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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:29 pm
by robbo5121
hey guys my names james i have previously owned a swb 85 sierra softop as a daily then moved onto a silvia import, now i am back into suzi's im lookign at buying a 84 1lt 4 speed manual, with a 5 inch lift kit and 33's,

only problem is
i want a soft top
and this car is a hardtop

so my question is will i be able to buy a softtop shell and bolt it onto my hardtop chassis

any1 selling a softtop shell?

then
james

aka robbo5121

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:34 pm
by Gwagensteve
Don't bother. If you want a soft top just buy one.

Yes it can be done, (in a day) but trying to find a soft top tub worth swapping will be a nightmare, and as the car you're looking at is a 1.0, (and will really need a 1.0 soft top tub to make the swap easy) then you're going to have hassles.

A 1.0 with 33's - hehehe how's the gearing?

Save all the hassle and look for a 1.3 soft top. they're not that hard to find.

Steve.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:39 pm
by robbo5121
haha yer thnx mate, nar im just thinking of buyign for for the lift and wheel, as the motor has 178*** but if it shits itself in a year i will get a new motor

but yer i think it would be worth while finding a 1.3 litre and transfering the shell, even the motor aswell,, wat would i need to du an engine swap form a 1l to a 1.3 and then swap the shell wat dificulties would i have

the gearing is stock
:O
it goes 90, maybe 95 with the correct speedo reading, but i cant drive fast naymore i hate beign pulled over 4 nuthing:P

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:42 pm
by BlueSuzy
Also, depends on what you want to do with your suzy...

33's and a 1L = slow cruising. 70km/h max estimate. fast decending on rocks 70km/h minimum!

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:43 pm
by Dee
robbo5121 wrote:haha yer thnx mate, nar im just thinking of buyign for for the lift and wheel, as the motor has 178*** but if it shits itself in a year i will get a new motor

but yer i think it would be worth while finding a 1.3 litre and transfering the shell, even the motor aswell,, wat would i need to du an engine swap form a 1l to a 1.3 and then swap the shell wat dificulties would i have

the gearing is stock
:O
it goes 90, maybe 95 with the correct speedo reading, but i cant drive fast naymore i hate beign pulled over 4 nuthing:P
As Gwagen said I wouldnt even bother trying to do a body swap, let alone an engine swap as well.

Far less work to buy a stocker 1.3 Soft top, buy some secondhand 33's from the wheel & tyre section on here when they pop up, and doing the lift yourself. If its a 5" lift (as in calmini 5" suspension) like I think it is then it going by reviews on here & other sites it probably rides pretty bad & flexes/offroads even worse...
Plus theres less aftermarket support for the 1.0's as there is for the 1.3's. Things like transfer case gearing/crawler gears, lockers to fit diffs etc are the first things to come to mind...

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:45 pm
by robbo5121
well she already has a lift kit and big tyres,
down the track i wanna make her a softop and wen my engine s^*ts itself du a 1.6 vitara conversion
can you do a 1.6 vitara ina 1lt 4 speed,
provided u get a 5 speed box,

any more ideas about the softop shell?

wat would i have to du
??

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:45 pm
by Gwagensteve
Don't buy a crap car because of a lift (5"????) and tyres. They're the easy/cheap bit compared to trying to put a 1.3 into a 1.0 or gearing the 1.0 to run 33's.

Buy a decent car and work on it as you have the money. 1.0's are getting too old/hacky to bother with unless they're LWB.

A 1.0 is not drivable with 33's and stock gearing. At all. The clutch will be hating life, the motor won't last.

Swapping between a 1.0 and a 1.3 isn't worth the hassle. Just buy a 1.3, put a 2" bl in it, space the bumpstops, put a 6:1 transfer in it and run 33's.

Steve.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:49 pm
by zookieboi
as gwagen said and i was about to say. its not feasible to buy a hardtop and convert to soft top . just buy a soft top to begin with. and 33 " with 1 litre? thats just silleh. no torque

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:50 pm
by robbo5121
hmmm very interesting i understand bout shitting itself though, the guy im meant to be buying off just put a new clutch in,, and yer its probs not worth it,,, cheers guys i will regroup

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:53 pm
by zookieboi
youd have to ride the clutch so much to get it moving with wheels that big lol

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:00 pm
by Gwagensteve
zookieboi wrote:as gwagen said and i was about to say. its not feasible to buy a hardtop and convert to soft top . just buy a soft top to begin with. and 33 " with 1 litre? thats just silleh. no torque
Neither of those things is the problem Zookieboi.

I ran 34's with my 1.0 and still do with my 660. the problem with 1.0's is no available diff gears except prehistoric LJ gears and a VERY tall 1st gear (3:1)

If this car has a non shift light transfer, there's no transfer gears available either.

Ultimately, there's around $1k, maybe more, fixing the gearing.

Swapping tubs? We literally swapped a WT hardtop to softop in 1 day, and drove a trip that night. The problem is finding a clean 1.0 tub. They're all going to be rough and rusty, and impossible to find unless you buy the car attached to it. (although that may be what you meant by not feasible)

then you have a car with a weaker chassis, diffs, axlehousings, unboosted brakes that a complete PITA to put a 1.3 in. that's the real hassle of a 1.0.

I have a 1.0 LWB, but would never bother with a 1.0 SWB.

Steve.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:13 pm
by zookieboi
your knowledge is vast.

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:20 pm
by cj
True but it's easy to look good on a Tuesday :armsup:

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:21 pm
by robbo5121
this is wat i was lookign at buying
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v678/ ... 04.jpg[img][/img]

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:25 pm
by Dee
robbo5121 wrote:this is wat i was lookign at buying
Image

Does it come with a RWC?
Looks to me like its had a spring-over-axle conversion. Basically cop-bait here in queensland, although engineerable and passable with D.O.T in other states, but definetly not here...
So if it does come with rego/RWC, and it is sprung-over, its had a dodgy certificate done...

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:56 pm
by robbo5121
yer $50 rwc, so u think its a definate no no, being a 1l, and in such poor condition, is only sellingfor 2.5,


nay1 else selling a softop sierra i can buy????

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:36 am
by Gwagensteve
Judging by he fact is a SPOA in QLD, and the front dual headlight conversion, I'd say A) this car will be cop bait and B) I think this car will be trouble.

I'd look for somehting more standard. There's nothing worse than spending time and money trying to fix someone else's dodgy work.

It won't be hard to find a stock soft top for $2.5K, just be patient. The buyer is trying to make good money out of some cheap tyres and a weekend spoa IMHO.

Steve.

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:16 am
by Dee
I got my suzuki stock, no rust at all (When I started pulling it apart I found out it had never been taken off road!), & a fresh fully reco engine for $2k.

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 11:56 am
by GRPABT1
I'm loving those headlights though lol

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:04 pm
by pubic
not to mention other sites but there is a bloke selling a 93 sierra for $2k here... rego runs out soon though.

http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... pic&t=1942

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:56 pm
by GRPABT1
pubic wrote:not to mention other sites but there is a bloke selling a 93 sierra for $2k here... rego runs out soon though.

http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... pic&t=1942
What do you mean "not to mention other sites"? All you've done lately is shitbag OL and link to Auszookers....

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 2:31 pm
by grimbo
pubic wrote:not to mention other sites but there is a bloke selling a 93 sierra for $2k here... rego runs out soon though.

http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... pic&t=1942
nothing better than a completely vague for sale ad

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:03 pm
by GRPABT1
Quote from auszookers:-
Pubic wrote:i've been directing people here whenever i post on OL... poor grimbo! :lol:

is there a prize yet?
Now I know why your username is pubic, cause your still waiting for your first pubic hair to grow...

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:11 pm
by pubic
oh the love in the air......

GRPABT1 thats a top joke.... i really wish you werent the 1,000,000th person to come up with it because then i would be able to have a chuckle with you at it. it got a bit old after the 8th grade.

just to keep some sort of peace i also have praised the efforts of the residents of ol in threads on this forum. but we wont go into that.

in my defence, he was asking for a cheap zook, everyone was pointing him towards a wt 1.3lt and i linked him to one. just for the record its now sold anyhow.