A little bit of (old) gold

[droopypete]

In his build up thread in members,
oldgold wrote,

"I think I'll just leave it stock, it might go a bit further if I spend money on it but I don't think I'll have much more fun with it than I'm having now".

I think he is spot on, while it is in our nature to want to improve upon what we allready have (I think it is called Tim the Tool Man Taylor syndrome) who here can remember how much fun it was wheeling in a stocky?
I can recall when my zook was stock as a rock with only little mud terains and a welded rear, and it was a hoot!! maybe it was because it was so small and unasuming and everyone thought it was just a peice of shit that when it went further than the other cars it made you feel like you were,
KING OF THE WORLD
now that we have twin air lockers rockhoppers, dif gears, huge tyres, winches, big motors bla bla bla, it is expected of you and the scence of acheivement is deminished a wee bit.

oldgold wrote,
"I think I'll just leave it stock, it might go a bit further if I spend money on it but I don't think I'll have much more fun with it than I'm having now"

Opinions?
Peter.

[grimbo]

Definetely had more fun when it was stock or just mildly modded. Now that it is theoretically much more capable with twin lockers, rockhoppers, 4" swampers etc it is too unreliable and for the majority of fun tracks makes it all too easy. We don't have the terrain to constantly challenge the vehicles without resorting to having to do the same couple of tracks over and over to offer a challenge

Before there were heaps more tracks that were challenging and fun

[suzukisam]

yes - agreed 100% - i'm currently pulling mine to bits and turning it back into a stock machine. No challenge to getting anywhere anymore so i'm going back to little wheels, no lift and all performance parts out.

[Damo]

You're all poofs

[DeWsE]

You're all poofs

You can't comment coz you modded but never drove it!

Yeah I'm another which was very happy to wheel with 29's.... though I do think lockers are still needed. Crazy wheels in the air action.

[Drewfus]

You're all poofs

Givers not takers.....


As a former regular 'Greg' said, "Build it SMALL, DRIVE it BIG".

Drewfus

[sierrajim]

I must say for the driving aspect i do agree. My old vit was an interesting car to drive as it definitely was driven past its limits.

Even though my zook has had some teething problems i would not say that it is unreliable, i simply drive the crap out of it to see what it will and won't do. It is more reliable than the Vit ever could be taking into account my right foot.

I must say though that building, designing etc to me is as much fun as actually driving.

You can walk out to your shed, make some extended shackles, change springs etc all in the comfort of your own home. The actual drive itself for me has become more of a test to see what works and what does not.

If your car is unreliable build it better!! however when this is done you do findthat tracks that were once fun are now boring.

Once upon a time a dirt mound, drain, pile of gravel on the side of the road was a good laugh and sometimes even a challenge, now just looks like a larger than average speed bump.

I won't ask Grimbo (due to his love/hate relationship with his zook) but Pete, would you prefer to drive a stocker as opposed to your "handcrafted" zook?

[redzook]

if u have more fun in a stocker ur not making the most out of your mods

unreliable?
musnt be built right

[grimbo]

I tended to enjoy driving my Zook more when it was on 7.00 SATs with a rear locker, 2" BL, OME suspension with 3/4 rear as it was capale enough for nearly all the tracks we did as long as I drove them properly. Driver ability played a big part in makking the most of the cars ability. Once I went to the Swampers, rockhopper and front locker the car became more capable and my driving abilty was sometimes left out of the equation as the car could just drive itself through obstacles.

It has been one of thhe reasons I've not bothered getting the Zuk back on the road as I found I was not really interested in driving the same stuff in an even more capable car. Hence why I am now doing a ot more easy - medium stuff in a basic patrol, more touring/camping stuff. it is fun

[grimbo]

if u have more fun in a stocker ur not making the most out of your mods

unreliable?
musnt be built right

Granted but in my case my Zuk has been built instages over the last 11 years. It has been a steady evolution. I was the first to run an airlocker, one of the first to run a rockhopper, 34" swampers were unheard of on a Zuk when I first put them on etc etc

If I was to do it again I would do it all at once and not compromise like has been done on mine. Unfortunately funds now don't allow me to strip it all and build it properly so it has to be the patch and fix method which is where the unreliabilty issue comes up

[JrZook]

Ah yes the patch and fix method all to well known. Ya fix sumtin them sumtin else falls off. Yea i like driving the near std zuk, doesnt stand out on the road or in a crowd but it still gains respect time and time again on the track. proves many ppl's thoughts wrong of a lil zuk.

[droopypete]

No offence Graham, but you are starting to sound like a tosser

Peter.

[droopypete]

if u have more fun in a stocker ur not making the most out of your mods

That is a fair comment, but as the vehicle evolves, the obsticles become less challenging and indeed less frequent,
On adventure tour with the Suzuki club a few years ago, we were in Toolangi (where it is always muddy ) and as none of the obsticles were a problem for my car with 2 airlockers and 33" claws, I popped it into 2 wheel drive and the capabilty of the vehicle was greatly reduced and the fun was greatly increased pretty soon everyone was 2wheeling it with smiles all round.
I am not saying that I don't enjoy crawling at super low speed with both difflocks in, over a technical obsticle, just that those type of obsticles aren't every were.
Peter.

[grimbo]

No offence Graham, but you are starting to sound like a tosser

Peter.

Yeah it does a bit oops.

What I was trying to say was when I was building the Zuk a lot of it was trail and error as not many other people were doing those mods at the time. Now it is a lot easier as there are more doing it and thhere are resources like this BB to draw info and inspiration from which makes it easier to do it right first time

[OldGold]

haha thanks for making me feel like a tool
Maybe if I lived over east I'd "Go further" with it, but as it is in WA it's a 90 minute drive bare minimum over the whole city to get anywhere moderately challenging. And when you get there, it is a challenge - my car is only on 2" lift and 30s but at least it's a challenge. I go out with people on 35"s and lockers etc and quite frankly they make most things looks deadset boring. It takes me 1/2 an hour, lots of directions, lots of attempts, lots of thinking it out to get over stuff they drive over with their eyes shut - but at least it's fun.

ATM I'm thinking maybe a rear locker and I'll leave it at that until I wear these tyres out. But as for now I have an absolute ball every time I go out and the car is still very reliable. I haven't broken anything in almost a year, touch wood. But as for the terrain availible to me around here, I think my car is quite suited to it and if my rig was half as extreme as some of you guys I dare say I might get quite bored.

Also, as you say, it is quite an unasuming looking little thing, and it's great fun suprising people in rigs that cost 3-4 times as much and are sometimes more modified. The catchcry is usually "But the sierra got through it, I can't imagine why mine couldn't..."

http://imageevent.com/evlhilux/offroada ... =4&s=0&z=3

[superzuki]

i think you should mod your 4by to suit the tracks you drive. i have an almost stock sierra with 30 inch mudies. today i took it to its limits was awsome had tyres smoking wheels in the air required skill to get through the tracks. sure i would have done it easier with a few more inches of clearence and diff locks but it wouldnt have been a challenge. when i find harder tracks which are beyond my limits i will think about mods.

mod your zook to suit the tracks you drive if they are to easy find harder ones .

[nicbeer]

I agree.

I have bought two lockers (1 x welded) but i am only going to put 1 in for now to see how it goes, with breaking things. As the people know I push mine as far as i can go, even if it needs a bit of a hand everynow and again. all part of the fun. Mine has 31's and been reliable so far. needs a little bit of trimming and all good.

Everybody has a laugh and clap when the zook gets it up the tracks where the 35'd jeeps got up.

cheers

[small talk]

I most definatly agree stock or near stock zooks are fun and more reliable in my books as there is less hassle because that setup works, but the modded zooks have the real WOW factor which is good and bad because if you live in QLD or WA you dnt need the attention. But then i also agree that designing and biulding a capable zook would have great saticfaction when its done, so there are always two sides to a story, both with pro's and con's.

small talk.

[Wesley]

While i find its fun driving a near stock zook i always seem to drive past wicked rocks and crap thinking i wish i had a rig good enough to even attempt driving it let alone get up it.

[OldGold]

same
but would it be good enough to be worth all the money required?

[slacker]

no matter how much $$$ oldgold spends he wont even come close to the mighty patrol

[87suzi]

thats been my theory all along, I remember how fun it used to be trying to make it up only 10 degrees of incline in wet muddy grass with my 205's. I'd spend like about 15 minutes just trying and trying and trying. It's also one of the best ways to improve you skills, make it more challenging so you work for it.

[built4thrashing]

what do ppl regard as near stock. is it just tyres and of the shelf suspension or would you go as far as BL, 31 tyres and RUF? everyones definition of near stock will vary.

I dont regard my zook as highly modded (RUF, BL, Suspension lift, Bars, 31's & Weber) but i know it will go further than im game to go.

[antt]

i can see where you guys are coming from. if you think driving a modded zuk over 'normal' tracks is easy, try driving a buggy! these things make any normal track easy (as an example, i got to have a drive of one of the haultech buggys' at ormeau.....stupid me forgot to put the centre difflock in, but it still managed to climb a steep ledge, out of a creek, in 1wd....wheres twin locked cars couldnt come close)....and it does seem to take the fun out of normal wheeling. they certainly have a place in comps, where they're being pushed to the limits, but wheeling on 'normal' car tracks is a joke for them

having said that, my vit will be fairly modded, but this is mainly to increase reliability and reduce the broken parts