Congratulations on being selected for Auszookers Zook Owner of the Month!Cheers lads!
How does it feel being honoured with the nomination for Z.O.O.M. 2014?Yeah really cool, There is a lot of wicked people / rigs on this forum and to stand out from the crowd is gotta be a plus for self confidence!
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?The real name is Simon Grice, the username 'Superduki' stems back some 11-12 years ago when I was an apprentice light vehicle mechanic and when on my block release for TAFE training there was a real down to earth country boy doing his Diesel apprenticeship at the same time and he always asked me on every block 'How's the little Superduki going'. I liked the name and it was around that time I started using forums, so I utilised it!
I live down in the best state in Australia, Tasmania! we have no crocs, bugger all sharks, bugger all transport officers, and some insane wheeling! I live 15 minutes out of the CBD of Hobart which is roughly 20 odd k's out, in a bogan shithole neighbourhood, but on a single mechanics wage at the time, it was where I could afford to buy!
I live in a crappy old weatherboard house with my missus and her 3 spastic cats. They are warming on me.
That leads to my profession; Light vehicle mechanic. I did 10 years in a Hyundai / Holden dealership and once my long service was owed to me, I packed up, cashed it in, renovated my house (to keep my missus happy, we had no built in wardrobe's) and changed up. I ended up 600 metres down the road in a Suzuki, Volkswagen and Isuzu dealership. I picked up a lead role as a Suzuki technician, as the only Zook tech we had was promoted to foreman. More money, similar politics.
I have my light vehicle ticket, and back in 2010 I did night school for 2 years and completed my Auto Elec ticket too. I'm currently doing night school again and doing my Heavy Road Transport ticket (Diesel Mech) and working afterhours with an old Diesel Mechanic. Once this is done I will have triple trades under my belt. I don't know if I'll move into that field, the monies better, but we will see.
How did you get started in Suzuki's & how many have you owned?When I was 15, I was playing around with motorbikes, having restored a 1982 TT250 to get my licence on. A little 1989 WT shorty with a factory hardtop canopy on it came up for sale via a family friend. My parents lent me $4000 to buy it, as it was around this time I was looking at a first car, and my parents wanted me in a 4wd 'for safety'
which meant I couldn't buy what I really wanted at the time, a 70's something 2 door LA Chrysler Lancer. This was my first car, and by the time I had reached 17 I had my p's on both the TT and the Sierra, but I dropped a valve in the TT doing a burnout so it became back burned and I focused all my money on the Sierra. This started a roller coaster ride of these unreliable little shitboxes, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Including current day Suzuki's and ones I've bought to wreck, I've owned 9 all up.
How long did it take you to build your zook to what it is today?On and off, It's taken me 6 years to build my current Suzuki. As we can all sympathise with each other, It still isn't complete!
Any changes in store for your Suzuki?Yes, many. Revert the rear disc brake setup to drums again, after having nothing but trouble with dodgy rear brakes on a Hilux diff. It's been 3 years of pissing in the wind, only to come to the conclusion stock works best.
Build a canopy frame and fit a permanent canopy. It rains a lot in Tas, and cleaning my gear every trip has to be one of the most annoying parts of a weekend away. Even if I didn't use it, it gets covered in mud/dust/leaves/branches/leeches etc.
Design a user friendly rear swing away carrier. A 1.5x1.6m tray is fairly full with a brand new 33 jammed up on it.
Fix it's overheating woes and fit a supercharger to give it some highway torque.
What has been your best modification?Everyone says gearing and power steering. They both have been a great addition to my car, but in all honesty I'd have to say the EFI conversion. Haven't touched it since we fitted it, It's been a pleasure knowing it'll fire every time, no matter what angle / situation your in.
What has been your worse modification?By far the rear disc setup. I have solid mounted callipers on a semi floating axle, and when you work the car off-road the axle end float pushes the pads back in the calliper as it moves, which means no brakes for the first pedal pump. Very dangerous and very annoying.
If you could have anybody else's zook, who's would it be and why?It's been covered many times, and there is more than 1000 reasons why it's justified, but GwagenSteve's ute is just super cool. The geometry of the thing is all kind of weird, but the amount of patience, acceptance and 'Onwards and Upwards' attitude to the car just inspires everyone. Kudos to your time to the forum Steve.
I never saw it in the flesh, but the combo had me crack half a mongrel, was 'Dank's' 20 Valve shorty. I absolutely loved the radiator in the tailgate idea, and those motors are a wicked little thing, much to the disgust of the older purists on here!
What has been your best 4wding trip?Probably not in a Suzuki, but years ago I owned a TD42 GU wagon, and I flogged the living daylights out of it for 2 years before I rolled it, and apart from it overheating like every TD42 known to man, It bought many a good trip. Usually we'd head round to the west coast of Tas for some insane wheeling, and prior to rolling that car I had very little fear, which made trips memorable!
If you could go to any place in the world to wheel, where would that be?I'd love to see the tracks of the Malaysian Rainforest Challenge! America brings the cool, but I've not really seen that much apart from rocky outlooks, which is ok, but not something I could focus a build on for 100% of it's life! You 'Un Zed' (NZ) guys look to have some cool tracks across the ditch!
Who are you closest to in the auszooker's community?Tassie is small, we are all related so you think, so I have a few, but it would have to be Jonno_Racing, Phil and I have known each other since we were in prep/grade 1, so it'll be a friendship with many years left. Plus he brings lots of laughs when the shit hits the fan on here!
Other local guys I spend a lot of time with are, Kennyg.345 or whatever he calls himself on here, Jazzor, & DM_Felix. We are all in the same 4wd club together, but also spend a lot of time together in non 4wd related events.
Tell us what the wheeling is like in your area?Wheeling close to me is loose, scrabbly hill climbs. But locals don't tend to like us in these areas. Legal areas close to home are very tight overgrown forestry coupes/tracks, or 5 car wide mud bogs that every bloke with his mad 3L V6 Pajero goes and rapes. I tend to do more exploring as I'm getting older, so primarily old scratchy tracks I find on my maps.
What other toys/hobbies do you put a lot of time into?Suzuki's take up a lot of my spare time, but if I'm not doing cash jobs at home on any kind of car I'm trying to keep up with maintenance around the house.
We have two Honda motorbikes, a CRF230L which is the missus' and she is currently on her L's (having an early mid life crisis) and I bought an old Postie bike to thrash to work on and follow her around so she doesn't get bored learning on her own. Like all things in life, I became hooked with the postie and have restored it a bit, taking a fair bit of pride in it, and one day I'd love to ride it across Australia just purely for the hell of it!
I'm a recreational shooter too, so I get out a little bit when I can and send some lead down range.
One of my other toys / daily driver is an old MK2 GTi Swift.
I've owned this car for 8.5-9 years now, and was purely a 'in the right place spontaneous purchase' kind of thing. It had 230,000 K's on it, had a dirty big cannon on the back of it, sounded like shit, paint was knackered, lifters were rattly, but I didn't care, I had to have it! One day I thought I'd take it to the dragway for a laugh, with no idea what I'd pull, thinking it'd run 15 easy. I was disappointed to find the best I could get was 16.4 seconds, which shattered me and this started an obsession.
9 Years later I have a Completely resprayed, Rebuilt gearbox & engine, LSD fitted, aftermarket cams fitted, higher voltage ignition system, braided lines all round, low mount turbo setup, 2.5" zorst, bigger sway bars, stereo, Momo gear, GTi-R bonnet, pushing 10 pound, intercooled little GTi. My obsession went a bit stupid, but I have had some good times in this car. Later this year I hope to finally sell it to another GTi fan, and treat myself to a new Swift Sport. A lot less power, but comfort, handling, power everything, a/c are the little things that I miss in life as I get older and lazier.
I'd love to get into Trials riding, but my lower back disagrees with me on this quest, so we will see down the track.
That's about all for other hobbies!
What is it about the auszookers that brings you back for more?Rig updates, my missus has a Jimny, so I like seeing guys pushing the boundaries with them now! I honestly spend all my forum time in the rigs, and I love the fact you have to be a member to see it, only a little bit of privacy, but a great idea.
What about the auszookers forum would you like to see changed?Nothing really, just support from the members, Facebook is the new forum ground, and Atari made a great post months ago stating about the book just going round and round in circles with questions, where a forum is more categorised, and easy to use. I do laugh at Gwagen getting sucked into Hilux diff questions and spring over questions on there, your fighting a loosing battle with the younger generation Steve!
Now for the million dollar question, who do you select to be the next Z.O.O.M. & why?zukenutter
This was my first Sierra, bought it stock, went full retard, 2" body, 5" reverse shackle Calmini kit, and 31" Pedes. How times have changed!!
That front flex!!
This was my TD42 GU, again 6" Lift, twin locked, 3' Zorst. I was 19 when I bought this car, and to this day is still my favourite bus. 35" roadies, 36" pedes offroad.
Aftermarket Highmount turbo setup
Sandy Cape lighthouse, down the West Coast of Tas one Easter, years back.
For a while I went retarded and bought a TJ wrangler. The only 3 things I rated on this car, it had an absolutely brilliant steering lock, a shit load of power, and the seats were like a couch!
Somewhere amongst all this the GTi came along:
Along the line of cars, I owned a Hilux for a while. Actually apart from the pretzel gearbox they have, it was a damn good car, had A/C and P/S, 35's, Airlockers, 4.5 centres etc.
Then for some of the older forum members, you'd remember my solo mainland mission years ago, This was the beast I did it in, 31's, Long range tank, G13BB EFI with a Supercharger on it. Drove it from Hobart all the way to LCMP in QLD, in a month, met a few forum members, was an awesome month away!
Somewhere in between all this, the Drover trayback I've currently built came along. $800 paddock find.
It underwent a major transformation, panel swap, efi, hilux diff conversion, power steer, brake upgrades, 80 litre fuel tank, 80 litre water tank, front and rear winches, dual batteries etc.
This was the biggest wheel I could engineer it with legally, after gaining nearly 5" with a spring over conversion!
Finally it passed engineering and I was able to re-register it! Now sits on 33's nicely.
This is some of the tracks I love clearing, exploring down here! That's me looking trendy in an Orange club shirt and my lawn mower green earmuffs, PPE is a must, at the tender age of 28 I have shocking industrial deafness already.
This was my shed a couple years back, The GTi was having a rebuild, the Carry van was my daily, the Ute was having a vit radiator conversion, and the Jimny is the Old Ladies.
The old ladies Jimny has taken us to Fraser Island and Victorian High Country with no issues on separate occasions, it deserves a mention:
Fraser Island:
Tassie in November:
We did Billy Goat Bluff by ourselves (Vic High Country)
Cheers for having a read guys!
