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Body lift back in or not!! - HELP ME DECIDE!!!!!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:17 am
by TinyGQ
This is driving me crazy!! i want to get some advice on weather to put the body lift back in....i bought the car with a 7" suspention lift and a 3-1/2 body lift running 35's....i took it all out to get registered now sits with everything minus the body lift.
I need to make a decision quickish since i cant fit my front and rear bars untill i do. ive asked this question a few times but cant get much solid advice, im keen to know what other people think. Another idea is to put 2" blocks in, i might be able to fit the bars in with those or less modification anyway, and my blocks are a little rough anyway!!
Take a look at the before and after pics below and let me know what you think. Cheers TinyGQ
Re: Body lift back in or not!! - HELP ME DECIDE!!!!!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:40 am
by bogged
As pointed out on the GQ forum, dont bother... you already have enough clearance. And your COG is high enough.
Your only runnin 35's, so dont even need that amount of clearance.
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:41 am
by hienuf
where did you purchase this car from?
just looks like a car i viewed in melbourne.
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:32 am
by TinyGQ
Cheers for your advice bogged....your right i do and i dont wanna go bigger than 35's..untill i find a bargain set of 37's at the right time!! Only thing is there may be more work re modifying the bars than there is putting in a body lift!! lol any way cheers mate.
Heinuf...yea i did buy it from Melbourne..it probably is the car you saw dude....well you saw it with the body lift...keep it in??? I bought it from Broadford just out of Melbourne..the car was from NSW though..insurance jobby.
Cheers guys.
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:10 pm
by MKPatrolGuy
Leave the bodylift out and mod the bars to suit.
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:13 pm
by TinyGQ
cheers mate..
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:51 pm
by hienuf
I thought so, i almost brought this vehicle and yes i think it was tooo high.
i'd leave the blocks out for sure.
I struggled to hop into it.
I drove that car down the street and found a little hill and ramped it.....excellent travel.
I found the diesel underpowerd but then again i did own a (chev patrol)plus big tyres.
I must admit the only reason i did'nt buy it was because it had a few oil leaks and it had been off road a fair bit.......but i did love it for the price.
How much work have you done to it to get it up to scratch?
Are you happy with it?no hidden problems?
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:52 pm
by hienuf
By the way in my neg with broadford the best price i could get it for was $5400..............What did you pick it up 4?
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:53 pm
by hottiemonster
looks like a nice track done by the previous owner!
Lift
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:57 pm
by The Big Green Meany
Only Running 35's you wont need the body lift...Leave it out you wont miss it
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:11 pm
by TinyGQ
$5400!! damn i had to pay $5500, but he did hold it for me for a few days till i could get there....it cost me about $800 to fix the leaks and new bearings from the front end beacuse everything inside the diff was trashed!! it cost me $450 at the wrecker for a short axle, 2x stub axles and a brake rotor!! the engine is great though no leaks or anything...i also think its underpowered but i drove it back to adelaide and it went fine....i have a turbo kit for it in the shed im just lookin for an exhaust manifold! It owes me about $7000 now with now seats and stuff so its still ok....its good for what i want, i wanna learn alot and do some cool extreme 4x4ing without worrying about a scratch or dent here and there. It will be great when im finished though if i ever work out what i want to do lol!!!!
PS yea that was a good track he went through!!!!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:15 pm
by TinyGQ
Oh yea it did have a couple of other issues....the guy put all the wrong shockers in it...they're way to long...the rears are stuffed anyway but the fronts seem ok but for a shock with 12" travel they only have about 3" sticking out the top...i din't bottom them out last weekned though but i didn't go much off roading....so new shocks all round which is probably a good thing any way!!!
Hienuf....did you end up buying another one??? and is it lifted too??? even without the blocks its pretty massive!!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:18 pm
by hienuf
TinyGQ wrote:$5400!! damn i had to pay $5500, but he did hold it for me for a few days till i could get there....it cost me about $800 to fix the leaks and new bearings from the front end beacuse everything inside the diff was trashed!! it cost me $450 at the wrecker for a short axle, 2x stub axles and a brake rotor!! the engine is great though no leaks or anything...i also think its underpowered but i drove it back to adelaide and it went fine....i have a turbo kit for it in the shed im just lookin for an exhaust manifold! It owes me about $7000 now with now seats and stuff so its still ok....its good for what i want, i wanna learn alot and do some cool extreme 4x4ing without worrying about a scratch or dent here and there. It will be great when im finished though if i ever work out what i want to do lol!!!!
PS yea that was a good track he went through!!!!
Still a good price for what your getting.....yea i noticed the front end seals leaking all over the hubs.....and i knew it would need some repairs here and there........But its almost complete package for serious off roading(thats what i wanted it for as well) all it needs is lockers/turbo/winch.
good luck (im regreting not buying it now doh) all the best...have fun!!!
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:22 pm
by hienuf
No havent brought 1 as yet.....looking around for a stocker to build the way i want it...
but its getting hard to find clean one.......so i might have to buy a modded 1 and go from there.
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 2:27 pm
by TinyGQ
Yea thats what i thought....and thats what i want for it too!! i have one out of three but i also want to make up some sliders....hoping i can surf the net and just copy what someone else has done!!!!!

there is about a page list of other smaller things that were forgotten when lifting it like brakelines, turning around the rear drive shaft, liting the brake bias and stuff like that, it will keep me busy for a while!! But with a bit more of a scrub up and one day a lick of paint i think it will make her look alright...getting to know more people that know what there talking about too which is handy!!!! Cheers mate you too.
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:13 am
by morkz
thats alot of lift
are the springs still sitting 7" ?
i reckon your not going to need the 3.5" body lift
you do just 2" body and have 5" spring in a GQ thats awesome...
But saying wht i said what are going to do with it i.e. i heard your going to put a turbo on and stuff if your going that way wouldnt you want the cenre of gravity reduced so you can actually go fast.
Either way does look pretty sweet, u just have to work out what your plans are for it
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:11 pm
by Camshaft1
Someone had that car on here before i think, and was asking whether it would be a good buy. For that price and by the look of it you have done extremely well.
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 10:58 am
by bazzle
A 20 - 30mm body lift works good on a GQ (50mm Max)
Helps clear tunnel for gearbox removal and keeps chassis rails away from floor under feet.
Bazzle
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:30 am
by TinyGQ
Morkz, i think it is iting a little lower than it is meant to be, caus i measured hub to guard and its is about an inch or a bit more lower than the dimentions i got from Bowers suspention. But saying that when i pulled the springs out i measured them unspruung and they are only 5mm if that shorter than the dims i got straight from king springs!! SO who knows lol!!
I cant wait to work out what im doing!! although it is giving me time to save for what i need to pay for haha!!
Cheers Camshaft1
And finally its good to see some psitives towards body lifts, cheers bazzle. Although looking at the bars on the weekend im not sure anymore that i will be able to bolt the bars on with only a 2" lift, that really burns.
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:19 am
by Tiny
I run 6" with 35s and clear everything.....need to trim the gaurds when the 37s go on but no body lift. IMHO the COG is way to high for very little or no benifit from the body lift.
What shocks are you looking at?
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:17 pm
by TinyGQ
Cheers tiny, cool pics by the way!! It miight sound stupid but what does IMHO mean???

At the moment im running ranchos, the previous owner or who ever put these shocks on bought the wrong model caus they are way too long, the rears are all bent, ive heard this happens just becaus of the lift but im sure the length of the shocker helped it too. And the fronts are also way to long, all the travel is in the shocker!! not to mention they came out with a eyelet/eyelet mounts and have been changed to pin/eyelet to suit the front!!!! What are you running, have any suggestions as i have to get knew ones all round, at the moment im prb just gonna get the correct size rancho's as i can get them the cheapest.
Cheers, TinyGQ
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:20 pm
by Tiny
TinyGQ wrote:Cheers tiny, cool pics by the way!! It miight sound stupid but what does IMHO mean???

At the moment im running ranchos, the previous owner or who ever put these shocks on bought the wrong model caus they are way too long, the rears are all bent, ive heard this happens just becaus of the lift but im sure the length of the shocker helped it too. And the fronts are also way to long, all the travel is in the shocker!! not to mention they came out with a eyelet/eyelet mounts and have been changed to pin/eyelet to suit the front!!!! What are you running, have any suggestions as i have to get knew ones all round, at the moment im prb just gonna get the correct size rancho's as i can get them the cheapest.
Cheers, TinyGQ
In
My
Humble
Oppinon
I run the ranchos and are happy but will get tough dogs next time, are you sure they are too long or do you think you need to tune your bumbstops?
I will PM ya a price on the dogs to suit 7" lift
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:30 pm
by bogged
I think these 2 have made a tiny breakthrough...

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:38 pm
by Tiny
bogged wrote:I think these 2 have made a tiny breakthrough...

the tiny breakthrough would be I am a victim of name stealing

there can only be one true Tiny
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:52 pm
by RN
Firstly I like modified GQ's but..........are you saying you took out all of the body and suspension lift to get it registered but you then put back the suspension??? There is a lot of daylight under your vehicle form what I can see in the pix.
Does it occur to you that because you had to take out all this height to get it registered that there maybe a reason why vehicles are not supposed to be that high? Could it be that they are unstable and they tend to fall over. Could it be something to do with the ADR's.
Now I know why the RTA's around the land are coming down on these modified vehicles. Whilst other forum members have gently hinted that the COG is a'bit high' I reckon that your rig is dangerously too high and the fact you are willing to drive this on the road is beyond belief.
RoadNazi
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:09 pm
by Tiny
RoadNazi wrote:Firstly I like modified GQ's but..........are you saying you took out all of the body and suspension lift to get it registered but you then put back the suspension??? There is a lot of daylight under your vehicle form what I can see in the pix.
Does it occur to you that because you had to take out all this height to get it registered that there maybe a reason why vehicles are not supposed to be that high? Could it be that they are unstable and they tend to fall over. Could it be something to do with the ADR's.
Now I know why the RTA's around the land are coming down on these modified vehicles. Whilst other forum members have gently hinted that the COG is a'bit high' I reckon that your rig is dangerously too high and the fact you are willing to drive this on the road is beyond belief.
RoadNazi
I agree with what you are saying in essence, however, if you read the post it says that the pics are from the previous owner and had at that stage the 3.5" bodylift. the body lift has been removed and left out at this stage and he is asking wheather it should go in or not.
As some of us have mentioned there is neglegable gains from a body lift on a rig with this much suspension lift as the coils will bind before the tyres hit body work. 37s with a slight guard chop will clear with ease and is a safer more stable option in my mind. I find that the 6" + 35s put me more than high enough and no additional clearence is gained with a body lift. A better solution to keep your sills in good nick is a set of decent sliders. I think this is one of the better mods I have done.
The most important thing is to engineer you rig, after all you can end up in a lot of strife and a large bill if your rig isn't engineered and you have and accident. Even if you are not at fault, the accident can be blamed on you as the you shouldn't have been there in an un road worthy car.
My rig is fully engineered including the 35s and this payed off when someone crashed my car early this year.
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:17 am
by TinyGQ
Cheers for the backup tiny, and the abbreviation description!!

yea thay are deffinately to long, ive taken it to a 4x4 place and the code on it shows it as the second or third longest rancho you can get!! Oh an sorry to steal your name dude i didn't know there was another one lol!! So you got yours all engineered?? Can i ask roughly what is that worth to do?? I told my insurance company everything about the car and they said its all fine but it might be a different story if i have a crash!!!
For starters just caus it doesn't meet the ADR doesn't mean its unsafe, i mean a car with a blow off valve isn't even legal! When i get impot cars the amount of things you have to do to get em registered is crazy, the inspectors know that you put it all back in as soon as you get home, so really to get a car through RTA you need a completely stock aussie delivered car and where is the fun in that!!
Go back and drive your VT commodore with hubcaps nazi! But i appreciate your opinion, everyone has a right to it.
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:31 am
by Hoonz
personally i'd leave it out .. 7" lift is bucket loads to run 35s
if ur gonna put it back in ... you may as well stick huge tyres under it, half a dozen shocks at each corner ... lots of crome and bling paint and mall it

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:34 am
by TinyGQ
fair enough lol..
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:08 am
by Tiny
Hoonz wrote:personally i'd leave it out .. 7" lift is bucket loads to run 35s
if ur gonna put it back in ... you may as well stick huge tyres under it, half a dozen shocks at each corner ... lots of crome and bling paint and mall it

as I siad, mine with 6" more than enough for 35s.....looking at $800.00 or so for engineers