suzuki suspension query. . .

[newzookowner]

i bought a suzi sierra wide track, it was half modded and then left, its had all the spring over conversion done and cross over steering put into it but have no shocks, springs are sagged also. its running a set of 31 mud terrains so i was hoping to leave it spring over. How do i go about getting shocks to fit?? and springs. . . its going to be used mainly for tracks and mud running, so any advice on brands or anything would be awesome. . . thanks

[droopypete]

Firstly welcome to the joys of a modded zook

For your shocks, you need to cycle the suspension (full up and full down) and measure the max and min shock length then go shopping.

I will beat Steve in saying that you don't need a spring over to run 31's, that said, you definitely don't need lifted springs to run 31's on a spring over, flat springs are good, unless you are building a posemaster wank truck, in which case you don't need shocks at all, but you will need some big arse lifted springs and some type of hinged shackle system to clear those 31 inch bad boys
Peter.

[Gwagensteve]

Leave those sagged springs. You don't want anything other than sagged springs on a spring over.

I don't want to open up a big can of Grimbo all over this thread, but assuming your car has registration and might be driven on a public road or on public land, is there any reason you want to risk the legal implications of a spring over in QLD to run small tyres?

If it's a private land only car, then why only run 31's? you will have plenty of lift to run much larger tyres, even with sagged springs.

PS what was the reason it was "half modded and then left"? SPOA is a very expensive exercise to get right - I hope that it wasn't done on the cheap and you are stuck with all the expensive work (like sorting all the bugs out) I just mention it for the same reason above - it's potentially silly to sink lots of $$$ into troubleshooting something that's likely to get pulled off the road.

GrimbowagenSteve

[newzookowner]

its a sj70 wide track and ive moved to canberra, the car isnt rego'd, it will be trailered to the mountains and propertys to play with but i am going to look at getting it rego'd here as the laws are a bit more relaxed. . . it was a project car which he didnt have time to finish and im hoping to finish it off and start again having fun on the tracks!!! i think its still got the original suzi springs in it at the moment but as i said, there pretty sagged. im going to keep the 31's, not going any bigger than that. it was done properly, saddles cut off and re welded properly. but yeah, no shocks or anything. . . its running the 1.3 running gear, is there any need to change the tranfer case because of running 31's??

[Gwagensteve]

Spring perches aren't where the problems lie in a SPOA conversion. Driveline lengths, caster, bumpstop positioning, antiwrap, brake lines, uni angles, shock mounts/lengths and steering are where the $$$ and headaches lie. There's lots of ways to do highsteer, for example.

If you don't intend exceeding a 31" tyre, you'll want the springs as sagged as possible. (Bear in mind a 31 fits on a sierra with stock suspension and a 2" body lift only) Running the car higher than necessary just reduces stability for the sake of it. SPOA is normally results in 5" of lift. Thats 3" more than needed to run a 31, so very flat/inverted springs are a good idea to get the height down.

Yes. You need to change the transfer gears. 4.1 or 4.9 gears will be fine. If you are into lots of steep technical driving, you might even want to run 6.5 gears with 31's, although they're probably a bit low if you need wheelspeed.

Steve.

[alien]

i run 5.14 tcase gears in my sierra with 31's and the gearing is brilliant... 6.5s would be too low i think - but then i have a 1.6efi in mine.

with the spoa on a zuk you dont know - i'd consult an engineer right away - get his opinion on the work done and what needs fixing/changing etc.