Suzuki Club UK

Hi all,

Might not be to everyone's taste , but I have a 1971 Vauxhall Firenza which I've converted to Suzuki power , I've owned SJ413, Bale no, Alto , and recently an Ignis , very impressive that for a 1300.

Currently running a Baleno 1600 16 valve single cam coil on cam engine , Baleno MPFI, mated to an SJ413 5 speed box via adapter plate. Vitara 1600 rad and exhaust manifold .purpose made prop driving rear wheels only to a Vauxhall Viva 1800 rear axle (best option for gearing ).
Baleno pedal box and master cylinder , plus steering column / controls.
Old Alto leather stearing wheel, and all electric cables and ecu , fuse boxes etc from a Bale no plus the instrument panel now built into the Firenza dash.
Bit of a mix / match of parts but most of the running gear is now Suzuki

Prior to the Bale no setup , I tried out a basic carb 413 engine , then tried a carbed Vitara 1600 engine (both 8 valve) , but settled on the Baleno for better power and reliability with its 16 valves and decent fuel injection & coil on cam system.

Ok it's not for the purists , but Vauxhall and Suzuki did collaborate in the late 80's with the Carry / Rascal ranges

sounds awesome.....lets see some pics!

Yeah sounds great, looking forward to the pictures!

Sounds interesting. Welcome

+1 for pix!

Nearly ready for paint - but ive been saying that for about 4 years - always find something else to mod / change , so its just an on going project

Was looking at maybe upgrading to the 1800 Baleno twin cam , but not sure if that is an easy swap , heard its a problem to link up to an sj413 box .

A very unusual combination but certainly does have alot of potential,can remember meeting Gerry Marshall back in the early 70s when he used to race Vauxhall Firenzas for Team Vauxhall,very successful he was with it as well.

I know it's not a 4x4, but the engine choice was a direct result of reading about the Baleno engine on the Autozookers forums , where a few people had done the conversion into their Samurais.
Also needed the coil on cam version , as previous 413 + Vitara engines I tried , the dizzy position wasn't great as much too close to bulkhead.

As mentioned I wouldn't mind trying out the 1800 twin cam (Baleno again) , has anyone done that conversion to an sj413 box ?

Sweet Ride