Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Just want to add some mods to my zook. It is standard at the moment but i have a list of mods a mile long that i would like to do. Just went and got new rims and tyres so that i can put 31's on it. Does anyone know of a good place to have mods done...I heard that 4play is no longer open.

arb or something or tjm if you dont want to do it yourself, by the way you must have accidentally left capslock on, you might wanna turn it off

When you say mods what sort of driving are you doing is it a daily driver?
Take it out and get use to it in stock form then build the zook as you learn it capabilities. Otherwise you might end up with somthing that dosnt suit your needs. Join a club and/or talk to other zook owners and see what they are doing, they will guide you and be able to tell you the best places to go.
Hope you understand what Im trying to say Im not having a go at you.
Nik

Teenza,

This isn't enough information to help you out. What it sounds like you are saying is "I want to spend some money on my car"

I suggest you come along to a suzuki club meeting, the next one is on the 11th July, AMRA hall, Wills St Glen Iris. The next meeting is the AGM so there is some voting and stuff, but it doesn't take too long.

The best possible thing you could do is start getting out on trips with other suzukis. This will give you the best idea about where you want to spend your $$$ first. There's nothing wrong with taking a stock car out on trips to get a feel for what you want to do. The worst thing you could do is spend a heap of money on stuff you don't need or modifications that don't make your car more capable.

4Play does not operate as a retail shop front anymore, but occasionally Joe pops up on here. Apparently he still does paid work but is picky about what he takes on.

There are not any Suzuki specialist workshops in Vic.

If you are really busting to spend some money, get ARB to throw a couple of airlockers in it for you, and order some 6.4:1 transfer gears from the US or through BBM. Neither of these is going to go astray

Steve.

What mods are you intending to be able to run 31's, most go 2" springs and 2"body lift. Pretty cheap options, OME 40mm springs offer good flex budget about $500 - $600 with bushes and 'U' bolts, don't buy these through ARB you'll pay a premium, contact Bruce on NBS, http://www.nbs4x4club.com/forum/profile ... file&u=101
he sells poly bushes at a good price. And Body Lift will cost you $200 from me.

Teenza,

Steve speaks words of wisdom on the odd occasion, insanity for the remainder.

Coming down the the Zook Club is always a good idea, this way you'll be able to see first hand what the different types of mods will do th\o the drivability of a car. Even Steve has done this, he drove everyone elses car for years before he built one for himself (jk )

I wasted lots of money on my old Vit before i joined, within a couple of months i undid many of the mods that had previously been done and replaced them with bits that worked.

On a side note, I ran 31's on my last Sierra with extended shackles and some trimming to the firewall and headlight bucket. 2" springs and extended shackles will do the job just fine, they're also easy "driveway" mods with basic mechanical knowledge and the right tools.

If you wanna keep your car in reasonable condition, I highly recomend some sliders or something similar before you do to much else.

My cars still fundamentally stock, I'm going with the principal of protect the car first then make it more capable when I can afford it. What I mean is atart with armour (sliders, front bar, rear bar), then protection in the form of diff breathers, gearbox and transfer breathers, etc ec. Then I hope to buy myself a removable hardtop for security (still protection).

ANyway after my suzuki resembles a light tank, I'll start on the performance stuff. My personal choice is to first get 3.9 diffs, then I'll go get a 40 or 50mm leaf lift. After this I plan to replace my tyres with something like a 235/75R15 29" or 30"; not extreme but satisfactory for me. If I had the money at the time I'd probably consider a rear air-locker when I changed to 3.9 diffs, but thats not a high priority; nether the less I think the air compressor for the air locker would be a very usefull tool to have on board anyway.

I'm am consistantly doing sort of mini-mods, where I do something hardly noticable to my car to make it function more smoothly, or look better, or increase the life of a component. Example replace rear carboard panelling with sheet aluminium and re-vinal it. Allot of these sort of things can be done for negligable cost, and have no real detrimental effects incase it turns out not to do its intended function.

OK all I'm saying is prioritise what should be done first, and make sure you are always prepared for the unexpected maintenance extpendature (CV swivel hub seals or new battery etc).

On top of that going out with some other cars is an excelent Idea, and in a more stock vehicle its easier to find more chanllenging stuff. Plus you get the pleasure of displeasing an experienced driver with a modified vehicle when a stock standard cheapy with a newb does something with ease that took them 3 attempts .

Teenza,

Just checked out you car on the pics thread - Nice clean car!

It looks to me like you have a bit of lift in there already - they normally sit lower than that, especially with a ARB bar on the front.

If you want to run 31's, you will need a 2" body lift.

Also, unfortunately, the ARB bar mounts out by the wheels (behind the indicator) will foul the tyre. depending on rim offset and a heap of small variables, you might be able to get away with just trimming this, but normally, it has to be cut out totally.

Now to gearing - with 31's on it, your gearing will suck.

The best bet, as I said in an earlier post, would be to go straight to 6:1 transfer case gears. With any of the available 6:1 gears, you will have pretty close to spot on high range (the BBM Rockhopper gears will give you an almost perfect high range with 31's, but they are the dearest option)

Off road, you will find the gearing with a 6:1 a little bit too low, but only a tiny bit. It will be good to learn with too much gearing rather than too little - you will make fewer mistakes and damage the car less.

to tell you the truth, I don't actually agree with Highway Star (respect though, I do appreciate the careful and thoughtful way you are working on your car) but I think that worrying too much about protection will lead to you needing it.

A car with open diffs and tall gearing will need lots of protection because you will have to hit obstacles hard, and then pinball off of lots of terrain. A car with a locker and some gearing will be able to be driven in a way that will mean hitting the car should be minimised.

And get yourself to a Club meeting!

Just my 2C.

Steve.

Gwagensteve wrote:Teenza,

Just checked out you car on the pics thread - Nice clean car!

It looks to me like you have a bit of lift in there already - they normally sit lower than that, especially with a ARB bar on the front.

~

to tell you the truth, I don't actually agree with Highway Star (respect though, I do appreciate the careful and thoughtful way you are working on your car) but I think that worrying too much about protection will lead to you needing it.

A car with open diffs and tall gearing will need lots of protection because you will have to hit obstacles hard, and then pinball off of lots of terrain. A car with a locker and some gearing will be able to be driven in a way that will mean hitting the car should be minimised.

And get yourself to a Club meeting!

Just my 2C.

Steve.

I disagree with the first bit, those photos looks standard height to me. But the standard springs just aren't sagged. If Teenza looks at the front springs and they are approximatly flat then its standard, if curved than probably lifted...

Thats fine if you disgagree with me Steve, The reason I dont want too low transfer gears is becasue it will screw with my speedo, and the car is my only transport. I hope I dont need all that protection there, but it will be etc; People say I overdo these things, and thats why I'm a student engineer, They apparently overdo everything too?

Highway-Star wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:Teenza,

Just checked out you car on the pics thread - Nice clean car!

It looks to me like you have a bit of lift in there already - they normally sit lower than that, especially with a ARB bar on the front.

~

to tell you the truth, I don't actually agree with Highway Star (respect though, I do appreciate the careful and thoughtful way you are working on your car) but I think that worrying too much about protection will lead to you needing it.

A car with open diffs and tall gearing will need lots of protection because you will have to hit obstacles hard, and then pinball off of lots of terrain. A car with a locker and some gearing will be able to be driven in a way that will mean hitting the car should be minimised.

And get yourself to a Club meeting!

Just my 2C.

Steve.

I disagree with the first bit, those photos looks standard height to me. But the standard springs just aren't sagged. If Teenza looks at the front springs and they are approximatly flat then its standard, if curved than probably lifted...

Thats fine if you disgagree with me Steve, The reason I dont want too low transfer gears is becasue it will screw with my speedo, and the car is my only transport. I hope I dont need all that protection there, but it will be etc; People say I overdo these things, and thats why I'm a student engineer, They apparently overdo everything too?

Low trasnfer gears will do nothing to your speed, changing diff gears or tyre size will alter your speedo acuraccy. If you want to run any descent size tyre, you will need to correct the gearing of a sierra. As for having to work it out, if your an engineering student and cant work out the change in speedo readings with different tyre sizes:roll:, there are even calculators on the net to do it. Just work it out, then write it on a bit of paper and stick it to your dash I agree with steve, build a controllable car and get plenty of experience.
The only thing student engineers overdo is the .

Layto....

Soft top sierra's straight off the boat sat about that high, but after 15 years and an ARB bar? I would have said that it should be sitting about the height of your car in your avatar Highway Star.

To my mind, that car is sitting a bit higher than I would expect for a stocker. It might have just had a freshen up with some stock springs, or maybe a very easy life, but I still say it is (a little) taller than I woulf expect.

In any case, a 2" BL will clear a 31 with no spring lift, so I would be going with the 2" BL first up.

Teenza - PM Just Cruizin'- he offers very nice BL kits for good $$$

(I make them from time to time but Just Cruzins are better than mine)

Steve.

The zook is still standard as i brought it 18 months ago from a old guy that had it from new and only drove it to work and other standard driving so the car has had a very good life...so far i have only put the arb bull bar on and i just got some 15 x 7 sunny rims and ordered cooper stt rubber for them as i am desperate for new rubber and got to change the timing belt asap.

Yeah, maybe it has just had a very easy life... or the springs were reset some time ago ro something. It just look a bit "fresh" to me 0 they normally sit lower than that.

Anyway, as soon as you get your 31's, you will have to deal with he BL and gearing or you won't be driving it anywhere. THe gearing will be terrible - you will loose 5th gear altogether and off road you will be murdering the clutch.

Remember, 31's are a 5" height increase, or nearly 20%

That's the equivalent size increase to putting a 39" tyre on a landcruiser, which nobody does quickly or easily. Just because 31's themselves are a common and cheap tyre, doesn't mean that getting them on the car doesn't involve some careful work and some cash.

Not meant to put you off, just to help you understand that once they are on rims and on the car there will still be plenty of little things to work though.

Steve.

I was really in need of new rubber , so since i still haven't decided which way i was going to lift it i have changed the size of the cooper stt's to 235/75x15 which to memory is about a 29/ 30 in size and i can still take it out and get a better feel for the car as i haven't taken it out much due to it being standard and needing a bit more grip and no the springs have not been touched it is just how it is.

i have 30 inch BFG's (new) on 15 x 7 rims on my stocker...

Doesnt have much of a 5th gear, but then agin, never really had...

Am i up for some trouble?
will the 30's cause me alot of grief with stock gearing?

gearing was on the 'wish list' but havent thought i needed it desperately...

drive it and see how it goes with the terrain u go out on.

i ran mine with the 31s and stock gearing. was ok but nothing flash. now got the 1L case and a lot better. still thinking about gears for me but what i have does me good so far, inc the 1.6

Clearly you can get away with less gearing in WA. Here in Vic, it's easy to pick the cars with 30's and no gears.... they have this faint whiff of clutch about them when offroad

Teenza, 30's will still put your gearing 15 % out - so yo will be showing 85 on the speedo when you are doing 100kph on the road.

With 31's, the difference is 19% so 81 on the speedo will be 100kph on the road.

4% is a bit, but either way, your gearing will be pretty crook- you won't pull 5th very often.

Offroad, the effect on gearing is significant as much as anything because of the increased traction.

Steve.

lay80n wrote:
Low trasnfer gears will do nothing to your speed, changing diff gears or tyre size will alter your speedo acuraccy. If you want to run any descent size tyre, you will need to correct the gearing of a sierra. As for having to work it out, if your an engineering student and cant work out the change in speedo readings with different tyre sizes:roll:, there are even calculators on the net to do it. Just work it out, then write it on a bit of paper and stick it to your dash I agree with steve, build a controllable car and get plenty of experience.
The only thing student engineers overdo is the .

Layto....

I probably didn't explain myself very well. What I meant is that the transfer gears will create too low a gearing in high range; this can be rectified by larger wheels. However if larger wheels are put on, the speedo goes out the window, and the transfer gears cannot fix this. If the car wasn't my daily driver I would put up with the small inconvinience on road. My current situation is a speedo that is 100km/h reads just under (reads about 98 or 99km/h on speedo), and thats stock gearing and a 75 instead of 70 profile tyres; so if I followed through with my intention of 3.9 diff centres, I would require 28.5" tyres to match my current callibration. 235/75R15 tyres are at about 28.8", so this is slightly on the bad side, but is at most only a couple of km/h out at high speed. Can't be as bad as my father putting 32" bars on his stock LJ50 when he had that.

I have nothing against lower gearing in fact I love the idea (I'm even more for getting the experience ); and agree that it would make the vehicle far more controlable, It just isn't terribly suitable for my case. Its just a side effect of the Sierra transfer, you can't get lower low range, without affecting high range. As for stickers, I'm too fussy would look bad. Unless someone knows how to re-callibrate the speedo?, then the problem is just worse fuel consumption at high speeds.

BTW Layto, I don't drink, not all student engineers live in the uni bar (allot do though). I have nothing against people who drink (within reason), its just a personal choice.

Sorry to drag this out, I don't think its really helping for the original topic anymore.