Most of you have seen my latest motor, had it about 3 months now. Gone back to my roots with another suzuki 4x4 This one won't be getting b.astardised like the last one though... much

It's standard bar a minor fatboy kit, an A bar and some side steps (or "rock sliders" as I call them)

Me being me I've been off roading it a bit, and recently I borrowed some bigger tyres on alloy wheels from mike (my little bro) for an off road event this weekend. Pics from that can be seen here: click me (dial-up viewers put the kettle on) The white samurai is my old one, now owned by my bro.


Here's some of my own pics:









C+C's welcome

Oh, err it's now minus the mud flaps as they got in the way today, and plus a small, hardly noticable modification to the back bumper after using my right foot too much on a steep incline (skipped sideways into a rock )

gutted about the back bumper mod.

looks great mate, makes me want to get one after being in yours on the beach, just looks so much fun

any new mods planned?

that offraoding looks amazing fun, where about is it? you gotta pay to go on it?

The back bumper's not a problem, sounds worse than it looks, and everything still works.

Most sites are pay and play, that one's in Mouldsworth quarry, inbetween Chester and Helsby and costs £25 for the day. Open on the first sunday of every month. There's a small site in Bromborough that's free that I'll have to show you sometime. I think it's council development land but it's been untouched in years, there's plenty for 4x4s and crossers alike.

As for future mods, I don't want to do much as I'll be returning it to standard to sell before I go to Oz next September. I can get an easy-to-fit 1.25" lift kit for it for £100, as soon as that's on I'll have some bigger tyres underneath it. I want to install a CB radio too as they come in really handy for off roading days.

Main aim is to stop it looking like a hairdressers car!

You still thinking about a Samurai? If so stop thinking and start doing!

I looked at the link you posted,
and i was going to reply and say,

Jim your car looks best dirty !
Then i scrolled down your topic.

And now i have to say it looks great
dirty and shiny

cheers webby

maybe not a samurai, but a 4x4 of some kind. The only thing thats holding me back is a garage to store my beemer whilst im using it, cas I aint paying for insurance for both at the same time!

Nice to see ur bro's looking after my old seats lol. Sweet pics mate.*******ise it more,y'know ye want te.I'd love to get into off roading but cant afford to

Lol, me neither mate! Hence another reason why I don't wanna do much to it. What I've got lined up will drastically improve the off road performance and get things sweet in the looks dept. too, so I can have a little play about in it every now and then and still keep it looking smart for road use and cruises... or that's the plan

Bollicks to Cruising mate, after looking at the link at the top of the page with your pics on i want a go.......



We went to Toms Farm last weekend on my quad and shelby's quad too, that was awesome.

You been to tom's yet james ??

cheers for taking me off-roading jim, it was brill. I gotta get myself a 4x4 now!! it'll look amazin with them huuuge 31" wheels on lol

Heya Jay, not been to Toms farm meself but my bro's been a couple of times, I've heard it's a goodun but the mud can be quite damaging to bearings etc. I'd want diff breathers and a seperate daily driver to do it in the vit!

Joe, I guess that means I succeeded in my mission?

possibly....we'll have to see

Spoken to the fella who's gonna sort me out with my lift kit, and he's not gonna have any more in for 4-6 weeks gutted, was hoping to have a chance at car of the year.

gutted for ya mate no other suppliers got em in stock?

Na not in this shape, it's unique to this guys design. Anything else will throw my camber out. Ah well, I'll just have to wait!

gutted mate,it'll look mint with the lift kit on. Get scoobys bitch to go with u one day lol.Get that pink paint job a lil dirty

ive gotta say it was fun when me and max came off roading in ur vitara in bromborough that day lol. i was no way gonna put my jeep through all that, it might have got a scratch lol. I like your shiney wheels and i think all cars look better when they are clean but off roading is great fun ha ha. when we went to toms farm on the quads the other weekend it made me want to bring my jeep but then i soon changed my mind when i saw what the other jeeps were doing.

Lol, Click me for pictures of a typical "Tom's Farm" outing.

Is this why you wouldn't take your vit, kim? I don't blame you tbh! Although I wouldn't give it a seconds thought in the samurai

Lmfao, I had to post this one up:

whos is that?

they are great pics of what goes on at toms farm, tis a very good day out. if you fancy going one day then let me know and i will join you but wont be going off road in my vitara lol

That, had obviously been rolled and trashed, and left to rot at the site lol. The fella in the pic probably found it and couldn't miss the photo opportunity.

aint got an engine in has it? what are the odds of writing ur car off there jimbo, cos it looks easy as fook to roll em and bend em up something rotten

Yeah the odds are pretty high scoop, unless you're properly prep'd out. Hence why the Vit ain't going there, but like I said I'd jump at the chance to take the samurai lol.

I got a nice suprise on my birthday (yesterday)

My bro spoke to the fella who was gonna supply me with the lift kit, and he said he had a kit under his bed that he was saving for his own vitara, only the bits that were usually made out of mild steel were made in stainless on this set My bro told him how gutted I was about having to wait 4-6 weeks for a kit, and that my 21st was coming up soon. So, of course, he managed to get the stainless steel kit for my bday

Woot nice!
Shiney stuff too, take some pics of before/after its fitted. Will look very nice

wehay! what a top suprise! as dazza said, take some piccies so we can all have a nosey

Looking good matey.

How high will it sit with the kit on???

Cheers all, I should be able to get it fitted this sunday. It'll sit a minimum of 1.25" higher, but probably more like 2" (50mm). It's made up of a selection of spacers, so it's cheap but won't take away as much of the road holding as extended springs/shocks would. More importantly I'll be able to fit the tyres I want under the arches

I cant wait to see your car with its new mods, spray it pink and we can have twins lol.
you gonna get a hard top for the winter mate?

Too expensive hun, and a pain in the arse to store when you wanna take it off! I had one for the samurai, and it was quieter and safer but no warmer. I still need to get the heaters fixed in this anyway! It's a dashboard-out jobbie though

Webby's done me a pretty decent transfer for the spare wheel cover. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll post up the pic he took after fitting it

There you go

ohhh looks very nice. you got any pics with ur kit on yet mate?

I like it

For anyone who doesn't know, "realm" is a boardriding company like quicksilver or billabong, just saying coz webby had to ask me

Thanks for the replies, Should be fitting the lift kit this sunday, touch wood.

Lol, I started the suspension lift today, only I got rained off half-way through. So I'm now driving round in a raked-up vit! Looks pretty cool imo so I don't mind leaving it for a couple of days, I hear the front's harder to do anyway. I should have Tuesday afternoon off work so I can get it sorted then.

Pics to follow in a few mins

First of all a few more pics I found of the off roading at Mouldsworth the other week:

Right, I started with the rear suspension, simply because if I got rained off I could leave it with just the back lifted 'til I got chance to finish the job, giving it a raked look. I was also told it was easier to do lol.



So first of all I jacked the back of vit up then supported the chassis on axle stands, then, with the wheels off, I jacked up the hub slightly on the side I was going to do first:



This takes the pressure off the shock and *supposedly* makes it easier to remove. As you can see in the pic below, the nib on the top of the shock that you're supposed to clamp on to to undo it, is badly rusted. I had a go and just stripped it I ended up just pulling the shock cover off and using mole grips to clamp to the top of the shock:




Once the shock was off I lowered the jack to pull the spring out.
Here's one of the spring spacers:



They sit on the top of the spring to provide the lift, with the recess sitting at the end of the spring. Here's my bro mike getting a 1.25" lift :




And the shock spacer screws onto the top of the shock, before going into the original mounting point using the poly bushes supplied:



All fitted together:



And repeated on the other side :



All done:

Hopefully I'll get the front done on Tuesday afternoon, it involves taking the half shafts out

looks very high, lookin' good though. was it easy to do?

when you gettin the wheels?

It was easy, if the shocks were new it'd have been done in less than an hour.

The lad I'm getting the wheels/tyres off needs them this week, so I might fit the AT's I had for the off roading day until they become available.

It's been on the full lift for a week now, handles slightly better than a boat (better than i was expecting). I'll try and get some pics up soon, it looks great and I'm really pleased. Been off roading at the weekend to test it out and I was very impressed. Snapped a half shaft on a rocky section though, not to worry as it's cheap and easy to fix, just I'm stuck in rwd until it's sorted.

thats crazy that you can just shrug it off and keep driving lol

I apologise for the quality of these, they were taken on a mobile phone:

them wheels look well funky on rough terrain all the different cambers lol

lookin smart though

wow that looks cool mate, your wheels look like one of those cartoon cars in that pic lol. bet ur made up with it.

i just thought maybe we could have a mini photoshoot wiv the 4x4s off the forums, errm i think thats just urs and mine lol. what you think?

Sounds good to me Kim give me some time to get my wheels sorted and my half shaft fixed, then I'll be all up for it.

Looks great that

If you want matey when you n Kim do th photo shoot i can lend you my camara if you like aslong as you dont break it.

You'll have to take us off road somtime as i must be mad.

Thanks for the offer Tupac, I actually have a digital camera, just didn't have it with me on that day. Yeah when I get my Half-shaft fixed I'll take you out mate, you ever been off roading before?

Fantastic!

Only off roading i have done as such is when i spin on the track and end up going across the grass in which case i close my eyes n hope for the best

I'll take ya drifting in return (as soon as i can do it right)

Heh, it's so much more fun taking out people who haven't done it before, you get to see the amazement on their faces either that or you make them ill lol. I'll look forward to the drifting mate, and I'll give you a buzz when I've sorted my halfshaft.

I'm back! Computer failed on me last Thursday, all sorted now though. Finally got some decent pics of the vit lifted (even if they are in the dark), and a couple showing you the half-shaft damage :-S I'm assured there's another one in the post to me atm.

oooo nicely snapped lol

owch

How come it snapped?

Lol, that's off roading mate! My road tyres are too grippy for rock surfaces. I wound the transmission up on a steep rocky climb, gave it a little too much right foot and one front wheel bounced in the air. When it landed all the power to the spinning wheel had to go somewhere, it went into snapping my half shaft! I'm just glad it was this that went and not the diff-casing, as they're a regular problem on these and a bitch to fix. At least the half shaft is only a 20min job

Latest off roading:

http://www.difflock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=21333#21333

Tupac, PM me your no. mate and I'll give you a shout next time I'm going