Suzuki Club UK

Thought I would detail the history of the racer, it is currently on its 4th (and most extensive) rebuild I have been racing it for about 7 years. It started life as a LWB pickup. It was meant to be a stopgap until I built up another SJ I was coiling. Started with just a cage, springs and a new back body.

I've never seen the early days of the racer Tim. I'm looking forward to seeing it's history unfold It's evolved a lot since these pictures, thats for sure!

1st race did not go according to plan, I was on 413 axles and standard Diahatsu rims. Within 2 miles on the first lap I put it on its roof nearly rolling down a 40 ft bank. No real damage apart from my ego. Rolled again onto the other side during the afternoon.
I had a rethink and made up a set of wide rims + I lowered as much weight as possible, including the seats. At the next race I could not see out of the windscreen so raced with a pile of coats on the seat! I was also struggling to drive as the cab was cramped, in spite of this I won my class. As I had started racing partway through the season I did the two races and then started the first rebuild. This was to extend the cab by fitting the rear part of a 410 hardtop. The rear panel from the original truck cab was then grafted in

tim what shafts did you run in this monster???

not satndard ones surely??

mike

Mike,
As the truck evolved shafts and axle housings became one of the weak links. It ended up with heavily modded housings, with a fully floating kit and CrMo shafts in the back with Trail Tough front shafts and CVs, also CrMo in the front. These are to be changed out for D2 axles shortly (someone here already has dibbs on the Suzuki axles)

Tim

hello,

so do you rate the uprated trail tough shafts then??

what are d2 shafts? who makes them? i take it they are better than trail tough ones?

( for some reason it wont let me log in to veiw the pm from you, so could you pm me over difflock please tim, thanks

mike

D2 = Discovery 2 axles. The TT shafts cured the problems I had with sammy shafts breaking when landing heavily. I think, however, that the redtop and my driving style may prove too much for them hence the change

The rear body was meant to be a stopgap as I ran out of time before the start of the season. It was made out of thin tin from some old cold store panels I had, it took about 2 hours to make and stayed on the truck until I changed the back end completely.
At the same time I was collecting parts to tune the 1300, I had a cam, exhaust manifold and freeflow exhaust, I had also made an SU adaptor but had not had time to fit them prior to the start of the season.
I had a few good races and was then offered a 1600 16v for free. It was from a Swift so came with carb and dizzy. The Carb was fubarred so I made another adaptor for the SU. The bore spacings were the same as the 1300 so the manifold was adapted to fit the 16v studs.
1st race with the new engine was a disaster with a rod through the block on lap 1. When it let go I felt the shrapnel hit the steering column, it all but took the alternator off one side and took the oil filter and boss clean off the block on the other.

I could not source another Swift engine so fitted a Vitara engine, this caused loads of issues as they are somewhat different. I modded the manifold but could not get the engine to run properly. After missing a race becuase of this I found that the dizzy was turning the wrong way. After redoing the mount all was well.


Ist race with the new new engine did not go at all well! 2nd lap I decided I could take a jump faster so hit the htrottle coming out of the corner before and kept it pinned. Given that the new engine was putting twice as much power to the ground this was a mistake. We jumped very high and came down like a lawn dart with the front bumper hitting the ground. It was making some strange noises but I decided to carry on. When we got back to the pits we had about 10 degrees of camber on one front wheel. The axle was u/s and I was planning to add sammy axles over the winter so I made the decision to carry on racing. 300 yards into the next lap there was a big bang as the front half shaft snapped as it could not take the bend. I spent the rest of the day looking out the side windows as I drifted the truck around the course in 2WD.

Over the winter I fitted the sammy axles and made up some fiberglass wings to cover them I extended the rear arches a bit as well

Pic is after the cab had been extended and a body work respray.

Ist race of the next season did not go to plan (bit of a pattern developing) I came back from the first lap with another bent front axle and TBH I was not even pushing the racer hard. I did 2 more laps before I called it a day as the axle continued to bend and I was afraid I would do more damage. I sourced another sammy axle and strengthened it in the normal way. I also bought a Rob Storr fully floating kit and trussed the rear axle as well. Whilst I was at it I fitted a lockright to the rear.
In the next race the lockright lasted 15 miles before breaking both springs and pins. The bolts holding the RS conversion plates to the rear axle casing also sheared causing the hub calliper disc and shaft to detach. I was not aware of this until braking for a v steep drop, no brakes! I got stuck in the ditch at the bottom & no end of shunting could get me out. Once I got out of the racer I quickly realised I was going no where as I only had 3 wheels.
The 2 DNFs had messd up my season so I took some time out to sort out some of the issues I had found on truck, I then entered my 1st AWDC safari. I had repaired the lockright but again it lasted about 18 miles before packing up. On the penultimate lap I tried a bit too hard and landed heavily, the rear prop separated & dug in the ground shearing off. The stubby section on the transfer box then flailed around vibrating like mad. I tried to make the rest of the lap in 2wd but was defeated by a steep muddy climb. When I got the truck home both front and rear axles were slightly bent.
I decided to do the next race as it was, I had some engine work to do because the vibration had loosened the front pulley and the flywheel. Once this was completed I ignored the slight bend in both axles and went racing.
Rave went well apart from a puncture, but both axles were u/s at the end.

After all the trouble with the axle cases I checked out an old book I have on vehicle design. I punched in the numbers for the samurai axles, with the extra width over a SJ the factor of safety had about halved. Adding offset rims and larger tyres meant that the area outside the spring perch was too weak. Whilst I am anal about saving weight this was now one area where overkill was called for. Eventually I sleeved the axle tubes with 2 1/2" redband (1/4" wall) flared at the hub end so that it connects directly to the hub flange. The spring perches run along the axle and are made from 1/4" channel. The hub adaptor on the rear is welded to the flange and perch. The diff covers are high carbon steel (the end off a compressor tank) and are welded into the truss. At the front I made up some small parts and welded them onto the swivel ball where the seal does not swipe, these add much needed strength to this area. Each axle had over 40 hours in it, however the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I have never had any issues since with the strength of the casings.
At the same time I I changed my now open diff for a welded diff. It is only a problem on tight hairpins, apart from that it makes a huge difference to both acceleration out of corners and braking deep into corners.