[scottysj80]

hay guys, some of you may remember me from a few years ago, i used to drive a black sj80 sierra until it got written of unfortunately however the time has come that im now looking at getting back into a zook and would like some help/info on what model vitara would be best suited.

im going with the vitara this time as i would like a few more creature comforts that the sierra just didn't have, like power windows, air con, power steer, bigger engine etc

now this car will be my everyday car, drive to work daily, weekend trips etc, will only ever have me and one other passenger at most and wont have to load it up to much for trips as my dad has a gu patrol witch would have most of our camping gear in it, so a lwb and swb isnt that much of a issue for space would more come down to better of road ability/ comfort?

im not into extreme of roading more mid to a bit of hard, beach driving etc

iv been looking at the sv420 and the sv620 model vitara but im not sure what one is best, one has the v6 2L and the other 4 cylinder 2L correct? is one engine better than the other? also lwb vs swb is it worth paying more for a lwb for on road/ off road comfort and performance?

im only after a manual and want to put a 2-3inch lift kit in it, 30 inch muddies, maybe a 2inch body lift if needed, bull bar, draw system etc "(basicly same stuff i did to my sierra)

what model vitara do you guys recommend to be the best that fits what i want to do with it? would like the 2l over the older 1.6 as i would like to be able to take it to sydney or qld if i had to (bout 5 hour drive on freeway)

what should i be looking at paying for a fairly clean sv420/sv620 vitara with low ks (under 200,000ks) in fairly stock condition?

willing to spend about $5000 ish on the car and than will just mod it as i want later on

any help would be great guys

cheers scott

[GeckoXL7]

If after comfort You can pic GV's up reasonably cheap to these days. But depends on taste, i do like the SV620, Atari can tell you all about them im sure. Ive seen the 2L and 1.6 in action both impressive, the GV though is quite comfortable and still quite capable and the extra power will help on the highway.

SV620

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/deta ... rt=default

2.5L GV

http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/detai ... rt=default

[shep]

Hay Scotty welcome back mate.

[offroadjack]

2L are only available in the shorty but are bullitproof! same for the V6 (LWB only)but they have a probblem with their timingchain tensioner and can rattle their heads off! i picked up a clean one with 180.000 clicks on it for 3.500 but with a rattly engine. replaced the whole timing gear lot and they should easaly go for 350.00 k's if looked after. if it's just you and another passenger you be better off with the shorty, same sort of torque and any problems with the 2L are unheared of. apart from sticky coils.
The LWB gives you that extra room and the V6 is a screamer!. up to you, shorty has better ramp over angle but LWB has more room..
i'd stay away from the 1.6 unless you are a 100% sure the head and block is not cracked..

[atari4x4]

but they're both 2lt's jacko

the SWB has the 4cyl & the LWB has the V6, after having both i prefer the 4 cylinder over the V6. the extra length of the LWB makes for a much more pleasant ride on & offroad, only loosing out on ramp over, but they climb better.

for a general "tourer" mod wise i'd bung a dobinson lift kit & a 2" bodylift if you're going to go for larger tyres, there is a fair bit of messing around with modding the calmini gear to suit the wider chassis of the SV's & a metric 29-30" muddy on the stock rims won't knock the gearing around too much.

for 5k you should be able to find an immaculate one with under 100,000ks on it... my blagon had 84,000 on it.

flat out at the moment, will add more when i get the time later on.

[offroadjack]

sorry, 2L 4 cil.....

[scottysj80]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

If after comfort You can pic GV's up reasonably cheap to these days. But depends on taste, i do like the SV620, Atari can tell you all about them im sure. Ive seen the 2L and 1.6 in action both impressive, the GV though is quite comfortable and still quite capable and the extra power will help on the highway.

SV620

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/deta ... rt=default

2.5L GV

http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/detai ... rt=default

Mm


Thanks for the help mate, I'm not that fussed on the gv's to be honest would much rather the vitara for looks.

Thanks for the links that sv620 is actually on my list of to look at

Cheers Scott

[scottysj80]

shep wrote:

Hay Scotty welcome back mate.

Thanks mate will be good to be back in a zook after 4 years of owning a commodore and not going of road

Cheers scott

[scottysj80]

atari4x4 wrote:

but they're both 2lt's jacko

the SWB has the 4cyl & the LWB has the V6, after having both i prefer the 4 cylinder over the V6. the extra length of the LWB makes for a much more pleasant ride on & offroad, only loosing out on ramp over, but they climb better.

for a general "tourer" mod wise i'd bung a dobinson lift kit & a 2" bodylift if you're going to go for larger tyres, there is a fair bit of messing around with modding the calmini gear to suit the wider chassis of the SV's & a metric 29-30" muddy on the stock rims won't knock the gearing around too much.

for 5k you should be able to find an immaculate one with under 100,000ks on it... my blagon had 84,000 on it.

flat out at the moment, will add more when i get the time later on.

So the swb is best engine wise than? But for comfort/ stability the lwb is best? How much power difference is there between the 4 cylinder and the v6?

How big is the dobinson kit man? Price, who sells it etc? Yer I wouldn't want to go any bigger than 30 inch as I don't want to change diff ratios to fix the gearing. But I'd like to get off set rims to make it a bit more stable after lifting it, how much offset is good befor it starts to course issues?

So were are all the good ones with under 100,000ks on them man lol I'm having trouble finding any good ones in nsw that are cheep :/

Thanks for the help mate, your vitara is what originally made me want one after seeing your silver sv420 a while back

Cheers Scott

[scottysj80]

offroadjack wrote:

2L are only available in the shorty but are bullitproof! same for the V6 (LWB only)but they have a probblem with their timingchain tensioner and can rattle their heads off! i picked up a clean one with 180.000 clicks on it for 3.500 but with a rattly engine. replaced the whole timing gear lot and they should easaly go for 350.00 k's if looked after. if it's just you and another passenger you be better off with the shorty, same sort of torque and any problems with the 2L are unheared of. apart from sticky coils.
The LWB gives you that extra room and the V6 is a screamer!. up to you, shorty has better ramp over angle but LWB has more room..
i'd stay away from the 1.6 unless you are a 100% sure the head and block is not cracked..

Thanks mate, yer I went and test drove a 1.6 yesterday and wasn't that impressed, I'm more going for the swb 4 cylinder as I've heard a few things now on the timing changes on the v6 stuffing up. But lwb would be handy on them steep hills as I no how scary a swb can be in tricky situations, hmmm so many decisions lol

Cheers Scott

[atari4x4]

yeah pretty much, i reckon a J20a in a LWB with the auto would be a winning combo. there is only 3 or so kilowatts difference in power between the 2 & a little more torque from the V6... 4 cylinder rego is cheaper in SA, not sure about NSW. rims are a bit of a problem due to the larger calipers on the SV vitara's, most sunny 16's wont clear the calipers, i've shaved my calipers for clearance to run 15x7 -15 speedy desert rats. but even still i need to stagger my pad changes as the caliper is to "fat" with 2 fresh pads in.... sounds a bit dodgy but in 7+ years i've never had a problem. any thing more than -15 offset is going to cause more problems than what it's worth. shoot Dank on here for PM for prices on the dobinson gear, he runs http://www.KPD4x4.com & should be able to look after you on price viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20219

i'd look at running the GV front coils with the dobinson struts & LWB rears with either the dobinson rear shocks or look at the commodore/camira rear shocks for a budget option. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=13142

if you are planning on running 30's maybe hit Bruce up for some spacers for a little extra height if required or go a 2" bodylift. the body lifts from just_cruizin are as good as ever, but with the strut brace on the SV's you need to clearance the panel work around the strut tower along with tweaking the gear sticks & bumpers etc. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15518

have a look at mikes build, it's a nice mild tourer that still goes heaps of places without being over the top, there are a heap of other cool ones but i'm having a bit of a brain fart at the moment. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7211

my silver one morphed into this late last year after playing up on a trip 800kms from home... i picked it up from Sydney for 5k, auto v6 one owner with 84,000kms..



on thing i noticed running identical set ups in both SWB & LWB the swb was heaps more "choppy" on the road due to the back wheels coming up on bumps etc so quickly... the LWB rides like a limo, but the turning circle isn't as good.

good to see you keen to get back into a zook after the tragic end to your tidy coily.

[shep]

scottysj80 wrote:

shep wrote:

Hay Scotty welcome back mate.

Thanks mate will be good to be back in a zook after 4 years of owning a commodore and not going of road

Cheers scott

I still haven't used those seats I bought of you as they are just too good to put is any Sierra I own

[scottysj80]

scottysj80 wrote:

offroadjack wrote:

2L are only available in the shorty but are bullitproof! same for the V6 (LWB only)but they have a probblem with their timingchain tensioner and can rattle their heads off! i picked up a clean one with 180.000 clicks on it for 3.500 but with a rattly engine. replaced the whole timing gear lot and they should easaly go for 350.00 k's if looked after. if it's just you and another passenger you be better off with the shorty, same sort of torque and any problems with the 2L are unheared of. apart from sticky coils.
The LWB gives you that extra room and the V6 is a screamer!. up to you, shorty has better ramp over angle but LWB has more room..
i'd stay away from the 1.6 unless you are a 100% sure the head and block is not cracked..

Thanks mate, yer I went and test drove a 1.6 yesterday and wasn't that impressed, I'm more going for the swb 4 cylinder as I've heard a few things now on the timing changes on the v6 stuffing up. But lwb would be handy on them steep hills as I no how scary a swb can be in tricky situations, hmmm so many decisions lol

Cheers Scott

Thanks heeps for all that infor mate, helped me alot

[scottysj80]

shep wrote:

scottysj80 wrote:

shep wrote:

Hay Scotty welcome back mate.

Thanks mate will be good to be back in a zook after 4 years of owning a commodore and not going of road

Cheers scott

I still haven't used those seats I bought of you as they are just too good to put is any Sierra I own

Haha realy, you got the back seats ay? They were pritty much like new as was the rest of the car

Cheers scott

[scottysj80]

Ok guys I'm haveing trouble finding good sv420 or sv620 Vitaras ATM but iv found a mint Lwb 94 model vitara for $3000 with 12 moths rego, great condition etc do use think this would still be a good buy to do up instead ? Or look for a newer one?

Hear is a pic, as you can see it looks in verry good condition and is only 2 hours away from me ATM so isn't much of a drive




Cheers scott

[DarkHorse]

It looks fantastic, but it depends what you want out of it.

In my experience (93 model 1.6L LWB and now a 97 model 2.0L V6 LWB) the earlier ones have better aftermarket mod options, but the later ones are actually easier to work on for a number of little reasons. Exception being the much more crowded engine bay with the V6 stuffed in it. That all depends how far you want to go with things of course - a simple spring and shock lift for 235ish tyres is dead simple on both.

I just got sick of the lack of power - mainly on road but off as well. Once you get anywhere up around 30"+ tyres the 1.6 is struggling. Transfer reduction gears help with low range but there isn't a readily available/easily adaptable fix for hi range.

[scottysj80]

DarkHorse wrote:

It looks fantastic, but it depends what you want out of it.

In my experience (93 model 1.6L LWB and now a 97 model 2.0L V6 LWB) the earlier ones have better aftermarket mod options, but the later ones are actually easier to work on for a number of little reasons. Exception being the much more crowded engine bay with the V6 stuffed in it. That all depends how far you want to go with things of course - a simple spring and shock lift for 235ish tyres is dead simple on both.

I just got sick of the lack of power - mainly on road but off as well. Once you get anywhere up around 30"+ tyres the 1.6 is struggling. Transfer reduction gears help with low range but there isn't a readily available/easily adaptable fix for hi range.

Well that's what I got from what iv read that the erlyer vits are a bit easyer to get off road gear for, I am a bit up and down on the power thing tho I'd love more power but not sure if the 1.6 will be fine for what I want :/ I do have a very quick vz commodore that I can go fast in if I need but don't want something that can't hold the speed limet in when I do go away.

I don't plan on going any bigger than 30 inch on Tyer size and would get 235 or 245 tyers again of needed as I found them alright on the Sierra (besides the lack of power, but off road performance was enough for me)

If I did get this red one for $3000 and its as clean as it is ment to be I could easily get my money back for it where I live if it turned out to be not good enough for my needs..... Hmmm

Going to check it out tomorow anyway for a look and see how it is.

Cheers Scott