[vet 180]

Had a quick search and nothing came up.

The transfer case on the vitara is easily the lowest part and pretty close to smack bang in the middle, which also make it bad for clearance. Looking at Atari's thread where he had amour under the car and swapped it to another car, you could see that the transfer bash plate takes the biggest beating.

I am not sure how it looks on other vitara's but on my car (with a taller engine) the front of the engine appears to stick up and the back of the engine sticks down. So I am also thinking it will help level it a little bit.

I am generally not a huge fan of body lift, but for my particular case I needed it (taller engine), clearance for next set of wheels and also options for bigger cooling space at the front of the car. The problem I find with body lifts in general is they do not lift the problem area's. I.e. the chassis, engine and gearbox all stay nice and low and can be hit just as easy. If you can fit bigger wheels without the body lift then it's normally a better option.

So in my specific case I am already committed to body lift So if I can also lift the lowest most central part of the car up and out the way It would be a huge benefit. I am not sure, but it also might mean that I do not have to cut and weld shifters.


So has anyone else lifted the transfer with the body? and how did you go doing it?

[shandy92]

Sounds like a good idea, im pretty sure the only way to get a flat chassis is to change to a old style tranfer case crossmember. Thinner style, doesnt have the ribs hanging down. Ive done the swap without any dramas, you just loose a exhaust hanger mount.

You can only lift up the crossmember on the pass side as the ds mounts from under the chassis mount. But then again you could put a spacer between the crossmember and the rubber mount(center mount) and remodel the side mount to raise the case but the crossmember wouldnt move so no point in that.

[vet 180]

shandy92 wrote:

Sounds like a good idea, im pretty sure the only way to get a flat chassis is to change to a old style tranfer case crossmember. Thinner style, doesnt have the ribs hanging down. Ive done the swap without any dramas, you just loose a exhaust hanger mount.

You can only lift up the crossmember on the pass side as the ds mounts from under the chassis mount. But then again you could put a spacer between the crossmember and the rubber mount(center mount) and remodel the side mount to raise the case but the crossmember wouldnt move so no point in that.

Hmm good info. Does the thinner style old crossmember lift the case at all? Or is the crossmember just thinner? Don't care about losing the exhaust hanger. Car is Lhd so passenger for you is drivers for me. I think it's your drivers side that sits the lowest.

In my case it would still be worth it to put the spacer between the mount and the cossmember and bis as the transfer sits lower than the crossmember

[atari4x4]

correct the RHS is the low side of the xmember, it jacks up on the LHS to clear the exhaust.

a small packer under the mount would be the way to do it, then you can run a flat belly plate. there might be a little difference in hight between the 2 styles of crossmembers but there wouldnt be much in it.

[shandy92]

Yeah i think it lifts it a bit, but raising the case without raising the xmember is pointless. If you space the one side it would just tilt the transfer over possibly causing selecter issues.

[atari4x4]

ahhh cool, i haven't had 2 side by side to compare, plus the SV ones are different again.

mines flat from essentially the front control arm mounts to past the xfer case, i don't recall crossmember hanging down that low but i know i smashed the shit out of it during the 3wd craption photoshoot before getting the skid plates & that reminds me... i've still got the low profile crossmember sitting in the swb.

[vet 180]

Hmmm looking at those pics I wonder in my tcase sits lower than stock. Possibly with the sr20 having a slightly higher point where the gearbox enters the clutch it angles the back of the gearbox down causing the tcase to sit lower? I'll take a pic next time I am under it as it's hard to tell with the amour.

Atari is that a pic of the slim lifted crossmember?

If it is the case I think it would defiantly be worth it to stick a packer under the gearbox mount.

[atari4x4]

stock SV crossmember in that pic, the SE's have the 2 different styles that shandy is talking about.

i wouldn't be surprised that the whole lot is angled after the conversion, whats the sump to front diff clearance like?

[shandy92]

Ill try take a pic of mine for comparison to urs.

[vet 180]

atari4x4 wrote:

stock SV crossmember in that pic, the SE's have the 2 different styles that shandy is talking about.

i wouldn't be surprised that the whole lot is angled after the conversion, whats the sump to front diff clearance like?

Currently it touching literally. bonnet had bracing cut out and it has custom sump so where the sump is closest to the diff the sump is only 1cm max. However before body lift the engine still touched the diff and bonnet even with the custom sump and bracing cut. The previous owner hacked the car, now I have to get to fixing it

[vet 180]

shandy92 wrote:

Ill try take a pic of mine for comparison to urs.

Cheers for that. It will be much appreciated.

I was under the car today and forgot o take a pic damn it. I will try get one up tomorrow.

[vet 180]

Ok jumped under this today.

Looks like my transfer is lower than the cross member. The transfer crossmember looks thin, not sure what the old style looks like though.





So here is the front where the box adapts to the engine.



How the box looks through the body



My amazing measuring device. Interestingly the rear diff had roughly the same clearance. So having the transfer this low is a big disadvantage being in the belly. The tube that goes through the chassis with the hump for the zorst is higher.





Really wanted to try out my new very expensive spirit level. I even pulled the front coil pack to make sure they are not the issue. Looks like it is definatly leaning back.



So this is the side that is trouble. But I think it is possible to lift it above, but we will need a specific shaped block. Nolathane springs to mind. But I have half a metre of 3 inch nylon tube, so I will use that if I go ahead with it. The main issue is the fuel lines. Also One thing I notice is that the side of the cross member that is easily lift able sits a little lower than the other side. So might still be worth lifting an inch or so. Maybe I can work out how to do it with a mix of odd sized blocks. Say for example easy to lift size 2 inch block and under the drivers side mount a say 45mm block as its pretty close to the mounting points for the crossmember. This should not change the angle of the transfer and it will lift up all the lowest points creating clearance.



I still think in my case it might be worth lifting the transfer between the crossmember and the mounts. Half the bolts are missing anyway. Also looking at my engine mounts the drivers side (Australian) is lower. maybe causing the transfer to be lower also.

Pic of engine touching diff.
http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/t54 ... 27075b.jpg

[shandy92]

Hey mate,
That looks like the slim style already, will keep an eye on here to see how u go.

[vet 180]

shandy92 wrote:

Hey mate,
That looks like the slim style already, will keep an eye on here to see how u go.

Ok good to know. Might explain why my transfer sits lower than the crossmember.

I think I have figured out what I am going to do:

This side is easy to lift.



Also just before the crossmember bends up to get over the exhaust (same side) this is the lowest part of the crossmember



And on the side that is more difficult to lift, the gearbox mount is very close to the crossmember mounting point anyway (see pic below) so some packing under the gearbox mount should be fine. Also where the crossmember bolts to the chassis is the highest point of the crossmember. I also like this idea as I would rather bash a crossmember than a transfercase.



The pic below might illustrate what I am trying to say best. The part of the crossmember just under the gearbox mount on the left side of the pic is the lowest part of the crossmember from there it progressively gets higher until it meets the chassis on the other side. The pic doesn't show it well, but that point under the gearbox mount is very similar in height to the lowest part of transfer case and rear diff.



So by packing the gearbox crossmember where it meets the chassis (see first pic) you should theoretically make the highest point of the crossmember the lowest. And you can compensate the drivers side by packing the gearbox mount as it is so close to the edge anyway.

[atari4x4]

j20a on my sort of level front lawn 2" bl

[vet 180]

atari4x4 wrote:

j20a on my sort of level front lawn 2" bl

Nice comparison pic. Mine appears to be on more of a gangster lean. I didn't check how level the ground was. It was flat....but that doesn't mean level.

[atari4x4]

no drama's dude, it's probably a very similar sized engine in reality.

looking at your pics above your transfer case hangs on a bit of a funny angle due to the engine mounts, will double check but i reckon the bottom casting where the drain plug is pretty horizontal.

[DarkHorse]

That was my thought too, looks canted back relative to the crossmember.

Reckon I'd get motor mounts sorted first...

[vet 180]

DarkHorse wrote:

That was my thought too, looks canted back relative to the crossmember.

Reckon I'd get motor mounts sorted first...

Agreed. I will do the engine mounts, but it's not going to be much of a change. 10-15cm. the engine is currently touching the diff.....So I will raise the engine....causing the transfer to be even more canted back.

So I will do both at similar times. I will get the engine sitting where I want, then I will work out where I want the box and then I will remove and change the clutch at the same time. re-installing the box in a better position.

[vet 180]

So had a look under this today. Turns out the stagger mount idea should work well and provide better than stock clearance. Rough measurements put the subframe and chassis point at 2 inches the next gearbox mount at .5 inch and the last gearbox mount at 1.5 inch. This will provide around 1.5 inches more clearance at the lowest point of the cross member. I think it is worth it.

While measuring I also worked out why my box was leaning stranger...... Only one gearbox mount had bolts in it...... So the drivers side was not even connected. I guess it's a safe precaution for a gearbox that has 3 times the stock power going through it.......