Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I thought this may be of interest or use to others.

My beloved 1985 SJ413W (LWB softop) is frequently left parked in the shed for two or three weeks at a time, and when I know it's going to sit for a while, I disconnect the battery.

When I recently reconnected the battery and hit the starter it ...

Maybe we should go by the words of the man who designed the world's first ute, that was Lew Bandt who was a designer at Ford Australia in 1932.

A farmer's wife wrote asking for a vehicle that could "take us to church on Sunday and the pigs to market on Monday". Bandt's solution, which went on ...

Maybe we should go by the words of the man who designed the world's first ute, that was Lew Bandt who was a designer at Ford Australia in 1932.

A farmer's wife wrote asking for a vehicle that could "take us to church on Sunday and the pigs to market on Monday". Bandt's solution, which went on ...

if its got seats than its not a ute

My take on this argument is quite simple, if the rear is designed to carry a load, it's a ute, if it is designed to carry passengers it is not a ute.
Sorry Longbaser, your Boss Hog limmo started life as a ute but it ain't one any more :finger:
Peter. (and my ...

11_evl wrote:if its got seats than its not a ute

That seems a good point, 11_evl, but who said a ute can't have seats?

The licensing authorities in all Australian states clasified the Sierra as a ute with seats, maybe we should argue the toss with them.

Cheers - Longbaser.

^
1. Not a ute
2. it looks like if you brake too hard you will flip over
On the rego papers most sierras are utes.


That may be so, but as this is a thread for actual utes and seeing as i actually have a ute then i want to see real ute pics. :)

Ah, the old argument of "what is a ute ...

Back on topic (sorry to interrupt.)

'85 LWB styleside softop.
Diffs and transfer are what it left the factory with 23 years ago, never been opened up. Ratios? Umm... the same, whatever they are.

S/H gearbox and S/H stock G13A fitted in 2000.
Stock airbox feeds from intake behind grille. Extractors ...

Love this thread!

When you realise there is a strange noise coming from your driveline, and 15 years later realise that it is still there, but has not gotten any worse. What - me worry?

Cheers - Longbaser.

A slight thread hijack here; Highway Star, how about some details and pics of your modification?

Removing the fibreglass roof really is a PITA, and I will still need an extra pair of hands because the rear section for a LWB Sierra weighs so much, but something easier than bolts does sound ...

Scorpions really are the duck's nuts on bitumen. Reasonably quiet and excellent handling, so long as you get the pressures right for the vehicle's weight. I run 24psi front and 20 rear, a little more in the rear when loaded, and aired down to 15 for soft stuff.

Very good on wet bitumen, though they ...

Don't dismiss the Scorpion ATs so easily, fordy1!

They're good on Tritons too, eh Rockwolf?
I put a second-hand (75% tread) set on my LWB Sierra in 2002, replaced them with new Scorpions 2-1/2 years ago. Okay, they're not boulder-climbers or mud-sluggers, but a great all-rounder as they say. (Of ...

I'm afraid "security" and "softtop" are mutually exclusive, they just don't go together. I never lock my doors even when the top is up, why encourage some little turd to take to it with a stanley knife?

But - I am still shaking my head over this - three nights ago I left my Zuke in the driveway at ...

I believe the "moose test" aka "the Scandiivavian flick" is a manouevre that was pioneered by rally drivers in that part of the world, to steer around big four-legged things at high speed.

Since I was taught it back in 1985, I have used it only twice - once to avoid a 'roo, and once to avoid a ...

G'day Bruzar.
I'll just drop in my 20 cents worth on tyre pressures.

If your Zuke still has its tyre placard intact, it will tell you to run at 20psi on the road. Seems odd to those of us accustomed to Commodores, Falcons etc at 30-plus psi, but as Grimbo said, Zukes are really light in weight ...

G'day all, just wanted to share this with you.

My box-stock 22 year old Sierra's G13A engine was replaced about seven years ago but was getting a little tired (okay, VERY tired!). For the past two years I have been forced to use the Zook for all my work travel, so it was hard to take it off the ...

Please, please tell me I need new spectacles and that's not a bottle cork (or something very much like it) I see jammed into the sump drain outlet!! :roll:

Then again, considering the rest of the vehicle, a cork is probably hi-tech...

Omigod, what an abomination. But of course, it does come with ...

eXc, take careful note of everything said in the above posts, there is a lot of good sense being shared...

Just to let you know where I'm coming from, although my Sierra runs 24 Front and 20 Rear, the other car in my family is a Camry sedan on 215/65s running 34 F and 30 R. I'd run the same in a ...

Tyre pressures of a Sierra on bitumen are only supposed to be 20, eXc. That's according to the original tyre placard on the cars, I run 235/75 Pirellis on 15x7 alloys, 24 front and 20 rear on the road. I get good even tyre wear and it handles well without jumping all over the show! :lol:

If it ...

J-top, a litle extra detail on tightening the steering box.
And yes, it can eliminate steering vibration even when there is no apparent freeplay. My Sierra would practically shake itself off the road when it reached 75kmh until I got this right!

Loosen the locknut, then slightly back off the ...

In case you doubt anything you find using Search, bigmick, I have driven such a beast and can tell you what it felt like to drive.

Bloody terrifying. Power and torque were great, but its handling on the road was really bad. That extra weight up front made it understeer worse than any other Sierra I ...

Yeh, the ultimate challenge in rebuilding a Zook!

I went through this after getting a good pair of doors to replace my rusted out ones a few months ago. After shattering several impact driver bits, and having seen the damage a cold chisel can do if it slips at the critical moment, I dug out my old ...

G'day all.
I know there are a few forum members in the Newcastle area.

Our thoughts are with you fellas (both sexes included), hope you all managed to escape the worst of that storm.

Cheers - Longbaser.

I just took one look at the lights at the top of the screen and thought "No farkin' way". That was enough to tell me the guy that built it has no clue....

Why?


I'm betting that AJFeroza's thoughts were the same as mine - mounting those lights directly over the windscreen like that, instead of ...

Highway-Star, I realised I can add a bit of info about painting a fibreglass canopy, as my Flexiglass job was done just after I bought it six years ago to match the paintwork on the car.

Not a real colour change as it was already white and so is the Sierra, but the canopy had a few stains and the ...

If I didn't already have a Flexiglass canopy on my LWB, I'd be bidding on that for sure! :armsup: LWB canopies were never made in great numbers, so they're getting hard to find.

I paid $400 for mine six years ago at Suzukishop and it's great in winter (the only time I use it, summer security ...

Bill, as Steve said, it is worth that sort of money if it is legally engineered.

A bigger engine is about the only modification I have ever considered for my LWB (I keep having erotic fantasies about a 1.9 litre VW turbodiesel ;) ), but the Vitara engine sounds pretty good too.

Grab it while you ...

Steve, it's good to hear that I am not alone!

I've resisted many suggestions of modifications to my LWB over the 20 years it has been mine, it is still box-stock and will stay that way. It even rides on standard height (though new six years ago) springs and shockers.

Some strange offers have been ...

G'day Pep.

Yes, the easiest effective upgrade is to fit H4 halogen lamp units that replace the entire headlight shell. I put a pair of them into my Sierra about 10 years ago and they are still doing a great job with a standard alternator and the usual itty-bitty battery.

You can run 55/100W globes ...

G'day all.
I couldn't resist the opportunity to put a perspective on this.

As Want33s pointed out, an LJ80 cost less new. And so did a lot of other things...

Waaay back in 1971, I considered buying a new XY Falcon GT 351 'shaker', but opted instead for a 1968 HK Monaro GTS 327 (the very first ...

Well, it's good to see confirmation at last that the W/T LWB Sierra did exist!

From side-on, Griselda looks just like my '85 LWB 1.3, except that its wheel arch flares were added on by me (bought from Suzukishop Wreckers here in WA), and of course mine is still a N/T. At least that means none of ...