4x4 fun


oifovo

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Jan 11, 2011
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I've been going through some pictures and I thought I might share a few... Since the 9 is in the garage receiving some much needed TLC I drive our other toy. It's an entirely different kind of fun, but the adrenaline rush you get when you think "****, it's going to roll over now" is nearly as good as the speed rush :) I'll let the pics do the talking, might even dig up a video I made.

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Those old vitara's are mega off road haha. Get the video up man :)
 
Haha surprised it never rolled at some of those corners. Looks like fun though
 
Yeah in terms of fun/£ ratio it's amazing! It would take a lot to roll it, the first couple times I took it off road I was scared s**tless when it was leaning to one side or the other, but soon got used to it. The separate chassis keeps the center of gravity reasonably low. I'm impressed by the amount of abuse it can take. Also working on it is a joy, there's almost no need for axle stands, and everything is soooo simple. I broke a CV joint and removed the driveshaft in the field with 2 adjustable spanners and it took all of 5 minutes....
 
Some of that was rallying not offroad lol
Made me lol seeing a 4x4 come flying round the corner on opposite lock!
 
Haha brilliant man. Thats just what you want. Something fun, cheap and easy to fix :)
 
Haha brilliant man. Thats just what you want. Something fun, cheap and easy to fix :)

That's what my ek9 was supposed to be!
Hasn't quite worked out that way though lol
 
Well unlike the EK9 these are so cheap they are pretty much disposable. Ours cost £700, I spent couple hundred quid on it after we bought it and that's it. Other than that the dizzy was playing up so I replaced it and a CV joint exploded, but that was my fault as I was trying to get up a very steep bank and I knew if I keep pushing her up with the wheels turned it will probably happen. It is not really an economical car in terms of fuel consumption and is certainly not fast nor comfortable, but I LOVE the way you can just drive it through a bush (literally) and not care. Sometimes I wish we had something more "normal" (we have 2 cars - a completely stripped out 9 and this lol), something you can actually enjoy driving on the motorway, but you can't have it all :D
 
Awesome! I remember seeing this in your back yard when I came to pick up some parts haha
 
I've always wanted a 4x4 vehicle, but they're too expensive in my country :(
 
I remember i almost bought an old sj pick up haha. I genuinely want to much ahha.
 
Yea this was a good 5 years ago now. Was a pretty clean wee rig but was doing around 250 miles a week so wasnt quite practical haha. Next off road thing i buy will be another crosser haha
 
Haha, I could not even count how many times I've done the 100 mile journey between Glasgow and Eyemouth on the east coast in the past year, so I know exactly how "good" it is for long journeys :D
 
Nice vit mate, i bought one myself a few months ago to replace my daily, also same situation as you stripped 9 and vitara to drive daily haha. Still totaly standard at only 88k. Been on a few lanes but still a total novice to the off roading game.

How did you achive your lift? Im undecided as to weather to go body lift or suspension. Also (if you wouldnt mind) what tyre/wheel sizes are you running? As i said im a total novice regarding this game.

Heres my beast:
 
That's a cracker Ellis! Body lift is a pita to do and pointless unless you go for some seriously big rubber. I'm running 235/75/15 and that's plenty, even narrower would do tbh. We bought it with 2'' lift which was achieved by using 2'' spacers. These are fine at the front but at the back I didn't like how the spring would dislocate on one side if the other side was fully compressed (like the 3rd pic in my first post). So I bought MK1 Ford Focus estate rear springs, those fit perfect and are longer so there's no need for spacers at the rear with those! Spacers are fine up front, they can't come loose and also because longer springs at the front tend to cause problems with brakes (yeah I know - weird!). In any case a front diff drop bracket is a must with any sort of lift kit, the cv joints are pretty weak and don't like extreme angles. Running too wide tyres exacerbates this - too much traction means the wheel is less likely to slip and the CV joint more likely to go pop. People go to all sorts of extremes with lifts, I find 2'' perfect, it's still OK-ish on the road and plenty off road. Bigger tyres will give you a bit more clearance.
Yours looks very clean, ours is scratched and dented but that means one can properly enjoy it off road without having to worry about pushing the odd tree branch out of the way with the car :)
 
Looks like a lot of fun! Bet these Vitaras can do more off-roading than a few of these premium German 4x4s.
 
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