Congratulations on being selected for Auszookers Zook Owner of the Month!
How does it feel being honoured with the nomination for Z.O.O.M. 2013?
Thanks Atari, It’s nice to be recognised, and It means all the more coming from someone as helpful and smart as Jrzook.
So tell us about yourself. Who are you, What's the meaning to your username, Where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
Well I’m a 38 year old bloke who spends too much time on the web and not enough time in the shed
As to my username, I guess most people would know that I own a Mercedes Gwagen. I bought the Gwagen in 1997, and as it was my primary car when I started joining forums, it just seemed like the obvious username – I’ve had it long enough there’s little point changing it now, even though I’m selling the Gwagen. I’ve basically never driven it since I’ve had Piggles.
I’ve lived in Kinglake, 65km North East of Melbourne, for 12 years. It’s a semi-rural town, so I have space for a shed, great neighbours, and a really lovely drive through a National Park every day. I’m also 10 minutes from the Toolangi State forest, so I don’t have to drive far to get onto the tracks.
I work at Mobil Altona Refinery. I work for a French-based Multinational company, providing testing and inspection services (stuff like crack testing X-ray and thickness testing) for Mobil’s existing equipment, and new fabrication. It’s a pretty interesting field – there’s always more to learn, and we work alongside the Mobil reliability engineers, so we get a lot of context about what they are trying to achieve. I mostly look after the technical reporting, but I get out into the field from time to time to help out.
How did you get started in Suzuki's & how many have you owned?
I got started on Suzuki’s kind of through convincing a mate to buy one as a first car. My folks had been in the Landcruiser club for a while, and whilst I didn’t know much about Suzuki’s, they seemed affordable and good fun. On top of that, In my first few months of driving, I met up with the Vic Suzuki club when they came to a competition event the Cruiser club was running. They seemed like a really nice bunch of people, so quite a few of the younger cruiser club members ended up joining the Suzuki club. That was in 1993. At the time I was driving a Hilux. After a few years of Hilux ownership, I decided to buy a commuter car (a Honda Civic) and a Suzuki, so I found a tidy LWB styleside, and drive that for about a year, with open diffs and no gearing. In mid 1997 I blew the motor in it in a stupid bog hole, so I took it off the road for a rebuild. I was trying to punch well above my weight at the time – I really had no idea what was involved, (and I wanted to get back to 4WDing) so I traded the Civic for the Gwagen in late 1997.
I ran the Gwagen as my only car for quite a few years, but I wanted to get back into a Sierra. I’d helped out with quite a few cars over the years and I was missing the capability and “nothing to loose” attitude of driving a cheap Sierra, so in 2006 I bought Hedgepig AKA Piggles, a very rough 1983 trayback.
That's not the whole story though, because I've worked on or built up a whole bunch of cars with their club member owners over the years. Major builds were a rework of Grimbo's car a million years ago, A rebuild of Critta, Greg's green car, Greg's black car, CJ's Sierra, and the trolley tug.
On top of that, I have a non-suzuki project in the works. A couple of years ago I bought a rough F250 "Highboy" It runs a 351C, NP435/NP205 and has a dual rear wheel D70 rear diff. It's going to get injection (The LPG is going in the bin) and a dual rear wheel spec D60 in the front, and some drab paint.
I also have "Blingy" a very straight type 3 1.0 tray back with no engine/trans/transfer which will be the basis for an engineered build along the lines of Piggles.
Blingy
The Truck
CJ's Sierra
Critta post rebuild 1, I reckon its best incarnation
How long did it take you to build your zook to what it is today?
I’m pretty much always planning or working on something on it. It’s been a constant evolution over the 6 years I’ve been driving it. It’s never been off the road for all that long though – I guess the longest break was when the 1.6 and front coils went in – that was about three months between trips. I don’t daily it, it’s only driven on trips, so it might not get driven for a couple of months or so, so there’s normally some little tweak or something done between drives.
Any changes in store for your Suzuki?
Whilst I’m pretty happy with the performance of Piggles, there’s a few things I’m planning.
The next round of work will be a rear swaybar, but that might form part of a more detailed rear suspension revamp. I’m trying to avoid pulling the rear bodywork off, but if I do, it will give me the opportunity to revise my rear shock mounts, and top link configuration.
I’ve either cracked the head or done a head gasket, entirely my fault – I cooked the motor from being smug/naive and thinking I didn’t need an electric water pump to boost the stock pump for my rear mounted radiator – so I need to drop in a newer long motor. My motor has 246K on it and was already a bit loose and smoky so I’m not surprised, it was going to need work at some point. It’s still running fine, but it’s using a bit of coolant, so it’s not urgent, but It’s not going to get better by itself.
Beyond that, I might build a vitara rear based front diff. There’s a few planned builds in the club at the moment that might utilise this setup, so it will be fun to build one. On top of that, I think I’m having issues with housing flex with my radius arm front end, so building something stronger is desirable. The problem is I need to buy a new airlocker if I go this way, so that’s $$ on top of custom inner axles to do what I want.
I need to work the power steering pump. It’s not effective enough in hard terrain and with the tyres aired right down.
What has been your best modification?
Hmm, that’s hard to say. The modification that most transformed the car was the 1.6/AW-4 swap. The car went from something that was impractical, but a really fun novelty with the 660cc turbo in it, to a completely practical driveline that just performs excellently, on and off road. However, it’s far from an original swap so whilst it’s probably the best modification, It’s not something I’m especially proud of.
To that end, the rear bodywork is something I’m really proud of. It’s functional, robust and effective.
However, my decision to build an exo-thingy many years ago might be the best modification, simply because it means I’m still driving it. Without the exo, it would have been totaled long ago. It’s been on it’s roof once, and on it’s side something like 12 or 13 times now, and the doors still shut properly and I’ve never broken a windscreen.
What has been your worst modification?
The rear disconnect and Twisted T shift rails. 2WD low/front wheel drive are pretty useless in Victoria. I don’t regret having them –they don’t compromise the car in any way, but they’re not useful at all.
If you could have anybody else's zook, who's would it be and why?
Greg’s green car. I drove it quite a lot after it was built, and it was just hysterical fun. 9K rpm, 120:1 gearing, and crazy stable and nimble. Piggles, in comparison is a barge and works like a much bigger car.
What has been your best 4wding trip?
Adventure tour 2004. I think everyone that was on the tour that year also has it as their best trip ever. I don't really know why it all fell into place, but we had some cool cars, some last minute thrash builds, and the weather and track access was really kind to us. It was just a really memorable trip. It was a shame I was in the Gwagen in a way, but it did fine.
If you could go to any place in the world to wheel, where would that be?
Petersen’s ultimate adventure. Wheeling is only partially about the terrain – it’s as much about the experience and the camaraderie. UA is where it’s at I reckon.
Who are you closest to in the auszooker's community?
Mock – he doesn’t post on here much, in fact, basically doesn’t really 4WD at all now, but he’d be my closest mate. In terms of active AZ members, Gregc. We’ve built two cars together, and have a very similar attitude to our 4WDing and what we get out of it.
Tell us what the wheeling is like in your area?
More varied than people who aren’t from Vic tend to realise. We have lots of deep ruts and slippery hills, ledges, lots of big angles, heaps of soil types (sometimes even on the same track) We don’t have much rock, and it’s not generally very helpful rock – it’s often quite slippery and offers little traction. We also have deep snow driving, which I think is pretty unique for Australia. Yes, obviously we have mud, but it’s often not much of an obstacle and more of a PITA. We also have tonnes of scenic high country stuff – cattlemen’s huts and the like. The driving is rarely really interesting, but the country is spectacular.
What other toys/hobbies do you put a lot of time into?
I shoot stills for Dirtcomp magazine. Mock got me into that a couple of years ago, and this year I’ve shot Tuff Truck and Finke, with The Pines Enduro later in the year. They’re really great weekends away – hard work, but really good fun. I shot nearly 5000 frames at Finke this year and I’ll only get a handful of shots I’m really happy with, but when it all falls into place it’s super rewarding. Randall from Dirtcomp is a great bloke who does a lot to support motorsport and extreme 4WDing.
I'm also pretty keen on a glass of red, and that's something of a hobby too.
I go to a wine dinner each month, and have met a bunch of really nice people from a completely different walk of life. I'm getting there with the home cellar, but it takes a lot of time, effort and money to get going. What is it about the auszookers that brings you back for more?
There’s a great bunch of super knowledgeable people on here, and it’s good for a laugh too. All up, it’s a community, and communities achieve more than any individual could. That’s cool to be a part of.
What about the auszookers forum would you like to see changed?
It’s a bigger problem than just on AZ, but I’d love it if people were less defensive. Forums only work if there is a free flow of ideas and if those ideas are questioned and pulled apart to get to their core. Apart from cat videos and “when you see it” memes, that’s one of the best things about the internet – we can be exposed to everyone’s ideas from all over the world and debate and discuss them to get a better outcome for everyone. That’s only possible if people are willing to talk openly though and not get all shitty if there’s some debate.
So if there is just one bit of advice you would give someone just starting out with Suzuki 4wds what would it be and why?
Join a club. The internet is valuable, but it can’t replace talking to someone trackside, or watching someone drive the section of track you’d never thought possible, and it can’t lend you a uni joint or a transfer case mount to keep you on a trip. Everything about 4WDing better as a shared experience. The club I’m in has shaped and developed my car and my driving. I couldn’t imagine going driving by myself or with the same couple of mates all the time.
A recent club tech day at my place
Now for the million dollar question, who do you select to be the next Z.O.O.M. & why?
Alien – He has a really nicely built car which he gets the most out of, and he’s a great member of AZ. His experience is also completely different to mine being from WA, and I’m really keen to find out more about him and the WA scene.[/quote]
