G'day everyone,
I’ll try and keep this as short as I can, but I just have a few questions about a Jimny as a ute chop candidate.
I’ve been wanting to get a zook for a while now, and some of you might remember my previous posts regrading sierras and utes and stuff. I originally was considering a sierra ute, then a maruti because I thought I wouldn't fit in a standard ute, then realising how utterly powerless and speedless the 1L is, tried looking for a Holden drover, being that it had a 1.3L and 5 speed. Having searched around gumtree a lot for months I started to realise the price for a decent ute was 3-4 grand. I was thinking that you know, they're probably worth that. It just started to hit me the other day that they really aren't. They're just a 30 year old tin box. I saw couple of jimnys around for similar money, and I’ve pretty much decided that a Jimny with a slightly extended wheelbase and ute chop would be far better value.
I remember seeing a couple of different variants of conversions in New Zealand, one of which was made by work mate, which in my opinion looked very agricultural, not just in purpose but also design and execution.
The second one I came across was made by cowpertrucks, another New Zealand based converter. This company appeared to have two variants, a halfback and a fullback. The former being a standard chassis, while the latter is said to have the wheelbase extended 200mm. There is another in the picture, with a longer wheelbase again, but it isn’t mentioned anywhere, so might be a custom. The fullback doesn't look out of proportion in any way, and doesn't reduce the ramp over angle too much. The tray is decent sized (for a Jimny) and I reckon it actually looks pretty damn good.
In the picture below, the jimny in the far right is a halfback (standard), and the jimny in the far background is from what I can see, a fullback, with the wheelbase extended 200mm. The one in the front left appears to be a custom, as the wheelbase is extended far too much I think, and isn't mentioned anywhere.
I ended up doing a heap of research on jimnys, and worked out that the best one for the job would be a 2000 - 2004 jimny. Pre 2000 used G series motors, with less power; 2005 onwards used a newer engine with variable valve timing, which to me is just more things to break, and that was also when they started the push button transfer case, which is again, more things to go wrong. The dash is more modern, yes, but to me, that’s a worthy sacrifice in the name of reliability. And the bonus is that an older jimny should be cheaper too.
For a similar price to a sierra/drover, I get more power, better ride, more legroom (big thing for me, I’m almost 6ft), air-con, power steering, power windows etc, and a generally newer vehicle, which means less chance of rust, hopefully less kilometres and means it should last me longer as a first car.
I’d just like a few tips about the jimny. I have been reading so much jimny stuff it’s all blurred now, but the 2000 - 2004 model has airbags, yes?? Has remote central locking?? Has immobiliser?? Anything else I missed, or have included above that it doesn’t actually have??
Also, does anyone have any input as to any major problems with the jimnys? I have briefly heard of the steering wobble, but as far as I know that shouldn't be a problem unless I mess with lift and tyres and stuff right?
The only problem I can see, compared to a sierra/drover ute, is capacity. The sierras are designed with light truck tyres, heavy suspension etc, because the lwb ute was designed and built as a load carrying vehicle. With the jimny, with a ute chop and chassis and wheelbase extension, what would the load capacity end up turning out like? What sort of kg rating are we talking? Say, am I going to be left with a ute that can only carry 150kg and is utterly useless? Being a passenger vehicle, and a small one at that, I assume it would have a pretty soft rear suspension setup, correct? However, as a direct result of the ute chop, there should be a lot of weight reduced too, from bodywork and the rear door. The two rear side windows wouldn’t be light either I'd imagine.
How would I go with mounting a spare tyre, and getting around the fuel tank and all that ute related stuff, not to mention tailshaft extensions and brake line extensions?
Just another question, not directly related to a ute, but what sort of towing capacity does the jimny have (2000-2004 model)?
Thanks guys,
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the idea.
- good spotting Steve.