[nemoo]

Hi guys,
I am officially based in Perth, but a few months ago I bought a 1993 Vitara in Indonesia and am exploring the countryside here.
It has a 1600 cc engine and a manual 5 speed gearbox
Because servicing is so cheap here, I even have it serviced at the official Suzuki dealer, but there are still a few things that I would like to improve as even Indonesian dealer standards are lower than the standards of most Australians.

1. When I bought it came with bigger 30x9.5R15LT tires as appearance is everything here.....
I hardly ever go offroad, but the quality of the roads can be terrible here.
The big tires seem to handle the big potholes OK, but I find the suspension quite harsh. I think it has a body lift as there is something sitting on top of the in the wheel well.
Generally speaking speeds are extremely low here, so I am not too interested in road holding, but I would be interested to modify the car so it would be as comfortable as possible on the bad tarmac and concrete road.
I know my requirements are unusual, but does anyone have any experience and advice?

2. Even with new oil and a new clutch plate the gearbox is extremely 'crunchy' when shifting. Anything other than an extremely careful and slow shift results in grinding teeth. Is this specific to this car, maybe to Indonesian lower quality gearboxes in general or would something be wrong with the setting of clutch plates or the synchromeshes? Does anyone have any tips?

3. Roads can be extremely steep here up the many volcanoes so sometimes I literally have to use LR 4WD to get going as 1st gear in 2WD just doesn't cut it.... I imagine the bigger tires do not help, but what would be a cost effective way to improve especially torque, keeping in mind poor quality of fuel here and that I don't want to break drivetrain components too often.  

4. Can anyone recommend a seat belt lowering kit, e.g one that can be attached between front seat and head rest, as my travelling partner is short.....and the seat belt is way too high for her.... 

Thanks for any advice!

[Gwagensteve]

Hi Nemoo,

It sounds like you have a strut spacer, which is part of a suspension kit, not a body lift. if there is a spacer visible in the top of the front wheel well, that's moving the strut top down to reset the centre of the strut's travel to work with longer springs. I think some photos of the car would help us understand what might have been changed from standard. its quite possible a bunch of mix-and-match parts (or some parts have been revamped and others remain) which could be causing issues.

Vitaras don't have particularly sweet shifting gearboxes. No, the gearbox will be the same parts fitted for all global market cars. Most likely culprits will be worn syncro rings, just a result of age an driving style. Second, it's possible the clutch isn't fully disengaging which could be an adjustment issue, a stretched cable (common on Vitaras) or even a cracked/bent firewall. Jack the back wheels up and run the car in gear so the back wheels turn, the depress the clutch. if the wheels don't stop entirely, it's likely clutch adjustment. if they do, it's likely syncros.

There is no cost effective way to increase torque low in the RPM range where you need it. all common "performance" parts will raise the power band higher into the RPM range which won't help your problem.
The most effective fix would be to put factory tyres back on it. Next would be to fit lower differential gears but 1.6 manual cars all run 5.12 gears which are typically the lowest commonly available. In some markets, low spec (1,3 or TBI LWB) cars had 5.38 gears which would correct for your 30" tyres. If these were used on a local model you may be able to find complete diffs to swap over from a wrecker or similar.

No, there is no readily available seat belt lowering kit. I understand the problem, raising the seat might be easier and safer than trying to lower the seatbelt mounting point. Best not to mess with primary safety equipment that are part of the car's structure. There are ways of fixing this problem (mount the seat belt to a roll bar, for example) but this requires proper design and high quality materials and fabrication.

[nemoo]

Thanks for the very quick and comprehensive reply!

1. I have attached some pictures of front and rear suspension. I couldn't see a brand on shocks or springs, so no idea what exactly is installed. Sometimes you see some really dodgy things. For example a liter of coolant costs as much as a few hours work here, so most cars just use water.....

2. I don't have any tools here, but the car is due for service soon, so I will ask them to do that test and we will see what we do from there.

3. I will check whether they have different diff gearing here. In general I find all my gears way too long for the conditions here.....a few months ago I rented a little FIAT Panda in Italy with 6 gears. Very short first gear for tough situation and then 2-6 was nicely spaced.

4. I agree with you but I was really looking for something like the picture attached. Any view on or experience with that?

PS I have difficulty attaching files.....I will keep trying

[nemoo]

Attachment:

20230913_103058-1.jpg

[Gwagensteve]

OK, I didn't realise the car was LWB.

Does the car have a G16B in it with multipoint fuel injection?

It has around 2" of suspension lift. The front springs are painted blue and there is a strut spacer installed. I would recommend removing the springs, struts, strut spacers and replacing them with OME. I suspect this is a hodge podge of mismatched parts. I can also see a rear swaybar which was not fitted to Australian market cars. I would not run a rear sway bar on a vitara - they are prone to oversteer as it is. Interesting in that the mounts on the axle look factory.

Gearing on vitaras isn't all that long but the 30" tyres will definitely be hurting gearing. Can you do me a favour and compare speedo readings with a GPS phone app? I'm suggesting this as it might help understand if the gearing is standard or, for whatever reason, different diff gears were swapped in at some point.

These are old cars now and in markets where new parts are very expensive, it's not uncommon to swap parts around to keep a car running even if the gearing ended up incorrect etc.

I can't comment on the seat belt guide - I suspect something like that would cause binding of the belt and impede the inertia reel operating, but there are lots of this sort of thing available, you may just have to experiment.

[nemoo]

Thanks again for your expert advice!

To me it looked like quite a short WB, but I guess SWB means 2 doors only?

The car is carburated and not very smooth to drive actually.
The official Suzuki shop here seems to be much happier with it than I am.
There is also no choke, so on start up it sounds like an old tractor ..... or maybe it is only running on 3 cylinders.....
During acceleration it sometimes stutters and on sudden release of gas pedal to me there is too much driveline or engine movement, but then again I am also not used to old 4WDs.
My plan is to ask Suzuki to do a compression test (also going downhill there is very little engine braking, but then again 1600 cc is not much for this size car I guess) or a leak down test. Maybe we come to the conclusion that on start up some valves stay open or something.
Maybe someone they can also find a way to get me a choke for start up or to smoothen fuel delivery. I will see whether they can somehow check the ignition advance curve.

All cars here are subject to breakdown maintenance. Also appearance takes priority over function here.
This one actually looked really good in comparison, but no doubt the suspension will still be a cheap hodge podge of mismatched parts.
I will investigate the OME option. Does that come with certain springs? And would that make the suspension more compliant? I am not very interested in off road ability. Just in ability to smootly deal with potholes and poor road surfaces.
I will ask them to remove the rear swaybar too then. I guess that will help with becoming smoother too?

I already checked speed speedo vs a GPS speedo a few months ago and it was exactly correct. So 100 km/h indicated is 100 km/h on GPS.

Will look into what I can find for seat belt guides. They seem to be much more common in the Western world than here...probably because most people hardly use seat belts.....certainly not when they are uncomfortable to wear....

Thanks again!

[Gwagensteve]

OK, a LWB (yes, LWB are 4 door, SWB are 2 door) With a G16A will be pretty slow, especially with the 30" tyres.

It sounds like you have a number of possible issues but it's very hard to troubleshoot based on subjective assessment like "not very smooth" broken engine/transmission mount, ignition issues, messing about with the carb (such as possibly disabling the choke)

Compression and leak down isn't a bad idea but for the car to be misbehaving badly my guess is it's had many hands all over the carby trying to "make it better" with emo idea what they were doing. My normal advice is to get the FSM and go back to first principles. Adjust the carby back to factory specs and then troubleshoot the issues that arise using the troubleshooting guide in the FSM, however, A)I don't know if your car has a "third world" carby designed for non-emission control markets and if there is an English language FSM for that variant, and B) what's been bypassed, removed, wired open/shut etc.

Generally, G16A's get smoky through worn valve stem seals blow head gaskets and crack the block above the starter motor before they wear out. If it's had a quick and rough rebuild it may well be loose but normally high oil consumption be the symptom.

One possibility if the compression/leak down test shows OK (or a fault that's readily fixable) would be to source a complete Australian market G16A carb through someone like Suzistore in WA and swap it over in Indonesia - at least then you can use an Australian market FSM for tuning and troubleshooting.

Can you post an engine bay photo, preferably with the air filter housing removed? it would be interesting if we can spot anything that's obviously amiss/unique/non standard.

Yes, the OME suspension kit comes with ~45mm lift springs and softly valved struts and shocks. Ride quality is excellent compared to other kits, and the standard car.

[nemoo]

Surprisingly the car hasn't used any oil or coolant over the last 5000 kms so head gasket, valve seals, piston rings must be in a decent shape.
The engine is really slow but like you say it may not take anything more than carburation or ignition to make it run better.
Engine mounts were replaced 5000 km ago, but i am interested to see the status of transmission mount(?).
I guess the benefit of this car is that it goes pretty much anywhere and can also probably be maintained or fixed pretty much anywhere in a 3rd world country with just a medium size hammer....

They out a kit in the carburettor last time, but not sure whether that was just gaskets or also jets, needle, float seal, etc. Or how it is adjusted.

I will investigate carburettors and that OME kit and wil send you some under bonnet pics

[nemoo]

Surprisingly the car hasn't used any oil or coolant over the last 5000 kms so head gasket, valve seals, piston rings must be in a decent shape.
The engine is really slow but like you say it may not take anything more than carburation or ignition to make it run better.
Engine mounts were replaced 5000 km ago, but i am interested to see the status of transmission mount(?).
I guess the benefit of this car is that it goes pretty much anywhere and can also probably be maintained or fixed pretty much anywhere in a 3rd world country with just a medium size hammer....

They out a kit in the carburettor last time, but not sure whether that was just gaskets or also jets, needle, float seal, etc. Or how it is adjusted.

I will investigate carburettors and that OME kit and wil send you some under bonnet pics

[nemoo]

The engine code says it is a G16A engine.
It hasn't used any oil or coolant whatsoever in the last 5000 km, so probably head gasket, valve seals, piston rings are all still in a reasonable condition.
No engine leaks either.
Engine mounts have just been replaced, but no idea about the condition of the transmission mount(s).
It already drives a lot better than just after I bought it, but the next jobs will be to eliminate valve train actuation, ignition, fueling and transmission mounting as sources of the stuttering under acceleration and engine/driveline movement (if that is even excessive for this type of car).
I will certainly consider that Australian carburator, but the current one has actually just been 'rebuilt' with some kit.
Not sure exactly what was replaced on the inside, but the outside to me looks pretty clean and in decent shape.
I will send some pictures too. Do you recognise this carburator?
Will have a look into that OME kit too.
Most of my driving experiences in Australia lately was with a very fast, tuned turbo Forester AWD SUV, so this car is very slow, crude and agricultural in comparison, but then again so is the traffic here.
So far I like the look, the ruggedness, the ability to pretty much go anywhere (albeit it sometimes very slowly), the buying price and so far the maintenance bills.
Assuming you have experience with much more modern real 4WD, how does a car like this compare?
Is this very good value for money for not a lot of sacrifice or is a new car far more comfortable and capable?

[nemoo]

I don't have any tools here. Sorry.

[Gwagensteve]

Looks like the stock familiar Vitara carb to me, and other than the Accel coil, all looks pretty stock. Can anyone else confirm?

I wonder if the coil is a clue to ignition problems?