[cooo]

hey guys, im about to sell my lwb v6 vit, and am thinking about upgrading to a gv, so im stealing stuff from my vitara like the wheels and diffs, just wondering what other stuff will fit into a gv,

the steering idler arm?

the suspension? (40 mm dobinson)

and i was also wondering, how hard to fit 31" tyres on a gv without a bl? or without massive susp lift and bump stops? ie can you chop the guards but have it still looking good (factoryish) ? any pics or threads about this? i looked through heaps of builds but molst with big tyres had heaps of susp lift with low bump stops or body lift.

thanks guys.

[Gwagensteve]

Steering idler arm: No GV's are rack and pinion.

Suspension - yes, but you'll get a bit less lift due to the heavier car.

Wheels: Maybe no - offset is different so track width will be too narrow on a GV if it was correct on a vitara.

31's? Not really. 225 75 16 is the biggest that fit without hassles. 245 has been talked about forever but I'm not sure they really clear all that well.

Steve.

[cooo]

well the tyres are on sunnies with 0 offset...

so the suspension will be soft and crap? not recomended?

one more question, 5.12 diff gears in a gv will make perfect gearing for what size tyres? it was perfect for 31s in my vit (by perfect i mean it made the speedo 99 percent accurate) but i see that gvs have 4.3 diff gears stock whereas my vit had 4.6

[Gwagensteve]

I won't comment on gearing as you'll need to search for what variant of GV you want to determine stock diff ratio.

GV's run 5P offset, so you will be 10mm narrower overall than a stock GV for the same rim width. This may cause problems with tyre/chassis interference.

Steve.

[cooo]

i see, thanks for the info

[Built4thrashing]

Where do i start........


Suspension..... LWB Vit suspension will fit in early GV's. Dobinsons make one of the best kits i reckon for the GV. Front Struts are longer by 40mm extended but same when compressed so no need to extend bumpstops untill you put more than a 50mm coil spacer in. Rear coils can bind on full compression if you run a spacer. but overall you can easily lift them by 70mm with out much hassle. Cam bolts are required with any lift to get ailgnment back to acceptable. Its possible to body lift them but work is needed to make the strut brace clear inner guards and really not worth while doing.

Tyers. the best and most popular size seems to be 225/75R16 on factory rims. These will fit with very little lift or modifying. You may have to take the mud flaps off so they dont rub. I run a 245/75R16 and they rub a little but ive had to chop a bit out of the body mouldings so they clear. After market rims are hard to find in the right offset or that will clear the caliper. for this reason most stick with the standard steel or alloys. 15 inch rims will only fit early SWB 1.6 models. they wont fit LWB without grinding the caliper...not a good idea.

Gearing and lockers. Depending on what model you start with will make a huge difference to what you can swap. 4.3, 4.6, 4.8, 5.12 are some of the ratios i know that will fit. front diff is either alloy or steel and has a 10 bolt center. The steel carrier is the strongest and sort after by Vit owners. The GV has an air operated 4wd engagement setup inside the front diff and is often swapped out for a vit one and manual hubs. This allows for air lockers or lockrights. Rear diff center can be swapped with Vitara or X90. Llockrights and airlockers are available for the rear also.
Transfer gears can be fitted to early GV's as they are the same as the vitara. Not sure if they were changed later in the models.

I run 245/75R16 maxxis tyres and with the 4.8 diff gears the speedo is perfect. It originally had 4.3 and while it was tollerable it lacked any finess when offroad. (tyres are about 85mm bigger than stock)

Body Front winch bars are available but at a cost unless you can fabricate your own. Snorkels , bash plates, tow bars, roof racks, wind deflectors, replacement parts etc can be found easily on the net and are quite reasonable in price.


Driveline. Dont know much about the 4cly. V6 motors can suffer from noisy timing chains if not serviced properly. Can be ann expensive fit if they need replacing. Rear main seals are prone to leaking, as are front crank seals. Early modles had a recall for t/case gears being noisy. Easy to tell if it was repaired by different color sealant on rear of t/case.

Prob alot more but im sick of typing.


Hope this was a help.

[MacDaddy]

When you look for a GV, get a series 2 GV, the earlier GV's, the 99 and 00 model are series 1, 01 on are series 2, the early GV's had a few problems, that were fixed in the series 2, and the engine had a power and torque increase !

I just have a small lift, 35mm, and 225/70/16 AT"s, and my 01 GV surprises me everytime i go offroad, with how well it does just with the basic mods, if you can afford more mods, then it will be awesome !

[Built4thrashing]

I nade a typo in the above. Rear coils are different between GV and Vitara. GV coils are tapered at the top.

[cooo]

righto, i might not bother swapping the suspension then.. so gvs dont have the same wandering problem that vitaras do?

[Built4thrashing]

Vitaras have an a arm link to locate the rear diff where as a GV has a parhard rod. with upper and lower trailing arms (5 link)

[cooo]

i meant wandering as in when i was driving my vit it would keep trying to go left or right. and i read a few people have that problem, did they iron it out with the gv? or is it still common? thanks

[MacDaddy]

cooo wrote:

i meant wandering as in when i was driving my vit it would keep trying to go left or right. and i read a few people have that problem, did they iron it out with the gv? or is it still common? thanks

I think they must have, cause i dont have that problem with my GV, it doest feel floaty on the road at all either...