[Technotron101]

The normal utes don't have hinged windscreens either.

I figured that they were overseas models

[tanshi]

yeah your right they didnt, but no coily ever came out as a ute either

[Technotron101]

Yeah.

Just had an idea... What if I cut the front off of a coily bonnet - just so I have the swept back corners, and then graft that on to a leafy bonnet, so it'd fit the cab height at the back? I imagine that'd be a lot of work to get right, and I don't know how much of an angle the front of the coily bonnet goes up at, and whether it'd match the back of a leafy bonnet, but that could be one option...

[Gwagensteve]

They're completely different. Coil bonnets have a different rake front to rear and don't get narrower towards the front like a leaf bonnet. They're different heights at the cowl and have different fold lines.

Those LWB's are from Thailand at a guess. Lots of Asian market sierras have coil front clips.

[Technotron101]

Ahh. That's a shame. So there's not really any other way to get a coil clip onto a leafy ute then?

[Technotron101]

Here's a website with a whole pile of pictures of the black ute I showed earlier. Sort of what I'd like to achieve (minus the stupid black paint of course!):

Coily dash, carpet, modern seats and door trims, coily front end, and most of all, clean and tidy. I'd put an alloy tray on it though.

It's custom made from an SJ410 and JB32 from what I can gather through the translated text. I'm not sure how they got around the bonnet and body issue though...

http://jip.co.id/read/2014/10/03/335955/220/16/Suzuki-Jimny-SJ410-Corsica-LWB-Fantasi-Gado-Gado-Hitam

[Gwagensteve]

Id' say that's a totally cut-and-shut 410 cab. To me, it looks like the firewall is from the coil sierra. No telling about where the cuts were made, but the windscreen and pillars look to be coiler, so my guess is the donor coil body was cut to line up with the back wall of the ute cab. I agree it's a cool looking car, but it's performance isn't going to be anything special by Australian standards.

There's lots of other parts involved there, like an auto SJ80 pedal box etc.

Personally, I think that's a lot of time and effort to spend on cosmetics, but if you really want to pursue it, you'd need to take a similar approach - buy a complete SJ80 and graft the ute cab wall on the back. This saves the cowl work and leaves you with the neater bonded SJ80 windscreen, all the dash hardware in place for the coil dash, SJ80 seat mounts to take SJ80 seats (they're totally different floorpans) The problem, from my point of view, it that's extremely time consuming and expensive, and when complete it's no better at anything than a stock 1.3 car, it just looks different. Whilst road car builders appreciate that kind of thing, they're not driving their cars offroad where how good your car looks is really a result of where you drive it.

Steve.

[Technotron101]

Yeah you're right. I just thought it'd be cool to have a coily front, but meh, what will be will be. I'm not going to go the extreme of getting a lwb chassis, swb coily cab, ute cab and then blend them all. I thought it'd be simpler than that, but it isn't as far as I can see, so that probably won't be happening. Is it much work to get a coily dash into a ute cab? Are there any bits that just don't work, like with the clip, or does it work better than that?

Do you know of any threads that cover a dash swap in detail? Ideally I'd be swapping a NT dash out, not a steel one, but if there's a really cheap ute with a steel dash, that may be a possibility also.

[Angus Martin]

All you have to do is cut 30mm off at the back of he bonnet so it brings the back down level with the cowl (refer to Steve's picture) and then run that line down towards the front of the bonnet in a long, thinning triangle.
If I'm honest, the difference in body lines is not noticeable, unless you're really looking for it.
I bought this ute like this and with the coily dash installed so I can't tell you too much about either but from what I do know you just have to change the steel bar that supports the dash over, weld on a few tabs and graft the wiring from the coily dash into the ute loom.
IMO there's not reall y any point in putting the coily clip on, the only benefit is the blinkers and parkers but I'm going to swap back to a 1L front clip. the Dash possibly does have some benefits, but again I wouldn't have done it if it was me, the work kind of outweighs the benefits but if that's what you want and you're happy to do the work then go for it!

[Gwagensteve]

Technotron101 wrote:

Do you know of any threads that cover a dash swap in detail? Ideally I'd be swapping a NT dash out, not a steel one, but if there's a really cheap ute with a steel dash, that may be a possibility also.

TBH don't bother trying with a steel dash car. And you might not want one at all.

The steel dash cars can't easily be fitted with a brake booster. They have glass fuses and a pain of a loom that has no retaining clips on any of the plugs. I ended up swapping the complete donor vitara wiring loom, steering column and instruments in mine because I was over the early 1.0 wiring loom, and I still can't feasibly run boosted brakes. The steel dash is welded in, and has a unique heater box/vent hoses/trans tunnel.

You need a 1.3 ute, not a 1.0 ute.

Jonno racing is the best bet for a dash swap.

[Technotron101]

Ugh the steel dash ones sound like a terrible idea. I won't be going anywhere near them!

Angus, if you were to trim off the bottom of the bonnet down, then wouldn't it be leaning back, and so the little grill thingies on the side of the bonnet would be leaning back too wouldn't they? Other than that does it work alright?

I'm keen to see a picture of a coily clip on a non-coily cab with the bonnet trim, so if anyone has any pics please post them. Thanks.

I am pretty keen on a coily dash though, as the NT and WT dashes both seem pretty ugly to me.

[Gwagensteve]

The NT dash is just fine. Like the first generation of any car, it's neat and clean, has round vents (which are pretty and can accomodate gauges) and still has provision for a check engine and 4WD light.

The WT dash is hideous. It's heading towards the period when suzuki forgot how to do anything. Then they made the vitara. It's been downhill from there.

That doesn't matter though, because if you want a 1.3 tray back, it's going to have a NT dash. Swap in a JX binnacle which gives you a tach and extra blank warning light locations, and call it good.

I know you have big dreams, and that black car is cool, but its most likely any car you buy is going to soak up all your budget and time getting it to the point you trust it and are happy to drive it places. Trust me - take this from someone who bought a rough 1.0 and thought I was going to make it a quiet/comfortable long distance driver. It's really hard to honestly reach your goals with a car. People justify the mess they've made of their cars all sorts of ways. (including me - I wanted a reliable, low profile car I could drive everywhere, and I've ended up with a completely impractical, piggy, car that's cool and very capable, but not much fun to drive for any time)

From your other posts it sounds like you want something that's reliable and trustworthy. This is the hardest goal ever when your starting with a 30 year old car. Pulling it apart and getting everything right will test you, your budget and your skills.

Please don't think I'm being patronising. I'm talking from my personal experience - I was there with my sierra and I'm there (again) with my F250 build. This stuff wears you down to the point "nice to have" cosmetic things seem like the furthest thing from your mind.

Steve.

[Angus Martin]

Nah you do it in a long triangle running to the front of the bonnet with the height of the cut getting smaller and smaller the further you go

[Gwagensteve]

Still puts the vents in a funny spot, along with the shut line at the back of the bonnet.

[Technotron101]

I guess wheeling isn't going to be my ultimate focus, or goal, but by no means will it be discarded. I'd like to make mainly, a clean, neat car that's as you said reliable, that will be my daily driver. Maybe as I get older I'll get into wheeling more, and sink more into a wheeling rig, but ultimately it isn't what I'm aiming for. I'm not worried about lockers, gearing, massive tyres and lift, I'm just happy to restore a car so I know it inside out, and make it clean and nice, and just drive it, with the occasional 4wd trip, and maybe some camping. I'm a minimalistic person, and am not after a fully hektic fully sick rock crawling money pit. a) I don't have the money and b) I'm not that sort of person.

I get what you're saying, and I respect that you have a lot of personal experience behind you, but I just wanted to express what I want to get from a car. Small, nimble, reliable, neat and tidy. I'm planning to strip and restore it, and make it neat and tidy, and I understand that it's going to take a lot of work to get there. However because it is going to be my daily driver, I'd like to make it that bit more modern, and that's where the coily bits come into play.

I guess it's easy to get carried away, but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm after, and I plan on making a neat, tidy, restored reliable ute that can get me from a to b and maybe a bit of casual wheeling when I get the time.

But hey, famous last words...

[Technotron101]

Oh yeah, the back of the bonnet close line would be a little triangle gap then too wouldn't it... Didn't think of that. I'll see what happens.

[Angus Martin]

In regards to the shut line, there is only about 4mm difference, again not very obvious.
Anyway, that sounds like a good plan man, will be good to see one restored. Good on you, get in while you're young and just figure it all out as you go!

[Technotron101]

I waa just thinking about the shut line, and how negligible that must be. It's only lowering 30mm, and so the difference is pivoting from the front, so yeah it's be barely anything at all.

Thanks man that's my plan

[MrRocky]

Brian at suzistore did it to his maruti lwb.
Unpicked the entire firewall and windscreen frame from a coily to graft it onto the lwb. Is done very professionally looks factory

[Technotron101]

That wouldn't work with a ute though, as the windscreen is part of the cab and isn't hinged. Unless he fully pulled apart the cab that is...

[Gwagensteve]

Yes it would, it's what has been done to the black ute you posted.

[Technotron101]

That would require a lot of body work cutting though, and welding 0.00001mm thick steel doesn't sound fun... I think if I were to do it, I'd cut the bonnet.

[MrRocky]

Zero cutting, just drilling out spot welds and pinch welding em in place. I will try get some pics sat

[Technotron101]

Please.