[Rangaman]

Ok, so I apologise if this is covered elsewhere (I have looked but can't find what I'm after) basically I'm currently purchasing my first Zook and first 4x4 and have ideas on how/what to do with my build but hoping people can help point in the right direction and offer advice.

First off is it necessary to replace a engine? How much power increase will G16B actually have over just performance upgrades on the M13A?

If i start of but doing performance modifications to the M13A extractors and possibly swapping to TG 6.5 gears will that make it more difficult for a engine swap in the future?

Where are good/cheap places to find various parts such as 2" suspension and body lift kits and body parts like flares/better rims and tyres?

I live inner east Melbourne (Kew East) if people now of good mechanics/shops around this area that'd be greatly appreciated.

Also what would be a suggested order of improvements? I want to start having fun ASAP but want to plan out the work needed as I can only get work done on Saturdays as this will still be my daily work car.

[steve125]

Have you got the car already? Your details show you have a sn413 aka a Jimny (yes, they call it a Sierra) so all the mods for older Sierras won't work.

If you want to modify a Jimny, have a look at Mike57 build thread.

Why does it need a new engine?

[bumstein]

Hi Rangaman!! Welcome to AZ!

Here is your starting point.

viewtopic.php?t=52270#p893398

My suggestion is to get your zook and drive it heaps while its stock.. Decide on mods to do when your familiar with the car, it will still be a very capable car and you may decide it doesn't need many of the mods your talking about. Unless your already a well seasoned 4wd'er and very mechanically competent, go conservative. Every mod you make will have negative effects that you may not have accounted for.

For example, 6.5 reduction gears are very very low gearing. Unless your running enormous tyres it means your car will be revving extremely high on the highway. If you put large tyres on without selecting appropriate gearing the car will suffer and make 5th gear often unusable.

Get out with heaps of other guys with zooks in your area, find out what they've done and how well it suits them.

Good luck!!

[Rangaman]

steve125 wrote:

Have you got the car already? Your details show you have a sn413 aka a Jimny (yes, they call it a Sierra) so all the mods for older Sierras won't work.

If you want to modify a Jimny, have a look at Mike57 build thread.

Why does it need a new engine?

The sale for the SN413 is going through atm and I will be picking the vehicle up this coming week.

Majority of threads I've read so far nearly everyone recommends a upgraded engine and that really bothered me as I don't want to drop another 2k into a new engine without being 100% certain the current wont't do the job

bumstein wrote:

Hi Rangaman!! Welcome to AZ!

Here is your starting point.

viewtopic.php?t=52270#p893398

My suggestion is to get your zook and drive it heaps while its stock.. Decide on mods to do when your familiar with the car, it will still be a very capable car and you may decide it doesn't need many of the mods your talking about. Unless your already a well seasoned 4wd'er and very mechanically competent, go conservative. Every mod you make will have negative effects that you may not have accounted for.

For example, 6.5 reduction gears are very very low gearing. Unless your running enormous tyres it means your car will be revving extremely high on the highway. If you put large tyres on without selecting appropriate gearing the car will suffer and make 5th gear often unusable.

Get out with heaps of other guys with zooks in your area, find out what they've done and how well it suits them.

Good luck!!

thanks for the feedback, the plan is to grow with the car and make it suit me and my needs however I was more interested in other peoples experiences with taking it straight off road does stock do well? lots of the recommendations I've read so far seem to have recurring themes but no one talks about why, I'm assuming im going to want better traction so larger tyres may be necessary but straight away I know that'll create rubbing so I need to address that issue beyond that what "roadblocks" should I expect?

Also how do I find these driving groups? I want to branch out but no idea where to start.

[jdk81]

Get recovery gear and wheel the shit out of it stock.
Then start working out what you want.

Dont rely on facebook for good tech/current advances in build tech etc.
Theres a LOT of people with below average intelligence in the world and facebook gives them a loud voice.

If you go comp truck/fully sik too early you will likely regret it.
Many uneducated/uninformed decisions may lead to heaps of mods that make the car worse, and heaps of revisions.
Making it too good makes it harder to find challenges and its less fun. You wont use it as much.

Every kg you add will make the car worse.

Many of us have learnt that we got our builds wrong and went with subsequent builds or multiple revisions working towards what many feel is currently the best performing setup.

Oh mud sucks, it powerful sucks.
Sure the splashing, the noise, the mess is great at first
But the bearings, seals, brakes and interior of your car take a beating.
Just encourage your friend to do it.

Being an m series engine, means looking for appropriate m series upgrade when the time comes.
Way too much work to go g16.

Be cautious not to overgear.
My sierra was initially and low range had 2-3-4 useful gears.
Low 1st was ridiculously low and low 5th wasnt worth the noise.

[Rangaman]

Thanks for all the input at this point I am thinking about doing misc/light work to begin from better audio to snorkel/uhf. Playing with it a bit see where I feel the limitations lie then work from there.

Still very interested if there are others around my area who are keen for cruises/ light bush play and discussions.

[steve125]

I believe most of the info you're reading is for the old Sierras. These are 25 plus years old and often need new engines so are replaced with G16s in stead of G13s. Try reading any 'Jimny' threads in the 'The Rigs of Auszookers' section. You don't need BIG tyres just ones, maybe a fraction bigger, with more grip like mud terrains, BF Goodrich KM2 is a good tyre.

Join the Suzuki 4wd Club of Victoria, next meeting is 8pm Wednesday 14th September, AMRA Hall, 92 Wills St Glen Iris (Melway 59 H7) opposite Glen Iris Station, http://www.vic.suzuki4wd.com

Two of the 4+ Jimnys in the club. The red car is well set up for touring, has minimal 'big' mods but goes almost everywhere. The muddy car is completely hectic but requires a lot of work to keep it going.

Mudkini vid https://youtu.be/61xtQRybLIw

[Gwagensteve]

Rangaman, there are two events the suzuki club is running in the near future that would be very valuable to you. There is a technical night in Northcote - it's discussion/web based not practical, but you'll learn heaps and heaps - equal to weeks of reading and searching on line.

There's also a weekend on private property where you can learn safe and effective techniques because it's not a point-to-point trip, meaning you can have multiple goes at the same bit of track. There's all sorts of terrain on the property so you can see what standard cars through to highly modified cars are capable of.

If you've bought a manual Jimny, swapping to a leaf sprung sierra transfer case and adding gears is almost impossible due to high range gearing problems (you'll be revving at about 5500rpm at 100km/h or something - sky high) and with smallish tyres your off road gearing will be far too low to be useful. Consider an automatic Jimny transfer case swap - this might be a nice compromise for a smaller tyred, new car as you won't need to cut holes in the floor and everything will work as per factory.