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Hello

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:51 pm
by palo123
Just like to say hi as I've just joined and tell you about my Suzuki.

I just got a 1984 sj410 soft top in yellow for free when my brother bought a land rover the other day. It's completely original with 40,000 miles.

It was not running when I got it as squirrels had chewed through some wires and after some tinkering I connected it back up and it fired up with some persuasion. It needs a couple thing doing to it to get it on the road such as welding, exhaust and accelerator cable, but I was surprised how little rot it had.
I am hoping to give it a lift, respray, seats, snorkel and maybe a cage. I don't know whether to keep the 4 speed and little 1.0l engine or upgrade.

I'm hoping to have it as a first car when restored as I'm only 16 at the moment, also depending on insurance cost.

Suggestions would be appreciated, I'll try and post some pics but am not sure if allowed as I'm new.

Thanks again as this forum has helped alot with getting it going.

Re: Hello

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:30 am
by Anton
Welcome!

Photos would be great. We love pics of SJ's.

I would recommend you keep it as stock as possible if you can, have fun with it, and then work out what mods you want to do. Before doing a lift, consider a "virtual lift". As for engine - 1.6 out of a vit and 1.3 gearbox out of a SJ413 is pretty much the gold standard.

And again, :welcome:

Re: Hello

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:29 am
by ROBBIE
Hi :welcome:

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:20 am
by Martin86
Welcome, Sounds like a gem! :D Get some pictures up :thumbup:

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:14 am
by zook123
Welcome! Pics Please!

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:28 pm
by dan_2k_uk
Hi and welcome to SCUK.

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:19 pm
by palo123
Hi guys. After a long time trying to upload some images i finally managed it. If any of you are having trouble with the file size being too big then i used this site:
http://webresizer.com/resizer/

All you need to do is up load your pic and then change the size in the boxes below.

Here are some pics of my sj. I said in my original post i was surprised at how little rust it had. I take that back!
Suzuki sj.jpg
Suzuki sj.jpg (253.57 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki engine.jpg
Suzuki engine.jpg (265.16 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki rear.jpg
Suzuki rear.jpg (243.15 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki interior.jpg
Suzuki interior.jpg (223.71 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki wheel.jpg
Suzuki wheel.jpg (95.32 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki wing.jpg
Suzuki wing.jpg (183.31 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki windscreen.jpg
Suzuki windscreen.jpg (170.87 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki boot.jpg
Suzuki boot.jpg (196.21 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki arch near.jpg
Suzuki arch near.jpg (182.29 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki arch driver.jpg
Suzuki arch driver.jpg (184.98 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
Suzuki side.jpg
Suzuki side.jpg (225.01 KiB) Viewed 7678 times
So there it is, the dented wing was fine but while towing it home the brand new tow rope snapper and the towing vehicle stopped which some how dented the wing. All that was stopping it from running was the green power cable which is attached to the +ve battery terminal.

There are a couple bits of rust, but was wondering if a virtual lift would be any good as someone above mentioned it. would i need to cut along the indent abouve the arches?
Also am thinking of switching to a 1.3 engine but was wondering if they fit in the same engine mounts. I know everyone says a 1,6 vit but i dont like the idea of all the adaption stuff.

Thanks for the welcome!

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:31 pm
by r-nottz
Welcome mate pretty cool little freebie there.

If your considering keeping it for a while with the intentions of making it road legal l, I'd look into the rust issues first, as they can bite you in the ass when it comes to mot time. Then when you know she's solid you can start working on lifting, tyres, engine etc

Plenty of guides, projects and good people on here for reference.


Otherwise enjoy, not much on these is unrepairable!

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:13 pm
by RickUK
Welcome to the forum,the SJ does have some potential but of course you will have to spend some time on it addressing a few cosmetic issues.

Sorry about this but we do have to face a reality check here as sometimes we can get ahead of ones self,the reality check that i am on about its great to have all these great ideas that one is going to do ie like bigger engine,lift kits and all the other ideas,but you do have one massive thing going against you in this reality check and that is your age of being just 16.

I think you 1st need to get some indication of how much the insurance will cost for a bog standard SJ410 prior to doing all the work and other alterations,the insurance for you will be massive and i mean massive,that is the reality side of this rebuild.

Dont mean to be a bringer of bad news but its worth checking insurance prior to taking on such a big job of a rebuild.

Re: Hello

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:54 pm
by ROBBIE
Virtual lift here
http://forum.suzukiclubuk.co.uk/vi ... =10&t=8046
That will sort the rust on the arches. Contact Mike Harris on here for a screen, he might have one if not get on facebook and find some of the Suzuki groups. Then sort out the rest of the body rust, get an mot drive it, enjoy it and then think about other mods from there ;)