[toysuki]

Hi there all of Auszookers
I'm about too, well hopefully pick up my first suzuki sierra later this week. I'm getting it cheap, and know of a couple of issues it has, and I'm just after advice, and thoughts on resolving the issues.
Firstly I'm planning on using the sierra just for commuting to work and back, no rough stuff, thats what the cruiser is for. A suzuki is one of those cars that I've always wanted as they look to constanly punch above their weight, and the chance has come up to own one, so I thought why not, they look like fun.
Anyway, the first issue is a common one I think with the 1.3 engine, the carbie is stuffed, it won't tick over, that sort of thing. From what I can gather there are 4 ways to go about this :-
1. rebuild the origional carbie, not always succesful from what I read

2. put an SU carbie on it, a bit of mucking around making adaptors etc, are they worth the effort considering I only want the car for a commuter, plus I'm not a big fan of SU's

3. Fit a Subrau carbie to it, could be clearence issues with the bonnet once fitted.

4. Fit a 32/36 weber, my favourite option, but they are expensive, are they worth it

any thoughts on the above will be greastfully recieved

Okay secondly, the car develops a wobble between 60 & 70 kph, I know the car has hit a kerb fairly hard, but I am un sure whether it was the front or rear wheel that hit, I'm guessing front as to hit a kerb hard with the rear only takes some doing, so what could be wrong, I believe one of the rims is bent, so hopefully thats what it could be, or an out of balance wheel, any ideas of what else to check like wheel bearings, king pins u-bolt nut tensions, I'm guessing that I'm asking has some out there had this problem and what reolved it.

Also anyone from Perth, can you please advise me where the best place is, to find a second hand wheel, there's a couple of places I've seen on the net, one is the suzistore, and the other is Lansdale 4x4 wreckers, are these two places okay or do they know what parts are new and then rip you off accordingly with a secondhand price not far off a new price.

Thanks in advance for any held on these issues

Have funh out there

[royce]

Carb rebuilds generally arent succesful cause the poeple doing them dont know what they are doing and glance over important bits, get a profesional to sort it out and youll be laughing

yeah wobble could be anything, start with a straightness check and balance

[shep]

how ya going mate?
what royce said, but also check the wheel bearings as they are rarely installed correctly
i have never heard of a su carb on a sierra. aren't they a side draft carby?

[SuziBlu]

My lil girl hit the wobbles at around the same speed, tried wheel balance, alignment, different steering damper, all to no avail, got her up on a hoist, checked the wheel bearings, they ok, checked the whole of the steering geometry, again, nothing amiss, in a moment of shear brilliance er, sort of, I tightened the steering box a bit, problem solved.

Before doing the steering box, at around 65-70k it would be almost uncontrollable, front end would wobble fit to be a bird flapping its wings to take off, now, 99% gone, adjusted it 3 times, maybe one day I will do it again, but its so close to perfect, its not worth the bother to get spanner rash redoing it.

[303zuke]

shep wrote:

I have never heard of a su carb on a sierra. aren't they a side draft carby?

I have seen SU carbs fitted to a 1.0 Sierra, which has a sidedraft manifold, but haven't heard of it done on a 1.3.

Another carb you haven't listed is a Vitara 1.6 carb, goes well at higher revs particularly with extractors.

[JrZook]

royce wrote:

Carb rebuilds generally arent succesful cause the poeple doing them dont know what they are doing and glance over important bits, get a profesional to sort it out and youll be laughing

yeah wobble could be anything, start with a straightness check and balance

Now thats a hard one to find! There are alot of aledged 'experts' out there.

Why arnt you a fan of the SU carb? They are quite a brilliant carb in respect to fuel metering and also work quite well offroad. Deffo wouldnt be too hard to make an adapter to fit to the 1.3.

[toysuki]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll try an answer them all
I've heard, and yes its hear say, that's why I'm here, hopefully to get some real world advice, not just some peoples rambling on other sites accross the net. Anyway before I digress too much, I've heard that getting the origional carbie re-built is about as expensive as fitting a weber to it, plus if I remember correctly its one of the casting that can wear making a rebuild very hard to correctly, I personally find this hard to believe, but its out there, the main reason for looking at a replacement carbie would be the expense of rebuilding the origional, although I could be wrong on that one.

Yeah a SU is a side draft, people make an adaptor that bolts onto the manifold allowing the SU to mount in a side draft configuration, which to me is a lot of buggering around, not to mention what may go on with the airflow characteristics once its done

Thanks suziblu for the idea's on the wobble, I haven't physically got the car yet, as I've had the flu, was back at work today, and the I'm suppose to be getting the sierra off has the flu and is off, just my bloody luck, I wanted to pick it up this weekend and have a good look over it, checking all the things you mentioned, good one on the steering box, I'd of never thought of that one

If a SU won't go on a 1.3, then sorry my mistake, I'll check further should I go down that road

why don't I like SU's, well I guess its from past experience with them on Rangie's etc, just never liked them, no real reason, I've always preferred weber's, they just seem to work better, thats from the escort days before I discovered the delights of 4bies

I'll post my decisions and findings, thanks for your help so far, as I suspected, you're a good bunch...............thanks

[Moph]

There's a Weber in the Quokka at the moment for $180 including adapter ... no idea on condition or if it's set up properly. Search 'Sierra' - the bloke's in Lynwood (SOR). Also some on eBay USA with carby hat adaptor for about US$280 ... not bad with the current exchange rate.

Other option is a 3K/4K Corolla carby. They're apparently a bolt-on fit and are a simpler carby (manual choke) with a bit more go down low / similar top end. But get in line cos I'm chasing one too!

I had my stock carby rebuilt in Adelaide before driving across to Perth ... it runs fine but is a bugger to start on cold mornings as the choke is shot and apparently can't be fixed (something about a wax pellet??). The standard carb just generally seems to be temperamental too - doesn't take much for it to start running like a three legged dog.

Oh - and by the way, "Firstly I'm planning on using the sierra just for commuting to work and back, no rough stuff, thats what the cruiser is for." <-- good luck with that Take it through Powerlines before you put a Weber on and stuff up it's idle on steep gradients ... you might find it coming out for a wheel more often than the cruiser

[toysuki]

Thank's for that Moph, I'll keep a look out for one, yeah saw that add in the quoka, just waiting till I actually get my hands on the thing before I start buying.
As for bringing it out more than the cruiser, who knows, I've had some fun down the power lines in the cruiser, we'll see, the cruiser is set up more for touring, so has quite a bit of fruit on it, lockers, that sort of thing so it can hold its own in most situations, but I've seen these suzi's go and they are impressive, once I get it sorted I'll keep an eye on the forum and maybe come along on an outing, in the suzi of course

[Moph]

toysuki wrote:

...maybe come along on an outing, in the suzi of course

Perfect opportunity right here Big gathering of the Perth AZ crew on November 28 - cruise, parmy and wheeling. Details are all in the thread/post I linked - be great to see you there, even if it's a stocker!

[Ben_Sierra]

I might as well get in before JoeBlow does....

Vitara carby!

[5ierra]

Ben_Sierra wrote:

I might as well get in before JoeBlow does....

Vitara 1.6 EFI!

Fixed it for you

[dm90]

make sure ya come along to the trip moph mentioned, the more the merrier.

[toysuki]

Sounds like a plan, at least it gives me a date the suzi must be ready for, I'm pretty sure I'm free that weekend, no going on any trips by the looks of things, so, yeah I'll do my best to be there. Good news today, I pick the car up on Saturday, its a done deal, all systems go, let the work begin, she'll be a stocker for now anyway

have fun out there

[MacDaddy]

I know Suzistore carry a couple of rebuilt carbies on shelf, or they did when i had my Vit with the G16A, i was going to get one put on, but then i decided to get a GV, he he, they install and setup/tune the carby for you, even my old one ran heaps better after being retuned by Suzistores Carby Magician... the rebuilt ones arnt cheap, expect to be $400+ lighter in the pocket for a Vit Carby, but at least Suzistore know what they are doing !