edit: hard top found, let the mods begin...

[MrsForby]

Sounds good brendan!

4" should go un-noticed too.

[Brendan-s]

i'm gettin really excited... if I didn't have this damned course to go to after work tonight I would be picking it up today, but tomorrow she is all mine mwhahahahaha

[Guy]

i drove the datto around for 12 months without a handbrake so no matter there. but why is that?

So after more reading and thinking here's the plan in order. Please let me know what you think. Keep in mind this is my daily and I hate catching the bus to work so as much of the stuff as possible needs to be bolt-in mods.

In order:
2in bodyblocks
2in suspension and new bushes all around
4.9:1 lowrange offroad gears
31s

Of all the general driveability mods I have ever done to a Zuk, the swap to a 1.6 has got to be the best, the additional torque is useful in every day driving. I an running 29's with no change to gearing. I still get about 370 k's out of 35 litres of fuel, can sit on 110 without issue on hiway hills .. even accelerate if I like.
$500 for the motor some minor fab work on the drivers side engine mount (20 minutes) $8 for the appropriate bolts and few hours to swap it in ... away you go.

[MrsForby]

I was liek that when i got mine in october. Then my dad stole it and had some mods down to it for xmas, so I owned it for 2 months and never saw it!

Hee hee hee... Was almost like Pimp my Ride!

[foolsp33d]

We want PICS! lol. Sounds like a good little jigger! might be a little long in the tooth with 200+k on the clock but like others have said, throw in a 1.6 and dont look back..

running 31's on NT diffs with 2" b/l here standard gearing and a 1.3.. no complaints but would certainly consider the gearing if you are going to do engine swaps and bigger rubber.. my 0.2c..

[CanberraMav]

If it was me i would jump up to 6.5 gearset.

It will give you room to modify in the future if you go up in tyre sizes. They still work well with the 31's anyway.

[Fearhoza]

where can you get the 1.6 for $500?

[NIK]

If ur thinking of ever going bigger than 31s seriously think about toy diffs. I too was a purist and wanted to stay all zook but when I went to 32,s you start pushing it. I had heaps invested in zook diffs, spoa shock mounts braced rear diff wrap bar mounts vit gears lockers birfield rings etc. Then came busted front axle bent axle tube both rear axle splines twisted chipped rear ring gear so you have to think to I keep throwing money at something so you can say its all zook or upgrade. If I had done it right the first time it wouldnt have cost much more the modifiying zook stuff plus now Im not waiting to see what will break next.
But having said that I only had probs when I went 32 +.
Just something to think about but I never listened when I was told its all part of the learning curve, but as long as YOUR happy and having fun thats what its all about.
Nik

[mud4b]

mark plans are, after fraser a spring-over and 33s, then gearing of some sort (what would be better with 33s, transfer gears or diff gears?), then barwork, and lockers in that order.

sound good? anything I'm missing? the main thing is I want this to be a decent crawler/mud plugger but I still want to do highway runs up to mum and dad's every month or so, so it needs to be able to drive onroad alright too...

sorry bud slit the wrist in a accident... i would scrap the 33 if you want hway driving.. mate it comes down to what you want to spend..

a good set of lockers, spua, slight guard mods, ruf, 32" and series 1 gears would be sweet..

a spoa with 33" tyres to me just looks wrong.. plus you get the extra hassels of the springs torquing up... you would need rockhopper gears id would say around the middle of the bunch (85% low from memory) and around 12% high should do you for both on and off..


i still say the most fun ive had was in my work zook (2" lift f&r lockrights,29" muds... man i had to actually drive that thing.. it was awsome but it would still go anywhere..keep us posted..

[moose]

i drove the datto around for 12 months without a handbrake so no matter there. but why is that?

So after more reading and thinking here's the plan in order. Please let me know what you think. Keep in mind this is my daily and I hate catching the bus to work so as much of the stuff as possible needs to be bolt-in mods.

In order:
2in bodyblocks
2in suspension and new bushes all around
4.9:1 lowrange offroad gears
31s

throw a rear locker in there & your cookin' !!!!!
(also go the 1.6 mota , worth the effort !!)

i,m running 33,s , 1.6 carby , 1 ltr transfer , reverse shackle & mazda springs , rear locker , goes any-where & awesome fun !!

[Guy]

where can you get the 1.6 for $500?

I got one of here a few months back for that .. well I actually paid an extra 100 for his trouble in getting it onto a pallet etc for me so i could have it freighted from NSW to Vic

[Guy]

i still say the most fun ive had was in my work zook (2" lift f&r lockrights,29" muds... man i had to actually drive that thing.. it was awsome but it would still go anywhere..keep us posted..

I gotta say I agree, I havea ball in my little Zuk these days I need some locker and a little bit of lift (mostly for ride comfort on tracks etc so you dont end up slapping the bump stops over every crumb sized rock you hit) I can wheel the wee out of it and not have to spend hours on maintence all the time.. I will add some lockers soon as I get back some tax $$ and call it good (unless a 4.16 tcase comes up cheap)

[Brendan-s]

[mud4b]

that is neat as, good job finding it..

hehe im counting the days until the next set of pics are up..

bet you cant hold off until after frasier trip..

[Guy]

Plastic flares ... a bit more abuse friendly than the later model steel ones.

[Brendan-s]

Cheers guys. Pretty damned stoked, I am itching to go pick it up! 6 hrs and counting...

The lame part is I fly out to Northern Territory for 8 days 6am Saturday morning so I get to drive it for a day then I get to dream about it til I get back lol...

[nicbeer]

looks nice.

since it is stock as a rock.

can u get some measurements off it. Hard to find a stocker to compare a modded one.

pumpkin clearance.
sill clearance
bumpstop clearance.
floor to door handle as per previous thread.

Nic

[Brendan-s]

Yeah no worries I'll endeavour to do it tomorrow when I get to work. The springs seem a bit sagged (or are they like that from factory?) tho...

[nicbeer]

yeh factory sag.

but stock as that is best u can find nowdays. be good to see differences with my new one and other lifted rigs.

[Highway-Star]

4130warrior, from the photos the springs don't look too sagged. My fathers stock Sierra has front springs which are inverted!

Just for reference I was measuring spring movement with different weights the other day on mine, and for static height (unloaded) this is what i found: 7mm difference in front left and right ride height, and only 1mm in the rear.

Hey Nic, if you need measurements of a stock one, mines basically stock. Once you get over the difference in springs mentioned above, and 205/75 instead of 205/70 tyres (about 22mm diameter). I'll post what mine gives for those measurements, but I hope 4130warrior still posts his for comparo. (probably subtract about 12mm or so for wheel height difference).


Pumpkin clearance: ~200mm
Sill Clearance(to bottom of seam, not my sliders): ~380mm
Bumpstop Clearance: F: ~40mm
R: ~45mm
Floor to Doorhandles: ????? If I'm understanding you then: ~975mm (shed floor that is)


BTW: my tyres are running ~20psi all round, and are rather stiff 8ply.

Also, congrats to 4130 on his purchase, I've never seen a red one with such a consistant paint job, usually multiple shades of red.