New blood, also looking for advice

[Hawkeye]

Hey all,

Currently on the lookout for an SJ413 for offroading. Not new to the offroad scene but never had an SJ. Currently running a Pajero with a lot of mods but keep getting impressed with the little SJ's i see when at pay and play site.

Gonna have around £2500 to spend. Seen decent SJ's for around £1K and under so kinda leaves me around £1500 for mods. Already got a set of Insa Turbo specials so dont need wheels tyres.

Im after setting up an alrounder. The site i use is forest based so it has deep ruts with plenty water, steep climbs with loose surfaces, very tricky little sections with alsorts of cambers within the woods themselves.

Want good articulation for the tricky, knarly sections but also want it to be able to follow the bigger trucks through the rutted sections. Mainly clay/mud tracks with the ruts that are full of water.

I know its a big ask but what mods do you recommend, insa's are 265/75/16 so riding about 31". Keep reading about SPOA, shackles etc but is it much better to spend money on a decent suspension setup.

Pretty mechanically minded and will tackle alsorts so just looking for help from you guys who know whats best.

Cheers
Chris

[Darrell]

Welcome to the club, think I'll let the others give advice on the suspension. I've just got a 2" spring lift and 215 tyres.

[ScottieJ]

to clubUK matey. I'm sure you won't be disappointed when you get one.

You can fit 31s with 2 to 3" lift with a few minor arch modifications.

Have a look in the members builds sections for some ideas. A few of us have gone down the YJ spring conversion route for the best articulation and ride comfort, ideally you want to run quite a large tyre size to keep the approach and departure angles good with them as they are a lot longer than SJ springs.

I personally prefer to keep the suspension spua as you can end up quite high spoa and they are a lot less stable on side slopes, to get around the lack of clearance for larger tyres you can do a 'virtual lift' and run 33" tyres with next to no lift.

Rear springs up front and rascal springs on the rear can give good flex as well, they give about 1.2 to 2" lift over stock.

How good is your welding and fabrication as that can help build a more capable SJ for less money.

[logger]

buy mine!

[Newtomud]

to the club
Just about all the info you need is on this site

[Hawkeye]

Hey Logger. You got some info and a phone number?

[logger]

http://suzukiclubuk.co.uk/forum1/viewto ... c15210c69/

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for replies guys. Still on the lookout for an SJ, the more articulation, the better for where i usually go. Thats the problem im having with the Pajero, very very capable at tackling the rough stuff, climbs well and wades through any amount of water but the front end is IFS and it gets caught out on tricky sections.

Have seen a couple SJ's with coil conversions all round. Is this a costly/difficult conversion to do? Is it best just going with the options you have suggested ScottieJ?

Welding skills are ok but would rather go with the bolt off/bolt on options unless there is a huge difference in costs. Have seen rear shocks repositioned towards centre of car as well, for better articulation?.

Soon as i find an SJ, you can be sure pics will be up here, along with a build thread. Already kinda have a picture in my head how i want it to look

If im gonna be running 16" rims with 31" insa turbos on, will the 1300 motor still be ok or is it better to drop a 1600 Vit motor in? Obviously prefer to stick with the 1300 but if its not gonna cut the mustard then bigger motor will be inserted.

Is there anywhere in the UK that does the YJ spring conversion kit?