Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I'm selling my Cherokee soon to "upgrade" to a Zook and i'm trying to decide what hardtop to get. The car is for daily driving, some highway, moderate offroading. I've seen a few similar to the descriptions below for similar prices and i'm wondering what peoples personal preferences would be? My main concerns with the earlier models is the width, strength of driveline and aftermarket parts availability.

Eg 1 Early 1980s NT Sierra hardtop. 1.6 EFI, 1L transfer, 31s on sunnys, 2", BL, 2" spring. Good body.

Eg 2. 1991-4 WT Sierra hardtop. Standard 1.3 engine, transfer and gearbox, 2" BL, 2" spring, 31s.



My ideal future mods would be RUF, welded rear, lockright front.

All else equal, which would you take?

wt 1.6 EFI 1litre transfer 1L transfer, 31s on sunnys, 2", BL, 2" spring. Good body.

I'd go the NT 1.6efi and then swap some WT diffs in when ya do the lockers (would need new spring perches on diff). This would also give better tyre clearance with larger tyres at full steering lock.

zooker wrote:I'd go the NT 1.6efi and then swap some WT diffs in when ya do the lockers (would need new spring perches on diff).

I thought about that as i saw some WT diffs with NT perches for sale, but getting everything else like brakes, handbrake, tailshaft, etc sounds like a bit of work which i don't have the time for.

The 1.6 NT has discs on the front (original would have been drum right?) so would a lockright fit?

I'd go for the NT and fit WT diffs with the NT centres.

No, most 1.0's had disc front. Only models with 16" rims had drum front ends.

for me, here's the dealbreakers -

A)Is the 1.6 car legal? an EFI 1.6 into a 1.0 Sierra requires a cert.
B) is the conversion well done? if it's badly wired/dodgy fuel system etc then it could be more trouble than it's worth.

I haven't seen many converted cars I'd be happy with. If you don't have time for a WT conversion (pretty easy) then I don't think you'd have time to troubleshoot a poorly done 1.6 conversion.

As for strength, a 1.0 doesn't have much less axle strength than a WT 1.3. rears are the same, fronts are a little weaker but you can put NT 1.3 axles straight into a 1.0 and it's as strong as a stock 1.3 in the axles.

The diffs are a little smaller but R&P failures are much less common than axle.

If hte 1.6 car is engineered and well done, I'd go for it. If it's neither, go for the 1.3 car.

Steve.

The conversion is modplated (certified), i haven't seen it in person yet to see how well its been done. I'll find out if its a shop or home conversion job.

I might have to look a bit harder at the WT into NT conversion. I guess one of my concerns was the stability of a NT with lift seeing as Sierras are already so prone to laying down.

Going from a 4.0L Jeep and 300rwhp circuit setup Silvia, the pace (or lack thereof) of the 1.3L had me a bit worried (mainly for highway).