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vitara off road thread



  BG 182
gents,

this is my 4x4 toy.

its a 1.6 16v vitara, everything works brilliantly and it went straight through its mot with 3 advisories. slight warn wheel bearings.

when i bought it for the sum of £450 with 2 months tax n mot it had: 30 inch A/T’s, 2.25 inch lift uprated shocks, 1.5 inch spring lift using spacers. unsure of whether it has longer springs also.

steel rear bumper and relocated lights

this is how she stood.

5217111369_3eba8da6fc.jpg

IMG_0231 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr

5217697450_3c7f61cd70.jpg

IMG_0212 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr

i knew it was goin to be an ongoing project (useable while being modded) luckily it is a third car and i have a work horse diesel and a family car.

i knew i wanted big wheels, im a fan of bigger the better, which is not always a neccesity! i found some 33’s locally-ish in lydd and picked them up in the back, they only just fit with all seats forward.

with these sat in the garage i knew i needed a body lift and some arch trimmage, i set about getting material for the lift and the grand total was £0. i used 3 inch box section.

this took about 3 hours and completed on the road outside my mother in-laws! when done i took it to my friends workshop in hawkinge and extended the gear levers to suit.

then it was time to fit the wheels. after 2 hours of trimming arches they where on, it looked mental, i love it. i do have some scrubbage on chassis one side tho, to be sorted when i can be arsed.

i drove it like this for about a month before i decided to raise my front and rear bumpers to match the lift.

after being pulled by the police due to wheels sticking out i had to get some type of arche to cover them, i used some roof felt drip edge support tray from screwfix! its a bit brittle but has taken a bashing from the local lanes and it is holding up nicely until i get defender arches.

happy with it i just drove it daily to ashford and back where i work for 2 months, but at 150-175 miles to £50 i knew i had to get a work horse, so i bought a cheap astra diesel and fitted cambelt, starter and had a full functioning work horse with mot and tax for under £250. this meant i could do some mods on the vitara over time as opposed to having a time limit.

i have recently obtained some 4 inch tube to replace my sills so they are beefy rocksliders. one side is complete but the other side is standard due to time, weather and how bloody this the inner sill is!! the other side will be completed when my new gas turns up.

5217919212_8d7d394eec.jpg

IMG_1489 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr

5217919594_a81da7d527.jpg

IMG_1490 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr

recently i have fitted a breather kit using 8mm pipe pushed into original breathers all going to under the bonnet to a 5 way maniold, exactly the same as bits4its.co.uk breather kit, only it cost me £8 tho!

thats it for now, i have designed a snorkel and my friend is ordering me the steel this week (its a little heavy, but is heavy duty)

5217918766_f0c8ca613e.jpg

IMG_1488 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr

5217918392_bbaecde830.jpg

IMG_1487 by lewis_redfern, on Flickr


plans for 2011 include:

snorkel
rear diff spacer 2 inch
prop spacer
cambelt and all fluids service
respray satin black with luminous green details (wheel rim, stickers, powdercoated parts etc)
powdercoated/painted wheels satin black with 1 inch green lip
steel front axle

hagen widening mod
granvil stuby shaft mods (run 2 pass side driveshafts)
relocting spring seats on lower arms as part of the above mods

see http://www.bits4vits.co.uk/B17VTS/hagen.html for info

thats it so far

thanks for reading

lewis
 
  BG 182
it really is fun and with where i live the only way in or out of the village is a rather large steep hill it makes light work while all the others are sat at the bottom of the hill stuck in the snow and ice. tyres have put great stress on the diff but i have just sourced a steel diff casing. 35 inch tyres are the aim by end of next year when all other mods are complete.
 
  Iceberg 172
Wicked! My Brother is well into his off roading and has had a few jeeps.

He started off with an SJ which was epic for off roading, but he sold that toy to get a bike.

He then got a Jimny as a toy / daily and had it raised with big tyres etc... but sold that cos it wasn't great at off roading or as a daily.

He's now got a Jeep Cherokee! He's just got a lift kit from the US (tis now like a monster truck with tiny wheels / tyres!) cut away the bumpers n arches and waiting for the wide wheels with silly offsets with 30 something inch tyres!!! Then he needs to make some arches to make it road legal!

It's great fun though, we live in the middle of the country and there's loads of lanes which are pretty epic!

Plus it's great in the snow!
 
  BG 182
i live in hawinge in kent, right by dover. paint wise i like it in red, and have considered re-doing it as i know what you mean, matt/satin black looks cheap and s**t. the truck was originally white so i may go back to that. i can tell you its not great on the road. its more comfortable than an sj but as its so high the steering is a little less reactive than id like, you have to be awake to drive it!
 
  Oil Burner
Looks great fun, nice short overhangs.

I get to drive a mates 90 offroad quite often and its such a laugh, but scary as hell driving at anything approaching speed on a road.
 
  BG 182
Mental! Bet your neighbours love it! ;)

erm.... i parked it up at the end of my drive, which i actually goes straight onto a foot path at the begining of a a 'close', and hungover at 7am had a knock at the door to tell me id had an obsturcion notice issue and £30 fine by a friendly officer. spoke to my neighbours opposite me and they reckon it had been complained about.

its awesome in the winter but i have just busted the front diff, so currently only RWD, so very fun!
 
  ph2 172
i have one of these,fatboy kitted though so more for looks than off roading.

great vehicles though.
 
  Trophy #382
I have a vitara just on some big colway tyres. i cant believe how good it is offroad sometimes! and all for £250!!
 
  BG 182
they are well priced for the amount of fun you can have. i basically bought mine as i really like the fabrication work and mods you can do easily. plus as i no have a young son i feel better about it rather than driving around in silly fast cars risking my licence etc. it is also practical for where i live
 


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