Suzuki Club UK

This build thread was on Difflock originally some may have seen it already. Thought I would transfer it to here as I think you lot would be kinder about my ghetto BFH skills

After 3 years of injury (4 discs in back and a snapped bicep tendon) I am going to be able to get on with it again this year so will update as and when I do.

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I have waited 10 years to finally build my own off roader partly because of the expenses of children, which suck the life out of your bank account. But I finally started, I will post as and when I get the time, so no hassle . Started a while ago so a lot to start with.

Will be loads of pics as I know you all like pics.

The start - as bought off Ebay for £200 in 2007 - LWB Samurai non runner resting in a scrap yard and interior full of water.



Got it up and running and back on the road for £250. Little bit of welding required, but the body and even the paint were pretty good. I think the previous owner had started stripping it to sell off bits or modify it but never really did much and just scrapped it.
Standard 92 LWB with homemade SWB softop conversion. Original Suzuki softop another Ebay find for £40.





Ran around like this for a year then 1st Stage
Add a leaf all round,
Diahatsu alloys,
235/75R15 Bronco Grizzly Claws
Custom 4x2 steel box bumper.

Here you can see the difference tyres and add a leaf made!

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Pretty good in the mud



Then fitted some extended L*and Rover arches as the tyres poked out a bit.



Then this came along FSO with a 1900cc Peugeot diesel and rear wheel drive 59000 miles. £235 Ebay again. It had only really been used on a farm and caravan site. Just had £80 worth of new clutch.




Stripped it completely and scrapped the shell

So the monster rebuild plan was born.

1900 Pug Diesel and box from the FSO
Rocklobster tcase
Vitara front ventilated discs
Rear disc conversion
X brake tcase disc handbrake
Vitara Power steering
Got a phobia of tipping over so keeping it SPUA with the add a leaf on back and Rears Up Front
Missing link front shackles. Dog leg rears
Polybushed all round
Range Rover bumpstops bigger and lower to stop axle hitting Pug sump
Procomp shocks all round
Front diff armour
Tcase bucket
Virtual lift
Back of LWB has a big overhang so cutting 9 inches out of the body only, rear chassis members will be within the box section rear bumper and bolted in place using old towbar mounting points
Rear rad because I am fed up with mud clogged radiators causing overheating
Need to keep rear seats (kids ) so custom rear bodywork to house rad
90x90 Box section sills
Custom fuel tank cut down from FSO one, wide and quite shallow more ground clearance and tank armour
Reverse rim Diahatsu steel wheels and Kumho KL71 33x12.50x15 tyres - makes the track 8 inches wider.
Probably bonnet scoop to clear engine. Thought about body lift but want it as low as possible
Custom stainless exhaust
Snorkel
Axle breathers
Removable doors and half doors for summer
Full interior roll cage

Aiming for all mods to be bolt on and no chassis cutting so I wont need an IVA test

Rough idea of the look and stance I am aiming for - my inspiration with a little photoshop – no idea whose zuke this is hope he doesn’t mind me using it.





This is a bit higher as it is SPOA

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Let the work begin…

Stripped out the rear to cut down the rear body whilst still supported by the chassis



Not much rust at all and I was cutting this part off anyway, well pleased this was the worst





Carnage…

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Cutting away arches for virtual lift



9 inches shorter



Plating arches for virtual lift





I know it looks curved on top but that is the camera, before anyone points it out

More to follow…

read through the build on difflock, and i really like your skills man, just spot on. I just had a few questions though. when you welded the fuel tank, what did you do to prevent the tank from exploding when you cut it etc? also I noticed you didn't flatten off a lot of your welds(which look fantastic anyways mate). any reason for this? I generally like to flatten them off just for looks you see.

good work though, keep it up!

kiwizook wrote:read through the build on difflock, and i really like your skills man, just spot on. I just had a few questions though. when you welded the fuel tank, what did you do to prevent the tank from exploding when you cut it etc? also I noticed you didn't flatten off a lot of your welds(which look fantastic anyways mate). any reason for this? I generally like to flatten them off just for looks you see.

good work though, keep it up!

Thanks

Fuel tank was from the FSO so had only had diesel in it, just emptied it out and flushed it with soapy water, diesel doesn't burn like petrol, you can drop a match in a cup of diesel and it will go out. Its partly why I wanted a diesel engine for if I rolled it. (Hope not!)

When you flatten the welds right back you can weaken them a lot. If i'm restoring something I will but I left them for maximum strength.

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Virtual arches taking shape you can see where the arch is cut away how little rust there was









Frame built across back to hold radiator

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Wanted to be able to fit the SWB soft top still and enclose the rad so the kids don’t get fried if a hose goes, so modified the tailgate to fit between the arches at the same place it would be on a SWB



Got a couple of rear corners from a scrap shell (thanks Breedsey)



Channel for rainwater

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This shows how the top fits as standard and uses the channel to clear the rainwater



Quick mockup to see how it looks. There will be air intakes going into the sides of the wings above the arches and probably smaller arches so the intakes can be bigger, a mesh back with twin 11 inch fans on the rad and a couple of small shrouded fans going in the diamond plate top. The rad going in is the FSO one, which has been re-cored with 20% more tubes top to bottom, doubled up on thickness front to rear and made 6 inches longer. £280 not too bad.



This pic shows the clearance a virtual lift makes - 29 inch tyre with add a leaf (approx 2 inch lift over std) and a 1 inch spacer under the body. I was going to do a 1 inch body lift but I don’t think I will now. As I am keeping it SPUA I thought I would need it to clear the air intakes on the engine but I am going to fit a hood scoop instead. Want to keep the CofG as low as possible.



If the cooling isn't good enough I have worked it out so I can put a rad back in the front and the back becomes a small lockable boot.

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Out in the daylight





Really tight on space.



With the back cut down the full tear down could begin.





As you can see wanted to lift body off but had to stand it at the back of the garage hence cutting the back down first or it was too long!