lifted it two inches using Triton strut spacers at the front,’ he says. ‘And I made custom spring spacers for the rear.
‘I was impressed with how well it coped off- road,to be honest,’ he adds.‘It can do almost everything the Defender did. It does lack some flex in comparison to the Land Rover, but because it has the factory rear locker it can actually be better in certain circumstances.’
Still fairly standard and performing well as both a family bus and part-time plaything, Ben was more than satisfied with the Shogun.All was going well and there were no plans to change it further – plainly because there was no need to.
‘The fuel pump went on the original engine,’ explains Ben. ‘And when I priced up the replacement, it was going to be about half of what I paid for the car. So, I looked at my options.
‘I really like the Shogun, so I was definitely sticking with it. I knew the LexusV8 engines were well thought of, so I looked about for people that had put them into Shoguns.’
The results of Ben’s research were limited, and initially it looked like he would be pioneering this one entirely on his own. He did find two cases where it had been done in the UK – but both were on automatics and therefore were a much simpler task than his. But then Ben stumbled upon a game-changer.
‘I finally found a case where one had been put into a manual in South Africa, and fortunately on the website they even had CAD drawings. I took them in to work and made an adapter hub, so I could use the Shogun flywheel with the Lexus V8.’
Using the equipment at work and the plans he’d found online, Ben was able to manufacture the parts necessary to get the Shogun’sV8 heart beating. But once it was mobile again the ball was rolling, and Ben had regained the taste for getting his hands dirty.
‘I ran it like that for a bit before I put the turbo on it,’ he smirks.‘When that went on it boosted it up to about 400bhp, at which point it needed new engine management and valve springs.Then I re-tuned it to increase the boost and linked in the engine management and ECU, so at low boost it has 420bhp and over 500bhp at high boost.’
Having learnt about engines by the unbeatably effective method of working on them over the course of many years, Ben decided to learn something new. He consulted Clint Gaskin at Brands Hatch Performance on how to tune the Link G4+ engine management, enabling the Lexus V8 to work in harmony with the Holset HX50 turbocharger.The majority of the changes Ben has made to his Shogun live under the bonnet, and the list isn’t a short one.
Alongside the turbocharger, the V8 has been bolstered by a fuel pressure regulator, a Bosch fuel pump, a two-stage boost controller and front-mounted intercooler from GReddy, an HKS SSQV blow-off valve, a Direnza alloy radiator, custom turbo manifolds and pipework and a stainless steel 3” exhaust. Sceptics may be inclined to laugh at the idea of putting all this on to a twenty-year-old off-roader, but this Shogun fires back defiantly.
‘There haven’t been any transmission issues,’ says Ben. ‘It’s coped with the extra power without a problem. Because I’ve kept the original parts where I can, it drives like it came out of the factory this way.’
Okay, so it runs. But all of that power off-road just sounds like an endless loop of wheelspin waiting to happen, right? Wrong.
‘You can really put it about off-road – it just pulls at tick over. The added power hasn’t hindered performance off-road at all,’ Ben states proudly, before continuing with a chortle.‘And
it also frightens the life out of boy racers on the roads, too!’
Even with all of the mods stuffed under the bonnet, the Lexus V8 has been impeccable – worlds away from the Defender that drove Ben mad. He’s pushed it off-road and had not had any problems – except for one case, and it might be a predictable one.
‘There was a slight misfire after I went through some deep water,’ admits Ben.‘I got out the other side and it just stopped. But after a few minutes it got going again and didn’t look back – I’ve had no problems since.’
While the newfound power means the Shogun pulls through anything, Ben has also lent his hand to the exterior to mould the Mitsubishi into an off-roading machine. First off, to directly counteract the V8, he fitted MTEC drilled brake discs with Mintex pads for the required stopping power.The body has been covered in a black Full-Dip liquid wrap, while all the body mouldings and trim have been removed. Jaguar style bonnet vents have been installed alongside bush cables, a bull bar with an LED light bar, roof mounted spotlights and a roof rack that’s home to a high- lift jack.
The interior has seen a few changes too. Aftermarket gauges that monitor the various engine ancillaries have been added, along with a new double-din sat-nav unit. The third row of seating has been removed, and under-boot storage has been reapplied to house the battery and a 76-piece toolkit and recovery equipment.
The overhauled Shogun has proved itself a force to be reckoned with. It has coped with everything Ben has thrown it at on the green lanes around Salisbury Plain with Greenlaners Reloaded, and despite its chequered relationship with water it’s been along Strata Florida more than one with complete success. But regardless of this, Ben isn’t finished yet.
‘I’m working on a custom back bumper,’ he explains.‘It’s currently only got the side pieces fitted, because I’m making a steel bumper myself and also looking into a custom one for the front.
‘After the bumpers, the suspension is the next thing I want to do. I don’t want a lift because I don’t need that. But the parts are currently very basic on the suspension, still stock really.’
Looking back at how the Shogun’s story has panned out, Ben has no regrets. He readily admits things didn’t go too much to plan, but regrets none of it.
‘You could say I spiralled out of control,’ he chuckles. ‘I am looking into tuning it some more – it will be pushing 600bhp by then.
‘If the fuel pump hadn’t gone on the 3.2, I probably would have remapped it a bit and added a hybrid turbo. I admit I did get carried away!’
To many, this will all be great, but even so thinking about how the Shogun must work in the real world might still confound you. As you’d expect, though, Ben has no trouble in justifying his mechanical indulgences.
‘The only downside is the fuel bill,’ he says. ‘But it’s not really a bad thing because it’s my hobby. I’m more than happy to pay it. My daily commute isn’t that far, and if I really need to go somewhere further I just jump in my wife’s Skoda!
‘I love the Shogun, it’s great fun! In a way, I’m glad that it turned out this way.’.
We photographed Ben’s Shogun at Whitecliff 4x4, which offers driver training for everyone from juniors to professionals in a superb site near the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.To find out more, pay a visit to www.whitecliff4x4.co.uk
