1998 Jimny Japanese Import

[fella]

i trawled all over megasquirt websites and did much reading, and in conclusion, its a smidge beyond my understanding or capabilities at this time! guess the benefit of of megasquirt is as i learn i would be able to tinker with it as well without having to take it back to a garage, but thats a ways down the line.

i have found a couple of places nearby in essex that seemed optimistic about helping me with a piggyback setup, so will take it down to them in a couple weeks and see what they think. its been quite hard to get help with as most people baulked at the tiny size of the engine, and then if that didn't put them off it was because its so 'old' and they just werent interested.

[fella]

this was how she looked in Japan.

the rims are 16" with snow tyres which would not be needed whilst we're in the uk so we bought 5 steelies off ebay for 50 quid.

had them blasted and coated.

then we found some yokohama geolander m+s tyres with bonus whitewalls and a good price. they came from Germany.

the look my wife wants is a useable gangster so she had all the lenses smoked. It suits it rather well i think.

we racked up 2500 miles over about 6 weeks, going to a wedding in snow up in the Yorkshire dales, some green laning over christmas in the wolds and also some motorway miles. all handled with ease.

issues that have popped up; although the wax protection underneath is great and there is no rust below, there are some patches that need doing on one sill, behind the drivers door, a bumper mount and weirdly the rear door is just starting to rot out along the bottom edge. all the seals on the windows and doors are and no holes anywhere else. the paint looks okay in the pictures and isn't bad from afar, but the rust and paint is the biggest thing that needs done.

having the engine boosted was a good move, when its turned back down to stock it feels achingly slow so it was enough to make it useable and also helps with wooosh sounds.

she's parked up at the moment as we bombed down to the south of France and the alps in the 4motion passat estate for a few weeks.

i think i'm going to have to order in from japan some oem fog lights for the front bumper as they'll come with the correct mount and will save some faffage. could also do with some genuine floor mats as the carpet got nailed over the 2 months we used it. mudflaps are also on my wish list.

think thats where we're at...

[mk1joe]

It looks excellent! I bet its great fun to drive. I'm really jealous that you went all the way to Japan and brought a car back, that's really cool.

[donkeychomp]

Best get those lights uncovered. That's a pull from plod any time and 6 points and £200 fine just for the rears alone. Cool truck though, I like it a lot!

[sj_durham]

Lovely Sj as others have said get it rustproofed asap so it stays lovely


As i spend this week blasting underside nooks and crannies myself i feel i must warn you haha.

[SherwoodNash]

You have illegal tints there mate.

If I was driving my family, I'd go as bright as allowed, especially on a black car and wheels.

[fella]

The under seal is clinging on fine, it’s been done plenty underneath so no issue there. It’s the body that sucks.

Went to a couple of paint shops to price up the body panel repairs and paint work needed. The issue it it used to be silver and the gloss black we see was blown over onto the paint that was barely keyed underneath. It’s flaking off quicker than goldmember.

The lights all remained their original colours and their power has not been dimmed beyond the 50% minimum of their original strength, this was the 25% sheet. It was doesn’t on a whim and we made sure it’s legal. there was the extra dark show cars only sheet which looked ridiculous and we kindly turned down. They’re brighter than the bleeding Passat still ironically.

[Anton]

I actually like the tinted lights, I think they look awesome. And if they're fully legal (and you have documents in the glove box proving that) then I'd say rock on.

If you ever want to sell it, then you should consider going back to standard, but as I say - I think they look great.

[fella]

Time flies when you can't go out.

We've relocating back to the UK after nearly 12 years away for me. Passat was scrapped due to rust issues that were not economical to repair so Kuma was thrust into daily duties. She's been sweet as a nut thus far. She went on a few shoots last year romping over moors and every man and his dog loved her and wanted us to let them now if we wanted to sell him.

Some oik indly kicked the cheap rear fog off when my wife was in Bradford so we've ordered an OEM unit from Suzuki to replace it. I also ordered another OEM fog switch from Japan to replace the toggle we had put in for the first MOT.

I also got my friend in Japan to post us some other bits which included a full set of fancy floor mats, front white fog lights (not yellow) but annoyingly one part of the brackets are missing so that needs tinkering. Also got a bigger turbo (still tiny), some next size up injectors, new luggage trim as the old one was rusty and some piggyback controllers from Japan to fettle with. Stupidly i should have ordered some more trim bits from Japan as these are eye wateringly expensive in the UK and would've been a lot cheaper.

The rust is properly rearing her head now so this summer's job will be to get that dealt with.

Worst piece of news is I hit a massive pot hole on the way to work and the windscreen cracked along the bottom below the wiper. Its steadily crawling across towards the side. It has got to be due to the very harsh suspension setup with the trailing arms, massive sway bay and badly designed front shocks i think, everytime I go over a speed hump at the speed of a normal car i bounce out the seat. Time is fast approaching to get some new front shocks somehow for it and replace the springs.

over the next few weeks hopefully will have some evidence to support proposed plans.

[acsenki]

Great car! Would love to hear and see some updates on how you are getting on with it. I'm really interested in getting one of these to the UK myself, so it's great to read about the practical issues.

Keep us in the loop if you can!

Cheers