New to the forum - Northants

[270buck]

Hi,

I am not yet a fully fledged Suzuki SJ owner!! I will be very soon.

I am looking to get any SJ convertible, my mate had a hardtop a few years back. It was a great little vehicle and did not get stuck anywhere, and god did we try and get it stuck so we could test out the winch he fitted.

I have a company car so I think having a 4X4 convertible for the weekend and also for shooting would be a great thing to have.

Any tips on finding a good one would be great.

Cheers

Buck

[twiss]

Hi!

Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear of people looking for SJs!!! There seems to be a bucketload of them for sale on ebay at the minute!!!
Are you over 25? If so I would speak to frank pickles insurance... if you have another car then will do you a really cheap policy... mine's about £150 for a year fully comp.

When you look at them, I would check out the following:

Engine - check for any obvious leaks and nasty noises when it's running
They seem to leak a bit around the distributor oil seal, you will see the oil on the top of the gearbox through the engine bay

Gearbox - Check it goes into gear properly, no crunchy noises

Axles - check the diffs, and check for oil around the flange for the propshaft. If they are leaking around there its a bit of a mission to rebuild them... also, you don't know how long they've been leaking, and then run without oil
Also check the CV joint/steering knuckles... make sure they are not pissing oil out!

Rust - Check down in the front footwells, the rear footwells and the very back corners... this is where they seem to get rusty.
Move the carpet and have a poke around if you can

As for mods... if you're buying one with some mods already done to it... good ones to get are:

rear disc conversion - the back brakes will get knackered and need new brake shoes if you go mudding a lot, rear discs solves this problem. Would probably cost about £100-200 to buy the parts and do it yourself
free wheeling hubs - useful things that allow the front wheels to spin separately to the rest of the axle. Good for long journeys, saves a bit of fuel
carburettor - the standard carbs are a bit unreliable after 70k miles or so... the chokes break.
classic symptom of this is either a high idle (sometimes up at 4k rpm) or cutting out... these normally indicate a carb fault
so either a webber, SU or nikki carb pre-fitted is a bonus
suspension lift - there are all different types, I would advise no more than a 2-3" lift to start and see how you get on

hope this helps with your search

[twiss]

also, a set of mud tyres will usually set you back over £100 2nd hand so its a good bonus if you get some with the truck

[270buck]

Cheers for the tips.

Anyone out there wants to part with a road legal SJ convertible?? I have cash waiting if it ticks all or most of the boxes.

Cheers

Buck

[twiss]

I would honestly have a look on ebay... theres a lot on there!

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=suzu ... samurai%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[twiss]

Oh one more thing... shackle lifts are bad
Look at this pic... you can see the shackles sticking down in front of the front wheels.



Those shackles are pointless, rubbish off road... so if you see someone saying "Amazing shackle lift", they're a dick

[ScottieJ]

Those shackles are pointless, rubbish off road... so if you see someone saying "Amazing shackle lift", they're a dick

Welcome to the forum matey, I think twiss pretty much covered what to look out for.

Also when you look at one I would be a bit wary if they have already run it up to temperature before you get there, could be trying to hide that the bottom end knocks a bit when cold or that the valve stem oil seals have gone if it is. Make sure you let it run up to temp and idle for a few minutes to make sure there are no overheating issues.

Good luck on your hunt for a good one.

[Russ24]

and yes, seems twiss has the SJ bible/self help/owners manuel/life style choice/does n donts, book out again.




"amasing shackle lift kit" because im a dick

[twiss]

I actually have real copies of the original owners manuals, the factory service manual and a haynes manual

... and a load of stuff from the internets!

I found some actual SJ porn if you want it russ haha

[ROBBIE]

to the forum hope you find a good 1 they are out there jus follow the twiss code