My urge to restore a kja.....

[mike harris]

I think I've made my mind up.

I'm going to buy a kja, restore the cab and rear bed and chassis.

Then use everything from my truck, modding the kja chassis to take samurai axles ect.

Then send it off to rockwatt to build a cage.

Will be a long term project as I can't even find a kja, il use my suzuki whilst restoring what I need.

Very clean samurai commercial body for sale the end of this year !!

Mike

[ScottieJ]

Clean with a few dents or are you going to fix them before sale?

Sounds like a plan, what about that kja tub on the Lwb chassis that Ben lashbrook kid has on the facebook Suzuki groups? Could be perfect, although not an original kja the cab is really tidy I think.

[mike harris]

Clean rust rise !!

I want a genuine Kja, I'm going to go mad with one !

Mike

[dan_2k_uk]

Mod your axles to the narrower spring spacing rather than widening the spring spacing on the kja chassis.

More leverage on springs and no spring scrub at full lock.

[RickUK]

May seem like a stupid question but heard alot about the KJA model,so what is special or unusual about this model that everyone raves about ??? Is it a pickup or something that is rare.

[ScottieJ]

Why does it need to be a genuine KJA if it's technically not being restored and is going to be modified loads anyway? Tbh I would rather start with something less original, that way you won't feel as guilty when it gets cut up or smashed off road.

In my eyes a restoration doesn't involve modifications, a few improvements here and there maybe for safety but I'm not sure I could class a restored tub on 37s and fully kitted out as "restored"

The Lwb and kja chassis are pretty much identical apart from the bed mounts on the back anyway.

As Dan says as well it would be better to mod the axles for NT spring spacing, more leverage on the springs means more flex and there's a lot more clearance for steering lock on the front. You can't fit 29-30" tyres on sammy spring spacing without hitting the springs at full lock, but with the narrower spring spacing you can clear 33-34" tyres.

[mike harris]

doing it my way I'm afraid boys !

I don't really care about restoring the body then beating it after, I've done it with mine.

Cab and bed I will do a complete restoration on, making them perfect.

I plan on modding the chassis to take samurai axles and make the wheel base even longer maybe, not sure yet, I want a full length bed as its going to be road legal.

I don't scrub anywhere I have 10 inches of offset in my wheels dan

My reasoning for doing all this is in a few year time I want to compete or should I say attend the rainforest challenge in Malaysia. Issues come with camping and spares ect in my commercial van there's no room especially once a proper cage is introduced.

Also with 37 inch tyres I want longer wheelbase.

And I fancy a new project, il use my suzuki all year and right up until I rape it for this project.

But my minds made up, will be a very long term thing as I don't get much time.

Just need to find one now !

[ScottieJ]

Fair enough, just thought as the chassis is pretty much identical it wouldn't really matter if you started with a Lwb with kja cab and bed, plus it would be less work doing the suspension as its already samurai width spring spacing.

You are gonna need some MASSIVE arches to cover those thres enough to be road legal

[mike harris]

Yeh I know I just want a Kja

Yeh I may still keep it offroad only, I'm not sure on that part yet

I think first I need to get hold of a Kja and go from there

I'm going to go to town on it, so there's no rush. As I can use mine in the mean time.

Hope it will look pretty cool.

[donkeychomp]

Find one and do it. Could you send me my 2 little door trim parts first?