Suzuki Club UK

I'm looking to swap my samurai 1.3 for a bigger better suzuki engine I'm wanting either the 2.0 grand vitara or the 2.5 v6, just wondering which one is better?? Regards jack

IMO the V6's are too heavy for the nimble little Samurai. They're not much more powerful than the J20 2.0 4cyl anyway (146 vs 126bhp). The "choice" engine in my opinion is the (newer, probably a lot more expensive) 2.4 litre version of the J20, imaginatively called the J24. It's got 164bhp.

But do you really need that much? The 1.6 is such an easy swap, and gives you nearly 50% more power. Good 1.6's are £100 all day long, you can use the same gearbox as the 1.3, same clutch etc.

With the 2.0, 2.3, 2.4, v6 etc you need to swap the gearbox really.

That's what I was thinking tbh, will the 4cyl 2.0 vitara fit easy enough?

Neither of those engine choices are simple to fit.
You can technically fit a j20 to the 1.3 box but you need to to run a damn good clutch as the 1.3 clutch is tiny and they don't cope with twice the power. You can buy kits from the US but you are looking at over $1000

I'm fitting a j20 using a 2wd Vitara/x90 gearbox. This is not a simple job though as it's a big gearbox so either transmission tunnel mods or a body lift are needed. or mods to the gearbox itself to move the lever. The gearboxes aren't easy to find, you also need to get either a g16 flywheel modified with a new bolt pattern and some machining or find an even harder to find j18 flywheel. Oh and a custom prop to mate it to the tbox. I wouldn't run this set up without uprated axles either. It's not a cheap swap or easy conversion.

The M series engines are easy to fit by building a hybrid SJ/jimny gearbox and you can get good power out of them.

The g16 16v is the easiest to fit with good power. Personally unless you want a real challenge I think that's the way to go.

Yea I'll have a look into it I've seen some stage 2 & 3 clutches for the 1.3 box said to stand up to 40% plus power on them either that or leave the j20 standard box on it and fab the tunnel around it?

I'm not sure it's really possible to use the gearbox that comes in the GV, they are different to the early vit gearboxes and I don't think they can easily be made to work with the sj tbox. Personally I would not choose to run the whole vit transmission to get around that either as the tbox has no reduction in high and if there are kits to lower the low range gearing they will be very expensive, they also don't have offset rear outputs.

There's no easy and cheap way to fit a j20a really.

This is the easiest option...certainly isn't cheap though http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?pag ... &Itemid=53

With an SJ the transmission choice is really limited, there just isn't enough length for a lot of gearboxes, even the gearbox i'm using is nearly too long

Why do you need such a big engine? It's not always the size that matters!

I've got a 410 gearbox as well that any shorter? You're right about the size and power it's just I've blown my 1.3 and as it's getting swapped I my as well go better might put hilux axles 35" later on so wanted more poke plus I've got rocklonster being built. I would put some pics up she is quite customised now but I'm puzzle on how.

410 gearboxes have a tiny bellhousing and won't even fit the 1.3 flywheel in. They are be same size as the 1.3 box in every other way.

The performance off road is more about the gearing for the tyre size than what engine is fitted.

A 1.6 correctly geared will pull 35s easily. I daily drive mine on 33s with a 1.6.

Persobally not a fan of Hilux axles, an sj on 33s and sj axles will perform better than one on hilix axles with 35s.

The only reason mine is going j20 over the g16 16v that it currently has is because it's going to tow a camping trailer around touring at some point and it's being built to do a lot of road miles, I want it to be able to comfortably drive motorways in it. For an off-roader the 1.6 16v would be my choice. Simplicity is the way to go, it keeps it more reliable and makes it easier to work on.