Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask. If it has been done before, Grimbo, Redzook and Dewse i'm sorry.

I personally ended up with a zook (90 Vitara) by chance when i was offered it at the right price. Initially used it as a daily run around then started to wheel it. One thing lead to another, then one busted CV to another, then i upgraded to a sierra with upgraded diff etc that i'm still building.

I chose zook again as they stand out a little in a world of dirty old Datsuns (Nissans), Landcruisers and the like. Cheapish to build and repair and just COOL!

Just wondering what everyone else says.

Stimpy picked me actually.....I had an SS Commodore lined up, finance sorted, just had to sign the papers. Was on the way to get it...drove past Action Suzuki and there's Stimpy sitting out the front. Sign said "Model Run Out - Last One $18990 DRive Away"
Didn't know what it was, had to have...didn't test drive it ...bought it...loved it.....it's a girl thing
Stimpy used to be cute and shiny....now he is just big, bad tempered and smells like a swamp

Yeah my Vitara came up at the right time and price....I wasnt really intending to buy a 4wd but bought it, used it, got hooked and started throwing lots of money at it to keep up.

always liked to 4by, bought a diahatsu rocky (mmm, turbo D), and played around a bit - loved the thing, but didn't have heaps of mod potential. had looked at zooks before, but thought they were too expensive (coily's at dealers )

rolled the rocky , wanted another 4by, so the zook was the only option really - cheap to buy, run, and repair, with the bonus of being naturally capable and having lots of mods and a massive expertise base. haven't looked back

only thing is it sux for touring, so i'll buy a bigger rig for that someday

because I'm an idiot

i was actually looking for a coily sierra, but couldn't find one. and the ones i did find, were way too much for me.

i found my vitara, owners moving interstate, wanted to leave it behind.
it was in bad shape, so i got it for cheap.

i always thought of zooks as easy to build/modify, and fairly cheap, depending on what you do.

my vitara now has cost me a rough total of about $5800.

cheap, and easy, esp. when your a uni student with no job.

Had a t/d rocky, went good but there was limit to what could be done to it (no lockers or gearing available etc) Then the zook came up, so i bought it, Happy now, just gotta sell the bloody rocky!!!!!!!!!
Layto....

i'd actually signed the contract for a 92 troopy

mechanic gave it a big thumbs down - it had the worlds dodgiest repair work done on it

drove past a different car dealer on the way home, the zook was sitting under their 'car of the week' banner

mechanic gave this one the big thumbs up

I wanted a vehicle capable for serious offroad, with a price and maintainance cost I could afford on a pension. Parts, ie engines, boxes, wheels etc needed to be light enough for me to handle (no lifting gear, or special tools here, and can't pay mechanics).
I wanted a good supply of after market maintainance parts and modification parts. I wanted a good supply of information, and the zooks have been around a long time.
I wanted access to a good club, that was into decent offroad, but found an excellent and very active club in the vic zook club.
So a LWB Sierra won on all accounts, but only other choices were Daihatsu or Niva, so was an easy win.
My previous cars were Mokes, next car will probably be a softer zook, I getting softer, too christover

ok everyone else is being serious

We used to have 2 LJs that we used to have setup 1 for mud play and the other for DD and sand. We towed either behind our motorhome when we went family holidaying. Took them through the flinders ranges, fraser island, etc. Then Dad sold them just before I got my licence he still regrets getting rid of them

then my brother got a sierra and joined the Suzuki Club. Went on a couple of trips and that just confirmed i wanted a 4wd for myself. i almost bought a FJ troopy with a 350 in it, also looked at a Rangie (which I still want) but I was doing some signwriting at caryard and they had a Sierra Ute in pretty good nick there so I swapped it for my 2wd hilux.

It has been a great car for me. I've gone from a mild 4wheeler that was suitable for my signwriting work but could also be used for mild daytrips and weekend camping. then a steady progression of mods and degree of difficulty in 4wheeling. it has taken all through the Vic High Country, Sunset Country, hattah Kulkyne NPs, Flinders ranges, innamincka, Coongie lakes.

Now it is highly modified and has sat in a shed for a year. it became the too hard basket to get it back on the road. The Patrol was much more user friendly to get away camping in for myself and my wife. That was something I really missed was the amount of camping i did with the Zuk but it just wasn't comfortable enough for two people in the modified state.

I have now got the itch again and have put the Zuk back on the front burner and am in the process of getting it roadworthy and back on the road again

Dads first 4x4 was an LJ80

Cheap to maintain, cool when they have big tyres fitted & cheap to maintain.

Thanks for the novel grimbo! I'm not to sure about your last paragraph though...it's been on the front burner before!

I bought my zook coz I like small cars and I wanted a 4by. I knew they had a good reputation on the beach and I did alot of beach fishing at the time. I went out on the beach about twice and said...boring, and I figured using the boat to go fishing was much more successful! So I started taking it offroad a bit more and have been having fun sense. I wish I had of bought alot of different cars, but I know if I had of i'd still want as zook.

Best of all the zook has helped me meet a heap of great ppl and have a lot good weekends. What more could I ask for?

bought my first one ('93 WT) half share with my cousin as a weekend toy (he had owned an LJ previously)

fell in love with zooks and have bought two since (jimny and coiler)

just want to get another jimny now (gotta be at the right price)

but the coiler is going well at the moment so just will keep ear to the ground for a jimny

cheers Lester from NZ

It happened so quick!

I was at a mates watching Tuff Truck Challenge (first timer) when I spotted Zooks doing the nasty! That night I checked out Sierras and all the mods the net had to offer. I considered what I was going to use it for, and camping in them woods came up on top. Enter Vitara.

The extra storage space,1.6, and room for both arms in the cab help seal the deal. Found a one lady owned 92,with 156000 kms that week.

Really happy with the "Floozy".. cuz she chaep and go anywhere.Well, she will once I apply half of them "must do" mods I've been reading about here.

Like everyone else really it just fit the bill.

I started in a feroza and had some fun in it but quickly realised it would be useless for the rough stuff and had NO mod potential. I needed something with more room than the feroza, longer wheelbase cause the roza was to short, good aftermarket and LIVE axles

The answer a rangie

Couldn't find a good rangie after months of lookin and was hanging round with my mates who had jimny's and sierras Soon decided a lwb was the way as it suited and I'd have lots of $ left over to mod it

Found one about 3 days later

Now the zook will be great until I finish uni in 12 months and then it will become a w'end toy and I'll get a rangie/ patrol/ shopping trolley for the dd and longer trips

I always wanted to have a Jeep CJ5 when I was in Venezuela, but there old cars are pretty expensive so I had to conformed with the weekends of 4wheeldriving with some friends.

When I came to Australia I couldn't believe the old cars were so cheap (most of them), but Jeeps aren't very common here and the petrol price is a No non for those big thirsties engines. So I was thinking about a capable offroader cheap in petrol (I didn't have an idea of spares prices) and I realised one of my friends in Venezuela have a Suzuki Samurai and when we went out he was the one who almost never needed to be rescued because he literally floated over every mudhole, water crossing, etc.

And I started my search for a Good Ol' Sierra, I found some very cheap but they were falling into pieces or very far from Sydney. So I decided to save money and buy something in better condition.

A year ago I was having an argument with my fiance and she got the s**ts and went to see things on the internet. Suddenly she told me: come with me we are going out, and went to Bondi to see a nice white 93 softie with alloy bulllbar, silly bars and 78000 Kms and a very very good price, the owners had received some calls but they were out watching the city to surf, and we were the first ones in appear there. I drove it and loved it. And it had a fair price but the soft top was damaged, so we got some more discount.

I love this little matchbox, it is slow, noisy, but has a big heart hiding somewhere. And also I have been very lucky to find some bits very cheap, roll bar $80, tow bar $20, an ARB Bullbar for free, and many other things.

Will

Grimbo - I preffered your 1st answer.

Zook was natural progression - My first 4wd was a Niva. Now that the Zooks evolved (and so has the size of my family) I need a bigger car. It really annoyed my wife when I said I wouldn't sell the zook, so we got rid of her car for the x-trail

my story is a bit different. aged 20 got my first perminante job, with what i thought was a huge pay packet, wanted a 4wd as my brother had (well his girlfriend, now wife ) had a sierra. wanted a bigger car, diesel 60s crusier. went shopping and came home with a landrover discovery, v8 petrol no less. basic mods ( suspention and tyres) but just couldnt keep up with the zook offroad without damage. too expencive to modify while i still owed money on it.
then, on my way to a wedding one satuday arvo went past a yard with a lwb w/t, WTF. swerved across two lanes, did a u-turn and went back.
gave her the once over ( as good as you can do in your sunday best) and the rest as they say is history

Started one sorry weekend. My shop only did the full ricer and bling type cars. Wifes car was a 97 Pajero to tow the ski boat. Went to Salamander bay for a weekend stay in the new holiday house. Decide to have a look around and someone told me about stockton. Took the paj for a run and thought this is fun. Told the wife I was going to look for a cheap hack to have a play with. The next week a sierra got offered to me for $300 the rest is as they say history the same vehicle is the one I came third in TTC and Our shop is full of 4by's and 1 ricer car. The thing I liked the most about the zook was how easy it was to modifie and make your own shiat for the only serious parts available at the time were from GRP so we had to make our own and I guess have to an extent helped others do the same.

SAM

I bought a 410 years ago because I have a little dick. It worked out so well that I bought a Sammy in 91 and even though it was bigger than my dicksized 410, I fell in love with it. Ever since, I can be found under my phallic zook taking it like a man.
LM.

had a feroza and kept killing so i bought a sierra. Havent killed it yet

wanted a 4x4 to go camping in as the falcon twas a bit low at times , went searching for a lwb diesal gq patrol , ended up with a 97 mod duel cab petrol courier went for a day out with a mate saw what 4x4's could do , spent over $10,000 on mods and luxurys but still couldn't get where i wanted it to go espeacillay with the wife yelling at me for scratching and dinting the car , sold it bought her a au falcon and me a 85 zook cause its cheap, easy to modify , looks like crap with or with out dints and scratches so rolling it wouldn't matter , easier to keep going than my cr250, less likely to get a flat than my downhill bike, and my second one was cheaper to buy than both my nitro and electric remote control cars

now looking to get rid of the au and get a patrol for the family again as we get funny looks 2 adults and 2 kids getting out of the zook on a long trip looking stoned because of the excessive fumes

The victa is my first car so naturally i wanted something that did everything! Cheap to run, maintain etc. Didnt actually plan to do any mods just wanted a cheap fourby to get to out of the way fishing spots etc. Once i got it though all plans went out the window!

Mate of mine bought a 95 soft top sierra and it really impressed me how well it went off road even stock, So I started looking for a cheapy in the trading post, ended up with a lj80 with lift, toyota 1500 and detroit locker kept it for a couple of years and then moved on to a TJ Wrangler (oh what a mistake) anyway after getting the shits with the constant jeep problems and fuel guzzling I got out of 4x4's for a while. Then when the bug bite again it was either going to be a turbo diesel rocky or zook. Zook won because of the after market support.

its heaps cheaper to run than an FJ40

i wanted something that was cheap to run (being a pov student), reliable, a bit of space, and pretty cheap.

i was looking at everything from sierra's to rodeo's to bundera's to vitara's.......and mine happened to come up wholesale at a price that couldn't be turned down for a 1 owner vit.

we never used to drive anything hard and did a lot of beachwork, so the vit fit the bill.......but if i had of known i'd become brainwashed by outerlimits, i would have bought a lux.

Had a cunning plan to get my Patrol back off the wife. Buy her a nice softtop Zook get my car back. Simple . Plan backfired now I'm left to buildup the zook into a great little offroad machine with her backing and i still get to use the Patrol every now and then . I won.

grew up in country S.A !
learnt to drive at about 7-8 years old !!
in an LJ50 !!!
all the other properties my old man was involved with , had Zooks as station vechiles !!
ranging from LJ 50,s & 80,s & LJ tray,s !!
& a few early sierras !!
so every time I went to the stations , I got to play in Zooks !!

so when I moved to Vic , was getting married(1st time) ,
decided on honeymoon , looked at the budget !

& bought a nice clean 91 Zook soft-top !! (45,000 k,s)
that was in 94 !
joined the zook club , did some mods !!

10 years later , different wife , but same ZOOK !!!!
(with slightly more mods !! on the zook , not the wife !!)

My parents had various 4x4's as I grew up, Series 2 landie, MQ patrol, GQ patrol, 80 series crusier, Hilux, Disco etc .. I had paddock bashers, that usually had welded diffs and chained up rubber, amazinig where a 2wd can go ..

Then I got my licence and I bush bashed every vehicle I got in.. Used to have the run of my dads hilux for the first 12 months of my licence, then I got a HZ (holdens answer to the 4x4) anda gemini ... sorry I cant get to work .. I am bogged on a side road off the calder hiway, but I have a handwinch in the boot of my Gemini .. I knew I needed a 4x4..

My girlfriend of the time had just purchased an 84 model 410, I loved it, rebuilt the motor etc on it.. was easy as to work on and more fun to drive than any other vehicle I knew of. The gemini caught on fire one friday evening leaving work.. so I purchased a Zuk on saturday to get me around ..

After going sideways through the first wet round about on the stock rubber, I got the biggest rubber I could fit under stock suspension 235's .. and then truely fell in love with the little black beastie .. about 1million dollars later and several years .. I sold it to a good home and am now building a hilux as I need more space etc in a 4x4 ..

DeWsE wrote:I'm not to sure about your last paragraph though...it's been on the front burner before!?

well it is almost on fire now. All I need to do is fix the rear brake self adjusters, new LH headlight, replace three studs on the front wheel, new wiper blades,attach the front and rear flares, rear mud flaps and move the rear lights onto rear flares and done