I thought I would share a restoration that I am currenlty doing on my 1983 Suzuki SJ 410.
People seem to like stories and I’m sure I could do with some advice and input from yee guys too. I like off road mud machines as much as the next guy, but I am trying to restore mine as it was originally.
Also I like taking pictures and video, so I might as well share them,
A few years back, while silage contracting on a local farm belonging to a friend of the family, I spotted an old SJ 410 rusting away in one of the buildings. It had been lying there for about 6 years and apparently had a blown head gasket. The owner reckoned he might do something with it some day and he wouldn't sell it, despite all the rust.
I took the above picture and then forgot about it, but when I was back there 2 years later and got talking about it again he said I could have it for free
. So headed back there with my Cruiser and trailer brought it home. I was in rough shape as you can see below
I got it running after draining out all the milky oil, and discovered that the core plugs in the head had all popped out due to frost, and the one in the side of the block too. So I removed the head to have a look, replaced the core plugs and head gasket and the water pump (which I broke myslef by being heavy handed)
It ran fine when all back together but it did smoke a lot. It drove ok too and after a few initial off road excursions to test its (surprisingly good) off road ability, I left it in the corner of my yard, only using it occasionally for moving trailers... and for teaching my girlfriend how to drive
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I have a big interest in historic, vintage and classic cars and tractors and always wanted to restore the little SJ. It was a vehicle that meant something to me seens as it was given to me by a friend and the fact that it has a local history. The body was the issue, it was totally rotten as you can probably make out in the pictures and completely beyond the point of repair. Good bodys and SJs in general, are few and far between around here, however...
One thursday evening I stumbled across a 1984 version for sale, with a decent body and at reasonable money. The gears started turning, so I went to check it out and bought it at a bargain price. Ferried it home from the far side of the country behind the Cruiser Amazon
The two of them looked good beside eachother, and although the new green one was actually in better condition than the brown one I knew that my lastest purchase was going to give up its body for me to achieve my restoration dream. Here's what the green one looked like, pretty original actually:
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The brown one however was in much worse shape on first inspection, but actually pretty good apart from the body.
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I was actually a little reluctant to get started as I knew what a giant task was ahead of me, but one friday evening I started stripping the body off the brown. I'm doing a complete restoration so I needed to get it down to a bare chassis before any constructive work could start. Taking the body off took about 3-4 hours, and the second time around with the green one it took just under 3 hours. Having a proper lift was a godsend as it left the operation very safe and controllable, as opposed to using a forklift or pulley blocks.
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So once the little SJ was apart there was no going back
I'll post up a bit more of my progress a little later. Hope you enjoy reading and watching, let me know what you think, I'd love to get some feedback from those in the know, or if you have any advice, cheers
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