Suzuki body swap - Rebuild

[molch]

Hey all.

Been reading the forums for a while now but never really posted.Found everyone here a great help though. have a few questions for my muild of a 83 sierra

heres the plan:

-buying an 85 shell with no rust/rollcage etc to go onto the 83 chassis. The 85 is a 1.3l and the 83 is a 1 litre. any issues here?
-still gotta find a passenger door with as little rust as possible. seems to be a mission so far
-2 inch body lift. was going to use a commercial kit for this. maybe the one from www.bigballsoffroad.com as they are nylon and shouldn';t squeak as much as steel etc.
-maybe a spring lift theres a fair priced kit from Suzisport, dont want ranchos yet as dont have the money for them.

still deciding on motor options. would really like a 4ag/4agze however funds will be the main factor here.

Any suggestions tips or advice would be appreciated with this. I know i have just about gone over all topics at once and i've also read alot of alreayd posts from this site.

Once the car is on the road (all getting done up the central coast of NSW, anyone wanna lend a hand) i'll be hopefully getting out with some guys from here. who knows.

[N*A*M]

i think your firewall holes will be different between the 1L and 1.3L bodies

[grimbo]

I have a passenger door with no rust that you could buy. I'm in melbourne

[N*A*M]

a yellow one by chance?

[grimbo]

well originally, but is has a coat of Rivergum Satin and then orange X15 on top

[greg]

Been reading the forums for a while now but never really posted.Found everyone here a great help though. have a few questions for my muild of a 83 sierra

How mild is it going to be? Judging by the fact that you are going to be putting a fair amount of work into the engine, i'm guessing that you are going to be doing a lot of work to the rest of the car too?

-buying an 85 shell with no rust/rollcage etc to go onto the 83 chassis. The 85 is a 1.3l and the 83 is a 1 litre. any issues here?

Hmm, go to your current 83 body and check behind the front seats above the middle two body mounts (just near the transmission tunnel), if you can see bolt heads there, then i am going to suggest that there may be some messing around required to make the 85 body fit to this car, as the 85 will have captive bolts on the body (you will not see any bolt heads come up through the floor)...

I would suggest this is going to make things a bit fiddly when trying to mount the new body to the old chassis...

Why do you want to use the 83 chassis? why not use the 85 chassis?

-2 inch body lift. was going to use a commercial kit for this. maybe the one from www.bigballsoffroad.com as they are nylon and shouldn';t squeak as much as steel etc.

when you do the body lift, you should keep the rubber 'washers' that are in the between the body and the chassis (see current body mounts), these will stop the body from squeeking anyways so the nylon arguement is null and void.

As you are trying to mix two different body / chassis setups, you may find it a bit tricky to get a body lift kit that will just bolt straight on in between the two.

Can someone confirm that plastic body lift blocks are legal in NSW? (i gather that's where you are Molch?)

On the plus side, the fellow that runs Big Balls Offroad is on this list - his user name is Liam - perhaps you could ask him.

-maybe a spring lift theres a fair priced kit from Suzisport, dont want ranchos yet as dont have the money for them.

Old man emu springs are definately the G-O... get them from ARB, or your local ARB distributor. However, first decide what size tyre you want to run on your car, as this will affect what suspension setup you need to run, and you may find yourself having to strip it all off again to start fresh if you go too big with the tyres.

If you can't afford ranchos, you should probably drive it around as is until you can afford the setup that you want... no point spending the money twice.

still deciding on motor options. would really like a 4ag/4agze however funds will be the main factor here.

sorry, don't know anything about this motor - though i'm guessing this could be the same motor that a fellow called 'bill' has in his sierra... do a search for 'bill' and you should find some details about it.

Any suggestions tips or advice would be appreciated with this. I know i have just about gone over all topics at once and i've also read alot of alreayd posts from this site.

If money is going to be an issue, decide where this car is going now so that you only have to build it once. this will save money in the long run.

Get it registered first, then do the mods.

Don't forget that once you change your tyres you are going to want to fix the gearing of the car, and as soon as you take it off road you will also want lockers...

Once the car is on the road (all getting done up the central coast of NSW, anyone wanna lend a hand) i'll be hopefully getting out with some guys from here. who knows.

Sorry mate, live in Vic, best i can suggest is that once the car is on the road you should drive it down here

Cheers

[Drewfus]

having just completed a very similar swap (ie the 85 1.3 body onto a 82 1L chassis.......) a few things I learnt........

* only 6 of the 10 bolting down holes line up.....(I just redrilled new holes to suit the remaining 4). Also note that the 2 models use different rubber bushings (the 1L is a simple flat bush, the 1.3 has a bush that sit's in a concave recess) not that this will affect you.

* your 1.3/85 body will be good as it has the booster setup, whereas the 1L doesn't.

* the Brake lines are completely different between the 1.3 and 1L (be aware of this....)

* please don't make the same mistake I did and think that the steering column, dash, heater, windscreen frame will interchange from the 1L into the 1.3 (and vica versa) as THEY DONT.

* transfer case in the 1L (series 1) is similar to the 1.3L (series 3) but they do use different mounts......be aware.

Most of the above dribble won't mean much to you (other than the bolt holes), just be aware of the interchangability deal as I lean't the frustrating/expensive way.

[Drewfus]

heres 2 photo's a tranfer case mount for the 1L and then one for the 1,3.

For what it's worth, ask around for a 85 chassis as I stuffed around for ages, whereas sometimes you can come by a chassis for bugger all and will save alot of hassles, especially when it comes rego time......

[greg]

Good call Drewfus,

Sounds like another good reason to use the whole '85 body and chassis setup if possible.

[jtraf]

Just a note is that a 1.3lt tranfer will bolt onto the brackets of a 1.olt chassic no problems. We have done it.

The chassic bracket are different but the braket holes are the same on each case.

cheers

James

[molch]

Wow thanks for all the info and so quickly. so looks like there is some fun to be had changing it over.

Grimbo: I might take you up on the offer for the door. ll try and find some costs for transporting and companies and let you know! how much do you want for it.

Here's some more detail:

my 83 was actually on here about 4 months in the wanted section dont know if anyone saw it but the motor and driveline is fine aswell as the bonnet tailgate and a few other bits and pieces.

I found an 85 body with the following:

- Entire chassis (dont know condition yet thats part reason why i wasn't going to use it)
- Entire dash and steeering column.
- brake booster etc
- seats
- rollcage
- 2 guards
- drivers door

now i was planning on making the change over from the 85 body to the 83 as i spoke to the rta and they've told me the following:

-The car will be registered a an 83 model
-Since i have the old rego papers for proof of ownership it will be fairly easy to get the blue slip. car will be regarded as no compliance plate but with the old papers they will register it.

i was then going to register the car before any mods then begin the fun

I didn't think of any of the problems id encounter thought it would be an easy swap :| .so thats my reasoning maybe i will change and use the 85 shell and chassis and transfer my suspension , motor and driveline over. reason for this is a wanna get it registered before i begin the mods on it.

i dont need to hold back too much with money just means things will go a little slower than planned.


Drewfus - thanks for the tip with the window frame. what sorta problems did you have as thats one thing i was buying brand new but not sure what model its meant to go on. Does that also mean the glass is different?

Will the grill/bonnet/bumpers and tailgate fit off my original shell onto the 85 shell?


thanks if you read this far and take it easy

[greg]

Will the grill/bonnet/bumpers and tailgate fit off my original shell onto the 85 shell?

They should all fit (except maybe for the bumper which may have different body / chassis mounts)... this wouldn't be that hard to fix though

However, the 1L bonnet sits much lower than the 1.3L bonnet so you may want a 1.3 bonnet if you run out of room with your engine plans - though a body lift will obviously afford you more room under there too.

[becky]

Molch, I can give you info regarding the 4age/4agze conversion (having once been the owner of the first 4age conversion into a suzuki sierra in Aust.) :

a) do not do it into a narrow track sierra
b) if you cannot do most of the work yourself & funds are a consideration then this is not the option for you. Friends of mine have paid over $5K for their conversion. It is probably the best conversion you can do but like all good things it costs, big time.

[molch]

becky, why not put it into a NT zook? what problems are faced?

i already have spoken with bazooka, i think it is, and have a few details from him. Also have a good friend who has a mk1 mr2 4age. he also is a wealth of info on these motors and there different versions

I will be doing pretty much most of the work myself or through friends so the conversion cost and time aren't a big issue.

After looking around im sure not going to go the 4agze as that will be too much problem wise with the driveline.

[becky]

Mainly stability. Maybe also driveline ability to handle the power. I just know Chad advises against doing the 4age conversions in narrow track sierras.

[molch]

whos chad? sorry still learning names to nicks etc! maybe i can speak to him aswell before i begin.

From what ive learnt from bazooka he has had no problems and his is an 84. are these all NT? Im going to maybe have some issues because it a 1lt chassis on the 1.3lt body. but ill see that when i get there (clearance wise).

[N*A*M]

chad and his wife (?) post both with the username becky. the first post was chad, the second was his partner (sorry i don't know your name).

[Drewfus]

From what your suggesting, looks like your problems are just begining....

The 1L and 1.3 engine mounts are completely different.

What this suggests is that.....

Option 1.....if you use the 1L chassis your Engine & driveline will all fit up, your body will require work to fit, you will get rego, BUT you will have hassles when you go to fit the other motor afterwards for 2 reasons, firstly fiting it, but most importantly, rego/engine capacity........something you might want to check before you get to far involved (I'm probably wrong here, but worth checking regardless).

Option 2....use a 1.3 chassis, body etc will fit straight up, your diffs/springpacks will change over (note that the 1L diffs have different centres and axles to the 1.3......), bigest downfall is the 1L engine will require 'revamped' chassis mounts.

When you asked about the windscreen, the glass 'I believe' is the same(yet to finish this bit), but the bolt on hinges are about 1" further out (to the side) on the 85 body. you can do a bodgy fix on it by making new holes to suit, but be warned that whilst they look the same, it's not just a simple unbolt/bolt on job.

Rear bumpers will exchange, but also note that the mounts are slightly different ( see attached pic, 1L on the left, 1.3 on the right). No big deal.

please don't be 'put off' by the differences, but do be aware that it won't be a simple mix'n'match deal if you mix the years....

[becky]

N*A*M was half right but only I (Colleen) make any posts on here. Becky was definately a girls car.