Suzuki Club UK

got a lot more work done over the last few weekends including the winch bumper and assorted mountings:-

i got a land rover winch bumper form ebay quite cheap and decided to see if i could make it fit, and here it is,


i used some flat 6mm plate and using the front body/chassis mounts just made them protrude enough to use the original bolt holes from where the l/rover bumper sits.
i then welded some angle to allow the use of the side bolt holes from the original bumper mountings at the front/side of the vit chassis.

i then welded some angle to the front of the chassis to allow it to meet up with the other lower mounting point on the l/rover bumper,

i have tried to test fit the winch as well but still need to use a plate as the original winch mounts on its side on this bumper,

as the bumper has a rounded bottom the only flat area is either end so needind this 6mm plate to mount the winch onto,

it does look a bit lost as the original winch is much bigger.
the other problem is the fairlead as the bolts holes also do not line up so i have made this ally plate to mount the fairlead to,

i am going to mount the solenoid box under the bonnet so that is another job to do once the winch is in place.
lots more next time,
shaun

Looking very neat. Keep up the good work!

Good work

You make me feel guilty. All I've done is wire brush a bit more rust.
I haven't even painted it as my little pot of red oxide has dried up.

I think I'm too old for this constantly fighting rust game

thanks for the encouragement
i tend to do quick a few little things which end up beinbg big things, although easter sunday was a 5 hour workout day and got quite a bit done.
trouble is i have been finding more to do (and more to spend) each time i have a think about it.
more pics soon
thanks
shaun

the twin battery fitting and split charging wiring,
luckily with the vitara there is quite a bit of room under the bonnet so fitting another battery is not too hard,

i decided to use the space between the air filter and the bulkhead,

i just made a simple flat tray of ally plate, put a lip at the engine end and made some battery clamps to keep it in place, also fitted an isolater as well and used some of that stretchy cable covering to keep it all neat and tidy
i was surprised how much 35mm sq cable it used almost 11ft of it!
i intend mounting the winch solenoid box under the bonnet as well.
i also supported it from below with a very hand fixed bolt and angle with another bit of angle bolted through the wheel arch so it will not bend off roading.
the relay was placed on a suitable fixed bolt up on the bulk head.
the only problem now is that the origianal airfilter box will not fit so as i have a snorkle to go on it i will be using a different route from the manifold to the snorkle and doing away with the box altogether.
also managed to fit the electric fan between the rad and the grill mounts so that needs wiring up too.

more pics as and when
thanks
shaun

after weeks of inactivity i finally managed to get 3 good days of work done to the yellow peril.
as a lot of you know most of this off road modding is little fiddly bits that can take a lot longer than major bolt on stuff.one of the jobs was to replace the flimsy plastic rear door trim with a sheet of 8mm thick foamtex plastic sheet,

this is often used for signs and this particular bit was rescued from a skip in the services on the way to the donnigton 4x4 in feb! a strong but easily cut material ideal for lining doors ect and easily cleaned.
next was the snorkel, i had managed to get a second hand one from ebay for a small sum and after one of my mates had collected it from london it was posted to me.
it came with some rubber pipe and an after market airfilter so all i needed was a small 58mm od 45 deg bend.
i got a silicone one from ebay for about £7.00 inc p+p, reasonable i reckon, it all fitted together quite well so i then took the plunge and got out the hole saw and drill and eneded up with these holes:-


after spending some considerable time measuring and making a template i was only 2mm out on the larger hole.
the after market airfilter will sit on some tubing when not off roading and looks like this:-

i can then take off the filter and then connect up the snorkel when i need to, using the new 45 deg 58mm silicone pipe.
the efi vitara has a large air box which would not fit onto the snorkel and give me room for the winch solenoid box so it had to go.
after fitting the soleniod box i then fitted the winch to the bumper after a good coat of black smooth hameritte, it dried very quickly in the heat!


it was a fiddlly job as the base plate would not go in with the winch bolted to it so it had to go in in 2 parts and be bolted together in the bumper.

as you can see it is a tight fit but looks right.

as this bumper is from a lr defender and is for a much larger winch the fair lead holes were in the wrong place so i used a sheet of 5mm thick ally to mount the new fair lead to and it endes up like this.
i have only connected the bottom winch cable as the others are easy to get to, just in case i need to take it out again, hope not.
i do not think it looks too out of place and is much narrower than i imagined it would as the defender is wider than a vitara.
also fitted the new 235-75-15 knobly tyres and gold 8 spoke wheels.
i have also bought an oil cooler and reckon there is just enough room under the bonnet for it.
still a lot to do, take off the rear hood and convert to a pick up, fit the sump/diff guards, spot lamps, rear bumper and snorkel to be fitted and of course the 3 colour camo paint job.
can't wait to get it sorted and driving.

Looks good buddy.

i have managed to get a lot more work done over the last few weeks and here is the progress on the rear bed:-
i brushed out the crap and gave the metal a good coat of yellow paint i have had lying around for a while, i knew it would come in useful one day!



i have removed the seats, seat belts and plastic side panels and have replaced the side panels with 4mm chequer plate cut to fit the space.

i have used some 12mm sterling board to form a bulkhead between the front of the cab and rear bed and used 3in ally angle to fix it to the chequer plate side panels.

with the seats out of the way the old seat belt mounts make very good anchorage points for the spare wheel.

the spare is held down with a ratchet strap using the seat belt mounts and another bracket bolted to the side.

i have bought some more lashing rings to use for tie downs for the rhs of the rear bed giving the tools ect no room to fly about when off roading.

i have also replaced the plastic rear tailgate trim with a sheet of 6mm thick
more pic to follow
thanks for looking
shaun

WOW that is yellow

Yellow is all good!