Page 1 of 1

Lj50 or sierra which one and why?

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:12 pm
by 110 TUFF
hey fellas, never thought id be in the zook pages!. How much is an lj50 worth in VGC 80K on the clock, unused new PTO in box unregested and it has been undriven and garaged for the last 10 years? any ideas?

would an lj50 be good for a little tuff truck ie. can much be done to it easily and cheaply? thanks Guys, i know rovers and nothing but. how do the Lj50's compare to other zooks to do up?

drew

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:19 pm
by DeWsE
Dude they are very sort after over here in WA by the zook club. It could be worth a good dollar.

As for tuff truck yeah they could be but it would be a pity to see such a rare car cut up.

My 2c.

Contact the Suzuki club of WA if you wanna sell it.

Matt

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:22 pm
by 110 TUFF
ive seen it for sale. they want 2K

Drew

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:24 pm
by bigsteve
LJ's vary muchly, I've got my eye on a cheap one but have seen other where the owner wanted more than 2k for them.

If the current owner doesn't know its woorth then you are set.

IMO the sierra is a better base for mods but LJ's are just so cool (oldschool)

Look at Kermit and ljbeep beep to see what can be acheived with the LJ platform.

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:25 pm
by bigsteve
110 TUFF wrote:ive seen it for sale. they want 2K

Drew


If 2k is for no rust and its registered i'd pay it.

Just remember that parts are getting scarce nowadays

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:30 pm
by 110 TUFF
think some old guys got it and is clearing out his shed. My brother wants his first 4wd drive and wants a landrover, but finding a good reliable one cheaply is extremly hard. so my next option was to got down the zook path with him. now im getting interested too!

drew

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:31 pm
by bigsteve
110 TUFF wrote:think some old guys got it and is clearing out his shed. My brother wants his first 4wd drive and wants a landrover, but finding a good reliable one cheaply is extremly hard. so my next option was to got down the zook path with him. now im getting interested too!

drew


They are certainly cheap and you can go from one extreme to the other,

See my last post in the fav zooks thread for a few examples

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 1:37 pm
by DeWsE
I wopuld be interested to it's like owning a part of 4wding history. Everyone has a good memory of hooning around in a LJ. kermit and lj beep beep are great examples of what can be done with them

For your bro he is most probably better with a sierra. more parts easy to fix etc.

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 3:17 pm
by christover1
DeWsE wrote:I wopuld be interested to it's like owning a part of 4wding history. Everyone has a good memory of hooning around in a LJ. kermit and lj beep beep are great examples of what can be done with them

For your bro he is most probably better with a sierra. more parts easy to fix etc.


lots of sierra bits, especiall 1.0 litre stuff, will fit easily on an lj80.
2stroke lj50 is supposed to be very different.
christover

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 3:22 pm
by 110 TUFF
cheers fellas. whats the better pick, a coil sprung or leaf sierra? are they all 1.0L

Drew

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 3:33 pm
by christover1
110 TUFF wrote:cheers fellas. whats the better pick, a coil sprung or leaf sierra? are they all 1.0L

Drew


coils are more modern, and therefore much dearer, and less likely to be ruff, but were only made for a very short run, so after market and modification parts are rare, and not much is interchangeable with the leafys.
Only the very early sierras are 1.0 litre, the rest are 1.3 standard, though many have 1.6's fitted.
Some 1.o litre stuff is interchangeable with 1.3 stuff, but not a lot.
around 88 sieraas are a little wider in the track.
christover

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 3:33 pm
by nicbeer
1.3's came in after 85'

Coils came in about 95'

Leafs have better modded parts availabilty.

cheers

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 6:17 pm
by crispy
But if the LJ is in good condition and for a cheap price I'd be looking at that, everyone has sierras but depending on the usage of it aswell if a bit of highway kilometres at the speedlimit are in order then i'd be looking at a 1.3L sierra as the 1 litres dont really keep up so well

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 7:52 pm
by Podge
Is the 50' a hard or soft-top?

Got some fond memorys of having soft-top 50'. Had the doors off one day and lost a case of beer out the side going around a corner. Also, driving along the M4 one day (being overtaken by everybody) with no doors on, whilst pissing down raining, I needed some wipers on the inside of the windscreen. Got a few weird looks too.

If you are looking at a Sierra the absolute best model whether it be hard or soft-top has to be the 413-7 (9/91-4/96). Suzuki slowly built up with feintly different versions of the Sierra from 9/81 (the biggest change was going from 1l to 1.3l) and got it right with the type 7. From there it went down hill when the SJ80 (SJ413-8/9) came about. If you find a coilly with more than 65000km's, there's every chance that it has had a reco engine put in it as they tended to crack piston skirts, not to mention a lot more which I'd be happy to elaborate on.

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:18 pm
by suzukiboy
My first car was a LJ50 Hardtop cost me $1250 19 years ago :)
Now I am starting to feel old.
Cheap fun for a stock standard 4wd.

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:15 am
by 110 TUFF
cheers for the info fellas, it is a hardtop. i think ill look at a seirra now though.

Is there much that can be done with the 1.3 L engine? would the push 31-32 inch tyres OK?

what have you fellas found is a good height to lift in relation to roll over height and stability on side slopes, would 2 inch body + 2 inch springs be sufficent with 31 inch tyres? or to much?

Can the front and rear drive lines/ geometry handle much travle if a lot larger shocks were fitted to a standard vechicle?

How do these vechicles hold up strength wise?

any other info would be much appreciated.

sorry for all the question fellas. I could search, but ive found that new people come onto these forums every day and in so much new info is often gathered when questions are re asked.

Drew.

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:04 am
by bigsteve
Budget $1300 for a rock hopper and you won't have a problem pushing 31's or 32's with a 1.3

I ran 34's with 2inch body lift, ome 2 inch rear springs all round and some cutting of the front inner guards.

This setup with 32's would be sweet.

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:30 am
by 110 TUFF
sounds good big steve, got a spare set of 33 JT2's in the shed, might be able to squeeze them under her.

did u say u ran OME rears as fronts?

Drew

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:44 am
by bigsteve
110 TUFF wrote:sounds good big steve, got a spare set of 33 JT2's in the shed, might be able to squeeze them under her.

did u say u ran OME rears as fronts?

Drew


Yes, it pushes the diff forward giving you extra firewall clearance and additional droop, it usually requires a 100mm chassis extension but some have fitted the rears with longer shackles

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:51 am
by DeWsE
bigsteve wrote:
110 TUFF wrote:sounds good big steve, got a spare set of 33 JT2's in the shed, might be able to squeeze them under her.

did u say u ran OME rears as fronts?

Drew


Yes, it pushes the diff forward giving you extra firewall clearance and additional droop, it usually requires a 100mm chassis extension but some have fitted the rears with longer shackles


75mm extention is better otherwise the shackle is to vertical causing it to invert when it's pushed against rocks.

Also you could build a bolt on extention like the RRO yj extention

Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:13 pm
by 110 TUFF
cheers guys, learning heaps about these little trucks already.

drew.