[luke3411]

Hey all. New to this site so I hope to get some good info from fellow Aussies.
I have been on some American forums and even though the advice is really ggod, I'd preffer to get some knowledge off some people that know the terrain I'm looking at driving.

I have a 1995 swb Vitara. It's a great little car and the only thing stopping it at the moment is the diffs getting hooked up. So now for some lift and some tyres.

I've been snooping around at different options for the lift I'm after. Considered combo lifts, Calmini 3' lift and the one that I keep drooling over is a 4.5' suspension lift from Canada by Alter ego motor sports. It's a huge lift and can easily fit the rubber on that I'm looking at getting (31') with room for more.

http://www.alteredegomotorsports.com/tr ... nsion.html

My question is Will this kit be legal, Will I have to get an engineer's certificate, will I have to pay duty tax seeing as it comes from over sea's.

If I do have to pay Duty tax on it, would it be better to find another option in Australia that will Give me the room to put 31's on my car without cutting the guards? I've been told that going any bigger than 2' in the suspension and I will end up putting to much stress on my cv's.

Any help would be much appreciated guy's as I'm really stuck as to what to do to get my Zook up to scratch.

[Fatzook]

luke3411 wrote:

My question is Will this kit be legal, Will I have to get an engineer's certificate, will I have to pay duty tax seeing as it comes from over sea's.

Not sure about NT, but it would not even come close to passing in QLD. And the way they have 'relocated' the strut is far from 'best engineering practice', so finding an engineer to signoff on it may be hard.

Any import over the value of $1000AUD including shipping and insurance is eligable for duty AND GST. So Yes! You will have a 10-15% duty applied, followed by another 10% GST.



If I do have to pay Duty tax on it, would it be better to find another option in Australia that will Give me the room to put 31's on my car without cutting the guards?

No such kit exists AFAIK. Chopping will be your best approach.

I've been told that going any bigger than 2' in the suspension and I will end up putting to much stress on my cv's.

This is true, but you can fit dropped munts to the front diff centre to lessen the angle of the CV's.

Any help would be much appreciated guy's as I'm really stuck as to what to do to get my Zook up to scratch.

Peter

[luke3411]

Thankyou for your response.
Well would I be better opting for a 2' lift kit (ome is apparently awesome and has been for years) and a body lift?

How much body lift would I need to be able to fit the 31's with minimal trimming?

I would like to buy in Australia but the way the aussie dollar is atm It is that much cheaper to get imported from America even with the tax on top of it. For example, I looked up the 3' calmini suspension lift and it was just under $1000us and they were going to ship it to me for about another $450us. To buy the exact same system in Australia was gonna cost in the range of over $2000au and that's without shipping. Big difference.
Even australian made products are cheaper to buy in the states and get sent back to Australia lol.

What would be peoples suggestions to buy things in Australia for my pride and joy to get the best peformance and able to fit 31's?

[orangeshannon]

i have a 2 inch suspension lift and a 2 inch body and i need to do abit of trimming i like that 4.5 inch suspension looks great and not a bad price too alot cheaper than calmini suspension kits. im wanting to go for a bigger loift as i still dont have the clearence that im needing

[luke3411]

What sort of tyres are you running? As old mate said before, Might be a bit of trouble getting it engineered. Hope not as I move around a bit and dont want to go through the worry of it not getting certified.

[FullyZooked]

IMHO I wouldn't touch the Altered Ego. I've seen a couple of builts which required excess bootyfab to make work.

What do you mean Calmini is dearer? $900 vs $2000?

Calmini 3" landed at my door in Vic $1400. That's also with a minispool.

[Bucket]

Everyone keeps forgetting to take into account rim sizes. I ran 30s find on my 2" body lifted vitara for a year. It was fine on the stock rims. I had a mate who had troubles though with his 2" suspension lifted vit cos he had negative offset rims.

Take this into account

[orangeshannon]

FullyZooked wrote:

IMHO I wouldn't touch the Altered Ego. I've seen a couple of builts which required excess bootyfab to make work.

What do you mean Calmini is dearer? $900 vs $2000?

Calmini 3" landed at my door in Vic $1400. That's also with a minispool.

where abouts did you get the calmini kit from? and are they any good?

[matt91112011]

I ordered mine from low range Offroad. Watch out for customs taxes. I didn't realize you got charged and had to pay about $300-400 extra in taxes. Maybe he can split the bills up?

Cheers

Matty

[FullyZooked]

Yes. Speak to the guys at lowrange and get them to split the packages up. I was lucky enough not to get stung with import tax. It's just luck.

The calmini kit is tried and tested. It has it's minor flaws but for the money it's the only way to go.

The kit is of excellent built. All welds are precise and powder coating is nice and thick. All bushings are the perfect size and the kit just works.

[orangeshannon]

how much better do you think it would be over a OME 2 inch lift? is there anymore clearence? smoother ride?

[orangeshannon]

i just had a look on the low range site and it looks like that 4.5 inch calmini lift is a body lift as well as suspension so better off sticking with the 3 inch then

[atari4x4]

Bucket wrote:

Everyone keeps forgetting to take into account rim sizes. I ran 30s find on my 2" body lifted vitara for a year. It was fine on the stock rims. I had a mate who had troubles though with his 2" suspension lifted vit cos he had negative offset rims.

Take this into account

what about those flipped rims you had

[Bucket]

atari4x4 wrote:

Bucket wrote:

Everyone keeps forgetting to take into account rim sizes. I ran 30s find on my 2" body lifted vitara for a year. It was fine on the stock rims. I had a mate who had troubles though with his 2" suspension lifted vit cos he had negative offset rims.

Take this into account

what about those flipped rims you had

Yeah, but I ran those after I also installed the calmini kit. So I had 5" total and it was enough to run those rims. Don't forget I did sone choppy choppy to the guards when I went to 32s!

[luke3411]

I've spoken to low range and they've told me that they can send the 3' lift kit over in two packages sent on different days therefore aoiding the duty tax that would come with it . Very Happy that they would offer to do such a thing for there overseas customers.

I have read on forums though that the shock's that come with the kit aren't really that good and that they will have to be upgraded to avoid breakage over time. What would ome make shocks to fit?

[atari4x4]

OME struts aren't having a very good run at the moment, i'd be buying Dobinson struts to replace the stock length ones that come with the calmini kit & i'd also look at rear shock replacements.

have a search on here as there is plenty of info around on the various options for replacement shocks.

[luke3411]

So how much extra would I be looking at to get Dobinson struts and some replacement rear shocks? Wouldn't really want to spend over $1000.

[shep]

the calmini stuff should be easy enough to get TAC approved.

stick a TAC application in before ya spend any money.

[atari4x4]

IMO i'd just run the calmini shocks until they fail, you might get 6 weeks, 6 months or 6 years depending on use. the reason why people swap them out is they are a standard length strut, where as the Dobinson, OME & Ironman struts are around 35-40mm longer which gives you more travel.

[atari4x4]

shep wrote:

the calmini stuff should be easy enough to get TAC approved.

stick a TAC application in before ya spend any money.

pretty sure Timbo has his kit approved in the NT.

[Bucket]

Just run the kit stuff to start with; you will either be very happy with it, or have no luck.

My personal experience with the kit was it's a fucking heap of shit and wouldn't go down the path ever again....BUT, theres many people who have found the kit fine.

A year after fitting the kit, I noticed I had blown one front strut and the other was on it's way out, in which case I swapped them out for ironman jobbies which made my ride a bit smother, but it was still very stiff.

[atari4x4]

bucket, you have to remember you ran the kit with no extra weight as recommended by calmini + being a soft top made that situation worse.

[shep]

atari4x4 wrote:

shep wrote:

the calmini stuff should be easy enough to get TAC approved.

stick a TAC application in before ya spend any money.

pretty sure Timbo has his kit approved in the NT.

thats why it should be easy.

[luke3411]

Ok I have a soft top as well. So I shoudl think about getting bullbar and rear bumper sooner than expected?

[Chop]

The extra weight over the front makes a huge difference to how the kit works and rides.
I had an arb bar and a second battery up front on my lwb already but once i put the winch in it made it so much better.

[stocker]

Yep. as i popped up and said before, Great Kit to start with!!! Very happy with it!!!

the only problem i've had is a popped strut but ya get that

[matt91112011]

So to update on the Calmini information. I blew my passenger side strut today. It's leaking oil and clunking. I got about 3 months out of mine.

But I expected them to blow so I'm off to buy some new struts.

Cheers

Matty

[Gwagensteve]

The calmini kit might be the best of a bad lot.

Front arms - fine.
Diff drop brackets - fine (if you have a narrow track Vitara)
Struts - rubbish
Strut spacers - ok with stock struts, might be rubbish with decent struts
Front springs - long and soft if you have offset rims and a winch, otherwise too stiff. If it's light you might end up on OME springs.

Rear arms - pointless
Rear heim joint - cheap and pointless
Rear a arm - only there because of the pointless heim
Rear shocks - rubbish
Rear springs - as for the front springs - fine if your car is heavy. If it's lighter, you might end up on OME springs.

All up it's a lot of money to pay for a pair of A arms and some diff drop brackets, because odds are that's all you might end up running.

As for legality, I can comment from experience that the engineer CJ used in Victoria wanted all the welds crack tested (and guess what - the rear heim bracket had a crack in it) and would not look at the heim.

I still don't understand why the bolts are all oversize (and imperial at that) and why the kit binds its springs instead of fitting bumpstop spacers. Why would anyone think this is sound engineering practice? It's typical patchy Calmini build quality if you ask me. How the same company that can make really nicely designed arms then smash way oversized drills though it and bind the coils to fit bigger tyres.

I've had a good drive of a LWB 1.6 Auto with bar, winch etc and 31's with OME struts and it drive very nicely with the Camini springs etc. The same setup in a SWB was way too stiff.

Steve.

[stocker]

A Question of Curiosity only, but IYO, why are the rear arm's rubbish?

from my very limited understanding of suspension, don't slightly longer arms allow the suspension to flex better???

Like i said... Very limited knowledge

[atari4x4]

I agree 100% with Steve, hence me limiting up travel with bumpstops & the extra weight I'm carrying it's a heap softer & a little lower than what it was 3 years ago & a metric truck load softer than the first drive.

I reckon the bent trailing arm does have one benefit in not dragging on rocksteps, the rear heim joint failed on mine after 5 years & looking at the broken cross section it looks cheap & nasty + it looks like the heat treating on touched the surface.

Slightly off topic but still on on Vit flex.

My junk is tail heavy with flex being IFS even with no front sway bar, would it be worth while limiting the travel a little bit more in the rear of my vitara either by bumpstopping it more or by adding some roll stiffness by adding a rear swaybar & leaving the bumpstops?

An adjustable set up like joeblow's torsion bar style sway bar with the FWH would be cool.

Really want to avoid slapping a SAS under it for as long as possible & it's cool to have a tuff IFS 4wd.