Suzuki Club UK

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Trial fitted the pug engine and box to see how it lined up. I am going to use L*and Rover engine mounts for engine, gearbox and tcase. They are cheap at £1.60 each and it means I only have to carry one or two spares for breakage’s. Plus it means I can get something useful off the broken down L*nd Rovers at the side of the trail.



Engine mounting positions were pretty close





This is where the gearbox ends, tcase in standard position, excellent!!! .



Put front wings and bonnet in place to see what hit. Not bad at all really. I thought I would probably do a body lift as mentioned earlier, to clear the intakes/cam cover but my aim is to keep this as low CofG as I can so I am going for an air scoop instead. Going to fit one from a Shogun/Pajero I think.

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Took the gearbox mounting bracket off as the holes underneath in the main crossmember were perfect. Not sure what they were for originally



Cut down FSO prop slid perfectly inside cut down sami prop. Couple of LR mounts in place to set the heights. Managed to line up the output shaft of the gearbox EXACTLY in line with the tcase flange



FSO gearbox mount bracket with new bottom to mount to LR mounts



All in place and tacked



Welded and leved off so hopefully there won’t be any vibration.

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Rears up front RUF. Picture shows rear spring compared to standard front spring with add a leaf. Curve is pretty much the same, giving the same lift but extra length gives more articulation and the ride should be less jarring.



So made up some missing links to suit the extra length. Have looked at various ones including Phil's (Kitesurf) thread and decided I would like to try them with polybushes in the middle. Can't be bothered to muck about with greasing them so thought this would be easier. If its OK for the normal shackle I figured it may work OK for these. Time will tell.







Opened up the clamp around the spring too so they will drop more.
Will be making some bump stops for them to rest against on the front of the chassis.

Tyres Mmmmm!. Kumho KL71 33x12.50x15

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Didn't want to have u bolts hanging down acting like anchors, like this



So I made up some plates



So I could use bolts up from underneath



Fitted Vitara power steering to cope with the 33's. Used this template to make the 'wedge' for mounting







Decided to fit Vitara LWB vented front discs and move the Sami ones to the rear

Sami top Vit bottom



Needed to trim shroud away other than that they bolted right up





New discs, pads all painted

Painted up the axle and made some armour for the Diff, used 1/4" plate 2 inches wide. Welded to the housing.







Needed to make front bumpstops that were further forward because of the RUF and lower to make sure the sump didn't get hit. I knew I would have more droop because of the missing links so losing some uptravel wasn't so bad. Used Range Rover bumpstops as they were more substantial and again cheap at £7 each. Made up a mounting bracket that bolted to the original Zuke chassis mount.







Had to modify them to clear the brake pipe junction and the shocks. More planning required before fabrication .

Eventually when funds permit I will be getting a winch, so needed a good solid mounting for the bumper and what will also be the winch mount. I have looked at various ways of doing it but again I didn't want to really modify the chassis. I knew it had to be more than just the front two bolt holes that some use. Some mounts I have seen are really scary, a winch and bumper becoming detached at full load and flying through the air will take your head off.

This is what I came up with, It slides up from underneath the chassis and bolts through at 5 points. I drilled and sleeved the passenger side chassis the same as the drivers side where the steering box mounts. There is a plate welded along the bottom edge to make it like the bottom of an 'I' beam. It also closes off the front of the chassis to stop it filling with mud and acts as a stop for the missing links. I will probably put some more substantial tube inside the front chassis tube as well at some point.



The red outline is where I will put a 1/2 inch plate to mount the bumper using 5/8 inch towball bolts



The bolts for the steering box go right through the wedge, mount then chassis



Needed a double pulley on the front for the power steering so turned up an adaptor on the lathe so I could mount a single Vitara pulley to the front of the FSO one.





Skimmed the top surface on the lathe



Machined the back to sit inside the FSO pulley





Power steering pump will be going where the alternator is and alt will be moved further up out of the inevitable muddy water!

Wanted to fit heavy duty mounts to tcase so decided to use the same L*nd R*ver engine mounts on engine, gearbox and tcase. This means I can carry less spares.

Long arm side bolted straight on but I had to mod the other arm

Compared to a standard zuke mount

Made up a Tcase bucket I had seen a pattern for and beefed up the long arm and short arm







Made some brackets to be able to attach the bucket to the X-eng handbrake as I had read this bottom part can bend easily where the X-eng logo is stamped through









Coat of paint to finish

Made a bracket to hang the alternator high up out of the mud. Used the mount on the front of the engine that is used when the engines are transverse in Pugs



Also made a bracket to mount the Vitara power steering pump

Great stuff.

Plenty of good fabrication and general chopping and welding of anything possible. I like!