hello boys, i feel the need to biuld something again

[Baloo]

Hello guys
             Been a while since l posted here, well anywhere for that matter, got all busy with work life etc, anyway l need some thing to play with once more,  don't really want to make everything from scratch so considering a chassis and running gear from something with a tube frame bolted on top
do you guys have the Suzuki jimny over there ? has a cute little 4wd drive chassis and drive train, nice and light 90" or there abouts wheelbase and best of all one fell into my lap, be rude not to use it for something

Andy

[fabr]

Great to hear from you !!!! Yep,a lot of those little Suzuki's(samurai) are used here for rock crawlers. Pretty tough and a lot of fun I hear. Post up what you create. Always enjoy your projects.

[Baloo]

hey Fabr  nice your still here, been a long while

yes we have samurai here too, tough little things but they are leaf sprung and I run the risk of biting my tongue off when hitting bumps at speed, the jimny is the later version with coil springs like this




coil springs and radius arms just like a classic range rover only smaller and much more nimble plus they don't cut out when a dark cloud goes over 

nice little 16valve all alloy engine as stock, quite popular as rock crawlers around the world



if I use the chassis un modified I can use it on the street over here, just need to bend up some tube and switch to a different engine, 

mine was cheap as it had had a little roll over but as I wont be using any of the body then it works fine for me

[Baloo]

heres the rough shape I have in my head, tube frame wants to stop at the back of the rear tyres and as close as possible to the front of the fronts,     will be selectable 4wd with the jimny transfer box ( same as samurai ) with low range at 4.1,  nothing wrong with the Suzuki engine except its to tall sitting way up above the front axle so it destroys the bonnet line ( Hood ? )  so going to look at a Subaru for its engine tomorrow

[dsrace]

nope they don't offer those over here that i have ever seen.  prob gets to good a mpg so they deemed them non emmisons compliant over here lol well that and the steering wheel is on the wrong side  looks like it will be an interesting project and a lot of fun. looks like a nice denali fiver you have in the shop!

[fabr]

Gotta admit,Baloo's always full of ideas. Can't wait to see the end result!

[Yummi]

Baloo! 

Yea! 

Samurai have a cultish following here.  Very capable rigs.  Nice ones go for pretty good money.  The Jimny coil over still has solid axles?  Should be easy to gt some good articulation, few rocks, few bigger rocks, next we have stories of Baloo on his lid. 

[Baloo]

Baloo! 

Yea! 

Samurai have a cultish following here.  Very capable rigs.  Nice ones go for pretty good money.  The Jimny coil over still has solid axles?  Should be easy to gt some good articulation, few rocks, few bigger rocks, next we have stories of Baloo on his lid.

Hi    yes the jimny has solid axles, very similar to the Sammy ones but with vacuum operated front hubs so you can engage the front axle  on the fly,  the rest of the world got coil sprung samurais around 1998
the us missed out out on them I think


the sj is well regarded over here too l seemed to have accumulated quite a collection of them, a couple of truck cabs, 4 swb's 3 lwb's one of which is a 2006 model brand new from india where they still make them, never been on the road, would be worth some coin if I could get it across to your side of the pond as l think you guys dident get many lwb sj's over there ?

unfortunately we don't get many rocks to play on here or sand for that matter we just get grass or mud 
you guys don't know how lucky you are with all them sand dunes 

so no point building an out and out rock crawler or sand buggy, have to build something I can use here
anyway will post up some pics as I go

Andy

[Baloo]

nope they don't offer those over here that i have ever seen.  prob gets to good a mpg so they deemed them non emmisons compliant over here lol well that and the steering wheel is on the wrong side  looks like it will be an interesting project and a lot of fun. looks like a nice denali fiver you have in the shop!

Hi yes Denali Dutchman Fiver, its a nice tool will be dragging it out soon winter has just finished here don't like all that rain snow and ice on her so I tuck her away in the hay barn for the winter 

[Baloo]

hi boys  went shopping today, bought me a $200 Subaru forester
think I can convert the gearbox to rear wheel drive only and it has a low range built in so by the time its fed into the Suzuki transfer box I will end up with plenty of choice for gears



so its game on .....................................................

[big dave]

Could turn it into this.  this is built off a k 5 blazer.

[fabr]

There you go!

[BDKW1]

3 lwb's one of which is a 2006 model brand new from india where they still make them, never been on the road, would be worth some coin if I could get it across to your side of the pond as l think you guys dident get many lwb sj's over there ?

Canada got the LWB Smai's. There are a few here that were imported. They are pretty rare though.
I am currently in the process of building an 88 SWB up.
Are all the newer models that we didn't get tin tops or do they still make convertibles?

[Baloo]

Could turn it into this.  this is built off a k 5 blazer.

looks a bit on the "big" side   bet those 2 axles weigh more than my whole buggy will
think light weight and nimble

[Baloo]

Canada got the LWB Smai's. There are a few here that were imported. They are pretty rare though.
I am currently in the process of building an 88 SWB up.
Are all the newer models that we didn't get tin tops or do they still make convertibles?

hi
think they make all sorts still somewhere in the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Jimny
my 2006 lwb is a soft top, they made cute little crew cabs too
shame they dident make the bodies out of the same steel they used for the chassis, have you ever seen a rusty sj chassis ? we haven't over here yet the bodies fall apart