200 on portals and 40s - Test drive on Poison Spider

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JWNissan

JWNissan

Joined
May 4, 2025
Threads
9
Messages
109
Location
Grass Valley, CA
It's nearly complete but Cruise Moab 2026 was upon us and what better time than to let the customer test drive his new build? The 200 pulled an average fuel economy of 14.5mpg from California to Moab, Utah. It continued to impress everyone with its offroad capability and well balanced weight distribution. It's currently back with us for some final touches before we deliver it to the owner. Full Walk-Around Video:
 
Wow!
 
Such wow!
 
dieck said:
Awesome build and adventure! What did you do for speedo calibration? Haven't seen a good solution for portal builds ye
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dieck said:
Awesome build and adventure! What did you do for speedo calibration? Haven't seen a good solution for portal builds yet.
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We haven't done anything. I'm not sure what the plan is but I can tell you the speedo is 15mph off now. Ask the Nevada Trooper. lol
 
Yeah, I've got a 2021 LC200 portal build just wrapped up and only a couple of things to sort out. 1 being the speedo being way off.
9DACA293-FA96-4935-81A7-7337E96D50E9_1_105_c.webp
 
dieck said:
Yeah, I've got a 2021 LC200 portal build just wrapped up and only a couple of things to sort out. 1 being the speedo being way off.View attachment 4130942
Click to expand...
There's a local guy here that builds speedo correction devices. I'll try and find his name. I was chatting with him at Cruiser Moab. Maybe he has one for the 200.
 
I was hoping Brian Lutz had something for the 200. Maybe worth shooting him an email. He'll be at our shop in a couple of weeks looking at one of our other vehicles (not a 200) and I'll try and remember to ask him.

www.lutzauto.com

Automotive Part Design and Repair | Lutz Auto

Lutz Auto, LLC - Automotive Part Design and Repair: We specialize in designing and producing replacement electronic parts) for a range of automobiles from Speedometer Calibrators and Canbus solutions to Porsche Printed Circuit Board Replacements and beyond.
www.lutzauto.com www.lutzauto.com
 
JWNissan said:
It's nearly complete but Cruise Moab 2026 was upon us and what better time than to let the customer test drive his new build? The 200 pulled an average fuel economy of 14.5mpg from California to Moab, Utah. It continued to impress everyone with its offroad capability and well balanced weight distribution. It's currently back with us for some final touches before we deliver it to the owner. Full Walk-Around Video:
Click to expand...

Since I inadvertantly hijaced your thread, I started another.

Came back to say epic video and shakedown. Epic rig. So glad to see the LC200 platrform getting out an playing. My truck is Only on 37's so minimal trimming with the portals. I took it out today to shake it down and it loved the rocks. In the sand or mud it's a sinker. Winch got a workout. Good to see you out there exercising yours.
 
dieck said:
Since I inadvertantly hijaced your thread, I started another.

Came back to say epic video and shakedown. Epic rig. So glad to see the LC200 platrform getting out an playing. My truck is Only on 37's so minimal trimming with the portals. I took it out today to shake it down and it loved the rocks. In the sand or mud it's a sinker. Winch got a workout. Good to see you out there exercising yours.
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No worries. This thread is just meant to hype up the 200 Series. It's a great platform and deserves more recognition. Besides, it's not my car. It's a customer's car and he's driving it in the clips. :)
 
TomEf said:
I was part of the group y'all caught up to for lunch, all the vehicles in your lineup were BIG. Cool to see all the portals out there getting used.
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Right on. There was a lineup of cool rigs already there when we reached the top. Cool people too. :)
 
dieck said:
Yeah, I've got a 2021 LC200 portal build just wrapped up and only a couple of things to sort out. 1 being the speedo being way off.View attachment 4130942
Click to expand...

Love how clean your rig is setup.

I've also got 37s and it's probably the same portal or not. I've just gotten use to the speedometer over time and usually have a map application running with GPS speed. Still would be interesting to sort out.

What's the other thing you need to sort out?

Also interested if you have any impressions of portal drivability and handling dynamics?
 
TeCKis300 said:
Love how clean your rig is setup.

I've also got 37s and it's probably the same portal or not. I've just gotten use to the speedometer over time and usually have a map application running with GPS speed. Still would be interesting to sort out.

What's the other thing you need to sort out?

Also interested if you have any impressions of portal drivability and handling dynamics?
Click to expand...
Thank you. It's been fun to get it built just right.

At this point the portal install is sorted. I've been really impressed with the quality of the portals and the quality of the install. The truck handles better than I imagined it could. It's exceptionally drivable. I've been putting some miles on it around town and on some trails to shake it down and resolve any niggling little things and it's been rock solid. The truck is happy all they way up to 100mph which I will probably never do again with these tires but handled like a dream.

I'm getting used to the speedo now and do use Google maps speedo, having roughly mind mapped the speed differential now so feeling less bothered about it. I'm just German/Swiss ancestry and like everything perfect :)

I do want to figure out a solution for the spare tire. I don't necessarily want it on there all the time, but for long or remote trips I do. With tires this big, the part time solutions don't work super well. I don't love the rear bumper. The truck is getting HEAVY.

The mileage is surprisingly good. was averaging 14 before the portals, now seem to be averaging 13 after. It's a little confusing given the Odometer is off and needs to be manually corrected when filling up. With the extended range tank I'm getting well over 700 miles per fillup. That fits my needs well.
 
dieck said:
Thank you. It's been fun to get it built just right.

At this point the portal install is sorted. I've been really impressed with the quality of the portals and the quality of the install. The truck handles better than I imagined it could. It's exceptionally drivable. I've been putting some miles on it around town and on some trails to shake it down and resolve any niggling little things and it's been rock solid. The truck is happy all they way up to 100mph which I will probably never do again with these tires but handled like a dream.

I'm getting used to the speedo now and do use Google maps speedo, having roughly mind mapped the speed differential now so feeling less bothered about it. I'm just German/Swiss ancestry and like everything perfect :)

I do want to figure out a solution for the spare tire. I don't necessarily want it on there all the time, but for long or remote trips I do. With tires this big, the part time solutions don't work super well. I don't love the rear bumper. The truck is getting HEAVY.

The mileage is surprisingly good. was averaging 14 before the portals, now seem to be averaging 13 after. It's a little confusing given the Odometer is off and needs to be manually corrected when filling up. With the extended range tank I'm getting well over 700 miles per fillup. That fits my needs well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insights! Sounds like there aren't any untoward handling dynamics and really meets expectations.

As I get deeper into this hobby, sidehill stability is one of those things I think portals can really help with. Increasing the track width isn't particularly easy as there's so much tire travel underneath the fenders. In order to go outwards further than the fenders, really need to bring the wheel downwards which portals complement well.

I wonder how well portals work for heavy towing...
 
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