Outer Limits 4x4 Board

What sort of price am I looking at for a SAS? What is there to look out for? Who has done one? How did yours go (smooth or wished you didn't)

Good thinkin Nev.


I think you can get them as cheap as $3000 at some place but don't quote me.

Overkill do the $3K swap,Half that if you can supply the diff ,steering arms and leafs.

Nev62 wrote:What sort of price am I looking at for a SAS? What is there to look out for? Who has done one? How did yours go (smooth or wished you didn't)

SAS on what?

Price is going to vary greatly depending on what its for. The above prices would be for a Hilux/4runner. You could prob spend twice that much doing it on a vehicle that has not been done before.

RUFF wrote:SAS on what?

Price is going to vary greatly depending on what its for. The above prices would be for a Hilux/4runner. You could prob spend twice that much doing it on a vehicle that has not been done before.

Always one that has bad news for me

courier/b2600/Raider!

Yeah I know, get rid of it...........

I own it outright. Car yards will only give me $3000-$4000 for my 1993 vehicle with 12 months rego. I could spend $10000, get into more debt for a stock 4b that I still cannot take anywhere half decent or I can spend that money over a period of time and make what I want out of what I have and in the mean time still play a little harder than a stock 4b that would struggle with clearance in some carparks!

What will the end result be Nev?,a Lwb,leaf sprung hybrid with little or no resale value,I feel you are throwing good money after bad.
Do the stretch for the GQ
J Top

SAS is good but what about the rear end Won't you have track width and ratio issues and have to put in a rear to match the SAS. means more $

J Top wrote:What will the end result be Nev?,a Lwb,leaf sprung hybrid with little or no resale value,I feel you are throwing good money after bad.
Do the stretch for the GQ
J Top

That is what I used to think too until today. What resale value

Looks like I did my money 5 years ago when I paid $20000 and now the car yards tell me it is only worth $3000? No longer give a rats about resale value. I'll just keep it now.

Yeap rear will have to be changed too. Thinking of going to an auction and buying a wreck as a donor vehicle.

Mmm, if you think SAS is going to turn it into a massively better fourby you need to think again. It is going to help, but your IFS is far from being the only thing holding you back.

It's not like when they made the B2600 they said, "okay, let's make all the components on this thing really great for serious off-roading except for the IFS!"

What they really said was, "We're gonna make this a 4WD in name, but we're not going to waste money using anything but road car parts on it."

Do the SAS, and then you'll find that it's still a marginal performer at best.

It's just my opinion and I don't mean to be negative - but I'll add my voice to J Top's.

A GQ isn't going to cost you ten grand, but the road you're going down with the courier is. And a stock GQ with good mud tyres and rear LSD will still go much further than a SAS'd B2600 off-road. I mean MUCH MUCH MUCH further.

Jason

im going to have to agree with everyone else here i did my own sas on my 92 dual cab hilux bought it for $15000 kept it for 2years done the swap on it spent about $11000 on it to get it to a stage were i was reasonible happy with it but still no quite there and then solid it for $11000 to look back on what i did was stupid but fun i was thinking exactly the same way you are
so in sum either sell that thing and build something worth wild or keep it as a tow car and buy you self a cheapy and spend your money on that i now drive a suzuki sierra sprung over on 32s and have some much fun it that at i bought it for not even a 1/4 of what i spent on my hilux

Don't do it Nev, too much work and way too much engineering involved.

The steering alone is gonna cost thousands to have someone else fabricate the box and mounts.

Just 'cos some mongrel dealer says he will give you $3,000 doesn't mean that's all its worth.

Tidy it up big time and go the private sale.

Then go and buy something else privately.

If you need dough, try a personal loan rather than a car loan. That way you can shop for what you like and not have to buy from a dealer.

buy my rolled 80 series for your ten grand and plonk the raider body on it. might sounds stupid but it's more sensible than the SAS on your POS.

Now THAT's a good option. With a body lift, you won't have too much drama mounting the body either.

Bit of welding and a few trips to the engineer tho.

I just bought $4200 GQ 4.2 tb ti. No rust. Shop around champ and dealers always give you less than half of what your acr is worth.

IF you could do all the work yourself and you can get cheap parts plus you know how to get all the steering geometry right then it would be kinda cool. But by the sounds of it you will need to pay someone else to do this. For them to do this properly you will be paying a pretty penny. In the end you will have a $3000 raider with $10 000 worth of stuff done to it that no one will want to buy, insure etc.

Count your losses now and get rid of it and start with a proven platform . Really sit down and work out what you want from a 4wd and search for the bargain 4wd you want.

Im with Jtop and everyone else.

Nev62 wrote:Yeah I know, get rid of it...........

You could spend $6k on it and have something still less capable than a lux, gq, 80, 60, 55, 45, 40...

I own it outright. Car yards will only give me $3000-$4000 for my 1993 vehicle with 12 months rego.

Sell privately, or Ebay it... Set a reserve and go fer it.

I could spend $10000, get into more debt for a stock 4b that I still cannot take anywhere half decent

You really believe that? You can get heaps of capable 4bs for $10k or less.. Zooks, Lux's, MKs, GQs etc

or I can spend that money over a period of time and make what I want out of what I have and in the mean time still play a little harder than a stock 4b that would struggle with clearance in some carparks!

I dont think you give other 4wds any credit what so ever. Stock lux/Surf with good tires, will go miles without issues, or clearance issues. Still have more clearance than a bravo with $5k of work, and drive into ANY carpark.

You will never really be able to get that thing to be as capable as a $5k Lux with the same $ spent on it as yoru wasting on a Bravo. Or even a Petrol GQ. Then losing all of it when you go to sell it.


YMMV

Nev62 wrote:Looks like I did my money 5 years ago when I paid $20000 and now the car yards tell me it is only worth $3000? No longer give a rats about resale value. I'll just keep it now.

But thats only car yards.. they NEVER give anyone fuc kall.

I was offered $2000 for my 1990 Rodeo ute in 1999 by one yard, and $5400 by another...
Sold privately for $7000.

Redbook has for your thing
1993 FORD COURIER
PC Utility Crew Cab 4dr Man 5sp 1000kg 2.6i
average kms 170,000 - 210,000
trade in price guide* $3,000 - $4,200
national average price - private sale* $4,000 - $6,000


So try for $5800.. its gotta be worth a try while it is still worth something.

Nev, I sympathise I really do...................
I was a little in the same boat as you with the Paj but I have much better after market support and a reasonably big Mitsu community to draw experience from.
Lockers, lower diff ratio's, t/case gears etc are all available plus quite a few guys around the world have done a SAS and or engine swaps so everything is well documented. The base platform is strong enough to heavily mod, not as good as a Kia Sportage with it's "military underpinnings" but good enough
I honestly think you are better off tidying up the Bravo and flogging it for whatever you can get and going a GQ. These can be had for under $10K with mods already done. Locky found a lwb GQ with twin locks, 33"s, ARB bar on gas for $10K in reasonable nick.
The Bravo hasn't got the best platform to build off and have a reputation of being a bit fragile. If it was a Triton I would say go for it, a Rodeo maybe, an IFS Hilux no probs, even a Navara can use GQ bits. But the poor old Mazda has nothing to share from in it's range so you will be totally custom which would cost more without the guarantee of results.
I weighed up the costs of selling mine and upgrading to a GU but it was far cheaper for me to get the SAS done as it is not my daily driver rather than starting mods from scratch.
But a GQ with lockers, 33"s, 2-3" lift will go a lot of places and is as strong as they come.
Good luck...................

Only one other good thing about a SASed forby is it looks cool and bugger all people have em....


and not that expencive if ya can do it ya self.

So your options are:

Stick with your current truck, spend lots of $$$ on mods and only end up with something that is about as capable as a stock patrol, toyota or land rover.

Sell it privately for a much better price than the car yards will give you, and shop around and take your time looking for something better (you said somewhere else you can take public transport for work). You don't need to spend all the 10K on the 4x4 - you can keep some to do mods. I have never paid 10k for a 4x4 but I'm sure my near stock 1987 Defender 110 with 4L ISUZU diesel (factory engine) and 33" MTR's would be much better offroad (with equivalent driver skill) be more comfortable on-road, and cost less for fuel and parts. And my modified, locked IIA would be able to drive over your truck but on-road performance is another matter.

A stock nissan, toyota or land rover with a rear locker and decent tyres will go a lot of places.

I posted in with enthusiasm but the tribe has spoken.

Mind you I think it would be cool and very original if you where to transform it Nev.

Listen to the majority I guess, I'm not an expert same as most here but listen to the majority and use their advice blah blah blah.

Go a Rangie, cheap, aluminium body, coils, V8, leather seats, and for an earlier model, cheap as shite, plenty of parts available:armsup:
I have a courier for work, and just driving it around quarry, they prove they are hopeless as far as the longevity of parts compared to luxs, patrols etc., Hopped under it to wind up the torsion bars, and was horrified at how piss weak these things are built, all have had the rear springs snapp, and after about 50 000 k's, glad I get a newy soon.

My Lil Lux wrote:Go a Rangie, cheap, aluminium body, coils, V8, leather seats, and for an earlier model, cheap as shite, plenty of parts available:armsup:

Yer a rangie could be good. Real point is (IMHO) focus first on selling the courier; I reckon you can get 5k for it.

Then relax, take your time, and pick a fourby up that you know is (a) good in stock form and (b) can be modded up reasonably cheaply.

MQ/MK, GQ/Mav, maybe a rangie, maybe an old landcruiser, maybe a Sierra if you really want to keep the budget low. Is that LJ in Vic still up in the For Sale section?

Jason

im with yarno

everyone else.... ba ba ba baaaa baaaa







*goes and puts flame suit on*

sell that pos

buy bigsteves zook

sw1 wrote:im with yarno

everyone else.... ba ba ba baaaa baaaa

You say "baaaaaaaa" I say "buuuuuuudget." Going for a really unusual rig is good if you have a lot of money, a lot of skills, and a lot of fabricating equipment - or preferably a combo of the three.

It's not the right path if you're on a really tight budget with a spouse looking over your expenditure!

A $400 suzuki would be more capable off-road than the courier will be with another 10 grand sunk into it, and more fun too.

Jason

Whats it insured for?

chimpboy wrote:

sw1 wrote:im with yarno

everyone else.... ba ba ba baaaa baaaa

A $400 suzuki would be more capable off-road than the courier will be with another 10 grand sunk into it, and more fun too.
Jason

Question is, what do you want to use it for?

Sure a Suzuki would be better off road than a Raider but if you want to do any touring in it especially with a family then the Raider is the better proposition. That is why the GQ Patrols are so good. As they are great off road yet are capable of carrying all the gear necessary for a Desert crossing or towing a camper trailer.

come on dad just get a nissan 4.2 TD GQ LWB

i got a GQ 4.2 petrol LWB hasnt fallen apart yet like most others will

remember the holden jackaroo i had all the probs all the time with hubs, diffs, transfer case, motor so on

raider cant be far off from what the jackaroo was